Philadelphia NetSquared: Crowdsourcing Change

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/6/f/f/event_50022751.jpeg We are excited to present another edition of our popular “Crowdsourcing Change” program on Tuesday, September 6. We’ve lined up two terrific projects that are eager to receive the wisdom of our “crowd”.

NOTE: This event is not about crowdsourcing as a technique. In case you’ve never been to one of these lively events, here’s the way it works: Each presenter will show their website and share their objectives. Then the crowd (that’s you!) will participate in a facilitated discussion about how various social web tools and strategies might help them achieve their objectives. It’s a fun format for learning, sharing and potentially making a significant contribution to a couple of important causes.

Although both of the projects below are focussed on the Philadelphia community, they provide models that may be useful in other communities. And most of the social web opportunities are not affected by geography. So, you're invited both to watch the live Internet stream at http://phillynetsquared.org/live , and also to contribute your questions and comments via our Twitter backchannel (hashtag: #phlnet2).

In Philadelphia, we’ll start gathering at 6 PM at the Friends Center (1501 Cherry Street).

Our two projects:

Patch Adams Free Clinic of Philadelphia

The Patch Adams Free Clinic of Philadelphia is currently raising funds and other kinds of donations so that it can build and operate a health clinic in an environmentally-friendly structure to be located in a low-income Philadelphia neighborhood. The clinic will provide holistic services in the style and spirit of Dr. Patch Adams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Adams), the doctor-clown who travels the world promoting health care that heals both body and soul. Through the generosity of the community, the clinic will move beyond charity toward ownership. Members of the clinic will become owners who make decisions about how the facility operates, to include controlling prices. This model enables members to free themselves from government and corporate controlled healthcare.

Representatives for Patch Adams Free Clinic of Philadelphia who will participate in the presentation: Paul Glover, Founding Director; Jim Wurster, webmaster.

Questions the Patch Adams clinic would like our crowd to address include:

How do we reach and engage our audiences which are varied and include: Individuals and families who will use the services of the clinic once it’s built, professionals that we need to enlist to provide medical services, donors, along with politicians and other decision-makers who can help make our vision a reality. How do we effectively create awareness and begin to organize the community through social media channels? How do we keep-in-touch with our constituents via Facebook, Twitter and email? Find out more about Patch Adams Free Clinic at: http://www.patchadamsclinic.org (http://www.patchadamsclinic.org/) .

Generocity

Generocity connects people to causes in the greater Philadelphia region. Its website aligns news, networking and action all in one place. The project encourages people to engage with like-minded individuals and facilitates public discourse on issues that are overlooked by traditional media. The site offers user-friendly tools for nonprofits and individuals to raise money and will soon recruit skilled volunteers for organizations and causes.

Questions Generocity would like our crowd to address include:

Aside from using Twitter and Facebook to push out news articles and links to interesting sites what are ways we can use Twitter and Facebook to engage people in Philadelphia who care about social issues? What are best practices for blogging and are those rules different for nonprofits? What has been your experience with social fundraising tools and how could that experience have been improved or had great impact? Representatives for Generocity who will participate in the presentation: David Raible, Executive Director; David Fair, Consultant; Steven Sonntagg, Content Director; Alex Shuptar, Social Media Manager

Find out more about Generocity at Generocity.org (http://generocity.org/) .

This promises to be an interesting, unique and practical event. Please join us in person, or online.

Special thanks to our sponsors, the American Friends Service Committee (http://afsc.org/) (AFSC) and Chevy Volt (http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/index.php/launch.html).