Nonprofits
Momentum 2009: Fear and Excitement About Real Momentum for Progressives
It is ironic that the Tides Foundation founded the Momentum conference 6 years ago when there was no momentum behind the progressive agenda. Now, in its 6th year, Momentum finally has some real momentum. From health care to the environment to labor and the financial system, every speaker was visibly excited and somewhat surprised to find themselves suddenly with the opportunity they have been waiting years for: real change is now possible.
Coupled with that energy and enthusiasm was also fear—that the moment would be lost, or not seized upon entirely, or that the progressives could not put together and market a united front as effectively as the conservatives. There was also a hint of debate in all this excitement. Like a kid in a candy store, the question was: do I completely stuff my pockets and risk losing it all? or do I just grab a few jelly bellies and be content? And how do progressives stage a real debate on the issues while still supporting the President?
I attended the Momentum Conference on Tuesday, Sep 8, the first day of a three-day conference. Tides Foundation did a remarkable job of lining up fantastic speakers to make a long day engaging. Add to that the terrific food, a great location at the W hotel in San Francisco, and cool entertainment, and the event felt like a mini-TED conference. Drummond Pike, founder and CEO of Tides, said, “the purpose of the conference is to stimulate ideas, to move the agenda forward, but not to reach conclusions. Leadership begins with the imagination, and finding interesting new voices on a variety of topics promotes new thinking and strategies to step forward in to the moment.”
Given that objective, the conference succeeded. And with more than 500 registrants, this year was more than double the size of last year. Donors, activists, academics, media, socially responsible investors, students, and artists came together to discuss how to help activists build momentum for their movement. Topics included health care, capital, carbon, and work.
Between the SoCap conference last week and the Momentum conference this week, San Francisco is a great place to see and be seen amongst the leaders of the new economy. As long as we are not blinded into thinking that the rest of the country is thinking these same thoughts, the energy, ideas, and enthusiasm can inspire and catalyze change.
In the interest of full disclosure: SSIR was a media sponsor of Momentum.
Gina Klein Jorasch is currently Senior Advisor to the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Gina was a founder or early-stage executive at five for-profit tech start-ups, all of which had successful IPOs or acquisitions, and a founding board member for two nonprofit startups.
Simply putting boxes and lines down on paper doesn’t guarantee that your organization will make better decisions.
Long-term investment in organic agriculture will provide above-market returns, environmental impact, and—in the developing world—enormous social impact.
Q&A with KoAnn Skrzyniarz of Sustainable Brands.
Critics of Obamacare have taken away attention from important aspects of the act such as its focus on keeping people healthy.
The misalignment between the expansive goal of “health” and a cramped
Entrepreneurs are setting up shop in the nation's urban food deserts.
A riveting memoir by Egyptian revolutionary—and Google marketing executive—Wael Ghonim.
COMMENTS
BY Michael Strong
ON September 10, 2009 04:54 PM
I wonder if the Momentum conference focused at all on “The Most Progressive Movement on the Planet,”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-strong/the-most-progressive-move_b_234649.html
especially insofar as it the claim was that “Leadership begins with the imagination, and finding interesting new voices on a variety of topics promotes new thinking and strategies to step forward in to the moment.”
On a related note, I look forward to seeing a review of book, “Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems,” in SSIR (co-authored by John Mackey, Muhammad Yunus, Hernando de Soto, myself, and others).
BY Charlie
ON October 14, 2009 09:52 AM
I returned to the site today to see the brilliant progressive response to my post from yesterday. Instead, I found that my post was removed. No debate, no engagement, just removed.
Sadly, this is typical liberal/progressive behavior. The only free speech is speech that agrees with you, right? Pathetic.
Needless to say, I’ll be canceling my subscription to SSIR…
Posted yesterday:
Hi Gina,
You seem like a nice, well-intentioned person, but I have a few questions.
Why is it appropriate for you, as a Senior Advisor to CSI at Stanford to advocate for a particular political philosophy and the “Progressive Agenda?” It’s one thing for you to be personally involved but to use your position of authority or leadership to push one side of the spectrum seems inappropriate. I can tell you with certainty that there are students attending the Stanford Graduate School of Business who do not agree with the progressive agenda and your openly advocating for it could easily create an uncomfortable or chilling environment for them.
Second, what gives you the right to force the rest of us to behave the way you want us to? From the cars we drive to where we get our electricity, progressives are never content modifying their own actions to meet whatever crisis looms real or imagined. You feel compelled and justified in forcing the rest of us to do what you want us to do. Please explain the moral code you subscribe to that allows you and other progressives to control the rest of us. Have you ever read our Declaration of Independence or the Constitution?
Speaking of the Constitution, where does government get the right to control what kind of car we drive or to take money from some of us to give to others to buy certain types of cars from still others (many in Japan, or Korea or elsewhere)? The Constitution exists to protect INDIVIDUAL liberties against an intrusive and abusive government. Please tell me where progressives in government get the power under the constitution to force the rest of us to live according to their worldview.
You should feel free to drive a Prius, get your electricity from wind power, etc. and to encourage others to do so as well, but please don’t use the power of government to force us to live our lives the way you want us to. Progressives routinely tell “right wing Christians” not to force their religion on others, shouldn’t progressives show the same restraint they are asking of others?