Go Here Now: Brooklyn's CharitySub Reimagines Philanthropy

We're always on the lookout for new initiatives and ideas that fit into the Future of Money infographic that we shared back in December. In February, for instance, we told you about Carrotmob's "buycotts." Now we're thrilled to highlight a new website that's based right here in Brooklyn.

Straight out of Carroll Gardens, CharitySub makes supporting good causes simple and easy. Each month the website picks three worthy nonprofits that are working toward similar goals. Then its subscribers, who chip in a modest $5 per month, get to choose which of those organizations receive their money. This month's "Working Dogs" theme, for instance, offers the option of supporting Angel On A Leash's therapy dogs, Canine Partners for Life's service dogs or Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue.

To make sure that its subscribers' money will be put to good use, CharitySub carefully selects its charities based on their impact, fiscal responsibility and transparency. It also provides subscribers with statistics on their giving and shareable illustrated reports on how charities have used their donations.

By automating the giving process, taking care of the research and footwork and pooling funds to make a bigger impact, CharitySub is an exciting and inspiring example of how the power of emerging economic systems can be harnessed for good. The only hard part will be deciding which of those cute and heroic pups to support.

-- John Ruscher

Infographic: NYCEDC Compares New York Real Estate And Art Sales

 

When it comes to art and residential real estate, it's not surprising that New York is home to many eye-popping sales in both markets. Though this chart from NYCEDC's February 2012 Economic Snapshot shows just how evenly those numbers match up side-by-side.

For instance, if you emptied your piggy bank last year and discovered that you had saved up around $40 million, you could have acquired Gustav Klimt's "Litzlberg am Attersee," which sold at Sotheby's for $40.44 million, or Andy Warhol's first self portrait, which went for $38.4 million at Christie's. If you were more in the mood for a new pad rather than a masterpiece, you could have set yourself up in the Harkness Mansion or 834 Fifth Avenue with a few mil to spare!

For a more a closer look at these findings, check out this NYCEDC's podcast featuring 3rd Ward writing teacher Grace Bello and Steven Giachetti of NYCEDC's Research and Analysis team. "If you look at it on a per square foot basis, obviously art is far more expensive than even the most prestigious apartments in New York City," Giaccetti says.

Here are a few other fascinating statistics from that snapshot:

• New York accounted for about one third of all global sales at Christie's and Sotheby's in 2011.

• NYC is also home to more than half of all art sales in the United States.

• Local auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips De Pury racked up a whopping $1.1 billion in sales of contemporary and impressionist art in just two weeks last November.

-- John Ruscher

Go Here Now // Carrotmob Chooses Carrots Over Sticks, "Buycotts" Over Boycotts

If you were excited by the infographic about The Future of Money that we posted back in December, you'll likely also share our enthusiasm for Carrotmob, an idea that fits right into that chart's "new lenses of wealth." Before you go any further, hit play on the video above for a quick and entertaining look at what it's all about.

Carrotmob takes the age-old concept of a boycott and flips it on its head. Rather than gathering together a group of people who promise to withhold money from a business to bring about change, Carrotmob proposes having a group pledge positive financial support for a business to achieve the same end. "We are called Carrotmob because we use the 'carrot' instead of the 'stick,'" the Carrotmob website explains. The reasoning? "In a boycott, everyone loses. In a Carrotmob, everyone wins."

In a recent feature on food and consumer choice, BBC 4 highlighted Carrotmob's "buycotts" as an example of a "growing attitude about technology and the desire to make things happen." Founder Brent Schulkin described how he started Carrotmob after noticing that boycotts don't really connect with how businesses make decisions. "What really matters to a business is money, spending, new customers, marketing and that sort of thing," he says.

On the Carrotmob website you can explore past campaigns that people have successfully organized across the globe. Focusing on convincing businesses to make environmentally friendly and sustainable changes, they range from asking a Bangkok grocer to stop using plastic bags to a Park Slope hardware store that agreed to use 22% of the money spent by Carrotmob shoppers on energy improvements. 

You can log into the Carrotmob website and share your own completed campaign, and soon you'll also be able to create and promote new ones. Start thinking of the carrots you and your network can dangle.

-- John Ruscher

Required Reading // The New Sincerity: Fortnight Journal On Rethinking Industry In America

At 3rd Ward, we're always thrilled to encounter people who share similar visions and passions. It's not surprising then that we were quite taken by this article published by Fortnight Journal back in December.

Written by Brooklyn-based furniture designer Timothy Aaron Huston, "A New Sincerity," reflects upon the burgeoning movement toward products and goods that are locally-sourced, hand-crafted and environmentally friendly. He explores the forces behind this shift, including a rejection of the globalism that has dominated the past few decades:

Many people close to my age are idealistic, and do not like the stifling office environments that economists and industry leaders expected them to inhabit. Not content with prefab cubicle culture—like the rebellious Generation X, yet rejecting sarcasm and irony—we love seeing how things are made. There is a sense of wonder in this for those of us raised on processed food, far away from the farms, workshops and factories that make things. You cannot see process in a McDonalds, Wal-Mart or IKEA. My generation wants to see the plants grown, feed the animals, knit the socks, and sand the wood. We desire to get as close to the process as possible.

He also talks about the many benefits of opting for such a local, hands-on approach to industry, from higher quality materials and service to the ability to meet LEED standards and the face-to-face relationships and interactions that that such an environment fosters.

Ultimately, Huston concludes, this growing movement revolves around one word:

"Respect" is a key word in the newer business model of my generation. We strive to be well respected, and to be respectful to those with whom we work, as well as the environment around us.

We celebrate how something is made, and that we can make good things! Honest materials are respectfully and ethically procured. Products are crafted for a receptive and engaged audience who experience resonance. This is our new sincerity.

Couldn't have said it better ourselves. Make sure to read the entire article and check out the rest of Fortnight, a daily online journal that "uses multimedia content to document the promise of the millennial generation."

-- John Ruscher

INFOGRAPHIC // The Future of Money In The New Economy

We're always excited to come across some good chart porn, but we particularly love this infographic, as it addresses many of the innovative ideas and emerging systems that we champion here at 3rd Ward. 

Put together by the Emergence Collective, a collaborative platform started by Berlin-based creative studio KS12, The Future of Money aggregates "research on emerging marketplaces, platforms, tools, initiatives and opportunities for the new economy," including coworking, resource and knowledge sharing, exchange platforms, open innovation and more.

Click image to enlarge or click here for a PDF.

After the jump we've highlighted examples of a few of the different initiatives featured in the infographic so you can explore them on your own.

Barter Networks: Swap.com - A global swap marketplace.

Co-Production: Open Design City - A collaboration space that "encourages the sharing of tools, knowledge, ideas and skills."

Crowdfunding: Cofundit.com - A website that connects people looking to finance projects with potential investors.

Crowdsourcing: Mechanical Turk - An Amazon.com company that lets businesses and developers utilize a workforce of any size while at the same time letting workers earn money by working on HITs (human intelligence tasks) anywhere, anytime.

Digital Currencies: Bitcoin - An open source currency system that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments.

Group Buying: 1bog.org - A website that helps users to reduce the cost of green home improvements by purchasing products as a group.

Open Innovation: One Billion Minds - A website that allows you to launch a challenge that others can help solve or lend your knowledge and skill to solve someone else's challenge.

-- John Ruscher