service

I’m so excited to share the news that Maria Eitel, president of the Nike Foundation and an Acumen Fund advisor, has been asked by President Obama to become the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Maria’s nomination was announced yesterday during an event with President Obama, the First Lady, Vice President Biden, Sen. Kennedy and others, as the President signed the Serve America Act.

We are so proud to work with Maria and have learned a great deal from her. The work at Nike, focused on girls, is important for the world – and The Girl Effect is one of the best examples I’ve seen of social marketing. If you’ve not seen it, watch it now! I know the Foundation will miss Maria, and at the same time, I believe Maria is uniquely positioned to lead this important work for the US and the world. This next generation of young people is an extraordinary one – finding opportunities to link them to real public service opportunities, not only in the US, but hopefully globally as well, could really change the world.

I know you all join me in wishing Maria our warmest congratulations and support. Hooray Maria!

This is a terrific blog post from our Advisor and great friend Seth Godin who provides all kinds of ideas for getting involved and doing something worthwhile on Martin Luther King Day. Indeed, he provides thoughts for daily giving and he’s right - if we all gave an hour a day - or even a week - we could transform the world — especially if we did it in ways that amplified important voices, leveraged our resources or enhanced an organization’s sustainability.

Seth suggests we think about highlighting leaders and innovators. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about heroes, how we choose them, how we make them, and how and why we follow them. So many of the leaders who’ve most impressed me are the truly unsung heroes and include the customers we serve, the entrepreneurs we support, the teammates, board and partners with whom I’m privileged to work. What can each of us do to bring especially those voices who never get heard to a larger public? My instinct says that we’re getting readier to listen daily, and the time is now to bring forth visionaries who can see a path through the markets that too often ignore the poor and traditional charity that too often sets expectations too low for the poor.

We’d be interested to read your favorite stories of people who have little or nothing and yet manage to survive with dignity and grace, against the odds. Each time I read such a story, it redoubles my commitment to working toward a world where every single one of us really does have the chance to solve our own problems and make our own decisions.