As a small internet company, we pay attention to what’s going on in Web 2.0 and how people use the web to raise money and awareness online for causes they care about. We’re excited about the potential for the internet to connect people and facilitate real change at low cost.
This story about a mobile internet center in Tunisia caught our eye today. Given the tourism industry, a luxury coach bus is not an uncommon sight in Tunisia. But this one isn’t carrying tourists:
This bus has been transformed into a mobile internet centre, and it travels around Tunisia teaching students of all ages how to log on, surf the net, and obtain information electronically that can help them in their studies and in finding jobs.
Mobile internet buses travel to remote villages to connect rural communities where the costs of setting up infrastructure (including electricity, for example) for internet access would be very high.
And we thought Wi-Fi on the bus between Boston and New York was forward-thinking.
Yesterday afternoon our fundraisers hit the $80,000,000 mark for online fundraising with Firstgiving.com! Since Firstgiving’s inception in 2003, you have been busy creating personal fundraising pages to raise money online for the causes you care about–medical research, animal rights, international development, the environment, and more.
At 4.37 PM, it looked like this:
And today, it looks like this:
In other celebratory news, you’ve raised money online for almost 20,000 non-profits. This is your victory as well as ours, so kudos to you!
Does your organization have a compelling story to tell? Do you want to connect with your supporters, volunteers, and donors but don’t have the funds to launch expensive outreach campaigns?
Program requirements and application are here. You can also read about how to start and maintain a successful video campaign for your organization and how to make the most of your NPO’s YouTube channel. There’s advice on making and editing videos too.
Once you’ve created your video, let your fundraisers know they can add the video to their fundraising pages. Here’s an example. And then link your Firstgiving start page to your YouTube channel. You might even find yourself connecting to some new fundraisers.
Oxfam’s mission statement is a one-two punch: they deliver development programs and emergency relief services, and campaign for change in global practices and policies that keep people in poverty.
Are you a travelblogger? Or just full of wanderlust? Need some long underwear for your next travel adventure? Pam and some of her fellow travelbloggers have put together a travel-inspired initiative to raise money online for Heifer International. Each 10 dollar donation to their fundraising page enters you into the raffle for one of the fabulous prizes you’ll find here.
Passports with Purpose is also asking people to help them raise money online for the Heifer Fund, here’s how:
Provide a raffle prize and publicize it on your blog. You’ll do the legwork to provide the prize, either by buying or making it yourself or getting a donation. The goal? Something that’s worth at least 100USD.
Spread the word! We need link love and publicity to sell as many raffle tickets as possible. Hey, they’re only 10USD, the prizes are great (so far, and they’re still coming in!) and Heifer is a great cause. Write a post about Passports with Purpose. Post our widget (—->). Tell your network. Blog. Tweet. Sing.
Buy a raffle ticket. Did I mention they’re only 10USD? Buy two. Or five. Whatever works for you. At the end of the month, you could find you’ve won a Fabulous Prize.
It’s marathon season, and this past weekend the 33rd Annual Marine Corps Marathon took place in Washington, D.C. For Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation and friend of Team Firstgiving, the race was an opportunity to “run poverty out of town.” We caught up with Alex to hear his thoughts on training, fundraising, and microfinance.
This is your second marathon; why did you decide to run again?
Despite the agony of the last 4 miles of my first marathon last year, I found the training process invigorating and had a vision of getting my time down closer to 4 hours, so I decided to try it one more time. Also, last year’s marathon-related fund-raising was quite successful for Grameen Foundation so I wanted to see if we could build on that in order to bring more resources to support our anti-poverty mission.
What does Grameen Foundation do?
Grameen Foundation works on a global basis to spread the self-help strategy known as microfinance that was pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Through this strategy, poor people – mostly women – get access to financial services, especially loans, that allow them to start or expand tiny businesses and earn enough money to slowly get out of poverty.
Why is microfinance so important as part of the international development discussion?
Many anti-poverty programs indirectly address poverty, through building infrastructure that in the long term benefits the society. Microfinance is a more direct approach. It makes the poor economic actors themselves by working directly with them to allow them to create their own jobs. While many poverty strategies address the poor’s weaknesses, this builds on their strengths – their ability to make a small amount of resources go a long way by hard work.
How do you think the current economic climate will impact international development initiatives, and what role can microfinance play?
This climate will prompt everyone to prioritize and only support the most effective approaches. Microfinance can benefit from that. Microfinance is a kind of ethical version of sub-prime lending. It can show the world what happens when the poor are provided funds for investment (rather than consumption) from lenders who are incentivized the right way and who maintain a close relationship with the borrower.
What is your best training tip?
Turn training runs into meditations – don’t talk or listen to music. It makes the runs good for the soul as well as for the body.
What is your best fundraising tip?
Realize that giving someone an opportunity to contribute to a good cause is a favor, not an imposition. Have fun!
How did you hear about Firstgiving?
My staff recommended it when they heard I was doing another marathon fund-raiser.
How has Firstgiving helped you to fundraise?
Its user-friendly site has allowed people to support my run, and Grameen Foundation, easily.
Read more about Grameen Foundation, social business, and creating a world without poverty on their blog.
Just a heads-up to let you know that we’ve registered for Blog Action Day 2008 on October 15. This virtual event will bring together bloggers from all over the blogosphere to contribute to a worldwide discussion on the subject of poverty.
Firstgiving is currently one of over 5,000 voices registered to contribute to the discussion, and we are thrilled to be a part of such an important and multi-dimensional conversation. We’ll be blogging specifically about how online fundraising and social media can contribute to solutions to ending poverty.
Register your own blog, find tips and ideas on how to help and what to blog about here. And be sure to swing by on October 15 to check out our post.
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