Ryan C. Miller.com – Social Media, Business & Small Things -

Gates Foundation Annual Letter

Posted on January 27, 2009 by MillerNo Comments

I’m sure this is old news in the blogosphere by now, but if you haven’t taken the time to read Bill Gates’ annual letter describing the work of the Gates Foundation, you should.  Take 20 min and go through it.  You will be inspired.

2009 Annual Letter

I still have not gotten through it in its entirety but I’ve been very impressed not only by the sheer amount of projects the Foundation has taken on, but even more so by two things…

First, the ability to be candid and talk about what has NOT worked.

Second, I’m impressed with the their integration of business principles into the world of philanthropic giving.  They have been able to quanitfy results and the byproducts of their efforts (at least in this letter) so that the average person can understand the challenges, but also the ‘ripple effect’ of success.

A surprising but critical fact we learned was that reducing the number of deaths actually reduces population growth. Chart 3 shows the strong connection between infant mortality rates and fertility rates. Contrary to the Malthusian view that population will grow to the limit of however many kids can be fed, in fact parents choose to have enough kids to give them a high chance that several will survive to support them as they grow old. As the number of kids who survive to adulthood goes up, parents can achieve this goal without having as many children. This means that improved health is critical to getting a country into the positive cycle of increasing education, stability, and wealth. When health improves, people have smaller families and the government has more resources per person, so improving nutrition and education becomes much easier. These investments also improve health, and a virtuous cycle begins that takes a country out of poverty. This was a huge revelation for Melinda and me. It is why we expanded our focus from reproductive health to all of the major infectious diseases.

I applaud the Gates foundation for not only making this document public, but addressing the needs of people around the world in a method that promotes research, accountability, and results.

Generosity is the new Green

Posted on January 21, 2009 by MillerNo Comments

I just read a great report from Trendwatching.com talking about how Generosity is fast becoming the new Green. I manage E-media for a small TV station, and even on this micro level I can see it happening. More and more clients are interested in doing socially consious giveaways in lieu of traditional advertising whether its providing scholarships, home improvements or grants to community organizations. Take it to TV with programs like Extreme Home Makeover and you’ll see what I mean.

Why is this happening? I don’t know all the causes, but there are some great cases laid out in the article. I do think that online culture feeds on sharing and generosity – from open source software, to publishing and sharing your photos, videos, and business tips – have made it where he who puts out the most quality content, or leads a tribe, or organizes to make change (read: sharing, giving, participating) win. They become the mini celebrities that encourage even more sharing across the web.

And now consumers are requiring businesses to do it as well. I do hope however that they do a better job than ‘going green’ (adding a recycle bucket does NOT make you a green company…what a sham). If you’re going to participate…. be generous, but more importantly be GENUINE.

Some excerpts (def check out the full article)

The current financial meltdown has led consumers to be more disgusted than ever (if that’s even possible) with greedy corporate execs who just don’t care. Many in the corporate world are so far removed from what is now an immensely better informed, more opinionated consumer arena, that their (non-)communications, their (inter-)actions, their entire behavior is deeply out of tune with what consumers want and expect in the years to come.

Some fun (US) stats from Reputation Garage:

* As few as 13% of all Americans place their trust in big business (and it’s not much higher for other mature consumer societies!).
* Only 39% of employees in a Watson Wyatt survey said they trusted senior leadership.
* Some three-quarters of US consumers feel that companies don’t tell the truth in advertising.
* Three-quarters of employees in big companies observed violations of the law or company standards in a 12-month period.