Happy Christmas

Version of Walking in the Air for Barretstown by Volunteer Joe Cleere

Greyston Bakery

I just came across these guys via the brandgym. They are the Greyston Bakery and they make brownies….do-goodie brownies. Look at what it says on the top of their site, makes it easy to understand why they exist doesnt it!

A computer for a tenner!

That is what Camara Learning are offering. Of course you dont get the computer, but you get to send the computer to a school in Africa. This organisation is a social enterprise and it takes redundant computers and fixes them up before they ship them to their Learning Centres across Africa. Really simple, focussed and clever idea.

25 reasons Chris Lake will leave your site in 10 seconds!

This is  a great piece by Chris Lake posted on EConsultancy. Some of the stuff here most of you will know but always useful reminders. Things like:

• Key information missing
• Too much scrolling/flashing
• PR speak/jargon

Worth a read, just click here

 

 

FREE Web Analysis

When you get told about something for free you think, where is the catch (well I do!). But this offer seems to be exactly what it says on the tin.

I was contacted by Emer Kirrane a few weeks back asking if I would be interested in posting about Analysis Exchange and regretably it took me a while to get around to it.

Essentially here is how it works:

The purpose of the Analysis Exchange is to provide “on-the-job” training for those interested in web analysis while offering free analytical insight to non-profit organisations. Each project is made up of a triad of oozy giving; the student, who does the analysis; the mentor, who provides ongoing feedback and direction; the organisation – which benefits from gaining insight into current online efforts and getting recommendations for optimisation.

The process takes two or three weeks and begins with the goals for the project being determined between mentor and organisation. The student then steams ahead with an analysis based on these goals, tapping the mentor for advice and feedback along the way. At the end of the period, the findings are presented to the organisation and then everyone breaks for ice-cream before grading each other on their participation (a highly exciting back-to-school feeling).

If you would like to be analysed just click here

Anyone can give 2million!

There was an article in the daily mail last tuesday about a couple (Bernadette and Toby Young) who are planning to donate 2 million pounds to charity in their lifetime!

And they arent multi-millionaires

They are doing it by comitting to give 10% of their income to charity, so far this has amounted to 50,000 pounds and they believe as they become more successful this will total 2 million in their lifetime. They have made sacrifices, it has meant they havent gone on dream holidays, they havent been able to save the deposit for a house.

It is a pretty incredible story and as we try to really build and create a culture of philanthropy (that isnt just focussed on the ultra wealthy) I think that this couple should be appointed Ambassadors for Philanthropy

We clearly can’t expect everyone to follow in the footsteps of the Young’s, but even if their story got people thinking about planned giving, and even giving away 1-2% of their income to charity, wouldnt it be a great thing?

Read the full article here and Thanks to Phil from Aidlink who sent me this article.

Get off twitter if….

Inspired by a frustrating lack of a response for a particular large charity (check my twitter stream for Dec 5th  if you want to see who) I really want to say to organisations that if you are on twitter to broadcast, if you are not going to respond, communicate and engage, then log on to your twitter account, go to settings and delete your account!

Non-Profit Tagline Database

You are probably familiar with the Non Profit Tagline Awards (the taggies). A great idea that Nancy Schwartz came up with a few years ago that has gone from strength to strength. Each year after the awards Nancy releases her Tagline Report. This year the report has over 4,800 taglines in it and for anyone considering looking at a tagline (and you should) this database, together with the 2011 Nonprofit Tagline Report, are key tools in in crafting taglines, organisation names and other messages that connect and motivate action.

You can get the Tagline Database and Report here: http://bit.ly/bujJLI

Database users can scan taglines by organizational focus or tagline type, or drill down into specific sets via the search tool. Organisations can use the Database to:

• Get ideas on ways to integrate a specific word or phrase into their taglines.
• Be inspired and guided in shaping all message elements by the taglines of organizations like theirs.
• Brainstorm on how to strengthen overall program messaging by reviewing program taglines of similar organizations.
• Breakthrough paralysis in naming (or re-naming) their organization by reviewing names of other organizations in the same field.

Here’s what early users have to say:

“Nancy’s experience and wisdom have been of great assistance to us at Connecting Up Australia as we work towards our own unique and meaningful messages. Her new Nonprofit Tagline Database is an essential tool for nonprofits (as a start, to avoid the embarrassment of finding your beautifully-crafted masterpiece is already in use by a competitor).”
–Doug Jacquier, CEO, Connecting Up Australia

“The Tagline Database is a great tool for crafting effective messages, and so easy to use. I was seeking tagline models used by associations and drilled down by Organization Category and Tagline Type to quickly find just what I needed.”
– Peggy Kebel, Technical Analyst/Web Programmer
, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-Local Funding Partnerships

You can get the Tagline Database and Report here: http://bit.ly/bujJLI

Virtual Christmas Gifts

The idea of buying a virtual charity gift for someone has been around for a while and more and more are cropping up and we are being encouraged to buy all sorts of gifts. I have been a bit skeptical of them in the past, although they clearly work. Mostly my skepticism has been around the fact that you very often see a disclaimer that says “this represents the kind of thing we can do with your donation” or something to that affect. This kind of takes the good out of it for me. I was, therefore, thrilled to see that Trocaire’s global gifts say “your donation buys the gift in the local area”. So if you decide to buy a solar light for someone this year, your donation will actually go and buy a solar light for someone in Uganda.

Trocaire have also put a lot of work into demonstrating the impact of the gifts, they have a flickr account showing images of people who have benefitted, and a you tube account. They are also using their facebook page well by having global gifts as the landing tab.

All in all a really well executed christmas gift campaign

The Promising Ireland Campaign

The Ireland Funds have launched an ambitious campaign to raise 100 million dollars by 2013.

The campaign will help charitable and non-profit organizations across the island of Ireland and Irish communities abroad meet the challenge of increased demand for their services at a time of major reductions in resources. Anticipating growing need, the Funds began a quiet phase in 2009 and have successfully raised over $40 million towards the $100 million goal. Today’s announcement represents the beginning of the public phase of the Promising Ireland Campaign.

Speaking on behalf of the twelve Ireland Funds around the world, President and CEO of The Worldwide Ireland Funds, Kieran McLoughlin said, “Irish charities are facing a difficult period along with increased demands on their services, yet they are doing so with great innovation and focus. This campaign is a response to that intensified need and our donors have indicated they are ready to meet the challenge. The name of the campaign, Promising Ireland, reflects both our pledge to Ireland and our belief in her future.”

Chairman of The American Ireland Fund, Loretta Brennan Glucksman said, “This campaign is our call to action and reinforces our abiding commitment to the island of Ireland as a place and a people that hold great promise for the future. Needs are greater today and so the benchmark of our response must also be greater. The Worldwide Ireland Funds have represented the generosity and goodwill of the Irish diaspora and the Irish themselves. This campaign translates that goodwill into action that will truly help those most in need and funds will be distributed as they are raised over the course of the campaign.”

 

Digital Death

The big question over the past few years is whether or not social media and social networking can actually raise any money for your cause. For me the jury is still out and I would say, don’t go into it with that objective, you want to be there to engage. However that doesnt mean it cant or it wont and similar to Twestival, the Digital Death campaign is one that has leveraged on social media to raise funds leveraging on celebrity support  (and Im always sceptical of using celebs!)

The idea was pretty simple, Celebs were going to log off their favourite networking sites (they would digitally die) on Dec 1st and they wouldnt come back online to until 1 million dollars was raised.

Did it work…….well sort of! 500,000 was raised and the additional 500,000 came from a wealthy donor (as reported on mashable).

Half a million is a lot of money, so perhaps the 1 million goal was just set too high? If they set half a million as the goal this would be undoubtedly a success. Some celebs couldnt stay off as long as they promised they would, so that probably hurt the campaign a bit. I think there is something in this idea, but perhaps shutting down wasnt the right angle to take….how do you drive traffic to the site/donation page if you arent making noise about it, would you really notice if you didnt see your favourite celeb tweets in your stream? Im not sure what the answer to this is, but this idea has potential, so  is anyone interested in working on a campaign like this over this side of the world, tweeking it and making it work? If you are get in touch with me and let’s see if we can pull it together

Sedogo

Interesting new social networking site that aims to connect you with people who have similar goals as you do to make yours happen

The Budget: It was about the stories & the impact

Yesterday was budget day in Ireland. (I dont want to even talk about the mess we are in!)

I actually listened to a lot of radio shows, watched a lot of news and read a lot of online commentary and through it all I noticed two things…..It was all about the stories & the impact

Each commentary talked about people who would be affected and how they would be affected. In fact people themselves were texting radio stations and telling their stories and the impact the budget would have on them. Things like:

• The money we lose would have bought shoes for our kids for the year
• The money we lose is equal to a weekly shop every month

This allows you picture the impact on a family or individual. I just reminded me of the importance of telling stories and demonstrating impact.

The Wheel have published a response to the budget here if you are interested on reading it click here

Fastest Way to Lose Customers (donors)

Source: get satisfaction blog

thanks to Breffni Horgan who tweeted this last week

GOSH online christmas stocking

This is a nice simple way to send a christmas message to children in hospital. They capture my email address (and ask me if I want to hear from them again). When I submit my stocking there is a big donate button (I wonder if the donation page opened would I be more inclined to give)

Nice campaign though, could worth a nomination!