Everyday Giving Blog

Comic with Serious Message

This was my first attempt at creating a comic. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

2009 Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk

If you were not able to attend the Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk this year, check out the below slideshow. Charity walks can be fun and provide support to your cause.

If you are not involved in a charity walk, go to http://www.LetsMoveTogether.org to find an Arthritis Walk in your area or contact your favorite nonprofit organizations to discover if they host a walkathon you can join.

Calling All Videographers Who Want to Make a Difference

Video is a great medium to use for bringing attention to an important cause. You don't need to be a professional videographer or use expensive equipment to create and distribute effective videos. Would you like to have some fun while creating videos that can make a difference?

The following are a couple of current video contests night you should consider participating in:

Show Us Your Moves

The Show Us Your Moves video contest is encouraging physical activity. It is a part of the Arthritis Foundation’s Let's Move Together campaign.

Monthly winners of the contest receive a Flip Camera. The grand prize winner will receive a vacation package for two.

Go to http://lmt.arthritis.org/ways-to-move/show-us-your-moves.php for details.

Will Ferrell Sunscreen

Cancer for College is searching for unique videos to promote their new fundraising product line, Will Ferrell Sunscreen. Whoever can make the best Will Ferrell sunscreen ad will get to meet Will Ferrell in person.

Go to http://www.cancerforcollege.org/Will_Ferrell_Contest.php for details.

Get your creative juices flowing and submit your best videos to these contests. You will be making a difference regardless of whether you win either of these contests.

Note: If you do submit a video for either (or both) of these video contests, please leave a comment with a link to your video. I would love to view your creation.

Will Ferrell Makes Sun Protection Fun and Charitable

Will Ferrell is an internationally known actor and comedian. His outrageous behavior has resulted in millions of smiles and laughs around the world. It also resulted in a celebrity status that can be leveraged for good.

Since his college days, Will Ferrell has been a strong supporter of the nonprofit organization Cancer for College. Cancer for College provides college scholarships to cancer survivors and amputees.

What is Will Ferrell’s latest method of support? Sunscreen!

Will Ferrell Sunscreen

Cancer for College just launched a new line of sunscreens featuring Will Ferrell. All proceeds from the sunscreen sales go to benefit Cancer for College's Willpowered Scholarship Fund in granting college scholarships to cancer survivors and amputees.

This line of SPF30 sunscreens will put a smile on your face. In Will Ferrell fashion, they sport an outrageous name and label. You can choose from:

• Sexy Hot Tan
• Sunstroke
• Forbidden Fruit

Go to http://www.cancerforcollege.org/Purchase.php to learn more about the products and to buy your fun sun protection this summer.

About Cancer for College

Cancer for College was formed in 1993 by two-time cancer survivor and double-amputee Craig Pollard. Cancer for College was created to provide hope and inspiration by providing college scholarships to cancer survivors and amputees. Since its inception, Cancer for College has granted nearly $500k in scholarships to more than 400 cancer survivors.

Support the Fight Against Arthritis

As you probably know, my wife Kim suffers from arthritis. Before that time, I thought arthritis was something that only afflicted elderly people and could be dealt with by taking a simple pain killer. I was wrong!

Arthritis impacts us all

Today, 46 million people (one in five) suffer from the pain of arthritis in the United States alone. There are also 300,000 children who are affected by arthritis. It is likely you know people who suffer from arthritis.

Arthritis also imposes a major burden on the economy. Costs to the U.S. economy totals $128 billion annually.

How you can help

A week from today, Saturday, May 2nd, the Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk will be taking place. I am participating in the Arthritis Walk as a part of Let's Move Together, the Arthritis Foundation's nationwide movement that encourages people to move to prevent or treat arthritis.

My fundraising goal this year is $1,000.

I need your help. Please join me in this movement against arthritis by helping me reach my goal. Consider making a donation and sharing this opportunity with your friends.

Click here to make a donation.

My special thanks to you

Donating provides you some great benefits. However, I want to give you an additional incentive that is unique and has some value to you and your business.

For a donation of at least $40, I will write a website review here on the Everyday Giving Blog. Just email me (roger@everydaygiving.com) your website url and a keyword phrase to use for the review.

The review will include an image of the website, a description, and two links (one with the keyword phrase and one with the url. The review will provide both links to your website and exposure of your website to the readers of the Everyday Giving Blog. All I ask is that you only submit a “family friendly” website for the review.

If you don’t own a website of your own, consider submitting the website of your favorite charity.

I will also submit a blog post each evening with the names of those who donate at http://www.EverydayGiving.com/arthritiswalk regardless of the amount.

Don’t delay

Remember, the walk is in one week. Thank you in advance for your support. I look forward to you joining me in the fight against arthritis.

http://www.EverydayGiving.com/arthritiswalk

Students Helping Honduras Again

Students Helping Honduras is busy this Spring holding fundraising events across the country. I was able to attend one of the events this past weekend at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The fundraising event was a volleyball tournament. The funds raised through the event are going to be used to build a library at the village of Villa Soleada in El Progreso, Honduras. The facility, designed by engineers and architects from the Building Goodness Foundation, will give more than 2,000 people in the region a safe place to study and access books for the first time.

The event had all of the elements to be successful. The elements included entertainment, food, team competition, great volunteers and fun. They also met their goal by raising more than $25,000.

These students are making a difference in the lives of other people and in the life of a community. How are you making a difference?

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing items in a set called Students Helping Honduras Volleyball Fundraiser 2009. Make your own badge here.

Nonprofit Board Leadership Interview

Are you a nonprofit board member or considering serving as a nonprofit board member in the future? That is great! Actively participating on a nonprofit board is a great way to make a difference.

Christopher Scott from the Nonprofit Leadership, Innovation, and Change blog recently interviewed me regarding my board experience. Christopher asked some great questions to uncover reasons to be a board member and how your participation on a nonprofit board can be most effective. Click here to check out the interview.

Enjoy the interview and be sure to leave Christopher a comment while you are there!

Spread the Word to End the Word Today

Today is Spread the Word to End the Word day. I learned about this event from Laura at the 25 Days to Make a Difference blog.

What is Spread the Word to End the Word day?

It is a National Awareness Day, established by Special Olympics, to raise awareness of the hurtful effects of the "R-word" and encourage people to pledge to stop using it. Today, young people across the country are leading efforts to raise awareness and raise funds from peers and the community to vow not to use the R-word.

What did Spread the Word to End the Word remind me of?

The following story is about something I experienced. As you read it, think about what would have happened if I replaced my thankfulness with disrespect. That is what a person does when he or she uses the R-word.

I was at a professional symposium in Northern Virginia where I was one of the symposium leaders. During a lunch break I stayed in the room where one of the classes was being given to watch all of the personal belongings of the students while they were at lunch. During the break, three of the hotel workers came into the room to fill water pitchers and put out clean glasses. One of the workers was an intellectually challenged person who was hired to help. His job was to put clean glasses on the tables. When he serviced the table I was sitting at, I said a simple “thank you.” I will never forget the look on his face. I could have told him he won the lottery and he couldn’t have looked any more excited! Even after they left the room to go to the next, I could still hear him shouting as loud as he could about the “nice man.”

How can you get involved?

Go to http://www.r-word.com to make your pledge and learn about other ways you can get involved in promoting respect for others. At the time I am writing this post there have been over 21,000 people who have taken a stand and made a pledge. I made my pledge and you should too.

365 Club Still Growing

December 31, 2008 marked the beginning of an exciting group of people worldwide. Inspired by the small random act of kindness by Dave Ferguson, Lead Pastor of Community Christian Church in Chicago, the group was formed on Facebook. Soon 100's were joining to become a part of a community who pledged to do at least one act of kindness every day for the entire year. Today, it reaches over 11,000 members across the globe.

The group is active. This means members haven't simply joined just to join. They are joining to act on kindness. They are starting their day looking for opportunities to do kindness. They recognize the world is in dire need of kindness. They understand a simple act of kindness can have HUGE repercussions for changing the world.

Are you interested in joining? Are you interested in making a REAL difference in your world? Are you ready to sense the joy and exhilaration of making someone's day (without expectation of anything in return)? Does this fit with your desire to be good? Then join today!

You will need to login (or start a new profile) to Facebook and click on "Become A Fan". Read the nearly 700 wall posts by members to get ideas. Do something kind (no, BE someONE kind) today!

Here's the link to the 365 Club:

http://www.tiny.cc/365Club

(native link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/365-Club/51660762372?ref=mf)

by guest blogger: Scott Couchenour (http://www.servingstrong.com  http://www.servingstrong.typepad.com)

Is Online Giving Dead or Alive?

Online giving is alive and growing, but it is not the only game in town. It also has some limitations that need to be understood. The better you understand the trends in online and offline giving, the better you will be able to build an appropriate fundraising strategy for your profit organization.

Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company, has been collecting online giving data from several major nonprofit organizations for a few years. Their latest report 2008 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis has recently been released and should be of interest to any nonprofit organization, whether or not online techniques are currently a part of the fundraising strategy.

Some of the key findings in the report are:

• Online giving continues to grow rapidly in 2007 and 2008, even in the absence of major disasters which fueled the growth of online giving for relief and animal welfare organizations in previous years.
• Even with this growth, online giving is still dwarfed by direct mail giving.
• Online donors are younger and have higher incomes than traditional, primarily direct mail donors.
• Over the past few years, online giving has become an increasingly significant source of new donor acquisition.
• Online donors have slightly lower retention rates overall than traditional donors.
• Online giving is not a strong renewal channel; every year, large numbers of online donors migrate away from online giving and to other channels, primarily direct mail.

I will be discussing some of these findings in future blog posts. 

You can get the full report and register for a special analysis review webinar at http://www.blackbaud.com/targetanalytics/benchmarking/dcinternet.aspx.