Real life interactions are great. Your time is limited. So find a balance.

Here’s a calendar anyone in the Social Impact sector needs to consider:

February 3
2012 Wharton Social Impact Conference
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

February 15
Sustainable Business and Social Impact Conference
Duke University
Durham, NC

February 20-23
Social Business Week 2012
National University of Singapore
Singapore

February 25-26
Social Enterprise Conference
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

March 9-13, 2012
SXSW Interactive
Austin, TX

March 28-30, 2012
Skoll World Forum 2012
Oxford University

March 29 – April 1, 2012
IMPACT National Conference 2012
Steson University
DeLand, FL

April 20-22, 2012
Unite for Sight Conference
New Haven, CT

April 22-25, 2012
SOCAP International 2012 Symposium
Baltimore, MD

Did I miss a conference or event you? Please leave a comment with its details and I’ll be happy to add it.

While I cannot confirm or deny the latter, I can confirm Finish Strong! is hitting inboxes every Friday starting this week.

Finish Strong! will be your fuel for making things happen in the Social Impact sector. Each week, we will feature news, highlights, analysis, and encouragement to corporate dogooders, nonprofiteers, social entrepreneurs, and networked citizens. All packaged in a concise, irreverent way.

If the subscribe button doesn’t appear, you can sign up here today!

A More Detailed Description:
With the holidays approaching, you might not be thinking of January yet, but you should. The Ad Club, a hundred year old organization, is hosting the Non Event at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge on January 25. To be eligible to win an award, you need to submit your entry/entries by January 6.

The Non Event Awards are open to all non-profits and creative teams working to help non-profits from across the country. Categories include Best Advertising Campaign, Best Social Media Campaign, Best Use of Television, Best Use of Out of Home, Best Use of Print, Best Use of Radio, Best Use of Digital/Interactive, Best Website, Best Brand Identify System, Best Publication or Brochure, Best Self-Promotional Video, Best Fundraising Campaign, Best PSA, and the Non-Profit Partner of the Year.

So starting thinking now about the work you’ve done this past year and schedule time to submit your work by the January 6 deadline. With the number of categories, you have a great chance to shine a bright light on your great work at the awards ceremony and resulting press coverage. I’ll be there, since CauseShift has joined as an event partner.  Best of luck with your submissions!

Learn more and submit your work here.

On November 17, I am headed to Haiti along with a select group of entrepreneurs to help Haiti Partners chart the next phase of a very exciting initiative bringing together education and entrepreneurs. It’ll be my second time there and this time I want more people to come along for the journey.

While huge numbers of people stepped forward immediately after the 2010 earthquake, most everyone has moved their attention elsewhere. Unfortunately, people in Haiti still have great needs, especially the children of Haiti.

“We really believe for Haiti to improve significantly not only is there a need for improving education in general terms, but specifically helping children to grow up learning more entrepreneurial skills.” –  John Engle, Haiti Partners

Only 8% of Haiti’s schools are publicly-funded, leaving the rest to charge fees too expensive for many families. As a result, nearly 50% of school-age children aren’t enrolled in school, and those who are often receive a poor education from teachers who lack adequate training and materials. While the government is working to make free, quality education available to all children, it will be many years before this goal is realized.

In the meantime, Haiti Partners (co-founded by John Engle and Kent Annan) has teamed up with Grameen Creative Lab to pilot social businesses at seven Haitian schools that Haiti Partners supports, financed by loans from SAP and Accenture.  The purpose of the program is twofold:

1. Create sustainable revenue streams that reduce their reliance on school fees and outside support
2. Develop a culture of entrepreneurism among administrators, teachers, students, and parents that will help create jobs and drive economic growth in their communities

The goal of this month’s trip is to assess the program’s current progress and generate a strategy to attract significant numbers donors to support the program long-term. You can read more about the program in this news article.

SInce you can’t come in person on such short notice, I’d like for you to become an “investor” by making a gift.  The first ten people to donate $50 or more will be recognized as “Series A Investors” in this endeavor. As a Series A Investor, you will receive amazing karma for your investment in the future of Haitian children and families. I’ll also throw in a special gift from Haiti and a special video message from the team while we’re there.

I need to raise $1,000 and I hope you will join me in making a gift. I’ve started things off by making the first gift: $500. Yay! We’re already halfway to the goal. Can you pitch in and make a donation that is meaningful to you?

The Beyond Cause Marketing Summit 2011 serves as the first trial run of Sandbox Sessions. Over the coming few weeks, we will share videos, articles, and guests posts generated because through the September 16 event. In addition to the new website, we have created a new Facebook group to allow people to continue the conversation. Be sure to visit Sandbox Sessions and let us know what you think.

If you’re a brand interested in learning how Sandbox Sessions can help you create greater meaning, purpose, and relevance for you in the marketplace, we welcome your email or your Tweet.

This half-day summit will feature a rapid-fire gauntlet of 1:1 interviews of leading practitioners and thought leaders from a variety of fields before participants break into cross-disciplinary teams to develop and propose ideas and solutions for implementation.

Learn more and register at http://beyondcausemarketing.com. Early bird tickets on sale now for just $35 until 8/19.

Beyond Cause Marketing is proud to be a featured event of FutureM Week. You can purchase your pass to this weeklong series of events focused on the future of marketing at bit.ly/futurempass. Use “CauseShift” as your discount code to get 20% off the regular price.

#SXSW Interactive Scholarship Program 2012: http://ow.ly/5XSg3—
SXSW (@sxsw) August 08, 2011

Are you using new media to solve a social issue? You can be one of five recipients of the SXSW Interactive Scholarship 2012 program – each recipient receives a free badge to this year’s SXSW Interactive festival.  All it takes is a compelling 300-word essay.

This program is open to everyone in any sector and from anywhere in the world.

Read the full story at SXSW.com here.

Individuals can begin to submit their essay anytime between Monday, August 8, and Friday, August 26. SXSW and CauseShift will lead the review and selection process with the five scholarship recipients to be announced on Monday, September 19. Each of the five recipients will receive a complimentary SXSW Interactive badge for the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival.

How the Program Works
SXSW will be inviting individuals and their supporters to enter 300-word essays by 11:59 PM CT on August 26, 2011. Essays should answer the question, “Who is using technology or new media to do the most innovative work for good within their community?”

These essays will need to explain why the nominated person is so effective at leveraging new technologies and media to help make a difference in a community. The person written about may even be you! In the spirit of SXSW, think big and think differently.

Individuals will submit an essay (300 words or less), which will serve as their official entry and will be published on SXSW.com if selected. Entries will be judged on Innovation, Impact, and Clarity.

How You Can Help
CauseShift, Case Foundation, and Chronicle of Philanthropy are working together to reach out to organizations and individuals representing all sectors connected to the SXSW Interactive community to help us promote this unique opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive 2012. The more people we can reach, the more innovative ideas we can discover and share with the greater community.

You can help by publishing a story linking to the official announcement, promoting the program to your email database, and by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social media channels.

For more information on how you can help promote the program, please contact Scott Henderson from CauseShift at takeaction@causeshift.com.

A More Detailed Exploration:
For the past couple years, I have written and spoken mostly on the topic of cause marketing and how organizations can engage individuals using emerging media. Those have been my bread and butter topics and I remain passionate about them.

Over the past year and a half, I have widened my business focus to the broader frame of social innovation. Specifically, I spend my energies exploring how corporations, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, government and individuals are awakening to the fact that the market and community are one system, not two separate worlds.

Thanks to the proliferation of online and mobile technologies, organizations can no longer act like the man shaving with a face full of Novocain – taking action with no regard or sense to the pain he is causing. While the industrial/broadcast era allowed for the market to operate with no regard for its impact on the community, this illusion is being wiped away every day.

The market needs the community. The community needs help. Therefore, the market can help.

This reality has implications on the entire society. Government at all levels has new ways to serve the people. Nonprofits have greater opportunities to work with previously unlikely partners. Entrepreneurs have new opportunities to pursue. And, individuals have more active roles to play in their lives than just passive consumers/viewers. It’s a world full of almost unimaginable possibilities. Just ask the people in the Middle East and North Africa.

In the coming weeks and months, you and I can explore the many facets of social innovation and help corporations, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, government and individuals solve the problems in society that matter most to them.

What topics, themes and ideas would you like to see me explore?

A More Detailed Exploration
The SXSW Interactive Festival wants to help more non-profit groups attend their event and have launched a special scholarship program which has a entry deadline this Sunday, October 31.

To enter, you just need to submit a short essay (300 words or less) explaining an idea for how your non-profit group can use media and technology to solve a social problem. Entries will be judged based on three criteria: Innovation, Impact, and Clarity.

You only need an idea – even if you don’t know the technical solution for implementing. It doesn’t matter whether your non-profit is in the vanguard or late adopters, the best ideas will win. All ideas will be assembled and shared in a public idea packet once the winners are announced.

More details can be found at the SXSW Interactive website. Entries need to be submitted by 11:59 PM (Central Time) on Sunday, October 31.  Send your idea to interwebcontent@sxsw.com today!