Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2011 May.

Who are these people, and how did they get to be so smart? A new study has found that inverting state tax structures—whereby the highest income earners would be taxed at the current percentage of income for the lowest income earners, and vice versa—would collectively raise $490 billion in new revenue, immediately eliminating states’ budget [...]

Can you build a socially responsible app in just 24 hours?

That is what Hack for Change challenges participants to do. Hack for Change encourages developers to use their coding skills for social good encouraging the development of web and mobile apps for social change.

Not only is this an inspiring and unique event, but the top-rated app creators will win $10,000 to help continue the success of their vision. The event will take place Saturday, June 18, 2011 and Sunday, June 19, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Registration is free.

Participants can register solo or with a team, each member must register individually. The organizers also want participants - or anyone with an idea - to submit ahead of time. This will give participants a list of suggestions for possible apps to develop over the weekend. Of course you can also create apps based on your own idea at the event. You can submit an idea here.

If you’re a socially conscious developer, then this the perfect event for you. Learn more about Hack for Change and register to attend.

Follow Hack for Change on Twitter

Good luck!

I’m often asked by people who work in the arts how to best express the essence of their cause in a compelling way.

This weekend I encountered a wonderful example.  When I was reading The New Yorker, an ad for the Museum of Modern Art (AKA Moma) caught my eye.  It was a note from someone who’d visited the museum.  There is a whole gallery of these notes online here, and a great blog about the project here.

Next time someone comes to your performance or visits your museum, consider asking him or her to express an opinion - and make it the centerpiece of your communications.  You may just end up with art about your art - and that’s as effective a communication as I can imagine.

This Memorial Day, I’d like to thank Fisher House Foundation for their support of our armed forces and their families.  I made a donation here in recognition of Memorial Day, and I invite you to do the same.

(I was also going to recognize Operation Homefront for its work in support of veterans.  Unfortunately, I tried five times in a row to give a donation and their website isn’t working correctly.  There’s a bug with their CAPTCHA.  What a tragedy: Memorial Day and you can’t give.  Folks, test your website often—and especially on days when many donors are likely to want to give!)

IndieGoGo tags: crowdfunding toblog Recipe for a Flash-Free Flickr Slideshow in Drupal | johanna bates tags: drupal flickr slideshow webdevelopment toblog Social Media Monitoring and Analysis Made Easy | RowFeeder tags: socialmedia export data toblog Export and Analyze Social Media Analytics | Export.ly tags: socialmedia export data toblog Posted from Diigo. The rest of my [...]

This was one of my first posts, from years ago. Since it’s likely no one read it back in the early days of this blog, I’m repeating it here in answer to a question I was asked this week: How do I break through the communications clutter?

Do you ever feel you’re mindlessly repeating the same outreach methods?  Wristbands, emails, brochures?  With 1.8 million nonprofits in the US alone, you need creativity to cut through the clutter.  Here’s a three-step questioning process to do that:

1. When is your audience in a time, place or state of mind where they are mostly likely to take action?
Say you’re promoting healthy living.  When do people decide to get active?  When they’re choosing between the stairs and the escalator.

2. What vehicle would break through the clutter in that context?
Say you’re with an anti-smoking cause.  People smoke outside because they can’t inside - this sure gets the point across. (Thanks to Nancy Lee for sharing the next two on the social marketing listserve.)

3. How can you connect the look and feel of your organization to that vehicle?
I like this one - a flyer that looks like a pink tutu.  Perfect.

Try it and see where it leads you.

My father and stepmother came to visit me this past week, and while their visit was great, their trip home was unfortunately a debacle.  Their first flight home on American Airlines was canceled.  They were told they couldn’t fly out that day at all.  So American put them on a 6 am flight for the next day—a non-direct flight with a four-hour layover.  When they arrived at the airport for the 6 am flight, it was late, then eventually canceled.  So they got on another flight that was also late.  They nearly missed their connection home.  What the heck?  Well, when my father got home, he opened the Dallas newspaper to see that 20% of American’s fleet was knocked out due to hail damage.  His reaction?  Gee, if someone had told me that at any time in the past 48 hours, I would have been far more patient and understanding over the miserable trip home.  But no one did.

This is a great example of what NOT to do in the face of something bad.  Don’t hide the facts, don’t pretend everything is fine, and don’t cease communicating.  Telling the story is always the best choice.  Even if you don’t have all the answers, say what you know and don’t know.  Because when you’re silent, people assume the worst of you.  When you’re open, people usually find empathy.

People need you to:

1. Say what’s happening, directly and clearly
2. Say you’re sorry - and mean it
3. Say what you’re doing to address the problem
4. Try your best to make it right

It’s that simple.

OpenGov NYC is an exciting unconference to be held in New York City. This one day event will provide an opportunity for a variety of civicly engaged participants to foster conversations regarding the relation between participation, transparency, and efficiency.

This is third event in a series of annual events hosted by the Open NY Forum. These convening forums are a way of creating a positive and productive space for government workers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and citizens to come together and engage with one another.

The event will be held on Sunday, June 5, 10am to 6pm at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. 


The day will revolve around three primary questions:

• Where is “local” Open Government going?
• How can we deepen the knowledge of what Open Government can be?
• What are the social and technical tools affecting Open Government’s development?


This is a must attend for anyone passionate about technology, transparency, and government. Tickets are $15 and you can register here. Be sure to follow OpenGov Camp creators Open NY Forum on Twitter.

This spring, CARD is working hard to get 15  iPads donated for use in their training and response efforts. iPads can be used for small and large presentations, brainstorming sessions, workshops, and other valuable work. There are also hundreds of useful apps that CARD staff can use as first responders in emergencies. iPads will also [...]