About
_The “cut and paste” version
Peter recently completed one year as the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca, an online community run by SiG@MaRS whose mission is to catalyze and sustain a robust social finance marketplace in Canada. Peter is also the Founder of Social Actions, an initiative acquired by GuideStar in March 2011 that helps people find and share opportunities to make a difference. He has presented at numerous conferences, including Social Capital Markets, the Nonprofit Technology Conference, Connecting Up Australia, Semantic Technology Conference, and My Charity Connects. Peter holds a BA in History from McGill University and an MA in History from the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.
The longer version
Hello and thanks for visiting.
If you’re here to familiarize yourself with my work and writing, below is a first-person account of the journey that’s led me to where I find myself in 2010. I update this story from time to time to reflect new developments.
Part I: Microphilanthropy
In early 2006, I found myself living in NYC and working for a nonprofit as an IT consultant. The ambitions of my employer were macro in scale and hyper-institutional, everything from setting up a global parliament to trying alleged war criminals for crimes against humanity. An interest in social justice had led me to this job. But two years into the work, my passions were shifting toward micro and bottom-up forms of social change.
I wanted to discover what grassroots projects and activities could achieve, if connected together in new ways and amplified by thousands of engaged supporters. My interest in what I started referring to as ‘microphilanthropy’ led me to the work of the Uplift Academy, the Omidyar.net, TechSoup Global, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and a host of other inspiring communities.
Frustrated with my work and life in New York City, I decided to change course. I left my full-time job and moved back to Montreal, where I had studied as an undergraduate and still felt a deep connection.
Part II: Social Actions
With my new found freedom, I resolved to launch a project that would advance the cause of small-scale giving. I had only the vaguest idea of what the project would entail and where it would lead me. The project came to be known as First-of-its-kind (Foik for short), and later Social Actions.
Initially, I wrote blog entries about a collection of budding websites that had been launched to facilitate person-to-person fundraising campaigns. My blogging also focused on the best practices for launching successful person-to-person fundraising campaigns. To support myself financially, I continued to work remotely on a part-time basis for the nonprofit in New York as well as for several Quaker organizations based in Philadelphia.
Overtime, my writing transformed into a call for greater collaboration among the online platforms I was writing about. Increasingly, they were being referred to as online giving marketplaces. Without a mechanism to connect and distribute the opportunities listed on these platforms, fewer people would know about and act on the full range of opportunities available to them to practice microphilanthropy. My work and the mission of Social Actions became all about building that mechanism.
In the first half of 2008, Social Actions received a major boost. First, Christine Egger decided to join me as a full-time co-creator and super-fan of the project (and later, as Co-Director). Second, Cameron Booth of Zazengo volunteered to build a functional prototype of the technology we were advocating. And third, Social Actions received a number of awards, grants, and recognition in quick succession for its early accomplishments.
With resources and affirmation in hand, our call for greater collaboration among the online giving marketplaces became a big green light to deliver on Social Actions’ vision for microphilanthropy. Over the next 18-months, countless people and organizations helped to advance the initiative as sponsors, partners, donors, volunteers, mentors, contractors, consulting clients and fans.
In May 2010, Christine Egger and I announced that Social Actions was looking for a mission-aligned and well-resourced organization that could build on what our community had created together. The process of identifying a new home for Social Actions is still underway (as of September 2010). We look forward to announcing the new organizational home when the selection process and details have been finalized.
It is extremely gratifying to know that the project I initiated in 2006, and launched in 2007, may very well evolve into something bigger than I could have ever imagined.
Part III: Social Finance
While I continue to advocate for microphilanthropy wherever possible, my interests have expanded to include how all forms of finance — from giving to investing — can be harnessed to serve people, communities, and the environment.
In June 2010, I relocated from Montreal to Toronto and accepted a full-time position as the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca. My work in this field is just getting started, but I see enormous opportunities to draw attention to and support bottom up approaches to scaling both the supply and demand for social finance.
.: end :. (for now)
Peter recently completed one year as the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca, an online community run by SiG@MaRS whose mission is to catalyze and sustain a robust social finance marketplace in Canada. Peter is also the Founder of Social Actions, an initiative acquired by GuideStar in March 2011 that helps people find and share opportunities to make a difference. He has presented at numerous conferences, including Social Capital Markets, the Nonprofit Technology Conference, Connecting Up Australia, Semantic Technology Conference, and My Charity Connects. Peter holds a BA in History from McGill University and an MA in History from the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.
The longer version
Hello and thanks for visiting.
If you’re here to familiarize yourself with my work and writing, below is a first-person account of the journey that’s led me to where I find myself in 2010. I update this story from time to time to reflect new developments.
Part I: Microphilanthropy
In early 2006, I found myself living in NYC and working for a nonprofit as an IT consultant. The ambitions of my employer were macro in scale and hyper-institutional, everything from setting up a global parliament to trying alleged war criminals for crimes against humanity. An interest in social justice had led me to this job. But two years into the work, my passions were shifting toward micro and bottom-up forms of social change.
I wanted to discover what grassroots projects and activities could achieve, if connected together in new ways and amplified by thousands of engaged supporters. My interest in what I started referring to as ‘microphilanthropy’ led me to the work of the Uplift Academy, the Omidyar.net, TechSoup Global, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and a host of other inspiring communities.
Frustrated with my work and life in New York City, I decided to change course. I left my full-time job and moved back to Montreal, where I had studied as an undergraduate and still felt a deep connection.
Part II: Social Actions
With my new found freedom, I resolved to launch a project that would advance the cause of small-scale giving. I had only the vaguest idea of what the project would entail and where it would lead me. The project came to be known as First-of-its-kind (Foik for short), and later Social Actions.
Initially, I wrote blog entries about a collection of budding websites that had been launched to facilitate person-to-person fundraising campaigns. My blogging also focused on the best practices for launching successful person-to-person fundraising campaigns. To support myself financially, I continued to work remotely on a part-time basis for the nonprofit in New York as well as for several Quaker organizations based in Philadelphia.
Overtime, my writing transformed into a call for greater collaboration among the online platforms I was writing about. Increasingly, they were being referred to as online giving marketplaces. Without a mechanism to connect and distribute the opportunities listed on these platforms, fewer people would know about and act on the full range of opportunities available to them to practice microphilanthropy. My work and the mission of Social Actions became all about building that mechanism.
In the first half of 2008, Social Actions received a major boost. First, Christine Egger decided to join me as a full-time co-creator and super-fan of the project (and later, as Co-Director). Second, Cameron Booth of Zazengo volunteered to build a functional prototype of the technology we were advocating. And third, Social Actions received a number of awards, grants, and recognition in quick succession for its early accomplishments.
With resources and affirmation in hand, our call for greater collaboration among the online giving marketplaces became a big green light to deliver on Social Actions’ vision for microphilanthropy. Over the next 18-months, countless people and organizations helped to advance the initiative as sponsors, partners, donors, volunteers, mentors, contractors, consulting clients and fans.
In May 2010, Christine Egger and I announced that Social Actions was looking for a mission-aligned and well-resourced organization that could build on what our community had created together. The process of identifying a new home for Social Actions is still underway (as of September 2010). We look forward to announcing the new organizational home when the selection process and details have been finalized.
It is extremely gratifying to know that the project I initiated in 2006, and launched in 2007, may very well evolve into something bigger than I could have ever imagined.
Part III: Social Finance
While I continue to advocate for microphilanthropy wherever possible, my interests have expanded to include how all forms of finance — from giving to investing — can be harnessed to serve people, communities, and the environment.
In June 2010, I relocated from Montreal to Toronto and accepted a full-time position as the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca. My work in this field is just getting started, but I see enormous opportunities to draw attention to and support bottom up approaches to scaling both the supply and demand for social finance.
.: end :. (for now)
