Joyce Meng

It’s been a while since my last update – 2011 finished with much needed rest and relaxation at home, while I’m ushering in 2012 with fresh expectations and anticipation for new adventures and epiphanies. Given that so much time has transpired, I’ll list the most eventful highlights over the last few months (in no particular order).

Thanksgiving at home: Since discovering a newfound passion for cooking, my dad has mastered the art of turkey roasting. As my little sister has taken a part time job at Whole Foods, we had the great joy of relishing a succulent, all-natural turkey – perhaps the best I’ve ever eaten. My little sister now drives regularly (unlike me who has a driver’s license only in name…heavens forbid that I’m actually on the road), so we left our parents at home to do our own midnight excursion for Black Friday and a (special) movie with much tradition! Dave also came to visit us for the weekend, joining us for some tasty Peking Duck and a mind-boggling visit to the Marine Corp Museum. After pulling a Flags of our Fathers marathon earlier this year (read the book, saw the movie, and then watched its compliment Letters from Iwojima), I had a better appreciation of Marine Corp history, notwithstanding all that I’ve learned from covering defense as an investor. At the museum, we even met a veteran of the Iwojima, one of the few survivors of the famous 28^th battalion!

Reflections on Givology: In November, we published our 2010-2011 annual impact review that highlighted our accomplishments over the past 3 years. Looking back, I’m really proud to see us grow from just an idea to a vibrant online community of 2,500+ donors and 44 grassroots partners, raising over $225,000 to help over 2,800 students in 23 countries! We underwent a couple key core team member transitions, but I’m very confident of my new team in place and excited to see where 2012 will take us. As a 100% volunteer-driven organization, it’s inevitable that people move on as they face personal transitions, but the beauty of our network is that our supporters remain a body of knowledge and expertise we can draw ideas and inspiration from. We’re launching our Spirit of Giving campaign with the intention of publishing a book at the end of next year. In addition, with funding from the M. Night Shymalan Foundation, we’re undergoing a substantial web re-design to improve our features and engage users more fully. In December, See Beautiful selected us as their featured non-profit ($1,030 raised for the Kakenya School!), and we had chapters & individual donors organize creative fundraisers within their own communities. As a personal reflection looking back, I’ve learned so much from experimenting with ideas and initiatives on Givology – testing what works and what doesn’t (right now I’m focused on analytics and social media engagement). Moreover, in building and growing Givology, I’ve discovered so much about the meaning of teamwork, community, and friendship. Given the length of my working day, it’s sometimes hard to go back home to a cluttered inbox of unread emails and ever-growing list of tasks, but when I think about our network of partners, volunteers, team members, and supporters, I feel such a high sense of gratification and inspiration that motivates me so strongly from within.

January 28^th “Night of Promise” Event at Marquee: The NYC chapter of Givology has expanded with new members and exciting ambitions! On January 28^th, we’re holding a joint event with More than Me to raise funding for the construction of a community center for girls in the slums of West Point, Liberia. Since meeting the More than Me team at the Ford Global Test Drive in Madrid, I’ve been so impressed with their complete dedication to the mission and impact (check out the video below). Hopefully, we’ll make a dent of at least $20,000 to give more than 500 girls a safe place to stay off the streets and engage them with extracurricular activities & educational seminars for empowerment. In addition to a keynote speech by the founder of More than Me, we also have Skip, Katie, and Lorenzo Borghese from the Italian Royal Family in attendance. Notably, Lorenzo Borghese recently starred in ABC’s “The Bachelor” – hopefully, this will help us get more media coverage! To reserve your spot today, check out our event website and purchase advance tickets today to guarantee entrance to this unforgettable night!

More Than Me from What Took You So Long? on Vimeo.

Columbia Social Enterprise Bootcamp: I had a chance to present at the Columbia Social Enterprise Bootcamp for the second time, which was a lot of fun! The event had so many inspiring and phenomenal speakers, from the founder of Seventh Generation to key investors at the Acumen Fund. Most notably, the seminars have such an incredible level of energy since nearly all the participants have an idea in mind or have started their own enterprises already. As such, the presentations featured practical advice and hands-on experience.  If you’d like a copy of my presentation, please email me.

Life in NYC: With the winter more benign than anticipated, I’ve taken full advantage of wandering the streets of Manhattan with an occasional excursion to the other boroughs. With the city awash with Christmas lights and cheer in anticipation for the holiday season, I delighted in just walking with no particular aim. After a full year of living in Manhattan, sometime around late November, I suddenly felt like a native New Yorker. I’ve grown to truly love the city – the collision of cultures, amazing restaurants, world-class museums and exhibitions, never-ending bustle, and endless possibilities of things to do, all accessible by public transportation. Notably, I highly recommend the New York Historical Society – what a great introduction to the rich history of the city, packed with photographs, mementos, and odd curios of the past to the present!

Winter break at home: For the first time since joining Goldman, I took a week off for vacation. Rather than travel to an exotic destination, I chose to go home to fully enjoy being with my dear parents and sister. As I spend almost the entire year looking forward to Christmas, I delighted in giving my family the gifts I bought them and to celebrate all together! My dad had the great idea of taking us to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I was amazed at how they preserved the town and captured the history of its evolution, almost in a similar set-up as colonial Williamsburg with historical buildings to enter and explore. Notably, we learned about John Brown and the polemic of his raid – the debate over his role as either a martyr or violence-loving incendiary. I hope to return to Harpers Ferry for the hiking trails one day, appreciated by Jefferson himself as one of nature’s greatest splendors. The next day, we went to Charles Town casinos (the first casino I’ve ever been to). Grace and I had little interest in gambling, but we sure did enjoy seeing the horses! We didn’t arrive on a race day, but we got up at 6 AM to view the jockeys and trainers practicing with their horses. How beautiful they run (alas, despite the cruelty of their fate after retirement…)! My family then drove up to NYC on Thursday to enjoy being in the city for the remainder of the holiday. I booked a lot of different theatre, dance, and musical extravaganza performances, including Shake, Rattle, and Roll at Tobacco Road, a piano duel at one of the last remaining dive bars in Manhattan, which was a lot of fun! In treating my family to tasty food and fun events & sights, I had a really terrific time. In continuing with our family tradition, we wrote our New Year resolutions together and discussed our hopes for 2012! Grace stayed an extra day, which made me very happy! We went to Mitsuwa for some tasty Japanese food and mocha pounding, followed by wandering around town for some of our favorite snacks. Alas, taking a full week off left me refreshed and excited for the opportunities upcoming in 2012. Nothing really beats spending time with my parents and sister.

Actually, the holiday season for me doesn’t end until Chinese New Year. Due to timing, I’m going home early this weekend to celebrate with my family with traditional dumplings and festivities. The year of the dragon will hopefully bring many new exploits! I’m actually heading to Las Vegas right now for CES 2012…really excited about it!

December is just around the corner, and the spirit of goodwill and cheer abounds.  Radio stations won’t stop playing Christmas music, while the high street entices shoppers with lavish holiday displays and sales. Some say the holiday season has gotten quite commercial (we won’t open that debate!), but regardless, the meaning of the holiday spirit remains the same. While not quite on the same scale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation, we all find ourselves opening our hearts a little wider and giving a bit more. And what a difference this makes!

 To celebrate the holidays, we’re asking you to submit to us stories, photos, youtube videos, reflections, artwork, letters, comics, personal essays – basically whatever comes naturally to you – about what giving means to you. As part of our “spirit of giving” campaign that kicks off this December, your submissions will be posted to our project website at http://www.meaningofgiving.org/, shared with our entire network. We know we have incredible partners, supporters, and volunteers within our Givology family– this is the time to let your own personal story shine through and inspire others!

How this works:

1. “What does giving mean to you?” Take the time to think about this question and answer in a way that comes naturally to you, whether it be a personal essay, a photo, youtube video, comic, artwork, or any other medium

2. Email your submission to joyce.meng@givology.org with your name and a short bio of yourself. Or, mail your submission to the Givology team to the address below.

Givology
3732 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6231

3. Your post will go up on www.meaningofgiving.org, and will be tagged up on Givology’s front page at www.givology.org. We’ll tweet and facebook your submission, as well as aggregate it into that week’s newsletter, to be read and enjoyed by our entire network. We’ll contact you about when your post will be featured so you can share it with your friends.

 Why you should participate:

 Everyone has a story to share – there’s so much we can learn from each other and especially during this holiday season, we can draw inspiration from heroes all around us. Small acts of kindness can create a movement of change and we want to give thanks and celebrate YOU!

 In addition to getting your cause and story featured on our website, each week, we’ll let readers vote for the post that truly inspires them. The weekly winner will receive a special surprise from Givology!

Our intent is to aggregate all submissions into a publishable e-book to be shared among our community, capturing the spirit of volunteerism and giving.

My quarter-century birthday came and passed in the company of good friends. Despite the hectic lifestyle as expected of the “city that never sleeps”, the wonderful aspect of life in New York City is that you never run out of interesting activities to do. After a summer of wanting to go, I finally had a chance to visit the famous Bronx Zoo. Teeming with strollers and families, I found the zoo rather crowded, but that did not detract from the experience of seeing some of my favorite animals. I enjoyed the tiger exhibit greatly, along with the polar bears, mouse house, reptile house (brings back memories of high school!), and the giraffes, among many other animals. The most interesting fact was that there used to be 20 million buffalo roaming the United States before overzealous settlers killed them in mass quantities to near extinction – herds used to be 1 mile wide by 4 miles long!  We saw the famous baby cobra that escaped the reptile house (she was clearly the most hyperactive within the exhibit), and I even saw my favorite naked mole rat colonies. There were at least several types of mongoose at the zoo, but alas, no cobra vs. mongoose showdown…

Through Goldman Sach’s Community Teamworks program, I had a chance to volunteer for a day at Three Sisters Farm in New Jersey in a “Pony Power / Horses for Heroes” service project. Having never been around horses, at first, I felt a bit anxious about my own ability to contribute, but the day passed affably and comfortably. For the first half of the day, we worked with severely disabled children from a local high school, leading them around their horses for both mental stimulation and physical exercise for core muscles. For the latter half of the day, PTSD veterans came in from a nearby homeless veterans shelter to work with the horses, using the animals as a valve for relief, self-expression, and vocational training. Working with these two very disparate groups opened my eyes – both demographics don’t intermingle much with conventional society, existing within their own kind. The children seemed to enjoy the ride greatly in the moment, although they demonstrated little ability to recall their own experience just minutes after it ended. The veterans found comfort in the horses – in fact, some of them had owned horses before joining the war effort! In working with the staff of the farm, I learned a lot about taking care of horses, their personalities and tendencies, and their relationship with humans. The premise of Three Sisters Farm is to own donated horses for therapeutic uses – both exercise (insurance reimburses) and also psychotherapy. As much as I enjoyed the visit, I doubted the overall scalability of the effort, as horses are very expensive to maintain ($8,000+ per year) and the labor-intensity to conduct therapy sessions safely is significant (for each rider, 3 volunteers had to provide security and guidance, let alone the overall trainer). Even at a breakeven cost to non-profits and schools, Three Sisters Farms charges $60 per rider per hour! At this cost, on Givology, we can pay for a year’s worth of tuition for an elementary school student in a developing country! I communicated my views to my fellow program participants, who probably disagreed based on the principle that the project “seems to help”, but given my background in development economics and focus on the return on every dollar spent in aid, I felt that even though the principle was elegant, it’s simply not cost effective. Maybe for wealthy parents who can afford these sessions for their own children on a private basis, perhaps, but certainly a niche market.

Continuing on the theme of “Goldman Sachs Gives Back”, I participated in the Susan Komen Breast Cancer 5k Race that took place in Central Park. Despite being exhausted by traveling (came back late at night from my home in Virginia), I found an incredible, inspiring energy in the thousands that gathered to raise millions for their mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, colleagues, and friends. The sheer amount of goodwill and encouragement really overpowered me. On the backs of the runners, who swarmed Central Park completely, many wore plaques dedicated “in celebration of” and “in memory of” their loved ones, let alone the many survivors who led the pack in a great show of resilience and hope. Many of the runners had immensely personal causes to share, all united with a deep conviction to stamp out breast cancer.

Europe and Greece continue to weigh on investor minds – one day, it’s all doom and gloom, the next, all hope and the possibility of a breakthrough. Work has been progressing nicely – with my first year under my belt, I feel a lot more comfortable in my current position and have found efficiency gains in the speed in which I complete tasks (albeit I have to make sure I stop making careless mistakes)!

Givology progresses well – we have a new joint event with Shining Hope Foundation for December 3^rd in New York City, which we hope will attract a lot of attention and attendance. Shining Hope has done some truly extraordinary work in the Kibera Slums of Kenya, from constructing water towers to help thousands in the community access clean, safe water to starting a school for girls focused on empowerment and achievement. The founders were undergraduates at Wesleyan University – CEO Kennedy Odede who grew up in Kibera himself, and his partner COO Jessica Posner, who now resides full time in Kibera to carry out their program. Both were awarded the prestigious 2010 Echoing Green Fellowship, and have been featured on Do Something, Dell Social innovation Competition, Clinton Global Initiative, among other channels. We’re very proud to support their work, especially since the Kibera School has helped some of the most at-risk girls achieve their aspirations, mobilizing creative curriculum and experienced teachers to deliver inspiration. Without this tuition-free school (the first of its kind within the community), many of these girls would have turned to prostitution or would have married young, continuing the cycle of poverty and abuse. By pooling our resources together, I expect we’ll throw a fantastic event to raise over $25,000 in one night!

Unfortunately, however, several key team members of Givology have departed, so we’re in the process of rebuilding parts of our core team. Alas, it’s the nature of a volunteer-driven organization to go through these cycles. Nevertheless, these team members have shown great dedication in assisting with the transition, and I expect that we’ll have these holes in our organization filled soon. If you are interested in learning more about the roles that are currently available or getting more involved with Givology, please contact me or leave a comment! There’s no one ever too young or old – everyone can join the team, inspire others, lead a project, and ultimately, make a difference!

My birthday in NYC passed in the company of my closest friends. From walking the newly extended High Line in Chelsea and sampling Korean-French tapas at Danji to visiting the Arts & Design Museum at Columbus Circle and gathering with friends for Argentine food, I truly enjoyed my birthday weekend in the presence of my favorite people. And now, I have a new Nook reader to conveniently take with me, and a netbook for all my mobile computing needs! Just yesterday, I received the sweetest cards from my mom and dad, reminding me that I have the strength to overcome my bad days and that regardless of any obstacles or challenges thrown my way, I have my family to count on unconditionally.

On a completely different note, I’m enjoying my new apartment immensely. Compared to the dingy conditions I endured for my first year, this new place feels like palace! My roommates are nice, which is a big plus, and Battery Park City is only a few blocks away for a beautiful and scenic run with the skyline of New Jersey and New York in full view!

As markets go haywire, work dominates my mind, but overall, life progresses nicely. With political gridlock and brinksmanship in Washington over formerly procedural issues such as raising the debt ceiling, our political system has betrayed the confidence of the populace. Unlike Europe in which the Eurozone is structurally challenged by monetary union without fiscal harmonization, the US could easily avoid our self-inflicted pain by shoring up long-term finances through a balance of revenue increases and spending cuts on entitlements, while embarking on an aggressive short term fiscal stimulus to put the economy back on its growth trajectory. Instead, we find ourselves waiting for supercommittee recommendations, with Republicans stoutly pledging against all tax increases (even those on the wealthy) and the sequestration mechanism a looming overhang, disliked by all but seemingly unavoidable to the pessimists and pundits. My own perspective is that with Congressional disapproval rate at 88%, the supercommittee will come up with a package that evades the trigger and at least signals some Congressional progress, but very far from the structural 3.5-4T balanced approach that the country needs to take. Human incentives frighten me as we enter the 2012 presidential election year – given that jobs availability and overall economic conditions clinch the race for the incumbent, Obama and the Democrats have every impetus to boost spending and maximize recovery, while the Republicans…well, they benefit if we just do nothing and conditions deteriorate.

A NYT article revealed that rather than encouraging their senators and representatives to find middle ground after the debt ceiling debacle, ordinary citizens actually spent angry letters to their representatives on why they didn’t stick further to their guns! I’m frightened by some of the rhetoric that floats around – Rick Perry calling Bernanke “treasonous”, certain Tea Party members hankering for a government fiscal default. Even simple things that ought to have required little deliberation – such as passing the 2012 continuing resolution of which whose framework was already negotiated this summer – was derailed as Republicans cut spending for disaster relief programs. At some point, I hope Republicans will just stop saying “no” (even within their own coalition) to come up with middle of the ground solutions critical to our country’s health.

There are a couple of paradoxes on the micro scale that elude me – if you have any answers, please leave a comment to help me figure this out. First, given the Republican supporter base, I am confused as to why Obama’s proposal for taxes on millionaires would appear so repugnant. Sure, the wealthy tend to vote Republican, but they are also a small percentage of the total US population (households worth at least $1m are only 2.7% of the total US population while affluent households worth 500k or above comprise 4.4% of the population) and correspondingly, only a minority of the total Republican voter base. Given that the Republican party appeals strongly to social conservatives (red voting areas tend to be more rural where incomes often are lower), the vast majority of Republican voters would see no benefit from maintaining such low tax levels for the wealthy. On the contrary, raising taxes, shoring up US finances, and investing in supply side infrastructure to stimulate employment and productivity growth critical to US competitiveness would benefit everyone. According to exit polls in the 2010 elections that ushered in a slew of freshmen Tea Party members, those with household incomes less than $50,000 were 37% of the total who voted – a quite significant amount! Furthermore, elderly voting turnout is the highest, which favored Republican House candidates 59% to 38%, even though the elderly tend to subsist on a fixed income and fall into the lower income brackets. Hence, we have the paradox that the broadest group within the Republican base is middle class if not lower, yet remain diametrically opposed to revenue policies that would benefit them.

Yes, the easy answer out is the fact that 1) election campaign contributions come from the wealthy and that 2) on principle, the Republicans oppose all tax increases in the name of limited government. But I find this sort of argument unconvincing. The first argument suggests that the US in essence operates as a plutocracy – where election funding drives policy considerations. Although I’d be blind to claim that elected officials are immune from all influence, given the structure of our democratic system, even if large special interest contributions to elections foster certain views, they cannot mitigate that in the end, electability depends on the majority. In the absence of vote buying, the majority (as well as press & media) will scathingly discipline representatives who transgress too far. After all, in our society, falls from grace attract great popular interest.

As for the second argument, although perhaps elegant in nature, even if Republicans overall dislike tax increases, they must be willing to differentiate between different types of tax increases and their overall effect. As an instrument of policy, it would be willful negligence to claim that categorically, taxes create a pernicious effect. Let’s look some alternative analogies- the same concept applies. For example, killing in principle is wrong, but we make exceptions such as self-defense. Exercise is good for the body, but pushing too hard to the extreme can create damage. In this world, there are no absolutes – everything depends on the context.

Alas, lamenting does little good for this country. There are clear and concrete steps that the US government can take to restore confidence in the country, yet the degree of polarization remains so high that even simple, supposedly uncontroversial actions (such as passing the continuing resolution for which the terms were already supposedly set in early August) require an act of brinksmanship. If only the concern of ordinary citizens can suffice to incentivize the political system in Washington to keep moving forward!

Alas, I find myself falling behind on my blog again. Since my last update, the financial markets have roiled turbulently and my life (for the most part) has taken a step up in pace, but nevertheless enjoyably so.

Starting with Givology, our July 29^th event very well – we had over 300 people attend the event through the course of the night, including our special guests and grassroots partners. By leveraging the contacts at the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation and tapping into a broader network, we raised over $8,000 in profit, of which 100% go to our partner schools! Not having much event planning experience in the past, I took up the seemingly Herculean task of coordinating the logistics for the event. Despite the many hours that went into the event and the late nights spent after work, I found the overall process incredibly rewarding and manageable, especially since I had the unwavering support of the entire NYC chapter, the wider Givology team & MNSF foundation staff, and my dad, mom, and sister. I learned some important lessons from the event, and drew inspiration from our network, the stories of the partners that we featured, and the power of harnessing visual creative arts to motivate action. Notably, we had Valentino Achak Deng fly in from Sudan to speak! Mobilizing a 100% volunteer driven organization is intrinsically difficult since you have to motivate people to give up their free time, but at the same time, the symbolic idealism is a lot more potent – none of us treat Givology as a profession, rather, it is our passion and we’re able to do more with the same amount of funding.

Special thanks to the NYC chapter for their tireless dedication, the MNSF team, our volunteers who did everything from serve food to run the registration desk, the Jubilee Project team, who helped capture our event at Union Square, our grassroots partners who braved the bad weather to come to NYC to support us, our wonderful board members, my family who took a day off from work and school to help me with event prep, and to Joey Kilrain, who painted our “Mark the World” mural. You can view more pictures and event re-cap here: www.marktheworld.org, and I’ve put down the two videos that we featured at the event:

Givology and MNSF Partnership Announcement:

Jubilee Project “Make Your Mark” Video:

Overall, our “Make Your Mark” finale gave us a lot of exposure and momentum for our next campaigns upcoming in the Fall, especially as Jenn and I met with key stakeholders in the ensuing weeks to bring on more supporters and to broaden our network! For example, I had a chance to visit 10×10 studios to discuss potential opportunities of collaboration, spoke with Great Nonprofits about being part of their “back to school” campaign, and I met Lawrence Downes of the New York Times, where we had a really fascinating conversation about the sustainability and oversight of development aid. As I try to update this blog more often, stay tuned for more details about our “Spirit of Giving” campaign and other new initiatives.

As for other updates (in no particular order) in my life:

The day after the event, I went to Baltimore with my family, where we enjoyed strolling Inner Harbor at night and absorbing the cityscape. Our original plan was to attend Otakon, but frankly, I was ill-prepared and exhausted, though seeing everyone else decked out in costumes and having a great time certainly made me wistful.  Regardless, I had a wonderful time exploring the Walters Art Museum and spending time with my parents and grandparents.

Outside of Givology, life continues more or less the same. I’ve discovered that unlike school in which time is episodic in nature, driven by nodes of activity and denouement, working full time is akin to a marathon in which routine becomes reality. Days disappear quickly, and just like that, I’m now on to my second year at Goldman. For the first two weeks of August, markets went haywire on concerns of Europe and fiscal/monetary policy actions in the US – I saw a bull market when I joined the group, now I’m preparing for the opposite.

After many months of my mother’s cajoling, my grandparents came from Taiwan to visit. As Grace studied intra-cultural relations, she had practical exposure at home where collisions of cultural mores erupted in sometimes violent ways. Although I admire my elderly grandparents’ insistence in their independence and capabilities on their own accord, I simultaneously sympathize with my mother’s harried concerns as she rightfully points out that their current lifestyle isn’t healthy (EX: my diabetic grandfather loves to eat simple carbohydrates and white rice). Blissfully rising above occasional household strife, my dad continues to expand his repertoire of recipes and culinary adventures; from falafel to grilled seafood, his most recent escapade brings him to the wonders of the crock pot. In describing his newfound techniques, my dad near waxes poetic about this re-discovered kitchen device. When both he and Grace came to visit me on Grace’s birthday weekend, I had a wonderful experience of sampling my dad’s dishes!

Grace turned 24 a couple weeks ago, and we celebrated in high fashion. I gave her my i-pad, as well as some other gifts of celebration. Alas, no matter how many years past, I will always view Grace has my dear little sister. I really wish she could visit me more often…the world somehow always brighter when Grace is around – the magic of a little sister! We went to the Natural History Museum, watched “Tricks the Devil Taught Me” (ugh), saw Cowboys and Aliens (very odd movie and concept), relished lots of tasty food (though I prefer my dad’s and mom’s home cooking), and enjoyed exploring the streets of New York together.

Hurricane Irene came and passed with much hooblah but little impact. As I live in Zone A, I had to relocate, but nothing really happened in Manhattan as the storm had lost its fervor by Saturday evening. Mayor Bloomberg had shut down the subway system in anticipation of a catastrophe and businesses decided to close, transforming busy Manhattan into a ghost town on a relative basis. All it meant was that I stayed inside and watched a marathon of the Godfather, along with other movies and television – some old fashioned rest and relaxation in a mindless manner!

It’s been a long while since I posted an update – for a myriad of reasons, the last few months have been incredibly busy (nearly to the point of strain), but I now have a much better handle on everything after taking initiative to address some of my challenges. I’ve been at GSIP for about a year now, and have hit a comfortable natural stride. Even though the hours are long and I never stop thinking about our positions, I find the work gratifying.

Notably, the Givology NYC chapter has a major event upcoming (press release posted below) to culminate our “Mark the World” campaign and officially announce our partnership with the M Night Shyamalan Foundation. If you’re interested in attending, please contact me via e-mail as the event is invite-only. Historically, I’ve taken a very hands-off approach for NYC events, but in this case, I’m in charge of all the logistics. As of now, I think I have a good handle on all the moving parts, but we’ll see on the actual day of the event!

Not only do we showcase and auction off the mural that we created at Union Square, we will unveil our Jubilee Project video, feature Valentino Achack Deng in a keynote speech, announce our M. Night Foundation partnership, and display dozens of beautiful photographs and children’s’ artwork from our inspiring partners. We’ll have about 30 partners attending so I’m particularly excited about that!

That brings me to the Union Square event on July 17^th! We had a beautiful mural and a motivated cohort of volunteers to help us collect fingerprints, but the rain dampened our original plans, as you can see below in Stephen’s video. Regardless, I think the overall concept was a resounding success, and we certainly to improve upon our execution sometime in the future to hopefully better weather!

On a different note, I’ve been going home more often to spend time with my sister, parents, and my grandparents who are visiting from Taiwan. One weekend, we went to Hershey Park, where I actually cajoled my mother into a roller coaster, while another weekend, we drove down to Busch Gardens for some incredible shows and theme park rides (even got dad onto Apollo’s Chariot, my favorite roller coaster in the world!). Being with my family makes me happy – they provide me a source of inner rejuvenating strength that shelters and protects me. Maybe that’s why I consider myself a very low-stress person despite all major events ahead. My dad and sister will be driving up for the Griffin event on July 29^th, followed by our annual trip to Otakon, so I’m very excited about that!

In New York, I’ve continued exploring the city and finding new novelties. Grace came up one weekend and we had a really fun time watching Gantz parts 1 & 2 at the Japan Society, about ~ 5 hours of psychologically-intense and emotionally-charged action that left me completely cynical about the world right after. I went to Magdalene the Musical, the New York City aquarium in Coney Island (really fun), the Museum of the Moving Picture in Queens (watched a silent movie complete with a live piano player, tried out voice dubbing, and created my  own stop-motion animation), saw a concert at the Lincoln Center, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to explore Smith street and Williamsburg (in fact we found a shop dedicated to selling wares to superheros and another that specializes in deep frying everything!), among many other fun activities. Givology team members have also visited me sporadically, which has only added to the excitement. Moreover, I’ve met sporadically with my US-based MFE friends from Oxford, including a trip to dim sum in Chinatown – it feels good to keep in touch, to remind myself that the last two years actually did happen (funny how memory works…)

Anyway, I’ll try and do better with keeping my blog updated, especially to keep everyone posted on how our big July 29^th event goes!

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A friend reminded me to post in my journal – it’s certainly been a long while since my last update. Admittedly, compared to my frenzied student life over the last couple of years, professional working life seems rather halcyon. Monday through Friday settles into an unremarkable routine while the weekends offer a short reprieve in the form of a mild adventure in Manhattan (ie: museums, music shows, and walking in unfamiliar boroughs). As a matter of principle, I dislike routine greatly – each day, I long for a catalyst of change, and each day, I end disappointed. Sometimes I feel like the hapless farmer who waits for the rabbit to charge into a tree. I suspect that one day I’ll get sick of waiting.

Next weekend, my little sister is graduating from college, a gentle reminder that “we’re growing up” (surprisingly, my own graduation never struck the chord of moving on as much as hers)! Alas, I cherish my fond memories of visiting her at Virginia Tech, lounging around lazily all day, wandering the quaint town of Blacksburg, and eating surprisingly tasty food at the dining hall. As Grace is now on the cusp of PhD graduate studies in biomedical engineering, a new chapter of her life opens. I’m really proud – she’ll be the first Dr. Meng of the family.

I’m going to highlight some major events over the last two months:

Givology $10,000 for 10 Schools Event: Our NYC chapter really out-did all expectations in a terrific event at the Hudson Hotel. Hundreds of people attended, and we ended up exceeding our fundraising goals. Given the swanky contemporary venue, the event attracted a lot of new attendees!  Not only did we have press and media coverage of the event, but we also had many of our partners send their representatives, which made for interesting conversation.

Givology 60 Second Video Campaign: “How can one person change the world?”, “Why does education matter?” We asked six different thought-provoking questions to leaders in academia, business, and philanthropy.  For the last three weeks, we’ve been releasing a new 60 second video each day featuring inspiring changemakers in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC. As I’ve only recently discovered how powerful YouTube is as a medium, we’ve aggregated all the videos that we filmed here at the campaign headquarters: www.wix.com/givology/60seconds.

Visit to Boston: I finally had a chance to visit my best friend in Boston! Not only did we tour the natural history museum at Harvard and visit her astoundingly souped-up chemistry lab (perfect for a sci fi movie!), I just had a terrific time hanging out with my dear friend from both high school and college. We even painted a cute squirrel with a fluorescent skeleton that shows under UV light…right up Lauren’s alley.

Mom’s Spring Break Visit: A perk of working for the school system is that my mom gets to take a week off for spring break to come and visit me! With my dad in Taiwan (see below), her visit to New York came at a very opportune time. We went to see an incredible Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, enjoyed the cityscape of New York, and shared lots of tasty food together – a perfect mother-daughter weekend. I can’t wait for my mom’s summer break to start – then, she’ll be able to come and visit me more!

Cousin Freddy Gets Married in Taipei: My dad flew back to Taiwan for Freddy’s wedding – the first among my generation. From the e-mails that he sent us each day, my dad truly had a terrific time (almost made me anxious as I worried my dad would want to permanently stay!). Even though he’s not the “eldest” uncle, my dad still got his speech…figures . 

Grandparents Visiting in Virginia: My mom has wanted her parents to come visit us for ages! With my dad flying back from Taiwan, it was a perfect time for him to help our grandparents make the wearisome 18-hour flight. As I’ll be taking Friday off from work to go Grace’s graduation at Virginia Tech, I’m really excited that our extended family will be reunited! Lots of Americans take for granted that they have extended family within reasonable travel distance – for me, having my grandparents visit is a truly special occasion – only happens at most once ever decade, if even that. We’re going to do lots of fun things together!

I haven’t yet posted about my Madrid adventures at the Ford Focus Global Test Drive over President’s Day Weekend yet – looking back, that entire experience feels so surreal, completely extrapolated from my daily reality. Sometimes I wonder, “Was I actually there?” (And then I see the Ford Focus parked near by apartment and remind myself that indeed, I did go to Madrid)

As a re-cap, I left for Madrid on Thursday evening, arriving mid-day on Friday to meet all the other finalists from around the world. With each finalist representing a charity, I met some truly inspiring individuals championing great causes, many of which we are keen to bring on as a Givology partner. For example, we are now partners with More than Me (Liberia) and the Tea Leaf Trust (Sri Lanka), both incredible causes that we are proud to support. In addition, Ford invited many influential bloggers, youtube celebrities, and press & media to cover the event. In speaking with these people, I learned so much about how much more we can do with social media to generate awareness creatively for Givology and to engage our supporter base. Coming back to the states, I have a renewed sense of momentum of where Givology can be.

I spent Friday getting know the participants – since Catherine and I got to Madrid early in the day, we had a chance to go and explore the city. Having not been in Madrid since 2007, I enjoyed visiting some of my old haunts and favorite walking routes through Plaza de España, Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Sol, El Parque Retiro, Paseo del Arte, and the Plaza de Cibeles. With extra time on our hands, Catherine and I also went to see the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which I had unfortunately missed during my time in Madrid. What an extraordinary collection of art, spanning from Renaissance masterpieces of Caravaggio to modern pieces by Kandinsky! We had to rush our way through given the time constraint, but we definitely got a great flavor.

Dinner was an elaborate affair at the banquet hall of our hotel, the Hotel Silken Puerta América Madrid. I sat next to Teri and Greg from Philadelphia, who coincidentally work as media consultants to Wharton. I also met Katie and Stephanie from More than Me, who we recently welcomed on as an official Givology partner, Adam and Gavin from More for Hunger, Chris from Dreaming Out Loud, Jason and Eric from Jubilee Project, among other really great people! With good food and good company, we had a great time getting to know each other in a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.

[As a side note, frankly, I’ve never been to an odder hotel. Each floor featured the work of a different modernist designer, who pushed concepts to an extreme. Our floor felt like a space-pod, our rooms completely white and curved, the bath-tub in the middle of the room surrounded by billowing white fabrics. Another floor was comprised of pure black glass, complete with black glass floor and furniture, glass bathroom doors (no privacy!), and even black toilet paper. Truly a cool hotel – not necessarily “comfortable” but stunning to the visual senses!]

The next morning, we awoke bright and early to go to INTA for the test track. At first, having not driven much over the last six years, the thought of driving on a test track petrified me. When we arrived, however, excitement overwhelmed my nervousness. As part of the White Team, we competed with the other teams on four different activities: 1) Speed Test, 2) Car Handling Test, 3) Video Test, and 4) Fuel Economy Test. With my luck, Catherine and I had to compete in the Speed Test first…my first time driving in six years.

With coaching from a professional driver, I managed to get a decent score, partly accelerated by my complete lack of driving experience (and hence, near complete lack of fear or understanding of what driving “ought” to be like). Then, we moved to an obstacle course where we pushed the traction system of the Focus to the limit by driving through a slalom on a slicked surface and then performing an emergency brake before ramming into a giant soccer ball to score a goal for points (I’m not kidding!). After lunch, we had a quieter afternoon where we learned about the features of the Ford Focus and the basics of driving greener. Throughout the day, we had famous racers just circulating and mingling with us, including the stunt driver for the Fast and the Furious series! In addition, bloggers and media folks abounded, inquiring about our cause!

Even for a non-car enthusiast like me, I found the activities very fun!  As both my parents drive cars more than a decade old, I never realized how much technology had progressed.  Not only can the Focus sync with a phone and become a wifi hot-spot, but it also has software/sensors to parallel park itself!

T hat evening, we went back to the hotel for an evening party at the rooftop club. To Catherine and my great surprise, we discovered that along with the guys from the Jubilee Project, we won the “Drive Smarter” competition! For that, we each received a very heavy trophy made of glass. The party was lots of fun – a chance to relax and to meet so many interesting people from around the world.

The next day, we had the chance to either go to Toledo or Madrid. Having been to Toledo twice, I decided to stay in Madrid, intending to take a trip down memory lane. The guide first took us to the Prado Museum, where we rushed through the highlights (not enough time!). I then wandered off on my own, taking the metro to ICADE, the school I studied at, and ambling through my host grandmother’s neighborhood. That evening, we split up into different groups for dinner before our departure the next morning, sampling the local cuisine at some of the most well-regarded restaurants in Madrid.

When I landed in New York City, I had trouble believing that so much has transpired over three days. I recalled the “La vida es sueño” by Pedro Calderon De La Barca:

Yo sueño que estoy aquí
de estas prisiones cargado,
y soñé que en otro estado
más lisonjero me vi.
¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño:
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.

Most importantly, I feel a renewed sense of spirit and direction. Having met a lot of creative organizations that have launched youtube videos and social media campaigns that have raised tens of thousands of dollars and created a followership of >1 million in some cases, I have a better sense of what we as Givology can do to tap into these opportunities. What an empowering weekend! Through the power of social media networks, word of mouth, and online communications, we can exponentially double and triple our impact each year.

As part of the requirement for the program, we had to make a video of the event. Here’s the one I made!

The UN has declared today International Women’s Day – to celebrate women around the world and to recognize the importance of women in poverty reduction and investing in families worldwide. To celebrate, I’m going to write about three incredible women from within our partner network. In all honesty, we have so many amazing women as partners, supporters, and volunteers that it would be impossible to write a comprehensive profile of each of them, but in the weeks to come, I expect to share more stories!

I also encourage all of you to submit your own stories as comments!

Joanita, Founder of the Circle of Peace School: When I first learned about the Circle of Peace School, I found the story very emotionally touching. Joanita started off as a public school teacher, but when she became disillusioned with the school administration forcing her to eject students who couldn’t pay fees (she would hide them from the principal), she took matters into her own hands by starting her own school on her front porch. Since its inception in 1994, the school has grown from just a handful of students to over 200 children from kindergarten through seventh grade!  Having visited the Circle of Peace School myself and getting to know Joanita better, I can’t think of anyone with a bigger heart. The Peace School serves students whose families cannot afford to send them to public schools, many of them AIDS orphans.

Nasrine, Founder of Kabultec: Julia, Grace, and I had a chance to meet with Nasrine in person this past Saturday, and her compelling story of her plight for women’s rights and literacy in Afghanistan brought tears to all of our eyes. She has a deep passion for Afghanistan, her native country, and a desire to fight against the injustice brought upon the country by the Taliban. Eight out of 10 people in Afghanistan today are illiterate, with women having virtually no access to education. To combat this serious problem, Nasrine started literacy programs in some of the poorest villages, enrolling couples – man and wife together – in a comprehensive program. Since women require their husband’s permission or presence to do most things, having men learn alongside their wives is an innovative and simple way to ensure family support and mitigate jealousy. Nasrine is truly an amazing women – she spear-headed the collection of over 300,000 signatures globally to enact an equal rights for women provision in the Afghanistan constitution. As a pioneer and voice for Afghanistan, she also ran democracy training seminars for female candidates to Parliament.

Kakenya, Founder of Kakenya Center of Excellence: I first heard about Kakenya through Jiefei, and after speaking with her, I was truly inspired by her courage and dedication to her people. Born in the Maasai village of Enoosaen (Kenya), Kakenya was the first woman to leave the community and go to the United States for college, negotiating with her father and her village elders to let her pursue her dreams. In hopes of sharing her discoveries with the girls in her community, she went back to start a school for girls – to not just provide an education, but to inspire the girls to aspire for more – to fight against the practices of child marriage and female genital mutilation. Even though she’s found success here in the United States, Kakenya strives to give back to her own village – to empower other girls in the village to achieve self-realization and a brighter future through education.

One of the most inspiring aspects of working on Givology is that I meet incredible people all the time. As a new initiative for 2011, we’ll feature their stories here on our blog and social media. I just wanted to highlight a few of the incredible innovators of social change that I’ve had the privilege of speaking to and meeting over the past few months. Each week, I’ll be writing more!

Today’s theme: Social Businesses

Alia (Emerge Global, Sri Lanka): Alia started Emerge Global after going to Sri-Lanka on a Tsunami-relief trip in 2005. When she met many girls who were cast out of their households due to sexual abuse and exploitation, she took matters into her own hands by starting Emerge Global. Her goal: to uplift the girls both economically and emotionally. What really inspires me about Emerge Global is that Alia has developed an innovative and sustainable business model for impact. To facilitate economic empowerment of the girls, Emerge Global teaches the girls beading. The beautiful, handcrafted products are then sold globally, with profits returning back to the girls and for investment in a community education program. Alia understands the notion of return on capital well – a $1 investment in materials creates more than $3.80 in savings for their girls! To date, Emerge Global has sold tens of thousands of beaded jewelry, helping hundreds of girls and their family members. I met Alia at Oxford when we connected over a social entrepreneurship meeting – we’re so proud to support their work by raising funding for education programs and helping Emerge Global sell more of their gorgeous pieces!

Dave (Soapbox Soaps, Philadelphia): Admittedly, my academic background in development economics makes me a general skeptic of aid. As such, I’m  particularly inspired by social entrepreneurs with a new business model in mind – to generate impact sustainably through a consumer product that generates much demand in it of itself. Soapbox soaps is still in its incipient phase, but the concept is truly compelling – for every soap purchase, Soapbox will donate an equivalent soap to a school, organization, or household in need. Dave and his team are still in the process of figuring out the scale and full launch of their business, but I know that we’re keen on being involved in helping spread awareness about their product. The consumer has so much power to do good – our demand for products shapes global production systems. Thanks to Genna, our social media coordinator, for putting us in touch with Dave! She met him at a convention in Philadelphia and was amazed at how many ideas he kept on turning out!

Chris (MonikerWear): MonikerWear is an online store that sells custom-made luxury men’s shirts. (Check out their online store – it’s high fashion tailored to an individual’s preferences!) Incredibly, they’ve committed to donating half of their profits to education and health projects around the world, starting with supporting classroom education in Peru through Givology. We’re incredibly proud to have them as our partners and are inspired by their concept. What truly compels me is that in this case, the average guy (no women’s clothes sold yet!) doesn’t have to go out of his way to do good in the world – by simply purchasing luxury shirts at a cheaper price (Moniker doesn’t have fixed costs from physical stores), he can make a really big impact. Especially given my Wall Street day job, I see a huge market for MonikerWear. The first few years are tough for any operation so we’re here to spread the word!

Jason (Jubilee Project, NYC): Jason doesn’t quite run a social business, but he’s a youtube entrepreneur who raises tens of thousands of dollars to meaningful causes simply by creating inspiring videos and getting people to watch them. It’s a model that I never before contemplated, and an area that we’re hoping to move into. If pictures can tell a thousand words, then imagine what videos can accomplish! In my opinion, the most extraordinary aspect of the videos created by the Jubilee Project is the thoughtfulness of the concept. Rather than create a promotional video, they create a story around a related concept to the cause. For example, to raise money for Becky’s Fund for victims of domestic violence, they asked a group of men to answer, “You’re most beautiful when…” We’ve got a lot to learn from this trio of guys – they are able to resonate with their audience well through their videos and leverage creative media to make a difference.