I've been researching for grant writing for the Collaboration Foundation.

One of the first tasks is to define the social need the organization will address. Juli, Dana and I were discussing this the other day, and defined the need as a response to the challenges of globalization; globalization creates a world were we are all connected, whether we realize it or not. The connections may seem invisible, but they are very tangible. while this creates a host of challenges, i.e. climate change and conflict, it also offers new opportunities for people to exchange ideas and work together in ways that have never been possible. The potential solutions to the issues will come from the same collective actions that create the problems.

The way I see the Collaboration Foundation and the 5 Phase Plan developing, it is with an eye toward harnessing the positive potential of globalization, using art to foster global community, and inspire social change. I think the future projects could offer platforms for addressing several challenging issues in a way that does not currently exist. They could also provide a document for what can be accomplished with large scale collaboration that can help make visible the connection we all have.

In writing a grant, you need to backup your observations with relevant statistics and strong quotes. So I've been reading a lot today, looking for supporting material relating to globalization and collaboration.

One of the first stops was a visit to the World Economic Forum, which recently wrapped up in Davos, Switzerland. YouTube watchers may have seen the Davos Question on YouTube's home page- which I thought was an awesome home page takeover. Over a million people responded with ideas. I love the way YouTube is facilitating Global dialog that democratizes the media platform.

The theme of this years Davos was "Collaborative Innovation", which is totally on point with the mission of The Collaboration Foundation. I wanted to share an article I just read which is so quotable I'm just gonna paste the whole thing:

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 Opens With Calls For Collaborative Innovation

Co-Chairs of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 open the five-day meeting

Davos, Switzerland, 23 January 2008 – The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 has opened with calls from the Co-Chairs to exercise “The Power of Collaborative Innovation” to meet the top challenges of economic instability, climate change and equitable growth.

“This is a moment of greater insecurity and challenge in the world today, but it makes a meeting like this all the more important. The theme of the Annual Meeting, ‘The Power of Collaborative Innovation’ is the answer to all the big global challenges we are facing,” said Co-Chair Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997-2007) and Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.

“Within the Meeting’s main theme, I would like to see participants addressing the issues of peace and climate change, as well as the issue of inclusive growth,” said Co-Chair K. V. Kamath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank, India. “How can we innovatively collaborate to meet the needs of [poor] people around the world? I will work collaboratively to see how we could do more,” he said on the opening day of the Annual Meeting 2008.

Co-Chair Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, USA, echoed the other Co-Chairs’ emphasis on the timeliness of the Annual Meeting 2008. “In spite of the economic crisis, can we look beyond that and view Davos as a collection of minds to address issues that can be addressed …. My hope is that we are here not only with a can-do spirit, but with a must-do spirit,” she said. Her focus is on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and water in particular. “It would be wonderful if we could assign an owner to each MDG to move them forward,” she said.

James Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., USA; and Co-Chair of the Meeting, agreed with Tony Blair that making progress to resolve the Middle East conflict and world peace are at the top of his agenda. “The second would be energy and the environment. The third is education and the fourth is a global system which promotes growth in a fair way,” he said. Responding to questions about current economic instability, he said: “The world economy is extremely complex, and I’m not sure the tools policy-makers have can solve all these problems. People are doing all they can to mitigate any negative effects of a downturn.”

“I know there’s a lot of concern about the economic situation, but looking at the long term, I’m here to talk about energy,” said Co-Chair David J. O’Reilly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chevron, USA. As more people are lifted out of poverty, demands on energy are only going to increase, he explained. Finding solutions to this challenge “tests the theme of the conference – ‘The Power of Collaborative Innovation’ – it’s going to take both,” he said.

“I think collaborative innovation is important to all industries and businesses,” said Co-Chair Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and Chief Executive, China Mobile Communications Corporation, People's Republic of China. “Companies and countries need to take social responsibility and pay attention to climate change and other global challenges.”

“This is not a great year in the US for far-sighted and imaginative economic policies,” commented Co-Chair Henry Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, USA. He said he feared more “protectionist talk” coming from the US. “We need to activate world trade talks and strengthen the global international system, and I believe that the existing [US] Administration will do the best it can and the new Administration will take a broad view of the issue.”

“The focus on collaboration and innovation in 2008 underscores the opportunity for the world's leaders to use the World Economic Forum's multistakeholder platform in Davos to collaborate and take action to tackle the world's most pressing problems,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

If anyone comes across some strong quotes or statistics about the effects/challenges globalization poses, and/or the need for global collaborative solutions, i'd love to read em.

Here is the Davos Question to YouTube for those who missed it:

and tons of video responses here

if anyone wants to help find good quotes from some of the world's leaders responses, watch these and let me know.

in other daily dust, mike, juli, and lisa came by the office today. some good new ideas/brainstorms, and work getting done. Also, big thanks to Trafalgar Tours West who donated $1,200 to help support this effort! It's support like this that keeps us going.

i'll share more soon.

best to all,

n