Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2009 November.

Tweetsgiving is 48-hour event to encourage people to express their gratitude using online tools and at face-to-face meet-ups. This two-day event, scheduled for November 24-26, will also invite people to donate to Epic Change. And there are a lot more…

The winners of the second annual America’s Giving Challenge were announced today by The Case Foundation, Causes and PARADE.  The 30-day national online competition resulted in more than 105,000 donations which helped to raise $2.1 million for nonprofit causes.  As part of the Challenge, participants competed for daily and overall cash awards based on the number of donations to their cause, not dollars raised.  A total of $170,000 in awards, $150,000 funded by the Case Foundation and $20,000 funded by the Aspen Institute, was announced at Challenge launch, and during the last week of the challenge, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced an additional contribution of $75,000 in award money.

For background on the Challenge and tips for participating in such events, go to this previous post.

How did the winners win?  Often, it was good old fashioned organizing - taken online.  Here is a story from one of the winners - Atlas Corps - shared by Causes on its blog:

“Atlas Corps’ success was possible because of two main strategies.  First, we signed up 150 ‘Campaign Captains’ before the contest started. These Captains agreed to get between 5-10 of their friends to give to Atlas Corps during the contest.  Second, we signed up about 50 people to join one of their Giving Clubs.  People joined the 30-day, 20-day, 10-day and 5-day giving clubs and made a commitment to go online and donate each day. We also decided to try to win one of the early Day Challenges because we knew it would only get harder with each week.  The $42,000 we raised in this contest will allow us to bring four new Atlas Corps Fellows to the U.S. in March 2010. This is a huge victory for us and one made possible by empowering our supporters to go out there and get their friends to donate to us.”

This holiday, don’t forget that when it comes to spreading the word, you are well served by thinking outside your own organization.  The greatest value of the Giving Challenge is the new messengers it inspires and the engagement it prompts.  Take a page from Atlas and ask your champions - whether they be volunteers, donors, beneficiaries, partners or fans - to not simply give but to also recruit.

Planned Parenthood Online Overview View more presentations from Big Duck. This morning on Twitter, Farra, from Big Duck, pointed me to a guest blog post titled “What Story Are You Telling Your Donors, Where Are You Telling It?” The above…

Rethinking charity registration, plus more: Tuesday’s roundup

Nonprofit groups give thanks despite tough times

Who are the world’s most powerful philanthropists?

I’m thankful for you - and not just because it’s thanksgiving.

Thanks for working for a good cause.
Thanks for making the world a better place.
Thanks for trying to be more effective at both.
Thanks for teaching me how all the above are done.

In your honor, I just made a donation to Tweetsgiving.  The donation will go to building a classroom, orphanage/boarding facility, cafeteria and library at a school in Tanzania!  Happy Thanksgiving!

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called Tweetsgiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. Epic Change launched the original TweetsGiving celebration in November 2008 as a 48-hour celebration of gratitude and giving that successfully raised over $10,000 to build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania.

Here’s what happened in Tanzania:

TweetsGiving 2009 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

I just got the following from CARE in my inbox.  The subject line “25,000 people will die this Thanksgiving.”  Compare and contrast the email (pictured below) to the other two images. 

Which made you want to donate?  Let me know via comments.  I predict it was not #1.  Why?  25,000 people dying is a fact that overwhelms, depresses and paralyzes the human psyche.  Dr. Paul Slovic did an exceptionally good presentation for the wonderful Communications Network last week on this very topic, and he showed the collapse model of human compassion.  The bigger the number, the less the compassion.  This may not be rational but it sure is human.  Click on the collapse model image for more on how our minds work.  And watch the presentation. 

A growing debate about ‘at-promise’ youth

Debating the effectiveness of antipoverty efforts, plus more: Monday’s roundup