Each year i like to put together a list of orgs that i believe in, trust and respect for your year end giving and tax planning considerations. Additionally, this year i am also making some gift giving recomendations as well. I am connected to them in varying degrees (and I disclose that with each one) but these recommendations are based on my belief that they are an excellent organization worthy of consideration for your charitable donation or a great way to buy a gift in a more meaningful way this season.

511 - 511 is an incubator of good. We value experimentation, innovation, social enterprise and creativity. They work in Santa Ana to unleash potential and equip leaders to impact themselves, their community and the world. They are the parent organization to Laundry Love Santa Ana, SCS and Community Movie Night. All of their initiatives focus on coalition building and cross cultural/cross socioeconomic relationship building.

Your donations to them would be put to good use. Additionally they have a small online store you could look at for Christmas gifts this year as well.

(Disc. I am the *unpaid volunteer* director of this organization)

Hands Together – Hands Together is a provider of early education services and family support services in Santa Ana. Through their 3 early childhood development and educational programs they are able to help improve children’s health, overall development, educational outcomes and ultimately, their success in life. Additionally, through their parent workforce development program, they help parents gain the skills needed to provide a stable income to better provide for the needs of the family.

They are efficiently run and a great place to entrust with your year end donation. Additionally, their parent participants create some amazing handmade gifts and you can also contact them about catering (they make some excellent tamales!).

(disc: they hired my company to develop their website and provide some ongoing strategy and design services for their social enterprise program. My wife volunteers with them once a week. I bought tamales from them for Laundry Love Santa Ana’s Christmas Party this year)

Krochet Kids – Krochet Kids creates sustainable economic development programs that support holistic growth of individuals and communities within developing nations. Also, they make some kick ass hats.

They are a fantastic source for stylish gifts.

(disc: none)

Illumination Foundation-  IF combines housing and social services with healthcare and behavioral mental health services to reduce the impacts of homelessness and reduce people’s vulnerability to future homelessness. They offer a low-entry threshold to advance health and housing stability for the most vulnerable members of our community, with a focus on families with children and those with medical or mental health conditions.

They are one of a very few end to end homeless services agencies in the nation and are one of a select few agencies I’ve met that have really collaborated effectively. Its a great organization to consider for your year end donation.

(disc: they have collaborated with one of my initiatives, Laundry Love Santa Ana, and I have a friend on the board)

Ember Arts – Their business exists to renew hope. They partner with women in Uganda, East Africa to create beautiful jewelry using recycled paper and plastic.  Through this connection to the American market their Ugandan partners are able to rebuild their lives and families, and rekindle their hopes and dreams, after a devastating civil war.

Another fantastic source of gifts.

(disc: none)

Renewing Hearts – A community based organization providing high quality mental health services on a “pay what you can” basis. This model allows even the poorest members of the community to receive the same level of care that more affluent folks do. They hope to scale their model to other communities as well.

A great place to donate to.

(disc: I am on the board and family members started and handle daily management of the center.)

Mind Research – Their instructional programs and education initiatives are revolutionizing math education in America. They offer a research-proven tool for teaching and learning mathematics through non-language based, visual instructional software. Ask your kids if they know Jiji!

A donation here is an investment in our nations future.

(disc: I am on an advisory council focused on diversification of their support base)

And there you have it. Those are my recommendations for year end giving and shopping this season. Have recommendations of your own? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

With the exception of my lovely wife, few people know the totality of things I am currently involved in, as I often see folks in the context of one project or another.  This frequently leads to the question, “so, do you do this full time?”

So, I thought I would quickly give you all the run down, as a few things have changed recently as well:

• I lead a small strategic consulting firm focusing on new media and innovative methods.  We work with social enterprises and non profits mostly, as well as spending some time on select businesses we feel comfortable working with.  We often times help these businesses with cause related marketing strategies.  [this is the only one that pays, so please hire us even if just for building a website or some quick advice]   (;
• I am the interim lead of a small faith based creative community in Santa Ana.  Our numbers are small but the vision and passion is huge and has led to a lot of amazing things.
• I help with marketing and fund raising for a community development and service initiative in Santa Ana
• I attend a church in Irvine and volunteer in a few small capacities when asked.
• I am on the board of a small non profit ensuring quality mental health care is available to those who need it.
• I also spend quite a bit of time with my wife and kids (links to my photos online, which are mostly of the kids though other stuff is there too).

These are the biggest areas of my current time split.  I also have a few smaller, or infrequent things that I work on or have under development.

• a few secret projects (;
• an art show
• a couple book ideas in early stages
• occasionally speaking at conferences
• advising tech start ups on user acquisition (esp. power users)

So there you have it.  If as some believe, you are what you do, then that is me.  When time permits (it rarely does these days) perhaps I can do a tech walk through on how I attempt to remain productive while wearing so many hats.  One hint, less personal blogging (;

A little over a year ago, at one of the 511 Sunday night gatherings, a group of us decided to try out one of these Laundry Love Projects we had heard about.  Now here it is a year later.  The last year has been an exciting adventure that has genuinely impacted a lot of lives, especially my family’s as we serve in this project.

I would love to invite you out to join the Laundry Love Santa Ana team for the one year anniversary.  It’s going to be a great party as well as another opportunity to connect with the people of Santa Ana.

Check out the Laundry Love Santa Ana website for more details!

Working on a new, still undercover, initiative.  It has the potential to be one of the biggest things I have ever pulled off.  By the same token, it has the potential to be the most colossal failure.

The interesting thing, though, to me, is the ease at which the early stage things are going.  I am crazy.  I have crazy ideas, like, at least, once a week.  Realistically, this one is far crazier than many of the other ones that have never made it past the “google to make sure I didn’t read about it and then think it was my idea because I was up way past my bedtime when I read it” stage, or the “tell my wife I think it would be cool if someone did (insert crazy idea here) and have her tell me I need to focus on the last 4 ideas that she didn’t think were WAY TOO crazy to consider pursuing, prior to even thinking about this one” stage.

So here is my theory.  I think people won’t invest time or resources in something small.  If they think it could be done alone, then they have no reason to get involved.  They wonder why I don’t just make it happen.  They wonder why someone else hasn’t already done it, if it is truly valuable and truly simple.

So lots of (I think) good ideas get cast aside simply because I:

• cannot focus
• do not have much capital
• am fearful of being too far outside the box
• am more and more risk averse
• cannot find partners willing to tackle small side projects

Hmmm.  I guess I need to fix that.

Now, the really big take away is this.  People want to bite off more than they can chew.  They want to be inspired.  They want to tackle audacious problems with never before thought of creative solutions.  They want to go IPO in a year.  They want to stop wars, eradicate hunger and provide water to a continent. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, something paradigm shifting, something dangerous, something beautiful.

Small thinking does not seem to get people on the phone.  But shoot someone a huge audacious vision, prove you have a plan to accomplish that vision and you never know who you might end up on the phone with next week.

What are you working on?  Is it big?  Do you need partners?

I talked with a friend the other day.  Nothing deep.  Nothing dramatic.  He moved into a new place about two weeks ago.  I asked him how he was liking it.  He got a huge smile on his face and told me he liked it because he gets to take a shower every day.

Wait–what?  Yeah, I know I didn’t tell you he was living on the streets of down town Santa Ana first.  I have been trying to wrap my mind around this idea that somehow that doesn’t have to be how I identify people.

He wasn’t my “homeless friend.”  He IS my friend.  At one point he was homeless.  Sometimes he helps me with yard work.  We met at Laundry Love Santa Ana.  All those things are true.  But fundamentally, he is my friend.  Who he is should not be defined by where he sleeps.

Spend some time reflecting on the simple things in life that should bring you great joy, but don’t.  Also, think about how we name and categorize people.  One’s essential humanity should be first.  You are who you are regardless of a whole slew of circumstantial things.  Why should others be defined by circumstances?

What simple things are you thankful for? Whose identity do you need to reconsider?

My company started a simple branding project last week.  Fully anticipated being done before I went to !deation.  Five rejected mock ups later, today I am sending over revision eight of the logo and getting ready to start on some print collateral, a website and some social media integration.

While at !deation my friend Dan Portnoy showed me this incredible post from the Oatmeal on web design and how it can go south.

It makes me feel just a little bit better to know that I am not alone.  No it doesn’t.

That is pretty much the whole story.  Dropped off the mini van and can no longer get away with wearing sweats in public.  I think our community is probably pretty stoked on that!

Thanks to all who helped, called, emailed, tweeted, etc during this time.

We are waiting to hear back from the body shop on how long it will take.  Our insurance covers $1200 for rental cars, so we should be good.  Will keep all informed of any major issues.  It looks like we are in good shape for the time being.  Thanks to all who have called, emailed, texted, facebooked, twittered and otherwise gotten in touch with us regarding your care and concern.  We very much appreciate and value each and every one of you.

Micah shows no signs of even knowing he was in an accident.  Tiny bit of bruising around his seatbelt visible if you really look.  Shannon still have a decent iPod shaped bruise on her hip and a small seatbelt bruise.

I think the worst part of everything is we ended up with a minivan and now its raining.  I miss 4 wheel drive and I look like a soccer mom driving it (especially when I wear my juicy couture pajamas).

Every now and then I like to revisit this PUBLICLY.  It gives me a chance to ask you how I am doing and gives you a chance to see a glimpse into the why behind some of the decisions I make.

Our family mission statement can be viewed here or you can see the text only version at the bottom of this post.

This is why my company spends so much of our time with social enterprise and non profit organizations, why my kids were up way past their bedtime last night at Laundry Love Santa Ana and why we go out to eat a lot less than we used to.

Does you family have a mission statement?  Does it help guide your decisions?

We desire to passionately pursue…

Creativity in all areas of life…

Justice and Mercy with a focus on the disenfranchised and ignored both locally and globally…

Knowledge and Wisdom seeking to grow in maturity and ability…

…and to cultivate…

Independence-working towards personal growth and integrity; taking initiative.

Peace-a spirit of contentment and satisfaction.

Community-an enviornment built on trust, openness and fun.

…And above all…

We will love God and love people.