<Ned> a better world experience

<Ned> (a philanthropic franchise) is a based in Portland, Oregon and is part better world membership group, part media group, part community center, part retail, part office space, part Starbucks, part 10,000 Villages, part Grameen bank, part Ashoka, and very interactive...all aimed at creating a better world.

<Ned> will exist in both the real world physical location...and online. <Ned> is the brand of doing good things. This effort has been bootstrapped, meaning being done with a budget of near zero and tons of sweat equity from interested participants.

<Ned> has weekly and monthly meetings on better world topics ranging from Millennium Development Goals, poverty, trafficking, HIV/AIDS, education, art and much more. <Ned> offers group documentary screenings, speakers, and various ways to people to connect with their community (and globally). Space inside <Ned> is given free to local nonprofits for members meetings, board meetings and fundraising events.

Product sales information "goes beyond" traditional fair trade in that it will be (and buy from organizations that are) 100% transparent (open) about finance, governance and operations. <Ned> truly desires that each and every transaction (financial and social) make the world a little better place in some small way.

A percentage of gross and net sales is distributed to grassroots local, regional, national and global nonprofit, nongovernmental and community based organizations. The <Ned> Giving Project members (invitation only based on personal friendship, reputation, and trust) who pay a $31 monthly membership fee (90% going to the orgs) decide the monthly categories of giving, and the groups that receive the funds.

Free Community Newspaper Distribution: Asian News, El Hispanic, Just Out, Street Roots, The Mercury, The Skanner