THE LAB

If there’s one thing I took away from university, it’s that life is complex. Silver bullets, perfect solutions, and fairy tale endings just aren’t a part of reality.

I’m afraid that I may be guilty of having forgotten that little lesson in my recent espousing of community.  Though I not have said it outright in my previous blogs, I’ve been of the illusion that community is be-all and end-all of our world’s problems. “Community will make us more sustainable! We’ll treat the environment with respect! We’ll treat each other with respect! We’ll be economically successful! Everyone will be happy! Everyone will live happily ever after!”

Who am I kidding? Community is just as complex as life; indeed, how could it not be? It’s part of life.

It turns out I’m not the only one who has been ‘romanticizing the commons.’ I’ve picked up a book recently called Communities and the Environment, and according to its editors Arun Agrawal and Clark C. Gibson, it seems like it’s a relatively common thing for people to romanticize about the commons these days.

You even see large, prestigious NGOs like the World Bank and UN espousing community just as much as I do! We’ve become disenchanted with the idea that technology will lead us to a Utopia of sorts. We’ve even started to reject the idea that technology can help us at all, so we’ve turned back to the past for answers to a life before technology, decentralization, and the dissolution of community culture.

Unfortunately, as is usually the case, our current ideas of the past don’t reflect the reality of the past particularly well. We have these romanticized images of humans living in small communities in harmony with their environments, and now we (or at least some of us) think the solution to our current problems is to return to this state of small community driven lives.

Wrong!

Community can be good, yes. It can often be incredibly useful in some areas, but it is not this ideal solution to all of our problems that it has been made up to be!

As Agrawal and Clark C. Gibson point out, people who romanticize community as our silver bullet are usually thinking of a mythic version of community. That is, they’re thinking of a community that has a homogenous social structure, that is a single spatial unit, and that is made up of members who have shared norms (Agrawal, Gibson). Conservation groups and individuals have often advocated for community under this definition. In terms of resource management, such a homogeneous group would see it as being in their own interest to manage their resources sustainably. Therefore, some conservation groups would argue, community-based conservation efforts are the only way to pursue conservation.

But this is an illusion! As my one important lesson from university has taught me, life is complex! Community is complex!

Agrawal and Gibson pointed out in Communities and the Environment that communities are:

• Not homogeneous in terms of their social structure. Individuals within communities often have different levels of power or political influence.
• Not restricted to one locale. Communities can be mobile, they may share their environment with other communities, or they may take advantage of resources that are mobile
• Not automatically indicative of a group of people who have shared norms. Norms differ from person to person depending on occupation, family background, external influences, etc etc.

In other words, communities are complex. They are not a homogeneous unit that selflessly throws itself into projects of sustainability and general do-gooding. They are made up of individuals who have different motivations, different beliefs, different levels of influence, and different backgrounds. The intricacies of the interactions between community members, between different community, and between communities and external influences are endless.

Here’s the take home message: For anyone looking to cultivate community themselves, whether for a business, an organization, or anything else, they should keep in mind that communities are complicated entities. They can be unpredictable, uncooperative, and ineffective….they can also be extremely successful in serving whatever effect you want them to serve, but this means they have to be deployed with respect, care, and consideration.

Many in the Seattle environmental community know me as “the Seattle Greendrinks guy.” I’ve long worn that mantle happily; it’s been an amazing experience to see the organization I started as an email to 25 people in 2003 blossom into a community of over 3300 people working to make a positive difference for the environment in Seattle and beyond. That community has nurtured me and taught me innumerable lessons.

During the first years of convening Greendrinks, I was in graduate school; for the next three, my day job was with Flexcar (which became Zipcar). Somehow Greendrinks kept growing, taking increasing amounts of time from my nights and weekends, and giving me entre into the lives of ever more fascinating people doing incredible work, from activists to businesspeople to policymakers, students, and providers of goods and services. Following the awesome Greendrinks 5 gathering, I set out to pursue my desire to make a big, positive impact in the world – a far bigger impact than I could possibly make on my own.

To that end, I brought together a group of others with the same intention, and with an incredible collective resume, and we began to explore ideas and dreams. We quickly realized that we shared a common understanding: the world is changing quickly, with the flow of information enabled by new technologies facilitating dialogue between people and organizations as never before in ways that can add tremendous value to both sides. We also realized that to truly address the challenges of today – whether poverty, global health, better governance, the education of future generations, or climate change – we will have to tap the collective intelligence like never before.

From this instinct was born Re-Vision Labs. In February 2009 we launched our first website, a decent piece of brochure-ware that provided a window into our collective philosophical underpinnings. However, it told precious little of what we do, and for whom.

Today we launch the new Re-Vision Labs website. It has been the work – and more importantly, represents the work and collective dreams – of a number of incredible people. We are blossoming into an amazing organization of which I remain humbled and proud to be part. I’m surrounded daily with incredible people working tirelessly to make a difference in the world, passing up far more lucrative opportunities, struggling to grow a successful business while accomplishing world-changing projects with amazing partners. They are, in short, letting their passions drive their actions, and it is my firm belief that the world will be better for it. We’re doing business our way, and it feels great.

Come with us. Connect with us via social media. Join us tomorrow night as, with our partner Oikocredit USA, we host Seattle Greendrinks. We look forward to connecting and becoming part of your community.

And, because it’s been oddly stuck in my head of late, I’ll end with this little bit of randomness:

In my next several posts, I plan to carry out case studies of how community works in business. Why would a business choose to incorporate community? How does business profit from cultivating community? How does a corporation create community around its product in the first place?

I’ll start with Starbucks, the perfect example of the impersonal, giant, corporate chain threatening to take over the world with its ubiquitous Grande lattes and frappuccinos who suddenly seeks out community…

Last summer there was quite the buz (almost the hyper, jittery buz of some espresso-holic Seattle-ite) about the coffee titan. Starbucks was breaking with tradition and going “undercover,” as an article in the Huffington Post describes the unusual move. For some reason, Starbucks had chosen to open up a new coffee shop that would look nothing like the previously employed, cookie-cutter-recipe cafe that the corporation had already opened up across the world.

Why the change? Why suddenly was the old policy of brand consistency and familiarity overturned for a coffee shop that would effectively look nothing like what we’ve come to know, love, and yes, sometimes hate, about Starbucks?

The answer: Starbucks is looking to incorporate more community into its business model

This new, community based Starbucks store is called 15th Avenue Coffee. It has none of the familiar trappings of your original Starbucks. It serves beer. It wants to have poetry slams. Above all, it’s looking to set itself apart from the Starbucks chain that gave birth to it and actively engage the local community.

To be fair, Starbucks has always sought out at least some elements of community cultivation and corporate social responsibility before going undercover. Its efforts to purchase fair trade coffee, the way it sends nutrient-hungry gardeners (like me) home to garden with leftover coffee grounds, and the company’s employee support system are all efforts by Starbucks to create a positive community around its product.

But unexpectedly individualizing its stores? This is taking marketing to a whole new level. I mean, this was a former multinational tycoon, just another of the faceless chains where you’re guaranteed to get the exact same product at every store. Lack of variety, lack of individuality. This was the model that served Starbucks for years to grow and grow. It brought the business of specialty coffee to center stage. In some cities, it seems there’s a Starbucks on every corner. Expand, expand, expand, but then, bam, Starbucks is getting local!?

But going undercover isn’t the only way Starbucks is cultivating community these days. A quick perusal of their website will show you immediately that community is an integral part of their marketing. To be honest, having never looked at their website before, I have no idea whether or not community has always been so central to their online branding. My ignorance of Starbucks’ marketing history aside, it’s still interesting to note the kind of emphasis they place on community on their webpage.

The Starbucks homepage has a lot of frothy looking cups of coffee on it, personal account information, and a short video about a rewards program. However, there is also links dedicated entirely to cultivating a Starbucks community. They have the usual Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube links. More importantly for our story here is that the MyStarbucksIdea.com, Starbucks V2V, and Starbucks Shared Planet programs. It is through these programs that you really see Starbucks’ efforts to cultivate community coming through.

In the MyStarbucksIdea.com, people obviously have the chance to share suggestions with Starbucks. They create an account, sign in, and join the conversation.

In Starbucks V2V, Stabucks is “redefining community.” It has essentially created an online forum to connect people with other people, actions, and causes to bring good into the world.

Finally, in the Starbucks Shared Planet Program, you’ll find Ethical Sourcing, Environmental Stewardship, and Community Involvement programs. In the Community Involvement tab, Starbucks says:

“From the neighborhoods where our stores are located, to the ones where our coffee is grown – we believe in being involved in the communities we’re a part of. Bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference in people’s lives – it’s all part of being a good neighbor. And it’s a commitment rooted in the belief that we can use our scale to be a catalyst for change.”

Frankly, I’m impressed. I had no idea Starbucks was trying to be such a catalyst for change, trying to cultivate and engage its community offline and online.

Maybe this new move is towards community cultivation is appropriate. After all, that’s what Starbucks was about originally: a local coffee house that garnered a loyal following and community. Perhaps the ‘powers that be’ at Starbucks understand that the local and individualized is more attractive to a community of people than a chain corporation practically synonomous with McDonalds and other fast food joints. Starbucks does try to give off the sense that it’s all about the finer points in life. Community is one of those finer points.

Ultimately, Starbucks creating community around its specialty coffees and shops through the individualization of its cafes, through its efforts in community involvement, and through its social media programs means that Starbucks is getting to know its customers in a far more intimate manner than ever before. And if Starbucks knows its customers better, it can serve them better, and in the end, better secure their loyalties, all while making the world a better place. What a novel concept!

Up next week: Lululemon: Cultivating Community or Cultivating Cult?

You probably agree that we can’t afford the wait of turning people into environmentalists one person at a time. A Seattle-based non-profit understands that it makes more sense to inspire whole communities to move progressively along the sustainability spectrum.

OUT for Sustainability was established last year as a platform for catalyzing community-based environmental and social change. The audience addressed comprises only 3-10% (or more…) of the American population. But once this community turns green, the US is meaningfully closer to being the country environmentalists everywhere want it to be. The non-profit aims to galvanize queers who have learned that the successful organizational efforts paying off in increased legal protections and benefits can be applied to improving environmental challenges we all face.

And data show promise for attitudinal shift within communities. A 2009 survey supports that 21% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) adults identify as “environmentalists,” while only 13% of heterosexuals do. Other survey results show that LGBT adults feel a deeper sense of accountability for environmental impact (see graphs below).

"I Believe..."

Thought and emotional leadership via the web is likely accountable for some of this intra-community conversion. One example is the It’s Easy Being Green column of The New Gay, an online collection of blogs on LGBT-related topics. Subjects range from the need to increase corporate efforts targeting queer communities with eco-product advertising to vegetarian recipes and cooking demos. While the author voices occasionally feeling like an anomaly rather than the norm as a gay environmentalist, Web 2.0 is a proven change agent.

Which community might you help lead along the sustainability spectrum?

By Regan Kohlhardt

Re-Vision Labs Fellow

Just in time to whip up for your Christmas dinner this week, here are the last four ingredients for our delicious, home-made pot of Community! See last week’s post for the first four.

Ingredient #5 Governance

Communities need leadership. I read an interesting blog post a while back that touched on this particular topic, and I thought the author had a good point about community leaders self-selecting themselves. Here is what she had to say:

Community leaders emerge over time as they continue to take proactive roles in the community and rally other members to their causes. These leaders are community members and they self-select because of their interests – not because they are told to do so…although they can be encouraged to do so.

To read the whole post which also has some interesting insight on essential elements of community, see “Social Media is Not Community,” The Social Organization.

Governance helps support a community’s common goal or interest. Community leaders take the community’s conversations, ideas, and aspirations and consolidate them into some sort of holistic plan for the community. They facilitate cooperation among the members and serve as examples in their fervor for the community goal. They provide the reliability and stability needed to keep a community thriving.

An interesting development to note with regard to community Governance, is the increased member participation in leadership decision-making that social media and the internet have incorporated into modern communities. The voices and thoughts of community members have always been respected by community leaders, but with social media and the internet, participants have a much larger and louder voice.

Check out the White House’s movement towards open government as well as the City of Seattle’s movement towards open government for examples of members of the national and state-level communities having a voice in the ‘grand plan’ of their communities.

Ingredient #6 Networking

Our next tasty ingredient to add to our Community dish is: Networking

Communities cannot exist in isolation. They would die off if that were the case. Instead, prospering and growing communities are those that deliberately work to network and bring in a constant flow of new community members and support.

Networking also allows communities to form alliances with other communities to pursue a common goal. Two heads are better than one, right? Multiple communities working together towards one goal are logically better than multiple communities working separately.

This is actually a problem we see a lot in development work around the world. Multiple organizations will work to achieve similar goals (say improving maternal health care), but they don’t always work together. Why not? Any body else have thoughts on this?

As with community Governance, community Networking is also something that has been dramatically affected by social media and the internet. There’s a video which has run rampant on Youtube called Did You Know that says it takes only 2 years to reach a market audience of 50 million using Facebook. That’s compared to 38 years using the radio. Communities have fully taken advantage ofsocial media and the web to increase their outreach efforts to more people than they ever could have reached before the internet.

Ingredient #7 and #8 Design and Story

And here we have the last two ingredients for our Community recipe: Design and Story.

Design and Story help to give communities an identity, a soul if you will, to display to both its members and the rest of the world. They help communicate and outline the mission and goal behind every community.

Thinking about Design specifically, a community, whether it manifests itself on a webpage, on an online forum, in a physical gathering place, or just as an idea, needs some sort of ‘designed’ appeal. Playing on the whole recipe analogy, any recipe that produces awesome-tasting food is great, but if it looks like crap (to be explicit), nobody’s going to want to eat it. The same goes for community.

Obviously for online forums and webpages, Design is in the appearance of the page, in the way it communicates the mission statement of the community and in the ease with which community members can voice their thoughts and partake in the discussion.

With physical spaces, you could say its the feng shui of the space. Does it look like a kind of space that can accurately represent the community it accommodates?

Lastly, with ideas, are these ideas ordered and meaningful? Is there Design behind them or are they just a random shmattering of thoughts? This is basic common sense. How can you gather a group of people without properly communicating your ideas?

Story really gives community a personal aspect, something that people can hang onto and take to the heart. Tales that delineate the creation of a community, the trials and tribulations of a community, and the triumphs of community can communicate to the fullest extent what that community is all about. Stories lay bare the character of community, and this in turn, attracts people to it. They formulate trust, bonds, and ‘me-too!’ experiences that pull in individuals far more securely than mere facts ever could.

People like character, and they prize individuality. Design and Story bring the character and individuality of a community to the front. More importantly, they speak to the raw emotions we have as humans and successfully court our loyalties.

Remember hearing this fable when you were little? Now that is a tale of cooking up community if I ever heard of one...

Simmer over Medium Heat and Serve Hot!

There we have it! The 8 Essential Ingredients for a hot pot of Community: Commons, Ecology, Food, Economy, Governance, Networks, Design, and Story.

I would appreciate any comments from all of you readers on these 8 Ingredients. Community can be a tricky potion to concoct because it does establish itself in so many unique and different ways. Are these 8 Ingredients absolutely essential? Are some more important that others? Are there some additional additives that would make this recipe even more enticing?

Let me know your thoughts and good luck with the cooking!

Meet Oikocredit: one of the most progressive, transparent, community-driven and mission-driven microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world, and a global leader in the microfinance movement. Microfinance is making small loans of less than $200 to the working poor in developing countries, where these loans are used to establish or expand small businesses that generate additional income for families.  While the microfinance industry has exploded in the last 10 years, Oikocredit has maintained its commitment to the original values that inspired the creation of the organization in 1975 – transparency, authenticity, community engagement and ultimately the mission to end global poverty.

As a pioneer in the field of microfinance, Oikocredit has demonstrated the importance of extending financial services to poor communities by working with non-traditional micro-lending organizations such as non-govermental organizations (NGOs), and credit and savings cooperatives. These are more risky than traditional MFIs, but they often provide a vital connection serving the poorest of the poor.  Even at the leadership levels, a commitment to community empowerment is reflected in Oikocredit’s Board of Directors, as many board members harken from the Global South. Other microfinance institutions (MFIs) have begun sacrificing social contributions to focus on maximizing profits; these organizations justify their high-interest loans to the poor using the rationale that their rates still undercut those charged by loan sharks. Read Business Week’s coverage of the “ugly side of microlending” here.

In the midst of the MFI explosion in the past decade, Oikocredit and other “good guys” in the industry are realizing the necessity for community engagement and transparency. Industry transparency will help Oikocredit’s 32,000 investors understand the value of investing in low-income entrepreneurs. Specifically, Oikocredit is committed to social performance metrics, not simply the financial bottom line. Their use of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) allows the organization to measure poverty in communities and respond directly to entrepreneurs’ needs, helping them to move quickly into stronger financial footing.

Over this past year, Re-Vision Labs has developed a unique partnership with Oikocredit.  Oikocredit’s commitment to its core values spoke to Re-Vision Labs. Recognizing Oikocredit’s unwavering commitment to transparent social and financial sustainability, RVL is pleased to align efforts in order to tell Oikocredit’s story to a broader audience, empower microfinance investors to be change-makers, and strengthen the industry through the development of standards. Together, RVL and Oikocredit are designing a grassroots movement to support world-changing ideas.

Click here to see the online products we’ve created together, and to learn more about Oikocredit in the US.

By Regan Kohlhardt

Re-Vision Labs Fellow

One of my favorite concoctions to mix up this time of year when the weather has just gone from cool to cold and when Christmas is right around the corner is a delicious, steaming, creamy pot of Community. Hmmm. Tasty stuff.

The key to pulling a good batch of community together is to make sure you get the ingredients right. You can always tamper a little bit with the amount of each ingredient you put in, sometimes you can even throw in a little something extra – sprinkles, for example, can be quite good – but it’s important to get the basics right.

The recipe that you’re about to read is one I snagged directly from the Founding Partners of Re-Vision Labs. They are, after all, master chefs at cooking up community.  They should know what goes in the pot!

So with no further ado (because I know there’s some hungry community eaters out there), we’ll start with the first four Essential Ingredients for Community and why they’re important for best batch of Community ever cooked up. Next week, we’ll address the last four.

Ingredient #1: Commons

In days of old, Place was used instead of Commons. This being because, traditionally, community was thought of as being associated with a specific geographic location. Place used to be the initial, first ingredient in making Community.

Obviously, recipes evolve, and usually for the better. Our recipe for Community has evolved to call for Commons now instead of Place, an improved modification in my opinion.

Commons is important to Community because it provides a gathering point for people to   be drawn to. It can be anything from a physical building, a ski hill, or a sacred site to an online forum or Facebook Fan Page. It could even be an idea, something that has no physical bearing at all. The important part is that the Commons must be accessible to all community members, something that they can share with one another as equals.

Ideally, the Commons should be a pleasant place for the community members to gather.  Logically, if it’s a nice place, or a well-designed forum, or a well-thought out idea, it will be more appealing to community members.

More importantly, Commons should have character. Commons that can’t be differentiated one from the next will not produce the perfect Community. They should have some element that separates them from other Commons and makes them stand out.

Ingredient #2 Ecology

Ecology goes very much hand-in-hand with the Commons. Ecology, defined by Google, is “the environment as it relates to living organisms.” A Commons without living organisms would be a very bland Commons indeed. So we add Ecology (which includes  living organism), and we should get a complex reaction: the organisms will interact with one another and their Commons effectively giving us Ecology.

Ecology is an integral part to our batch of Community for many of the same reasons that Commons is important. If people, assuming those are the living organisms we add to our mix, do not interact with their commons or with each other, Community will most definitely NOT be the end of the result.

Community takes collaboration, interaction, and communication to taste properly like Community. Ecology gives us this.

One common mistake people make is to forget that Ecology does include ALL living organism, not just people. It should therefore be noted, that a properly made Community is one which manifests healthy relationships between people and other living organisms occupying the same commons like plants or animals.

A good model to demonstrate the necessity of a healthy Ecology for a robust Community is Garret Hardin’s infamous Tragedy of the Commons Model.

Say our Commons was a nice, grassy field, and that a community of herders and cattle lived around that Commons. It is in every individual herder’s individual interest to put as many cattle as possible on that little parcel of land, but if each herder does this, then the Commons will eventually be degraded and become utterly useless to all (check out Wikipedia for a longer overview of Tragedy of the Commons).

If one man has to sacrifice his own profit for the good of the group, he won't do it!

Incorporating a healthy Ecology into our batch of Community means that this would not happen. Presumably, the members of the Community are interested in preserving their Commons, so they will not act out of self interest and destroy what has brought them together in the first place. Ultimately, poor Ecology results in a destroyed Commons which in turn results in a destroyed, and foul-tasting, foul-smelling Community.

Ingredient #3 Food (Optional, but recommended!)

Ah yes, well, Food is usually an important ingredient to any recipe. It’s also incredibly important for Community! Food brings people together like nothing else does in the world.

However, just like with our Commons and Ecology ingredients, if you have sub-par Food for your community, you will have a sub-par community. I’m sorry, but Community just doesn’t come with your Happy Meal; it comes served on a real plate in a real, family-owned restaurant, serving real, local food.

As noted above, Food is not a required ingredient though it is highly recommended. There are numerous Online Communities that don’t incorporate the element of Food in their ingredient list, yet they still have well-made communities.

Ingredient #4 Economy

All Communities need some sort of Economy to survive. Money does make the world go round after all. The key with Community Economies is that the focus is not just on making money. The one-shot track for making money brings Hardin’s Tragedy model back to mind and does nothing more for our Community medley than undermine our very first ingredient: the Commons.

A Community Economy is an economy which seeks to keep funds within the community, to give back to the community, and to help it grow. This means that individuals will not alway come out on top in terms of monetary resources. Shopping locally often means paying more for your goods. However, shopping locally also means that a positive externality is produced in the form of a well maintained, well-put-together community! So in a sense, people aren’t just paying for their goods, they’re paying to support and maintain their Commons and promote a healthy Ecological balance.

To Be Continued….

We currently have mixed together Commons, Ecology, Food, and Economy. Each of these elements plays an integral role in making a Community attractive to community members, much like a tasty treat is attractive to hungry children.  All that’s left to add are: Governance, Design, Networks, and Story. Check back next week for the grand finale of the recipe!