The SEEED Summit is the first national conference to focus on building  an effective social enterprise ecosystem to drive economic development. SEEED brings together social enterprise leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs  to share best practice and create new collaborations. Worldways is honored to be co-organizer of SEEED, and to work with event founders Social Enterprise Greenhouse and Brown University  for the fourth year. Registration is now
open. We’re looking f
orward to seeing you there!

This year’s theme is Growing Businesses with Impact. The Summit will explore the unique challenges facing a social enterprise at three stages of growth, with half day modules devoted to launching, growing and transforming. SEEED will bring together social enterprise leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs to share best practice and create new collaborations.

Keynote speakers for this year include: Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder of B Lab, Willy Foote, Founder and CEO of Root Capital, Robin Chase, Co-Founder of Zipcar, and Doug Rauch, Founder/President of Daily Table.  A full list of speakers can be found on the SEEED Summit website.

In addition to engaging with these speakers in keynote sessions and panel discussions, attendees will have the opportunity to shop for social enterprise goods at the Buy with Heart Marketplace and receive one-on-one business coaching. We also encourage you to register for Friday’s lunchtime roundtable with our very own social media manager, Ema Waldschmidt, to discuss digital strategy, or attend the Saturday session to receive thoughts and inspiration on brand communication and promotion for start-ups and thriving enterprises alike with co-founders Maureen Cronin and Mark Marosits.

Are you attending SEEED? Let us know if you’re attending and would like to discuss future collaborations here!

Hashtags have become part of the social media nomenclature whether we realize it or not. Statistics show that including a hashtag in a post increases engagement. The hashtag has this power to bring specialists and the average social media user together to learn from one another and to discuss shared interests. The one character space has become the center of our world—a way to chime into a health based conversation without having a medical degree.

As a marketing agency, we understand that social media has the power to influence and change behaviors. It is a way to get the right information out to the right audience. The general public turns to searchable hashtags to increase personal awareness and self-educate. A study reports that many parents “are more likely to seek medical answers online” before contacting a physician. The change in the way the public is researching information pushed providers and experts towards social media platforms. They now have an additional responsibility to alter conversations and improve health care perception surrounding certain topics.

With a few taps, a couple of swift finger movements and the use of the hashtag, health care authorities, like the World Health   and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, constantly share new info to the public and connect with other health advocates. Most important, healthcare leaders can control and rectify rumors clouding certain topics. A social trend that comes to mind is the recent Zika outbreak. The healthcare hashtag has become a popular topic on social media platforms. Around 100,000 users gather on social platforms to discuss the Zika Virus, pushing out 50 tweets per minute. Experts are using the platforms to push out updated information to pregnant women and couples. They are creating conversation and addressing public concerns.

For the information seekers, the tag allows content to be discovered in the plethora of posts. It is another way to spark conversations, build awareness, and connect with a larger community. We would like to hear from you. Do you use healthcare hashtags to search for information and to connect to a greater medical community?

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month (NCDHM), a program created by the American Dental Association, along with the ADA Foundation. Since its inception in 1941, the observance has grown into a month-long nationwide program with the goal of raising awareness about the importance of oral health. On the Worldways front, we understand that oral health makes a very important contribution to people’s overall well-being. In addition to the many physical health problems that are linked to poor oral health are the emotional consequences across the life span, measured in such factors as pain, social acceptance, and monetary cost.

Unfortunately, many in non-dentistry related health professions fail to think of oral health care as being part of integrated health and wellness. In addition, those of lower literacy, lower income and minority families do not see proper oral health care as a crucial part of their overall health. Working with the state of Delaware’s Bureau of Oral Health, we will be striving to get all Delawareans to see the importance of achieving great dental health behaviors through online and offline resources. Does your organization need help tackling a lesser known health issue? Tell us about it here!

2016 is also a major milestone for us. Worldways turns 20 in 2016. What we’ve been most inspired by over the years is how our colleagues, clients and co-conspirators work so brilliantly to be the change that they want to see in the world. They are not simply ready for the future. They are creating it.

That’s the big lesson. Being ready for what’s next means creating what’s next. So how do you do that?

1. Think Differently. Futurist and systems theorist Lee Kaiser said “If you want to change the world, change your mind.” If you believe the future can be better, you will work for it. Believe.
2. Act Constantly. Social activist Mahatma Gandhi said “The future depends on what you do today.” A single step in the right direction may catalyze a groundswell.Act Now
3. Stay Inspired.  John Quincy Adams said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Find those who move you.  Engage.
4. Join In.  There’s a SEAL team saying “Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds.” Join organizations that share your vision and expand your network.Team Up.
5. Leverage Tools.  Bill Gates said “If you give people tools, paired with their natural ability and curiosity, they will surprise you well beyond expectations.”  Find and use best practice.  Equip Yourself.
6. Change Systems.  Systems theorist R. Buckminster Fuller said “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Challenge the status quo. Reframe the Solution.

Over the course of this our 20^th year, we’ll be celebrating the people, places and ideas that are making a powerful and positive difference in the health and well-being of individuals and communities throughout the world. In other words, we’ll be celebrating you. Stay connected with us through our blog, Facebook and Twitter as we shareinnovation and inspiration you can use to accelerate social impact.  On behalf of co-founders Maureen Cronin and Mark Marosits and the entire Worldways team, thank you for all you do to make our world a better place!

Popular shows like Modern Family and Orange is the New Black are working with causes that align with their plot line.  Orange is the New Black has strategically raised awareness about the word gap. In one episode a couple converses about the importance of talking, reading, and singing to their baby. Modern Family has also received notable recognition for portraying Jay (Sofia Vergara’s beau on the show) as a stable and well-adjusted veteran

In the ABC show, How to Get Away with Murder, an episode depicted a gay couple getting tested for HIV before they took their relationship to the next level. The potentially controversial topic took the social media world by storm. One man tweeted that the show enticed him to get tested. He explained to the nurse that the show lured him in, she responded, “you’re the fifth guy to say that, and we’ve only been open an hour.”

You can put your cause in front of millions of viewers without being a celebrity, using transparent advertising, or partnering with big name TV shows. Our Kicks Count campaign in Delaware encourages pregnant women to seek immediate help if their baby is not kicking. Delaware is now a model for other states in preventing infant deaths thanks to the campaign. This program and others have been able to lower the state’s infant mortality rate by 13%.  What’s our secret? We use the facts to entice behavior change and connect our data to real people. The public respects the insight we connect them to AND our utilization of the digital world strengthens this connection. Perhaps it is hopeful thinking, but in a world seemingly full of disaster it seems reasonable to say people are yearning for authenticity and valuable insight more than ever? Cause marketing is one way to do it, but we want to know your thoughts.

The holiday season is a time for giving, and it doesn’t always have to be about money. One of the most important presents you can give are intangibles, such as time, attention, and conversation. If a fierce broke college woman like myself can find a way to give, you sure can, too.  

At the University of Rhode Island, my sorority Sigma Delta Tau had  the opportunity to go to Hasbro Children’s Hospital and visit patients. Our action? Stuff teddy bears and deliver them to Hasbro’s patients under Operation Smiles. How did we know we accomplished our mission? When we put a smile on every child’s face.

Visiting the Hasbro Children’s Hospital was truly an incredible experience. With our army of 50 teddy bears, we visited the Izzy Room, where children visited, played, and cooked with their families, as well as joined in on pizza parties, movie nights, and comedy shows. We then went door-to-door, and visited patients in their rooms.

No matter how old the children were, they all were happy to receive our teddy bear tidings. It was a little act. We knew the teddy bear may not be enough, but were were trying. When we watched each child’s face light up upon receiving our gift, we knew it was the act of giving that made the teddy bear special. It was a child seeing a perfect stranger notice that they were going through a hard time, and giving them a gift to ease their pain. I was grateful to have had the opportunity to make their day a little better, and I will certainly return again when given the chance!

Simply making someone smile can have an enormous impact. Spark love, humanity, and peace this holiday season, find a way to give back to your community, even if it’s on a Ramen Noodles budget like me.

Yes, we’re talking sex.

According to Match.com’s annual Singles in America Survey — which polled 5,675 (non-Match using) singles whose demographics were representative of the national population according to the U.S. Census — people who have more sex, tend to use emoji more. Specifically, 54% of emoji users had sex in 2014 compared to 31% of singles who did not. This intersects uniquely with the condom company, Durex’s launch of a social media campaign last month “…to create the first official safe-sex emoji”, which asked social media users to use #condomemoji in honor of promoting safe sex for World AIDS Day.

Through conducting their own research, Durex said in a statement some 80% of 16 to 25 year olds find it easier to express themselves with emoji. Some 84% said they felt more comfortable using icons when talking about sex, Durex added.

If this truly is the new way in which our communication is (de)evolving, then perhaps this push to introduce a condom between an eggplant and conch shell or peach is a smart induction into the emoji lexicon.

Do you think tapping into the emoji to address a public health issue is a sound idea? Let us know your thoughts!

Social media is meant to be emblematic of human connectedness, interaction, and community in a globalized society. The availability of news, entertainment, and emotion is so immediate and simultaneous with live events such as the terrorist attacks on Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad, that social media, in these moments of crisis, becomes sentient; a living and breathing entity, emboldened with empathy and the means to do good, but also vulnerable to human error.

Much like opposable thumbs, (and even more important than this physical feature, many scientists say) our ability to feel empathy is a trait that makes us uniquely human. Empathy during the aftershock of grief comes in many different forms: a hug, verbal or written condolences, an offer of help, amongst other things. In this era of globalization and connectedness, how do we show someone halfway around the world that, even though we are very far, our hearts extend to theirs? How do we show that we mourn, feel, and notice their pain and suffering, and that we support their healing? How do we give them strength?

In the wake of the November 13th ISIS attacks on Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad, Facebook tried to answer these questions, and boldly (or brazenly, as some feel) rolled out a French flag profile filter, and has been a divisive display of solidarity since. Where were the flags for Beirut, or for Baghdad? Where were the flags for the countless other countries and nations attacked by ISIS? And above all, what real-life action does adding a filter to your profile picture do? Is this slacktivism?

Acts of terror are meant to snuff out human decency and create fear in order to shift power toward terrorists groups. It is a gateway to nationalization instead of globalization, and creates disconnect and isolation. Facebook’s move, as inherently ignorant as it was, was a move toward empathy, unity, and connectedness, in an attempt to relinquish that power from ISIS. A flag on every Facebook profile is like a digital flower at the doorsteps of France, and Beirut, and Baghdad, with every individual saying “I am here with you, I mourn with you, and that together, we are stronger than them.”

 
It may be a minor (and frivolous) form of support to most, but with 70% of internet users on Facebook, it is a shining display of human resilience and willingness to stay empathetic in a world where it is so easy to be apathetic.

A Boston Native is Taking on the $35 Billion Fur Industry by Sourcing Her Products from the Nation’s Roadways.

FUR. Just injecting the word into conversation at a dinner party brings up a mixed muff of emotions and opinions. There are those who detest and advocate for the end of the industry, those who love and buy without guilt, and some, who are in the middle, who love the luxurious feeling of fur in winter but who can’t justify the cruelty that turns the wheels of the industry. It’s with these latter two audiences in mind that Pamela Paquin created Petite Mort Furs, whose mission focuses on, “…respectfully resurrecting [the] 365 million wild animals killed on our roads every year, which are currently thrown away.”

Petite Mort doesn’t stop at creating custom and one-of-a-kind furs from roadkill, but goes further to donate unused furs to further wildlife education initiatives promoting educated and responsible decision making and gives a portion of their profits to funding wildlife underpasses, overall reducing the number of animals needlessly killed on our roadways each year.

Whether or not you’re trapped by your love of wearing fur in winter, we can all agree that social change in forms like Petite Mort are needed to stop animal cruelty, reduce careless disposal, and join us on the path to ethical and responsible consumption.

With so many options, now’s the time to confirm or swap stocks for 2016.

You have a lot of options, and you want your contribution to matter. You’ve decided you want to do good, and not just feel good, but how do you decide? We have a solution, the Worldways Guide to Social Investment, so pull up the website of your current charity of choice and walk through our 4 part question progression with us.

The Worldways Guide to Social Investing:

1. What’s the Core?

What‘s the center/the mission/ the driving force of this charity? Is it clear? Are there many?

2. Are they “Your People”?

Do you agree with, support, and feel fervor for it? If you had no time, but plenty of money would you give? If you had no money but plenty of time, would you still give?

3. How are the Dividends?

How well and what does the charity do in actively perpetuating its core? Is it working?

4. How does the Future look?

Where is it investing for the future? Is there a clear trajectory? Is there expected growth or change of scope?

Depending on the answers, you may find yourself even more interested and engaged in your charity of choice, or, making the switch to one where you will be. It’s here where we find that sweet spot where doing good brings along that wonderful moment of feeling good, and our whole community benefits.