07Jul, 2010

An Update on the CHASE Bank Grant

Posted by Don
24

I’m incredibly humbled by the number of you who have helped us move into the top 50 in the CHASE Bank grant contest currently running on Facebook. Non-profits in the top 200 get 20k from CHASE, and things could certainly change, but we are placing well going into the last week. I called Dr. Sowers, our The Mentoring Project’s President and asked what the chances were that we could win the whole thing, giving us 250k (an entire years budget) and he said it wasn’t likely. That said, though, if we moved into the top ten, I think it’s safe to say we’d launch a major campaign to try to move into the top spot. Honestly, it wouldn’t take much. The current leader only has about 12k votes, and nearly 100k people come to this blog alone every month. At The Mentoring Project, we’d use the money to start mentoring programs at the 600 churches on our current waiting list. That means literally thousands of fatherless boys being provided with a friend who would encourage them through their formative years. When I was a kid, I was breaking into a few houses, just getting into trouble a bit, and a [...]

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05Jul, 2010

Could you do me a favor?

Posted by Don
0

So about once a month, a friends non-profit starts lighting up twitter and facebook asking people to go and vote because somebody somewhere might give them some money. The Mentoring Project has never had a huge twitter following, so we’ve never entered one of these contests. And to be honest, I normally ignore these twitter requests. It just feels like a teen thing, some sort of popularity contest amongst non-profits. That said, The Mentoring Project President Dr. John Sowers called me a few days ago to say that Chase was giving away 20k to the top 200 non-profits that get voted on on facebook. John said we really need the money to shoot training videos that will allow the 600 churches on our waiting list to start mentoring programs. What that means is, if we get 20k from chase, thousands of fatherless boys will get role models because we can franchise the mentoring program we are currently running here in Portland. We don’t yet have that money designated in our budget. So now I am THAT GUY. I’m the guy asking people to vote on twitter and facebook. And to be honest, I don’t even have a facebook account. So [...]

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14Jun, 2010

The Stuff of Good Friendships

Posted by Don
72

Last week I opened a discussion about being judgmental, and how a good listener can listen without judging the person he is listening to. I asked us to pay attention to when we think less of people and asked us to ponder our motives… Now to clarify, I am not talking about judging actions, I am talking about judging people, that is, thinking less of them, that they are less valuable, somehow, because of what they are doing or saying or even wearing. In that same experiment, I found I judge people for two main reaons: 1. I think less of people in order to disassociate. In other words, my emotions want to distance my identity from whatever they are doing or saying. Essentially, I’m feeling a strong sense of “I am not like this person. This person is not okay, but I am not like them.” I’m not given to judgment very easily, in fact I’d say I flaw on the “live and let live” attitude more than I do judgment (welcome to life in Portland) but when I do judge, this is often one of my motives. 2. I judge in order to manipulate. What I mean by [...]

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04Jun, 2010

Bob Goff Turns the Idea of Charity Upside Down

Posted by Don
1

My friend Bob Goff started a school in Uganda where he provides an education for children who come from what any American would consider extreme poverty. But you best not call Restore International a charity. Bob won’t have it for a second. Instead of taking funds from wealthy Americans, the kids at Restore are actually growing crops and selling them in order to donate the money to American charities! Why? Because Bob Goff wants to instill dignity and purpose in the lives of his students. Here’s a guest blog from Justin Zoradi, the Marketing Director for The Mentoring Project, the non-profit I started three years ago. Justin reflects on his interaction with Bob and the unusual emotions involved in accepting money from children a half world away: Bob Goff, founder of Restore International, called me last week to let us know young men from The Restore Leadership Academy have decided to make a donation to The Mentoring Project to provide mentors for kids in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, with the help of Restore, a number of these young men have started growing & selling their own crops. After hearing about The Mentoring Project, they wanted to give a small portion of their profits to [...]

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02Jun, 2010

The Power of Writing Down Social Goals

Posted by Don
57

The last few times I’ve interacted with groups on an adventure, I’ve tried something new. Normally, when I meet new people, I act out my insecurities. What I mean is, I’ll drop names or try to control the situation or say things I think will return respect. This never works. While I enjoy the time, I usually feel like I talked too much and didn’t really let people get to know me. I feel more like I put on a show than let my guard down to have a good time. This past week, nine guys from Texas came to Portland to climb Mt. Hood (I’ll write more about that adventure and share some photos in a coming blog) and before they came I sat down with a piece of paper and wrote my ambitions for our time. I’m not talking about the ambition of getting to the top of Hood, I’m talking about social parameters, if you will. I wrote down I wanted to refrain from talking too much, and I wanted to serve. I wrote down that I wanted to make meals, drive cars, set up tents, whatever. I also wrote that I didn’t want to try to [...]

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