Sean Findley.com

Archive for the ‘Non-Profit’ Category

Currently, I am employed at a non-profit just outside of Reno. The non-profit has been in business for quite a few years and serves many niches within its community. Its message of purpose contains strong currents of desire for social justice. They desire to bring together volunteerism and personal responsibility to help local social problems.

I support their cause, that’s why I am there.

Interestingly, this summer I am taking a course in evolutionary psychology. One focus within the course is to understand and to implement a wide variety of social media techniques. These techniques include twitter, facebook, blogging, and a litany of other web applications designed to smooth our transition into Entrepreneurship 2.0

As luck would have it, or as the fates would desire it, the non-profit I mentioned could benefit from a similar transition. They currently have a Web 1.0 presence containing almost no interaction.

So, a few days ago I came up with a social media plan of sorts, which integrates all of the other employees into various social media functions. Each of them will have to contribute to a central blog at least once every couple of weeks, and they will be required to tweet a couple of times a day. The investment of time is minimal, but the benefits could be exponential. Connections will be made.

As they develop their social media presence they will undoubtedly connect with other like minded individuals. This could bring in new revenue in the form of increased donations, grants, or even clients. A non-profit is a lot like a regular business in that they need to expand, even if at a slower pace, in order to survive. So, by teaching the staff of this non-profit various social media techniques that I have learned in this ultra fast paced summer class, their web presence will grow wider and will deepen.

The plan was recently submitted so we shall see what they decide to adopt. If they do adopt this plan or some of the more important elements of it, then I’ll be able to see my knowledge being applied right away. That’s an exciting concept, and that’s a Zephyr in action.

Zephyr

What is a Zephyr? Doesn’t it sound like a word rarely used save for the dreaded GRE exam? While researching what should encompass my blog and my personal brand, I came across the word “zephyr” while studying for the GRE. The word rolls off your tongue, is aesthetically pleasing, and has internet-meme potential. So what does it mean?

     1. a gentle, mild breeze.
     2. (initial capital letter) Literary. the west wind.
     3. any of various things of fine, light quality, as fabric, yarn, etc.

The most frequent use of “Zephyr” is to suggest a gentle, mild breeze – the type one might feel just after sunrise in the desert at any time of the year. The still air becomes kinetic, slowly building upon itself; the air grows in complexity, eventually sweeping up large swaths of sand; then, aggregates and collects the sand to form patterns such as dunes or sand ripples. Often, at first the air wasn’t noticeable, neither was the wind. What became noticeable were the patterns left by the wind and the sand. Summarily, these patterns are representative of big changes, naturally aggregating from gentle, mild breezes. In short, Zephyr is synthesis.

It is from this observation about life that I was motivated to start this blog.

Our society is the product of evolutionary principles. There is an immense amount of variation in how we go about doing business but over time very little of that variation remains in our social structure. Importantly, what remains are tried and tested patterns that work for a given society in a given environment and seldom are there big changes.  Many small changes are attempted, with the result being that few of them are naturally selected by the social and physical environment.

Today, there is great inequality regarding the distribution of wealth. Those with more wealth become wealthier, and those without either stagnate or eventually become poorer. This trend is a great social injustice, in that fewer people are able to access capital and to provide the variation that our social environment uses to naturally select. By sequestering billions of people throughout the world from access to capital, wealth, education, and other modern tools needed for wealth accumulation, we are effectively starving innovation.

Notably, Capitalism is here to stay and has been selected by our social environment as the most efficient means of wealth distribution.  To pull one’s teeth (without anesthesia) over which economic system we should adopt is immaterial. There isn’t going to be a quick, dramatic change in how we distribute wealth, or how we will provide others equal access to building wealth.

However, we will eventually see change, where people will have equal access to opportunity and wealth accumulation, but the changes will be small—at first.

These small changes can be witnessed on the internet. With the internet, there is an increasingly democratic and non-hierarchical set of methods for information exchange. Social evolution for thousands of years has been dependent upon information exchange, but until the internet, exchange has been slow and cumbersome. Now, the internet acts as a hub to aggregate and spread anyone’s message, however small it may be, and does it instantaneously.  The internet acts as The Great Equalizer. It takes small winds of change, processes them, and forms patterns. These patterns are then used by influential Zephyrs to make big changes.

This is why the concept of “Zephyr” is important. Small winds in aggregate can bring big changes. A Zephyr personified is one who seeks to set loose their own personal wind, to network with other Zephyrs, and to collectively bring big changes.

As such, the purpose of this blog is to assist and add value to the Zephyrs wherever in the world they may be. I’ve divided the blog up into several categories which are simply the tools the Zephyrs will need to start their quest to launch their small winds of change. All of the information in the categories will be derived from tweets, blogs, articles, and whatever sources of information I find to be relevant. I’ll hand pick the streams of information, acting as an editor, hoping that what I add to my blog adds to your personal Zephyr.

The first category is Entrepreneurship, which will contain relevant information about small business, finance, accounting, leadership, and everything that a Zephyr needs to get business started with a small budget.

The second category is Personal Branding. This is a vital concept. A Zephyr not only needs to discover what their personal brand is, but they need to continually refine it and use it to separate themselves from the others who have similar, but less refined ideas.

The third category is Non-Profit. Non-profits typically are hubs of Zephyrs, each collecting their small winds for a greater purpose. As such, non-profits are vital to create larger winds that bring about change. Often, non-profits assist others who have been sequestered by society, enabling them to regain ground and rediscover their Zephyr potential.

The fourth category is Social Consciousness. Included within this category are streams of information to assist Zephyrs to raise their level of social consciousness and to give them the impetus to add value to society.

The fifth category is Social Media. Social media includes information about facebook, twitter, linkedIn, and other relevant internet applications. When one forms their personal brand and is ready to become a Zephyr, it is then necessary to network with others possessing similar goals. Tips, tactics, and techniques will be included here.

The Sixth category is Web Development. Learning how to do basic web development is vital if one wishes to become a Zephyr. This includes general knowledge of photoshop/graphic techniques, as well as HTML, programming languages such as PHP, and database development using a platform such as MYSQL. One doesn’t need to become an expert, but it is important to gather enough knowledge to be dangerous. To be dangerous is to be competitive and to gain oneself an advantage against other less refined Zephyrs. The social environment will always be naturally selective, and those Zephyrs lacking the necessary tools to begin to create a small wind will be weeded.

The Seventh category is behavior analysis, which is my personal altruistic cause. Behavior analysis provides technology for autism, disabled people, and others with significant behavior problems. The techniques are scientifically verifiable; essentially, they work.

The last category is Zephyr. Zephyr is a small wind that in aggregate can form patterns and thus, great changes. Zephyr is also synthesis. We are currently in information revolution 2.0, where online is interactive and global networking is exponential. On the horizon is information revolution 3.0. This will encompass basic artificial intelligence where networks adapt to us using semantics. Semantic adaptation equals synthesis. Zephyrs will need to constantly be ahead of the curve regarding information synthesis, so anything relative to Web 3.0 will be included in this category.

Lastly, the site is organized to where relevant tweets from a variety of Zephyrs are included at both the top and the footer of the site. I built an application that streams a large number of tweets and I hand pick the very best tweets from this stream and file them in the proper categories. Additionally, I will be writing original posts that will synthesize academic information, to be distilled so that all can benefit from the synthesis. Other posts will include my take on other excellent blog posts that I feel will be beneficial for you to become your own Zephyr.