Non-Profits: November 2008 Archives

The Next Generation of the Ndugu Model - The What???

Jake De Grazia, on his blog, 'A More Perfect Market,' wrote a cool post about 'Epic Change,' an organization that "helps people in need share their stories to acquire resources that will change their lives."

Jake says, "Epic Change is part of the next generation of the Ndugu Model." It's good to remember that there are other organizations creatively leveraging social media and other technology to make it easier for us to connect with people in need around the world.

So what is the Ndugu model? Jake continues...

"If anyone has ever seen About Schmidt you'll remember Ndugu. In the movie, Warren Schmidt, a newly retired mid-western widower played by Jack Nicholson, is up late one night watching TV, when he sees an ad for a sponsor a child type charity. Searching for purpose in his post-career, post-marriage life, he makes an impulse donation and, days later, gets a thick envelope in the mail telling him that he has adopted Ndugu, a Tanzanian first grader. The package encourages him to contact Ndugu directly and leads him to write a stream of hysterically and touchingly long letters about the trials, tribulations, life, and legacy of Warren Schmidt.

So. The Ndugu Model: direct support to individuals, philanthropy brought to life by human contact and return interaction. This being the '90s, instead of letters, checks, print photographs, and drawings in the mail, we have video streaming and blogs and mobile devices beaming OMG LOLs across continents.

And, either way, whether in its old sponsor a child form or in its more scalable online instantiations, the model's good. It pulls small donors deep into causes. It educates. It inspires. It engages. It reminds everyone that we can all contribute; we can all make meaningful change."

Jake then goes to say that "Kiva deserves a lot of credit for putting the online Ndugu Model on the map."