How TechSoup Equips Changemakers with Transformative Technology Solutions
Meeting for the week of January 20 - January 26, 2020
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: How TechSoup Equips Changemakers with Transformative Technology Solutions
Speaker: Whittney Tom
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page.Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Table of Contents
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from President Tzviatko:
Tzviatko
President, Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Guests, we are happy to have you join us this week!
As we see it, our flexibility as an online, asynchronous club allows a special type of service to Rotarians around the world: we make it easier for anyone to strive for and maintain 100% attendance. That keeps you engaged with Rotary's events and ideas, and provides a moment of inspiration for devoting your creativity, talents, and resources to good causes.You are certainly not required to pay anything in order to attend our meetings. However, if you would like to make a small contribution to our service efforts, you are welcome to do so in our secure Happy Dollars section down the page. This could be what you normally pay at your own club's meetings for lunch, for example. Any amount is welcome, but first and foremost, we're happy you've joined us, and hope you will share with others who we are and what we do to help inspire Service Above Self.And don't forget to fill out our attendance form so you get an email you can pass on to your club's secretary!
The Four Way Test
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
https://youtu.be/j0zxrafFzs8
Sandy from Fremont, CA, USA
🎂 🎈 🎉 🎁 🍾
Happy Birthday!!
Nancy Herron (Jan 24)
From around the world,
Wishing you all the best, on your birthday and always!
🎂 🎈 🎉 🎁 🍾
Members and guests, consider donating in their honor in our Happy Dollars section below.
Weekly Funny with the Lady of Laughter (LOL)
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Yvonne Kwan, our “Lady of Laughter!”
This week's jokes come courtesy of former member Chris Cochrane. Chris, if you're reading this, thanks for putting us all in the moood for some laughs!
What did the mama cow say to the baby cow?It's pasture bedtime!
What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for college?Bison!
What do you call cowboy clothes?Ranch dressing!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
In 2008, Monster Mike Schultz, a pro snowmobile racer, had his left leg amputated above the knee. Seven months later, he was zooming around on a dirt bike wearing a prosthetic leg that he designed and built himself.Today, the action sports star is at the top of his game—winning medals in motocross and snocross at the X Games and in snowboarding at the Paralympics. And he is using his ingenuity to help other athletes reach their full potential through his company, BioDapt.
World of
Why Toastmasters benefits Rotary clubsLearn more at https://blog.rotary.org/2019/12/09/why-toastmasters-benefits-rotary-clubs/
Through a Rotarian's Lens
Sometimes a photo can capture an amazing moment. In this section Member Keith Marsh shares his incredible photography!If you'd like to submit a photo for this section please contact Keith.
This view of Yosemite Valley includes many iconic features from (left to right): North Dome, Half Dome, Glacier Point and Sentinal Peak. On the valley floor is the Merced River.I took a wider panorama from the trail up to Yosemite Falls, but cropped this to a 2:1 aspect ratio because it includes all of these iconic features.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and Rushton Hurley and aims to teach our members and guests something new, fun and useful! If you have any ideas on a fun trick or skill you'd like to share please contact Rushton or Shags.
26 Psycology Facts You Never Knew About People
Learning something new about yourself is always interesting and entertaining. And understanding the psychology behind the way we behave, treat others, and express ourselves can be even more appealing. Today, we here at Bright Side have compiled a list of the most surprising psychology facts that can help you better understand yourself and others.
Coffee With a Rotarian
A natural part of Rotary is the networking and the fellowship you get out of meeting other Rotarians. Coffee With a Rotarian is a monthly program of our club where we match participating club members for one-on-one virtual (or in some cases in person) coffee meetings, so they can learn more about each other. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
This week we have Sandy from Fremont, CA, USA reporting on a chat with Raquel from Costa Rica / MexicoRaquel and I had a lovely time talking during our Coffee with a Rotarian. She was in Tijuana, Mexico and I was in Fremont, California. Raquel participated in RYLA and then went on to become a Rotaractor. She has been in Rotary for 20 years! We both love International Service projects. We talked about her goals as President of our Club for the up coming Rotary year.Love this program that allows us to meet the amazing members of our Club. We encourage all club members to participate in Coffee With a Rotarian. You can sign up here!
Fundraising
Hi eClub members and guests!
So excited for our first annual ReCSV Oscars pool. Join us in guessing the winners of each category. We donate $10 per form with the potential to win $50 for the most accurate guesses! All other proceeds go toward building our international service project fund. Sign up via
and please indicate
in the memo by February 8th so you're in time for the Oscars on the 9th!
Thanks so much for supporting Rotary's efforts to make more sustainable and impactful projects around the world!
Service Report
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
On the first meeting of every month, we feature service reports from club members for the previous month. Thanks for your service everyone!
Club Announcements
Haven't joined the conversation on Facebook yet? Consider joining the conversation by signing into our club members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Past Events:
January 2020 In-Person & Online Social
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
District 5170 Events
District 5170 International Expo 2020Feb 1, 2020, 9am-12pmUniversity of Silicon Andhra, 1521 California Cir, Milpitas, CA 95035More info at https://events.rotarydistrict5170.org/rotary-district-5170-events/district-international-expo-2020
Area 8 Service Project - Rise Against HungerFeb 29, 2020, 10am-12pmMonta Vista High School Cafeteria, 21840 McClellan Rd., Cupertino, CA 95014More info at https://tinyurl.com/area8serviceproject
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Happy Dollars: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!This section is usually updated on the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.Another warm, sunny week, with the temperatures in the mid-70s. This is Texas where the weather is unpredictable. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus.
Tatiana LaGarde made a $10 donation.$10 for the Oscar 2020 pool!
Nick LaGarde made a $10 donation.For the Oscar 2020 pool!
Selected Comments
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Mark Dohn said:
Welcome Mark to our club! Great use of media this week! Tzviatko in his introduction and recap of the social (that I sadly missed because of work travel) Mark and his 4 Questions piece, the story of the Budapest tiles and the hacks for repurposing plastic bottles. On the image side we have Keith's amazing work and Brett really leveraging the use of images in his Member Profile as well as the awesome images of members who could meet at Casa Del Hurley for the social.Roger you have created a masterful presentation that I will be reviewing (another advantage of having our meetings in video format) as I do some instruction and learning advocacy in the near-future. Thanks!
Brett Sham said:
Caleb, great to have you on board.
Roger, thanks for the presentation. Such great tips and good discussion in the Q&A. I hate seeing text heavy slides that just repeat what the speaker is saying, but do love seeing some great visual aids or data visualisations during presentations. One that jumps out at me was a presentation I saw last year from Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station; he used photos and the screen to really bring his story to life - the best was his of a prop, when he showed us a video of what happens when you pour water in space (it forms a ball and floats) vs when he tipped his glass upside down (all the water gushed out on to the stage)!
Maxi Bustos said:
Thanks for your presentation Roger, you definitely made your point by using your own presentation as an example of how to do a good presentation :)Last week I read this book: Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds, by Carmine Gallo. It gives a lot of useful recommendations about public speaking, including some of the points about slides that Roger presented today (for people in CA, you can get it in the public library, both audiobook and e-book).Also, remember that Rotary International established a partnership with Toastmasters International. See more information here: https://www. toastmasters.or.... I haven't had a chance to check it myself yet, but it looks promising.
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!
Program: How TechSoup Equips Changemakers with Transformative Technology Solutions
Speaker: Whittney Tom
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others. Special thanks to member Roger Plested for leading our club's Programs Committee in finding us amazing speakers each week.The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directlyor submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
However you do good in the world, there's something for you at TechSoup. Whether you have resources to give or solutions you need to get, TechSoup facilitates the exchange. A trusted partner for nearly three decades, TechSoup provides both the digital platforms and in-person experiences that enable people to work together toward a more equitable world. Hear from TechSoup’s Strategic Partnerships Program Manager Whittney Tom how TechSoup is equipping change-makers with transformative technology products, knowledge, and services.Whittney Tom has worked in the international development sector for the last nine years and spent time in Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. She is a principled, driven, and passionate leader with experience in business development, project management, and ethics and compliance. She worked in East Africa between 2010-2014 supporting a community-based organization in coastal Kenya, conducting research on access to medical education, and working in western Uganda focused on capacity building for local organizations.Whittney wakes up every day asking herself what her comparative advantage is today. As Program Manager for Strategic Partnerships at TechSoup, Whittney curates and expands access to resources for nonprofits globally. Her passion for cultivating partnerships and executing programs across organizations and companies is driven by her commitment to increasing opportunities for equity and equality in society. She is a versatile and effective relationship builder who thrives when working with multinational companies to increase international development organizations’ financial goals and social impact. She manages three of TechSoup's top ten revenue-generating partnerships and works to grow programs that increase access and use of technology for civil society globally.
Additional Resources
Share your thoughts or ask our speaker a question in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!
Upcoming Program Recording Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
You’re Almost Done! Please complete The Attendance Survey…
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and it should work fine. Thanks!
