What are you doing to increase your civic footprint? This is what Anil Patel was asking me when we were sitting in the empty cellar of the Distillery days before the Timeraiser event. I admit at the time, I had no idea what he was talking about. That was a moment, right there on those steps. A time stamp that I will go back to over and over again. That was BA. Before Anil. I can still see the transformation that took place inside me as Anil explained and broke down to most simplicity of what being a contributor to society means. He identified a problem in society (charities and non profits were having a hard time finding volunteers) and came up with a solution to that problem. In that moment I was fully able to comprehend what Social Innovation meant. Anil Patel was one of those social innovators that Susanna Kislenko (now formerly) of McConnell foundation was telling me all about. It took me a while at the time to get my head around the concept and now sitting here with Anil as he was explaining one of his solutions to helping people increase their civic footprint Anil was the first of the social innovators that I was going to meet this year. He opened a world of hope to me. Showed me that not only people cared but he was working with corporations that cared about his work and helping people as well. On our drive during the filming of the Timeraiser story he took me to a couple corporations including RBC and Molson that was helping out with his initiative.
Timeraiser is an event that helps charities and Non Profits meet volunteers, where the potential volunteers bid on art using their time instead of money that they donate to the charities. Anil says it much better than me:
This is the film we made in partner ship with the McConnell Foundation to highlight a grant that Framework recieved to help Timeraiser go national.
Watch here:
The second film is the story we told with Molson on their involvement in the Timeraiser event. Anil, a former employee of Molson credits them with the skills he learned in the corporate world to bring that to helping others.
2 Comments
It’s really amazing to see the number of hours that have been given. It is hard for people to do something like volunteer, because they don’t have the time, or don’t want to do something that doesn’t pay. It’s sad that most people won’t do anything without receiving something in return. They have to work for something they can posses instead of working for the greater good. I’m very glad to see people donating so many hours, I’ve done a bit, and I know it can seem really long if it’s not something your interested in so I hope they have organizations covering a lot of different goals.
Daniel Silverman 15 years old
Boulder, CO
What an insightful blog entry. I might link this to my own blog. =)
I’ve never thought about a civic footprint, but it makes so much sense, and I cannot believe more of us are not engaging in our lives with it.
Thankyou.