Net Impact Seattle :: Professional Chapter

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: an Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children

When: Thursday, May 19, 2011 6:30pm
Where: Joop Varophas’ apartment (South Lake Union area)
Book: Buy on Amazon
Cost: Free for Net Impact members
Dinner: Provided, please let Joop know if you have any dietary restrictions.
RSVP or More Information: email Joop Varophas

At our next book club’s meeting, we will read a well-written journey of a professional who decided to walk away at the height of his corporate career to work towards a social cause by setting up a non-profit organization called Room to Read, which aims to bring access to quality education to children in rural villages around the world. This book should provide interesting perspectives for many of us who are contemplating current career paths or are looking to learn more about potential transferable skills from corporate to non-profit sectors.You can also learn more about Room to Read here.

Net Impact has developed a new community partnership with Leadership Tomorrow. Leadership Tomorrow prepares, challenges and engages emerging and existing leaders through leadership development for the benefit of the Puget Sound region. The organization’s programs enlighten, inspire and transform participants, who come from a diverse array of professions and communities, by convening productive conversations around critical issues that impact the region. Participants in Leadership Tomorrow expand their leadership skills while gaining access to a vast array of perspectives, resources and mentors.

Each year, approximately 72 emerging and existing leaders from the private, public, and non-profit sectors of the community are selected to participate. The nine-month program is designed to raise awareness of the needs and challenges that affect the region, and enhance leadership skills with a focus on community stewardship. Jan Levy, the Executive Director of Leadership Tomorrow, is willing to host an exclusive information session for Net Impact members. If interested in attending the session on the 25th floor Rainier Square Tower, please share your availability.

Net Impact’s event planners have been hard at work and have FOUR fantastic events on the calendar for the upcoming months – be sure to save the dates!

Networking Happy Hour at Barca: Thursday Jan 20, 2011 5:30 – 8:00

Join us for Net Impact Seattle’s Professional Chapter’s first networking event of the year. Come mingle with professionals who are interested in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship. Enjoy $3 well drinks, and $1 off food and draft beer.

Open to: Net Impact Members & Non-members
Where: Barca Lounge in Capitol Hill, 1510 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122
Cost: Event is free but attendees are asked to pay for their own drinks/food.
Parking: Only street parking is available. Near Cal Anderson park is probably your best bet.
RSVP for the event
Contact: Theresa Gilbert, Networking Events Lead with any questions.

Theo Chocolate Factory Tour: Saturday Feb 5, 2011 4:30 – 5:30

Join the Net Impact Seattle Professional Chapter for a group tour of Theo Chocolate. Theo is the only Organic, Fair Trade, Bean-To-Bar Chocolate Factory in the United States.  Learn more about how the story of cacao, including the extraordinary transformation of the cacao fruit into what we know and love as chocolate and the social and environmental issues relating to cocoa and cocoa farmers. Best of all, there will be samples during the tour!

Open to: Net Impact Members only
Where: Theo Chocolate Factory in Fremont: 3400 Phinney Avenue North Seattle, WA 98103
Cost: $12 + ticket processing fee (Payment information will be sent to the first 20 people who RSVP)
RSVP for the event
Contact: Theresa Gilbert, Networking Events Lead with any questions.

Notes about the event:

• Attendees must arrive 10 minutes early
• Facility is fragrance free, please avoid wearing any perfumes or scents
• Wear close toed shoes
• Have to wear hair net (will be provided)

Microsoft Corporate Citizenship Speaker: Thursday, Feb 17, 2011 7:00 – 9:00

Join the Net Impact Professional & UW Foster Student Chapter as we welcome Dan Bross, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship, Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Microsoft Community Affairs and Tim Dubel, Director of Global Programs for Community Affairs on February 17th at the UW Foster School.
Open to: Net Impact Members & Non-members
Where: University of Washington PACCAR Hall room 294, Stevens Way Seattle, Washington 98105
Dinner: Pizza will be provided.
Cost: $5 for paid Net Impact members, $20 for all non-members
RSVP for the event. Space is limited.
Contact: Suzanne Sullivan, Events Coordinator with any questions.

Panelists:

• Dan Bross, Senior Director, Microsoft Corporate Citizenship
• Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director, Microsoft Community Affairs
• Tim Dubel, Director of Global Programs, Microsoft Community Affairs

Questions for the Panel may be submitted here before and during the presentation.
Learn more about Microsoft’s Corporate Citizenship here.

Volunteer at Treehouse: Saturday, Apr 16, 2011 10:00 – 2:00

Volunteer for a great cause and meet other professionals who are interested in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship. Treehouse is uniquely committed to improving the lives of our kids living in foster care. No other agency in our region responds to the needs of our foster children like Treehouse. Volunteers will be helping out in The Wearhouse, a free store where foster kids and families shop for new and like-new merchandise (clothing, books, toys, accessories and more). Volunteers sort, tag and organize donations and stock the store.

Open to: Net Impact Members only
Where: The Wearhouse, 2100 24th Ave S Suite 200 Seattle, WA
RSVP for the event here. Space is limited to the first 15 volunteers to RSVP.
Contact: Theresa Gilbert, Networking Events Lead, with any questions.

All Treehouse volunteers are required to pass a background check and complete a volunteer waiver. A link to register online will be sent to everyone who RSVPs closer to the event.

Carol Sanford’s “The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success” available this spring

Net Impact Seattle Board Advisor Carol Sanford is gearing up to release her new book “The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success.” Carol has been leading major consulting change efforts in both Fortune 500 and new-economy businesses for more than 30 years. Her client list includes long-term relationships with Colgate Europe and Africa and DuPont Canada, US, Asia and Europe. She also works with new-economy companies like Intel, Agilent and leaders of corporate responsibility such as Seventh Generation.

The highly anticipated new book and landed today on CNBC’s Bullish on Books column by Senior Editor Gloria McDonough-Taub titled “Off for the Holidays & What I’ll be Reading in 2011.”

“What Deepak Chopra and Steven Covey are to the individual, Carol Sanford is to the whole organization.”
-Finn Hovland, President, DuPont of Canada

“One of the wisest and most compassionate teachers and thinkers on the planet!”
-Debra Neill, CEO, Neill Corp., Aveda Distribution, USA, Mexico

Tremendous congrats to Carol! We can’t wait to read the new book!

Reminder! The January Book Club is on the 11th at 6:30 PM

When: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Where: Jessica Greenen’s House in Capitol Hill/Madison Park (address is email to those who RSVP)
Book:Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why no one saw it Coming by Paul Hawken
Cost: Free!
RSVP: to Jessica. Please advise of any dietary restrictions as well.
More info: Email Shara Senior

Start of the new year with a though provoking dinner and discussion of Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest. The book is the leading environmentalist and social activist’s examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change.

About the book:

Paul Hawken has spent over a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town, and culture. and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s needs worldwide. Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and hidden history, which date back many centuries.