Everyday Giving Blog

My First Television Interview for the Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk

I recently participated in a local television interview called Comcast Newsmakers. The purpose of the interview was to discuss the impact of arthritis and our local Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk fundraising event. It was my first interview for television.

Are you familiar with Toastmasters International? During a Toastmasters meeting, speeches are evaluated. These evaluations help reinforce those things the presenter does well and gives recommendations on areas that can be improved.

Will you do me a favor? Please watch the interview and then leave me a comment with your evaluation. Just like the speech evaluation in Toastmasters, I would like you to list things you felt I did well and identify areas I can improve for my next interview.

Thanks in advance!

Do Your Volunteers Know You Appreciate Them?

An online conversation started with Seth Godin promoting the idea of a Customer of the Month program for businesses. Searchgive continued the conversation by suggesting a Donor of the Month program might be worth trying for nonprofits. A similar concept could be established for volunteers. The purpose of recognizing a volunteer each month is to express your appreciation.

Doing everything you can to retain good and experienced volunteers is important. Letting them know you value and appreciate them is an important part of meeting this need.

One of the nonprofit organizations I volunteer with has done a great job of letting me know I am appreciated. I have received three thank you notes in the last several weeks. One from the staff person responsible for my area, one from the President of the organization, and one from a child who suffers from the disease I am working hard to fight (this note meant the most to me). They also contact me in other ways on a regular basis and give me opportunities to get involved in many new ways.

Consider announcing your first Volunteer of the Month this week. Determine what motivates each of your volunteers and show every one how much you appreciate their efforts.

Even Chronic Illness Didn't Stop Her

Kim is chronically ill. She has been suffering from diseases including lupus and osteoarthritis for several years. You wouldn't know this when you see her or talk to her. These illnesses are invisible to others.

Having an invisible chronic illness doesn't mean the effects don'.t exist. Kim is in constant pain. She is exhausted most of the time. When she goes out in public for a few hours, she has to recover in bed for a significant portion of several days. Once a successful store owner, now she has had to give up the business portion of her life.

Why am I telling you Kim's story?

If there are acceptable excuses for not giving back to others, Kim's would be high on the list. However, she isn't letting her illness stop her.

Kim understands the struggle a chronic illness can impose on a person and family. It impacts activities, finances, mental health, and relationships. She has read many books that have helped her tremendously. She knows these books are unreachable by many people dealing with chronic illness because they can't afford them.

Kim purchased large quantities of two books that helped her the most. She is giving these books to doctors who can give or loan the books out to patients who need them most.

Kim identified a need and then took action to help meet that need. Giving back to help others can be that simple.

If Kim can make a difference in people's lives, what are you capable of accomplishing? Look around you and identify needs. You won't have to look long or hard. Take action to help meet one or more of those needs. You will be glad you did.

Did I mention that Kim is my wonderful wife?

Are You Ready For Blog Action Day?

Can you imagine a day when thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss the environment?

That is exactly what will happen this year on Blog Action Day, which is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2007.

Are you interested in participating?

Major blogs already signed up include: Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.org, Get Rich Slowly, Web Worker Daily, GigaOm, The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.

Go to http://www.BlogActionDay.org to register your blog and discover other bloggers who are participating.

I look forward to participating here at the Everyday Giving Blog.

If you have a suggested environmental topic you would like me to discuss on Blog Action Day, leave me a comment.

Promoting Positive Change at TryChange.org

Peopleized by: rogercarr - Saturday, 15 September 2007

Vince Stubbs is an entrepreneur who is promoting positive messages and stories. Go to www.TryChange.org to learn more about Vince and his inspirational products.

rogercarr: Hi Vince, please tell me about yourself.

Try Change: I'm originally from New Jersey but I currently reside in Northern Virginia. I am the director of sales for a hotel in Springfield as well as the president of the local chamber of commerce. One of my main interests besides Try Change is going to the gym as often as I can, usually four to five days a week.


rogercarr: Briefly describe TryChange.

Try Change: At Try Change we seek to inspire ourselves and others to seek positive change that will not only benefit ourselves but society as a whole. Through the sale of inspirational t-shirts we hope to spread our message of hope, peace, faith, diversity and positive change. We share new inspirational stories on our website and blog just about everyday.


rogercarr: What gave you the idea for starting the company?

Try Change: I was inspired to start Try Change after a trip to our local supermarket where I encountered a young lady wearing an obscene t-shirt. It was a Sunday afternoon and there were many families with children also at the store. The very next week I was in the mall and I saw a young boy that couldn't have been older than 7 or 8 wearing a shirt promoting the use of marijuana. I thought to myself that I had to do something about this. That there had to be something more positive out there for all of us.


rogercarr: What makes TryChange different from other t-shirt companies?

Try Change: At Try Change we do not consider ourselves a t-shirt company. Rather, we are messengers of positive change. The t-shirts are one of the vehicles that we use to spread our mission as well as help our community. We have sponsored the local Springfield Bridge Walk, we are members of the local chamber of commerce, we are involved with Volunteers of America and are participating in the adopt a highway program.


rogercarr: I understand you donate a percentage of all profits to Volunteers of America Chesapeake. What percentage is donated? Why did you select this charitable organization?

Try Change: Since we are not purchasing our shirts wholesale at this time but rather per order our profit margin is limited so our current donation is 5% of all profits. Our goal is to sell our shirts directly to the consumer through local shops which will increase our profits and in turn will increase the amount we donate to Volunteers of America Chesapeake. We have also recently set up a link on our blog with Network for Good that allows people to donate directly to Volunteers of America. We selected Volunteers of America because it is one of the oldest and most respected charities in the US. They also run the local shelter which we are planning a garage sale with that 100% of the proceeds will go to Volunteers of America Chesapeake.


rogercarr: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you or TryChange?

Try Change: I would like others to know that Try Change is made up of me and my fiancé and we are very much a grass roots organization. The success of Try Change hinges on the support that we receive from our local community as well as individuals such as yourself and our online community. In the short time that we have been in existence we have been featured on the front page of the Springfield Times, appeared in the Potomac News Pulse and were the Legal Zoom Spotlight LLC. We are constantly seeking out new inspirational stories and community members. In closing, I would like to invite everyone to join our community. We currently have 25 members and our goal is to reach 200 community members by 2008. Finally, you can support us and Volunteers of America by simply investing in one of our many inspirational t-shirts.

Try Change's Page: www.trychange.org

Authors Page: rogercarr

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Personal finance habits

I just posted an entry on the Serving Strong blog and thought it might also be good for Everyday Giving.  I believe as we are able to better manage our finances, we are better able to give.  These are simple, yet powerful habits to build into our way of life...

Check out the original post.

Serve Strong!

Scott Couchenour (Balance coach to people who serve people) ServingStrongBlog.  ServingStrongWebsite.

Free Hug Day To Be Celebrated Around The World

Juan Mann landed in Australia with no family or friends to offer him a hug. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he made a sign with the words "FREE HUGS" and held it up for everyone to see. He felt great with every hug given and so did the others who participated.

That was the spark that started the Free Hugs Campaign. The campaign has now spread all around the world.

Would you like to become a part of the Free Hugs Campaign? There is a group at Facebook who is celebrating Free Hug Day on Monday. Everyone is invited to participate. You can learn more at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2412896548.

Related Post: National Hug-A-Thon In South Africa

Change Your World Contest At Razoo.com

Social networking has become extremely popular on the web. Some of the most popular web sites are now social networking sites. These websites include MySpace, YouTube, Orkut, and Facebook. These social networking sites allow people and organizations with common interests to meet.

There is a new type of social networking gaining popularity and it is changing the world. Do gooders and organizations that do good are meeting online to join forces and find ways to make a difference. My recent involvement with some of these sites has resulted in a number of people helping me with causes I am passionate about, meeting celebrities who are doing charitable work, and even discovering a new nonprofit organization that I have joined as a board member.

One of my favorite social networking web sites is Razoo. You can check out Razoo at http://beta.razoo.com. Razoo's founder and CEO, Sebastian Traeger, is developing a winner. The website makes it easy to find others who are interested in the same causes that you are.  It also makes it easy to encourage others to join you in taking action. What I am most impressed with is character of the leadership and membership.

Razoo is currently promoting the Change Your World contest. You can earn your chance to get $10,000 for your favorite charity. All you need to do to qualify is to start a group to support your favorite cause it and get at least 100 members to join your group before September 15, 2007. That is only two weeks away. Go to http://beta.razoo.com/win10k and http://blog.razoo.com/articles/2007/08/02/10-000-contest to learn more about the contest and joining Razoo.

Be sure to add me as a friend when you join. You can find me on Razoo at http://beta.razoo.com/members/rogercarr.

Update: The contest has been extended to October 1 and additional prizes have been added.

Free Custom Websites Donated To Nonprofit Organizations

Does your charity, church or nonprofit organization need a website or major website makeover? HotPress Web, a web marketing company in Denver Colorado, donates a custom website every three months. The next winner will be announced on September 31, 2007.

The donated website is feature rich and has a value of $5,000. The Cunningham Foundation was selected for the last website. Check out http://www.cunninghamfoundation.org to get an idea of what HotPress Web is giving away.

I asked Steve Thiel, managing partner of HotPress Web, why they are doing this.

We believe philanthropy is an important part of a successful business model. Investing in people and infrastructure not only helps to improve quality of life, but to also create new resources and opportunities for economic growth. Giving is a virtuous cycle.

I couldn't agree more. I love to hear about companies that incorporate philanthropy into their business activities.

When I asked about how the "lucky" organization was selected, more of HotPress Web's desire to help others make a difference came out.

The process for selecting an applicant will be fairly subjective. We want to get involved with more than the organization's website - we want to work with people who are passionate and really making a difference in society.

Go to http://www.hotpressweb.com/free-website to learn more about this offer and to apply for your chance to receive a free charitable website.