httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LGRAiWyu14
As many of you know, my grandma, my mom and I traveled to Guatemala last June to be fellow soliders in the fight for transformational change in what some think is a hopeless situation. The tragedy is real (10 minutes after we entered a homeless shelter–a man was shot and killed right outside the shelter’s door!). But the change is real too–Mother Tita as many often call her has built not just one, but two schools(!) in the largest slum in Latin America located in Guatemala City.
This documentary, produced by the group Athentikos, highlights the work of Mother Tita and some of the people we met on our trip in Guatemala. The people in the trailer–I’m honored to say I’ve met, I’ve shaken their hand, I’ve seen their tears, I’ve prayed with them and I respect, admire and love them. Words aren’t enough–When people make impressions on your heart–on your being–you can’t fully express what that does to you.
Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience? Some people experience this and start their own company. Some people create a nonprofit. Some people work to tell the stories of those who share in the same experience. Others just do.
Believe in your story. Online, we talk about influence to the point of fatigue. We are all so much more than influencers–We can be changemakers. How will you respond?
]]>Hope is not what we expect. It is a dream much bigger.
Along our journey, we met a number of people who know the greatness of hope. Meet:
How many of us have expectations? We make plans and stress if they don’t turn out right or question them when there’s a bump in the road. Those expectations fog the path. If we let go of what we expect, then we can prepare for something much bigger and greater…in our work, at home and in our lives.
What would have happened if Tita, Janet, Hugo and others held onto their own personal expectations? What wouldn’t have happened? This is what I learned in Guatemala—> Let go of your expectations. Something bigger is waiting…you just need hope by your side.
PS: More pictures coming soon!
]]>Thank YOU: For your support, encouragement, tweets, Facebook postings, emails, comments, donations and the overall LOVE you shared. This has been an amazing experience and is only going to get better. Soon, we will be headed to Guatemala where we will literally raise the roof–all 14 of them! I can’t wait to return and share with you the stories and pictures of what will be a demonstration of amazing love.
]]>The fundraising drive ends today at 12pm EST. Please consider donating. Spread the word.
Let’s work it out. This morning, If we reach the following milestones, will you join me in the following? If you do, let me know in the comments or tweet your status and add the hashtag #loveroofs.
$1600: Do 14 push-ups.
$1650: Do 14 sit-ups.
$1700: Do 14 lunges–on each leg!
$1800: Do 3 sets of 14 jumping jacks.
$1925: Do 3 sets of 14 squats.
$2000: Do another set of 14 push-ups and 14 sit-ups.
$2200: Take a 14 minute walk or run!
What do you say? Can we raise $610 dollars AND get a workout in the process? Let’s do it. You in? You might want to do a warm up–it’s going to be a big day!
flickr credit: ~ggvic~
]]>Have you ever been in the right place at the right time without meaning to be? In a previous trip to Guatemala, my mom was in one of the villages we’ll be visiting. If you visit this village during the day, you will see many children and few adults. Most of the adults are working out in the fields and the children have no where to go and nothing to do. The only food they have are the limes that grow on the trees nearby whose citric acid breaks down their teeth and mouth.
Meeting Asa
While walking in the village, my mom noticed three children walking ahead of her. One of the children, she noticed wasn’t responding to the other two. On a hunch, she started clapping–still no response from the 8-9 year old girl. Catching up with the girls, she realized her hunch was right–that the one girl, whose name is Asa, was deaf.
Pulling out her compact mirror, my mom worked with Asa, making sounds and showing her how to use the mirror to watch herself try to mimic the sound. My mom then had Ana touch my mom’s throat and then touch her own throat to feel the vibration of sound. We later learned that Asa was not only deaf, but was also thought to be mute, as she had never said a word, nor made any sound. Asa was not born deaf and mute–rather she became deaf when her father threw her against the wall when she was a little younger than 3 years old.
Within 15 minutes of working with my mom (who just so happens to have a degree in speech pathology), Asa made her first sound.
Finding Your Voice
On this trip, there is a chance that my mom will get to see Asa again and that I will get to meet her. We hope this happens, as the moment was meaningful for not just Asa, but also for my mom. In March, Asa was seen again in the village and the picture to the right was taken. Do you see what’s written on her shirt? Maybe, someone meant for my mom to be in the right place at the right time.
For those of us who are on Facebook, have a blog or Twitter, we take for granted our ability to have a voice–to express ourselves. Imagine 1) not having that opportunity and on top of that 2) never learning how to communicate not just words, but also sounds.
Let us be thankful, willing and giving.
]]>I don’t know about you–but music is uplifting, soothing and moving. On our travels and while working, we’re going to be singing and celebrating the work being done. What do you think should be our theme song? [Videos Below]
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawowi’ole
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzTKplPw30
World by Five for Fighting
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JDY1KvoQYk
What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Y2zdyRin8
Where is the Love? by Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc&feature=fvst
]]>Friday morning, I checked-in with our fundraising efforts and just about fell out of my chair. An anonymous donor gave two big items–a large monetary donation ($1100) and a challenge. The challenge? “7 is a good number but is it possible to shoot for all 14?” Well, what do you say?
The cost for all 14 roofs in sum is $2200. To date, we’ve raised $1590 and achieved our initial goal of $1100, but could we blow this one out of the park? To reach $2200, we only have $610 left to go. Will you accept the challenge?
To donate, visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/loveroofs.
*And to the anonymous donor–thank you from the bottom of my heart for not just the donation, but also for the encouragement to push farther and do better.
]]>UPDATE 11:22am: We’ve raised $1490, enough funds for 9 roofs. But #loveroofs supporters are challenging us to raise enough for all 14 roofs, not just seven. To make this happen, we have $710 still to raise. Do you accept the challenge?
Mezarine–To answer your question, I think non-profits need to understand the power of their network. Specifically, the untapped potential of “free agents.” Stay with me while I explain…
Last week, Beth Kanter and Allison Fine presented at the Personal Democracy Forum about the role of the free agent. For me, my first question was: What’s a free agent? In genius style, they helped us define a “free agent” by sharing with us the story of Shawn Ahmed and his experience with the Red Cross.
Like typical Kanter and Fine posts, I find myself reflecting on this concept of a “free agent” days later. From a contract standpoint, I usually read “free agent” as an independent consultant–however, that is NOT what is meant in this discussion. Here, I see “free agent” being synonymous with the citizen philanthropist or the social citizen. It’s the empowered, empassioned individual. So, then the question becomes–who are these people?
I think customer relationship management is important here. You don’t have to use a slick and fancy CRM system (tho they can help), but mainly, you need to be detailed, diligent and deliberate.
Be Detailed: If you interact with a supporter on Twitter or Facebook or meet someone at a conference and exchange business cards, write it down. The important thing is to get in a habit of tracking your interactions with supporters and potential supporters, where they occurred, the date they occurred, what was discussed, interests, etc. and also important: be consistent in how you log this data.
Be Diligent: You need to be strategically persistent. For example, don’t reach out to a blogger or a potential sponsor with an ask being your first interaction. Get to know the people you want to work with and hope to have support your cause. Get to know your community, take the time to talk with people, know the culture, know the challenges, know the opportunities. This means that you’ll also need to adapt and be creative.
Be Deliberate: When it comes time to make an ask, be specific. Make the ask, the process, and the ability to be an ambassador of a cause fun, popular and easy. Also, make sure that whatever you’re asking, that is supports the true mission and long-term objectives of your organization. And most importantly, be deliberate in your thank you. This might seem too ‘duh’ a thought, but say more than thank you. Keep the conversation going: Ask them what worked, what didn’t, why they got involved, etc.
These are just some initial thoughts–as they say, if [fundraising] were easy, more people would be doing it. These tips might be some ways to attract and recruit supporters, but it might not enough to retain and sustain efforts. Thus, I also think nonprofits should focus on moving its network along the “Ladder of Engagement” as Beth Kanter would put it.
[Side note: It’s interesting because there’s similiar theories that all relate to moving people along a spectrum–I would LOVE to create a matrix of these on how they all relate.]
What do you think? How would you answer Mezarine’s question? And, what other questions do you have?
flickr credit: erasmuse
]]>In the #loveroofs project, the first big hurdle was finding the right fundraising platform as there are many out there. In the end, I chose CrowdRise for a number of reasons.
Let me walk you through the thought process and hopefully that helps you if you are planning an individual fundraising effort. If you’re with an org, I encourage you to keep reading too–but more on that tomorrow.
1. Research other people’s experiences. Fellow changebloggers continue to inspire me in the work they do and how they give to others. For me, I turned to the experiences of Beth Kanter, Geoff Livingston, Stacey Monk, and others. Let’s be clear, good research should involve reading about other people’s experiences, asking them about their experiences and by participating in them. In other words–it’s harder to fundraise if you’ve never been on the other side as a donor.
2. Identify a cause. This is important. Identifying your cause will quickly help you determine your requirements. For example, large non-profits already have their own donation system like Livestrong for example. Other non-profits or causes may be on certain social networks that will also act as its own fundraising platform. An example of this is Causes and it’s birthday fundraising campaigns. Still yet, some organizations have it where you can sign-up for an event of theirs and fundraise around the event like the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer or Special Olympics Missouri.
3. Determine the requirements. The reason step two is important is because not all organizations have their own fundraising platform or on Facebook. This was partially my dilemna. The Amistad Foundation just got on Facebook, but is still working on setting up its cause page. Currently, it’s online donation system uses PayPal, which is fine–but it didn’t offer some key functionality such as: a) the ability to easily track the funds donated in an open and transparent manner, b) The ability to customize information, add my own text or share images. Granted, I could have set-up my own PayPal account, but another big thing for me was openness and transparency.
4. Narrow down the field. Once you determined your requirement, you need to narrow down the list of fundraising platform options. And believe me, there are a ton out there! For me, I narrowed it down to ChipIn and CrowdRise.
Each of these platforms had pros and cons. ChipIn is familiar–people know about it. It also provides a widget that you can embed on a website or blog, the ability to create your own landing page and the ability to set a goal and track progress–for all to see. However, ChipIn was also connected to PayPal. So, for this to work to me, I’d have to have people to donate to my PayPal account and then give that to the Amistad Foundation. This was an issue–but my third requirement was openness and transparency. Plus, I wanted the process to be easier.
Thus, I chose CrowdRise. Not only does CrowdRise offer the functionality of ChipIn (minus the embeddable widget unfortunately), it also has stronger design, is more inviting and easier to use. Plus, the big one for me, was that it isn’t connect to my PayPal account. Instead, CrowdRise already has a huge database of nonprofits that you can start fundraisers for–and wouldn’t you know, the Amistad Foundatin was one of them! Granted, Crowdwise takes a 5% processing fee as well as a small transaction fee, while PayPal via ChipIn takes about 3%–the pros of Crowdrise (in my opinion) trumped that of ChipIn as Crowdwise also has viral integration as well.
5. Ask around. As I was teetering between Crowdrise and ChipIn, I asked some fellow changebloggers their opinions. There weren’t strong feelings one way or the other, so I went with my gut on Crowdrise. Part of its appeal is that it is a new platform, so I wanted to use it and provide feedback for our community at large. However, looking back, I wish I would have asked YOU guys via a blog post which one you think I should have done. What can you say? Here’s to learning by doing!
6. CHOOSE. For me, this was the hardest part. I sat on this fundraising effort for a good 2-3 weeks wanting to get it all just right. I was nervous (still am!), was running all the ifs in my head, refining and refining, and finally, with faith, I chose.
Do you think I made the right choice? What’s your experience? And, what other questions do you have?
]]>In my last post, I shared news about an upcoming trip to Guatemala my mom, my grandma and I are making alongside fellow changemakers. Part of this trip is working to raise funds to provide seven roofs for seven families in seven days, a total of $1100 ($157 per roof).
Over the next seven days, I also plan to answer seven questions based on things I learn during this process, insights you help me to discover, why I chose CrowdRise over other fudraising platforms, how fundraising relates to social marketing, the role of the free agent and any other items you may be curious about. I hope this seven-day adventure not only raises funds for those who need it–but also helps us grow as professionals.
So Sound Off: What questions do you have when it comes to fundraising change?
flickr credit: Travelin’ Librarian
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