JK Rowling commencement speech at Harvard: The fringe benefits of failure

JK Rowling, of course, authored the bestselling Harry Potter fantasy. Her creation -- a spellbinding, seven-installment series -- brought her from rags to riches.



At her Harvard University commencement speech, JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems "worth more than any qualification I ever earned."

Her heart-felt comments encourage us to reach out to help our friends, our community, our government, and our world. Enjoy.

Marriage Equality: One Year Later

One year ago this weekend, I was married to my partner of 23 years. I'm celebrating this first anniversary, feeling joy, anger, disappointment, and hope.

Joy, because I am married to a wonderful man with so much love to share.

Anger, because of last year's Prop 8 election result, and the California Supreme Court's subsequent upholding of the stripping away of a right from a group, because a slim majority of the public wanted it so.

Disappointment, because while I am still legally married (the Court didn't nullify my marriage), I feel a bit like a freed slave. I have my rights, but my brothers and sisters in my community don't have theirs.

And hope. Hope, because today is Coming Out Day and tomorrow, thousands will march in Washington and elsewhere, for equality ... demanding equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.

If you want to see what a gay wedding looks like (well, my gay wedding anyway), click on the video links below.


Part 1 is the ceremony.


Part 2 is the reception.

Moving and ordinary at the same time. I've been married one year as of Sunday, October 11. And the world hasn't wobbled off of its axis. The sanctity, validity, and meaning of hetero-marriages in California weren't threatened by my marriage.

Glad to celebrate. Sad that others don't have the same right.

Equal protection, as guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. We will accept no less and will work until it is achieved. We should not have to beg or bargain for the right to work our jobs and go to school free of harassment and discrimination, the right to safety in our daily lives, the right to equitable healthcare, the right to marry, and the right to serve in the military openly.

Cool News for (non-profit) YouTube Users: Annotations and External Links!

I've refrained from doing a lot of posting on social media. For one, even though I'm a long time user of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et.al., other people know more than I, especially about the nuts and bolts. For another, I don't want to do "me too" postings, joining the landslide of commentators and advice givers, immitating and repeating essentially the same old stuff.

But THIS is news. In fact, if you haven't already put up whatever video your organization has on YouTube, then now is the time to explore that. The last possible "excuse" is gone!

Michael Hoffman of See3 Communications explains the new, special YouTube Annotations functionality available only to organizations that are part of YouTube's Nonprofit Program. With this new functionality, you can create "buttons" inside the video player that allow your viewers to connect to an external page---your website, your donation page, a petition, a call to action, anything!

Annotation has been around for awhile, but they always had to link to another YouTube video. This is the FIRST TIME that YouTube has allowed traffic to be directed away from its site. Watch ...



Cool, right? Well, there's maybe ONE excuse remaining:

"I don't know where to start."
Then check out Gear Up for Giving, a series of tutorials, to help nonprofits and their supporters understand how to use key tools and techniques to create awareness, catalyze civic action and cultivate new supporters and donors for their causes. Watch this introductory video to learn more about social media. Then, go to Case Foundation for further information.



Kudos to YouTube and Case Foundation.

Nonprofit Dating

I've frequently drawn the parallel between romantic courtship and the process of "romancing" a prospective donor. Something draws the two parties together (their eyes meet across a crowded room?). After some time, once you know this person is "the one" for you, the object is to pop the question at the right time. Presumably not the same evening you first encounter them ("hey baby, wanna get married?!") ... the premature ask. But also not after dating and going steady for years and years and years ... the "cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, cultivate" phenomen.

Five or six weeks ago, I came across this video which pokes some fun at how some of us choose to speak when first approaching a prospect, the language set that sounds so stilted. Today, I ran across it again, and decided I just had to share it. So, if a nonprofit were a guy and the donor a girl, it might go something like this ... click and enjoy.

By the way, this was done using a free, do-it-yourself movie creation service called xtranormal. "If you can type, you can make movies," they say. You choose the setting, the characters, and then type in dialogue. Voila -- an animated movie that you can then blog, share on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube, or whatever. I immediately registered for a free account, but I didn't start playing around with it. Knowing me, I'd have gotten sucked into the tool for hours. But it seems like a great idea for animating a message inexpensively. It will be interesting to see how it is used by community benefit organizations.

September 11: Service and Remembrance

September 11, 2001 was a day of tragedy. In response, many people rallied as one to support families who had lost loved ones and to help in recovery efforts. A powerful spirit of service and sacrifice united a nation -- ever so briefly. The echo of that impulse to help still remains, as September 11th is now officially designated a National Day Of Service and Remembrance.

My own vision of volunteerism changed as a result of what happened eight years ago. We each have a personal story about 9/11: where we were and how we felt. But it is perhaps more important to remember 9/12 and the successive days, when individuals joined in community with each other. Yes, let's remember that lesson.

Opportunities to work towards positive social change abound. A great video linking the Twin Towers tragedy to how we can personally help people is here. I invite you to watch: