Change.org: Non-profit businesses can be innovative, entrepreneurial, and small but that doesn't mean that they have an easy time reaching some of their goals, one of which stands out from the others as the most difficult to sell. And that's fundraising. Asking people for money to fund a change that needs to happen is never easy, and getting rejected is at best disheartening, and at its worst, devastating. Nathaniel Whittemore, founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, features some thoughts on changing not only the world, but offers a new way to look at the job of fund-raising at a non-profit in Brilliant: "In Defense of Raising Money: A Manifesto for Nonprofit CEOs" with some help from Sasha Dichter, the Director of Business Development for the Acumen Fund. A takeaway passage to get you interested on a new fund-raising pitch ideology: "How about this instead: 'You are incredibly good at making money.  I’m incredibly good at making change.  The change I want to make in the world, unfortunately, does not itself generate much money.  But man oh man does it make change.  It’s a hugely important change.  And what I know about making this change is as good and as important as what you know about making money.  So let’s divide and conquer – you keep on making money, I’ll keep on making change. And if you can lend some of your smarts to the change I’m trying to make, well that’s even better.  But most of the time, we both keep on doing what we’re best at, and if we keep on working together the world will be a better place.'" Each person gets what they want/need and continues to do what they do best, be it making money or effecting important change. I wholly recommend you read the entire post for yourself as it contains many paradigm-shifting ideas.

Innovate On Purpose: What did Ginger Rogers, famous dance partner and star in her own right, know about business innovation that you don't?  Jeffrey Phillips looks into why doing things "backwards and in high heels" makes all the different in his recent blog post, Gaining a different perspective. Phillips writes, "[T]o innovate one must obtain a fresh perspective, a new insight. Imagine if you will taking Ginger Roger's role in those famous musicals. She had to trust her partner to lead her in directions she couldn't see, and match his moves while moving in an uncomfortable direction and gait in shoes that had to have been uncomfortable. That has a lot of parallels for innovators - moving into spaces we aren't quite sure about, being led by our customers and markets in uncomfortable directions using methods and techniques that perhaps we aren't expert in, to end up in a completely new place." And a new place is just where many struggling businesses hope to find themselves  as the economy continues to unwind and winnow out the chaff from the seed.

Neuroscience Marketing: Roger Dooley peeks under the kilt of Google's latest round of neuromarketing research in his ghoulishly-titled Now Google Wants Our Brains but ends up embracing the search giant's efforts to take a zombie-sized bite out of the public's gray matter. Dooley quotes the results of Google's recently commissioned study: "In a study released Thursday, Google and MediaVest used NeuroFocus findings to show that overlay ads appearing in YouTube videos grab consumers’ attention and boost brand awareness…To that end, the NeuroFocus research conducted in May looked at the reactions of 40 people to YouTube InVideo overlay and companion banner ads from a cross-section of MediaVest advertising clients…The study revealed that viewers found overlays 'compelling and engaging,' generating high attention and emotional engagement levels across different brands and types of video. On a one to 10 scale, the ads scored a 6.6 in effectiveness, which is considered showing 'a high effect.'" Those are the kinds of numbers needed to sell billions of dollars' worth of YouTube InVideo overlay ad spots and although the proof will be in the pudding, the report predicts success.

Small Business Answers: The question What Does Success Mean? is an important touchstone for many businesses and Stoney deGeyter tackles this nebulous concept in his thought-provoking and comprehensive look at defining success. deGeyter carves up the idea of success into a number of complementary and contrasting pieces with the sum of the whole being more than its parts. By that, I mean that while each individual instance of an angle of success might only provide a small slice of the overall, when taken together, deGeyter's many views of success create a complete ecosphere of the concept. Here's an example of success that will ring true for many small business owners: "Success means...Maintaining your integrity when faced with temptation. There are many who find success that have no integrity whatsoever. But that kind of success is usually both fleeting and unsatisfying. Integrity helps build success that is more than just being about fame or money, but about knowing that what you do has purpose and value to others. There are many temptations on the path to success. A little lie here, a little cheating there. They are often so small and so easy to to think, 'what's the harm.' But maintaining rigid integrity is essential to find purposeful, life fulfilling success. And make no mistake, sometimes maintaining your integrity means going against every fiber of your natural inclinations. It's not always about being right, but about doing what is right." There's only one person you have to face in the mirror each morning, and as the questionable business ethics of some powerful politicians (The dis-Honorable Senator from Alaska comes to mind) highlight the need for integrity, this 10-minute read should put you firmly on the path to your own success.

Innoblog: A new innovation in the electrolysis of water  might make the storage of solar energy much more efficient and affordable, according to Tim Huse's New Discovery Enables Simple, Inexpensive, and Efficient Storage of Solar Power. Huse reports on this technological coup by MIT chemistry professor Daniel Nocera and post-doc Matthew Kanan: "While the electrolysis of water is a well-known process, it has traditionally been expensive due to reliance on noble metals and the inefficiencies of oxygen extraction in non-benign environments. The new catalyst that extracts oxygen consists of cobalt and phosphate covering a conducting material such as glass or graphite. These materials are widely available and thus cheap. Placed in water, cobalt and phosphate ions form a thin film on the electrode when a positive potential is applied and produce oxygen gas. The new catalyst works well in neutral water at room temperature and under normal atmospheric pressure – in contrast to the traditional industrial water electrolysis process. The solution looks to create precisely the benign, inexpensive, and easy-to-set-up environment preferable for at-home use." The gases would be recombined during times of solar energy ebb in fuel cells that could power homes and businesses without adverse environmental impact or reliance on far-away sources for stable supply. And if this news isn't enough to get your excited, check out this quote: "James Barber, professor of biochemistry at Imperial College London, gushes: 'This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind. The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem.'"