The 4th PodCamp Boston (or #pcb4 in Twitter hashtag-speak) is coming this weekend. PodCamp is an “unconference”, meaning that there’s no distinction between attendee and presenter, and everyone is invited to participate. In the spirit of participation, I will join marketing mastermind and connoisseur of all that is edible, David Karp (aka limeduck), in hosting a discussion asking “Are you a Gates of a Buffett?”
The title refers, of course, to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the two richest men in the world, and their approaches to using their wealth to solve worldwide social problems. Bill Gates took a huge amount of his wealth and started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett, seeing no need to duplicate efforts, donated several billion dollars to the Gates Foundation. Both honorable deeds, but which one shows a path for “normal” people to duplicate when it comes to giving?
David and I will be exploring whether, with the power of social media, it’s better to start your own nonprofit or to use what you can contribute (time, expertise, money) to a cause you connect with. There really is no right answer, and is something that Meg Fowler, Matt Knell and I were debating for SM4SC as well.
This is no keynote, no speech; it’s a discussion. In that theme, we won’t be “presenting” so much as structuring the conversation and seeing what comes of it.
Going to PCB4? I hope you’ll join us!
