The Social Good Summit begins this Sunday at the 92nd Street Y in New York.
At the same time, it will open up across the world. From Casablanca to Cairo, London to Lahore, Manila to Miami, Tel Aviv to Tashkent, there are now more than 150 Meetups planned in nearly 100 countries.
This year's Social Good Summit will focus on long-term, sustainable solutions. We will discuss what we can achieve over the next generation, and how today's new tools, technologies and ideas can help us get there.
Tune Into the Social Good Summit Livestream
Though the conversations will vary widely and will take place in dozens of languages, we will share one theme and one hashtag: #2030Now.
The annual U.N. Week in New York used to take place entirely behind closed doors. We started the Social Good Summit to open up that dialogue. And now, with the participation of people around the world, the conversation will be broader, deeper and bigger than ever. As a global community, we're proving together that a summit can include many more than just those at the top.
During this year's discussions, we will challenge ourselves to break out of three "shorts" that often hold us back.
Thinking short-term in our economics and politics
Thinking short-form in our digital world
Thinking short-cut in our ethics and behavior
We'll explore topics ranging from human rights to global poverty, good governance to economic empowerment. We’ll look at ways to reevaluate and optimize our relationship with technology. Throughout these conversations, our goal will be to think beyond the normal limits of four years, four quarters or 140 characters.
This discussion is particularly important as we map out the next set of overarching goals the global community should set following the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. What are the right long-term shared challenges that can lead to effective and concerted efforts?
As these Meetups and conversations take place, online and in-person, we'll share and compare our findings and ideas. We'll hear many new ideas from new voices. A generation of emerging leaders will take their seats at the table.
This year, Social Good Summit is only the jumping off point. In partnership with Wesleyan University, and led by its President Michael Roth, we will launch a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called "How to Change the World."
The course will take the best insights of three days of the Summit and turn them into two months of structured learning. We are inviting people everywhere to join us — for free — in learning more about the world's biggest issues, and how we as citizens can help address them.
New to Social Good Summit this year will be the first group of Keynote Listeners. Rather than simply taking the stage at the 92Y to speak, we've invited innovative leaders to arrive as listeners. They will spend time connecting with people around the world at the different Meetups, and will then report back on what they have learned.
The esteemed group of Keynote Listeners includes Melinda Gates, Richard Branson, CEO of ONE Michael Elliott, President of the Rockefeller Foundation Judith Rodin, President of the World Bank Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Crown Princess of Norway Her Royal Highness Mette-Marit and the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Advisor Amina Mohammed.
We're also proud to partner with Facebook and Instagram to create the first #Instacorps, a group of award-winning digital photographers who will capture and share behind-the-scenes moments of U.N. Week on Instagram, opening the proceedings up to the world.

The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Sept. 22 through Sept. 24 Time: 12 to 6 p.m. each day Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y. Tickets are sold-out, but tune into the Livestream.
BONUS: 10 Empowering Apps for Social Good
Gone are the days of daring your friends without consequences. When you challenge your friends to Budge, the person who loses the challenge needs to donate an agreed upon amount to a charity of the winner's choosing.
Available on iOS.
Charity Miles lets you raise money for your favorite causes while walking, running or biking. The app's corporate sponsors donate 25 cents for each mile you walk or run, and 10 cents for each mile you bike.
Charity Miles is available for iOS and Android.
With every photo you share, Johnson & Johnson donates $1 to a cause of your choosing. The Donate a Photo app, available on iOS and Android, also lets you follow your friends' photos, so you can keep up with your social life.
Great for foodies, photographers and humanitarians, this iOS app adds a great cause to your foodstagrams. When you dine and snap a food shot at one of the participating restaurants -- which, for now, are only in New York -- a meal is donated to a non-profit feeding schoolchildren in South Africa.
In this free iOS game, you'll travel with Maya, an Indian girl, as she navigates the slums in search of clean water. The longer it takes her to find water, the more school she misses.
The game was created in partnership with charity: water, which lends in-game missions and video scenes to the app.
Did you know that with the money you save cooking three of your own meals, you could fund someone's HIV medicine for three months? Instead is an iOS app that shows you how much you can save with simple tweaks in your lifestyle. Once you make those cheaper decisions, Instead encourages you to donate to a non-profit out of your savings.
My Life as a Refugee is an app for iOS and Android created by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It lets anyone around the world experience life fleeing from conflict or persecution. Through beautiful illustrations, you'll read the stories of the app's many characters, who have been separated from their loved ones and have experienced hardships.
The Recyclebank app, available for iOS and Android, rewards you for recycling. The gamification of recycling awards points that you can redeem in stores and in the app.
Forget daily deal apps -- there are apps that give back while giving you a great deal. TangoTab, available for iOS and Android, donates meals to food banks every time a diner purchases one of its restaurant deals.
Eager for a new volunteer program? This iOS app brings the online volunteer network onto your smartphone. It has a sleek interface that will help you find great opportunities to give back near you.
VolunteerMatch lets you select which skill you're looking to use to volunteer, so you can lend your expert web design or managerial skills, for example.
Image: Mashable