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There’s a misfit in each of us [entrepreneurs], and it’s the most delicate, precious thing that we have.
Dan Pallotta in “Misfit Entrepreneurs” on his Harvard Business Review blog.  What a wise, compassionate thinker this man is.  His book, Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential, is also now available in paperback!

Work as a charity: water Development Intern

In under 4 years, supporters of charity: water have funded 2600+ projects in 17 countries that bring clean water to over 1.2 million people.  If you’re a graduate student in New York City with experience in fundraising, apply for this internship immediately. 

If every charity was run with more of a business focus, the world would be a better place. We’ve created what I consider to be a hybrid organization—the best of charity merged with the best of business.
John Wood, a former senior executive at Microsoft before founding Room to Read in 2000.  Find out more about the organization’s model in Fortune Tech’s “How technology can help spread literacy”.

What is Summer Like for a Climate Corps Fellow?

Now in its third year, the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps—in partnership with Net Impact—has matched 51 students from leading business schools with companies looking to develop actionable energy efficiency plans.  

Last year, Climate Corps identified $54 million in energy savings at leading corporations. 

While the results of this year’s have yet to be seen, I recommend following the progress of the fellows on the EDF blogSome very interesting reads. 

Thanks to EDF and Net Impact for actively sharing this knowledge. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing this program continue to grow over the next few years. 

A Test to Identify Entrepreneurs

“The Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, a branch of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for International Development, has devised a psychometric test to help banks in emerging markets easily screen loan applicants. The goal is to spur lending to small and midsize companies, a vital sector often underfunded in the developing world.”

Interesting initiative coming from The Blind Project called Biographe,  a new sustainable style brand that helps victims and survivors of the commercial sex trade in Southeast Asia.

They’re holding a design contest that runs until September 15, 2010.  You read stories of victims on their website, choose the story you want to represent, become their “biographer” by telling their story through design, and submit your entry. 

Winning designs will then be turned into t-shirts and sold, with profits being reinvested into the victims’ communities.  Check it out!

The best way to combat poverty is to help each person make money and stand on their own.

Tadashi Yanai, Chairman and President of Fast Retailing, which owns the Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo.

“Japan’s casual clothing brand Uniqlo and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday they would create a textiles company in Bangladesh to help poor women gain financial independence.

Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, plans to invest some 100,000 dollars to set up Grameen Uniqlo Ltd in October.

The new company will source materials and make garments in Bangladesh—including women’s underwear, school uniforms and blankets.

It plans to hire up to 2,000 local people within three years, drawn mainly from the eight million borrowers of Yunus’ ‘microcredit’ Grameen Bank, and train them to become financially independent by selling clothes.”

Read the official press release here

[Teach for America] is, I’m told by some recent grads, one of the coolest things you can do after college.
What They’re Doing After Harvard” from the Wall Street Journal.  Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp explains why her program beats working on Wall Street. 
New York Times has a great new business case study, “Can Honest Tea Say No to Coke, Its Biggest Investor?“  Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman—and other business owners—talk about how Honest Tea can stay true to its brand while it tries to maintain its relationship with Coke.  Zoom

New York Times has a great new business case study, “Can Honest Tea Say No to Coke, Its Biggest Investor?“  Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman—and other business owners—talk about how Honest Tea can stay true to its brand while it tries to maintain its relationship with Coke. 

Give to Seth Godin's charity: water Birthday Fundraising Page

Marketing guru Seth Godin just turned 50 years old.  But instead of sending him gifts, he’d rather you make a donation to charity: water

Here’s his pitch:

If you go to the special page they created and buy a well for a village that doesn’t have one, you can supply clean water to two people for twenty years. If just a thousand of the readers of this blog do it, we could alter the lives of tens of thousands of people for a generation, and we could do it in just one day.  I’m not asking you to do it as a favor to me (that would be silly) but as a favor to you. Because it feels good and because $50 is a screaming bargain—100% goes directly to the well, zero overhead.

He set a $50,000 goal, and he’s already more than halfway there by the time of this posting.  Read more about his decision