Q&A with Mensa on IdeaAid: Donate Ideas, Not Money.

Below is a Q&A conducted with Mensa on the upcoming launch of IdeaAid. For one week, November 14th-21st, IdeaAid will host a 'Brainstorming Benefit' to gather ideas to help solve some of the world's toughest problems. Brightidea's Webstorm software is powering the IdeaAid site.

Read below and participate starting November 14th as Mensa Process searches for novel ideas on how to raise 1 billion dollars annually to help eradicate global poverty. 

What is the mission of Mensa Process?

Mensa Process is the only consulting firm in the world with access to the unrivaled brainpower of Mensa — a highly respected, international organization whose membership represents some of the world's most intelligent people. Mensa members are geographically and occupationally diverse, representing more than 100 countries and thousands of professions and passions. By tapping into this group's unparalleled intellect and combining it with the creativity of other bright minds, Mensa Process helps businesse innovate, solve problems and grow.

What does innovation mean at an organization such as Mensa Process?

Open innovation, collaboration, moving fast, and saving money!

Mensa Process helps clients accelerate innovation with the help of our global networks of experts and brainstorming teams, cross-functional groups of very different kinds of thinkers, that quickly create and uncover hundreds of new ideas for products and services. We refine the leading ideas to create concepts or prototypes ready for consumer testing.

Where did the concept for Idea Aid come from?

Idea Aid is the brainchild of our General Manager, David Wynett, and has been further developed by an internal Mensa Process team.

Idea Aid is based on the concept that people can 'donate' their ideas instead of money. Explain that a little more.

Like Live Aid or Farm Aid, Idea Aid is an important event designed to make a real difference in people's lives. But instead of giving cash to a charitable cause, participants in Idea Aid will be giving their ideas to solve a very pressing and challenging problem. In these days of economic concerns, when many people are not able to contribute money to causes that are important to them, Idea Aid makes it easy for them to donate new ideas for novel payment models that can make a big impact for years to come.

What is Heifer International and how does this organization fit into Idea Aid?

Heifer International is the non-profit partner for the inaugural Idea Aid challenge. Their mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in 50 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant.

According to Tom Peterson, Senior Director of Innovation at Heifer International, one of the things that makes a big difference in ending global poverty is money, which helps organizations address the problem with proven solutions, including education, infrastructure improvements, policy and system enhancements, and a framework of hopeful, workable, sustainable programs.  

"The problem demands new ideas and new methods of collection to make giving easier and more efficient. We need methods, ideas that can be used online, offline, globally, locally. Something simple that everyone, anyone can participate in."

Why did you decide to run the campaign only for 7 days?

For a single week, November 14-21, people around the world will come together online to brainstorm about the complex problem of eradicating global poverty. We want to have an event that really concentrates the focus on this Idea Aid challenge. Brightidea's WebStorm, with 24/7 access for participants anywhere in the world, enables Idea Aid to provide a very engaging and effective collaboration space and collect thousands of ideas in this accelerated timeframe.

Who can participate in the campaign?

Idea Aid is open to everyone who wants to contribute ideas. Experts in finance and economics, technology, software development, international aid, health, and other fields will join members of Mensa in the online collaboration.

 

Educators, students, informed consumers and others will also share their best thinking. Families, clubs, professional associations, fraternities and sororities, work teams, churches and other groups are encouraged to team up to make a difference!

Pre-register for the online event at www.ideaaid.com.

What do you hope to achieve at the end of the campaign?

Our goal is to identify viable ideas that address the challenge, and can be implemented by Heifer International and shared with other organizations helping to end global poverty.

Tell me more about the review process for ideas?

During Idea Aid participants can vote for their favorite ideas. This peer review will then be followed with review and refinement by small teams of experts and top contributors.

How are you drawing attention to this initiative? Where should people look for you?

We're talking about Idea Aid and asking people to help spread the word about the event through blogs and social media,such as Twitter (www.twitter.com/IdeaAid) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/IdeaAid). People in several cities will get together for a variety of brainstorming events, including potluck suppers, kick-off events at colleges, and a special collaboration between students of The Clinton School of Public Service and Heifer Village in Little Rock, AR.

Why did Mensa Process choose Brightidea software as a front-end solution for this campaign?

We've had a great working relationship with Brightidea for years. Their WebStorm allows Mensa Process to reach out to collect ideas from thousands of bright minds around the world, and allows our project participants to enjoy a lively online collaborative experience.

 

The Webstorm technology offers everything we were looking for: easy-to-use and fully customizable interfaces, a blog function, integration with Microsoft Office to name just a few aspects. It provides robust evaluation tools that help us prioritize and evaluate the ideas we generate. The Brightidea team helped us set up the campaign very fast and offers great support when we need it.

Read more about Idea Aid and the challenge at www.ideaaid.com, and download the Volunteer Toolkit at http://budurl.com/IdeaAidToolkit

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