Social Media-Driven Charity Initiatives—Better Than You Think
April 29, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem that, when given a choice between negative and positive perspective, mainstream media will usually choose the pessimistic spin? The headline last week in an article from The Washington Post pronounced that charitable giving via social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace was a bust. But in the daily rush of doing business and trying to stay current with the news, often times the headline is all we read. In the story regarding online giving, the unfortunate headline skimmer would come away woefully misinformed. In fact, much of the story tells of the success of online fundraisers as opposed to the failures. True, what I deem successful and what someone else calls a success may be different, but the fact remains that whether twenty dollars or one million dollars, any money given toward a worthy cause is better than nothing. The article laments that “just 185,000 members have ever contributed” through a popular Facebook application, with the median gift being $25. Am I wearing rose-colored glasses, or does that amount to over $4.5 million?
The digital uproar over the article resulted in a toned down headline in the online edition as well as a substantial correction and clarification regarding some of the statistics.
My own experience with online philanthropy has been overwhelmingly positive. I was recently involved with a social media-driven event that grew from a chance meeting with a goodhearted acquaintance into a multi-city and international event involving hundreds (if not thousands) of participants on three different continents. Not only were valuable funds earned for a worthwhile charity, but countless hours and gifts-in-kind were donated as well. Most importantly, people took the opportunity to step out of their own stressful and demanding lives to spend time helping someone else. And it was all planned and promoted via social media. So who gained from this event? Not only the recipient of the funds, but every single person who took part. Not only did hundreds of front-, middle-, and end-users receive tangible and non-tangible benefits, but the event was planned and promoted solely via social media.
Examples of successful fundraisers are plentiful online if an honest search is made. From millions of dollars raised on a Facebook fan page to myriad Chip-In type widgets and gadgets found on web sites, charity is alive and well on the internet. Beyond the dollars and cents, blogger Allison Fine makes the point that success should also be measured by awareness not money alone. She writes that today’s connected world “means that each one of us is can be more than an ATM for our causes.”
Beyond awareness and financial giving exists the chance to actually do. Sites such as DoSomething.org and GoodTurnForAmerica.org list ideas and opportunities in local communities for volunteers to simply show up and serve. If you’re unable to spare a dime, surely you can spend some time.
So cheer up, America. Despite what you may read there is still plenty of good in the world. And if you’re unable to see it sometimes the best thing to do is to put on some gloves and make it.
Jyl Johnson Pattee is the founder and president of Mom It Forward, a service-based online community with offline chapters throughout North America. Jyl can be reached at momitforward@gmail.com.
#GNO Goes Daytime This Week! Join us Thursday, April 30 at Noon EDT
April 28, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
How Can You Join the Party?
1. Get on Twitter on Thursday, April 30 from 12-2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. CDT, 10 a.m. MDT, and 9 a.m. PDT).
2. Follow our international hosts: @yehu_adet, @yehu_rose, @yehu_bernice.
3. Follow our domestic hosts: @yehu_troy, @basabody, @momitforward.
4. Click here to tweet from our custom Tweetgrid.
Connect With Us Online!
April 27, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 1 Comment
Want to stay in the know about Mom It Forward events? Interested in viewing or sharing current pictures or videos from the Mom It Forward community? Here’s a few of the places you can connect with us online, besides on our website:
Chat anytime all day everyday in bite-sized comments (140 characters or less) on Twitter. You can follow Mom It Forward by clicking here.
Also, check out our new group over on Today’s Mama, where women and moms can tweet to their heart’s content!
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Girl’s Night Out (#GNO) Tuesdays on Tweetgrid
Chat with other Mom It Forward gals during our weekly #gno Twitter party every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern time. Stay for as long as you’d like and enjoy our weekly themes and our virtual panelists. We create a custom TweetGrid each week with our panelists Twitter IDs, so click here to RSVP as well to learn the who and the where for each week’s party.
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Facebook Group and Page
Keep apprised of weekly and special Mom It Forward events on our Facebook Group. While there, feel free to upload photos, videos, or links and start or participate in discussions. While this is a spam-free zone, it is a great place to introduce community members to your blogs and/or online businesses.
Also, we love our Mom It Forward fans, so please click here to become part of the club.
LinkedIn Group
Share job-related information and opportunities and start or participate in Mom It Forward discussions on our LinkedIn group. This is a great place to share your resume, blog, websites, and on or offline businesses.
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Flickr Group
As Mom It Forward starts more and more chapters around the world, Flickr is a great way to see what other women in the community are doing to Mom It Forward. So far, our Flickr Group has pictures of us singing at an assisted living facility, preparing lunch at the Nashville Rescue Mission, enjoying an uplifting workshop luncheon at The Melting Pot, serving side by side with our children at a center for absued children, and partying while raising funds and awareness for Yehu Microfinance, Basa Body, and Coast Coconut Farms. Not able to attend an event, feel like you’re part of the action by viewing the pictures. Served in your community or with your family, please upload and share what you did or are doing to Mom It Forward.
YouTube Community
YouTube has been a great way to capture not only the heartfelt, but the fun side of our community. Where else can you see @JessicaKnows doing her famous “super star” right after singing a song created especially for #gno during the Blissdom party skit? Or, where can you see Larry Possum of the famous @soulpossum come out of his trailer twice, once to sing a ballad for the Blissdom Party, and a second time to sing for the New York City Tweet Up for Charity? Get in on the action by clicking to view one of these fun videos or by uploading your own.
Tweet With Women From Kenya During Daytime #GNO Thursday, April 30
April 27, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 3 Comments
How Is Twitter Connecting People for the Power of Good?
Twitter has become a buzz word, as of recently, but how can Twitter bridge the distance and connect people for the power of good? As part of a larger effort to raise $50,000 for Yehu Microfinance Bank to help empower moms in impoverished areas of Kenya, Mom It Forward will be hosting a Twitter party Thursday, April 30 from 12-2 p.m. (EDT) and two of the moms who will benefit from our efforts will actually be tweeting with us live from Africa on the popular Twitter application: Tweetgrid.
Thanks to new tools in social media like Twitter, groups like Mom it Forward don’t have to travel to Africa to offer humanitarian aid. The Twitter party will feature two women from Kenya, as well as the bank’s CEO, who will be tweeting live from the Kenyan Bank in Mumbasa with approximately 200 Mom it Forward members, talking about what the program and fundraising efforts mean to them and their families. We are excited to personally connect Yehu women entrepreneurs from rural Kenya with other women around the world on Twitter so that they may share together, learn from each other, and strengthen each other. We are grateful that there is technology today that can narrow the divide of distance and culture to allow us to discover the common bonds that connect us all together.
What Is Yehu Microfinance Bank?
Yehu Microfinance Bank is an organization designed to bring impoverished communities in the rural coastal areas of Kenya out of poverty and into a better, fuller life. The organization works to provide communities with a series of loans, which villagers can use to start their own small businesses and build economic strength in their communities.
How Can You Join the Party?
1. Get on Twitter from 12-2 p.m. EDT (11 CDT, 10 MDT, and 9 PDT).
2. Follow our international hosts: @yehu_adet, @yehu_rose, @bernice98.
3. Follow our domestic hosts: @yehu_troy, @basabody, @momitforward.
4. Click here to tweet from our custom Tweetgrid.
Please invite your friends for this awesome opportunity to virtually travel to Africa and meet some amazing Kenyans right from the comforts of your home or computer.
Reminder! 100% of donations go to Africa. And, when you donate $20 or more to Yehu or make any Basa Body or Coast Coconut Farms product purchase, you’re automatically entered to win one of three amazing gift cards, including a $250 Disney Gift Card.
10-Year Old Forms an Organization, Focusing on Kids Who Make a Difference
April 21, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 1 Comment
In March of 2008 my 10-year-old daughter came to me and asked me to build her a web site. After discarding a few frivolous ideas, she said, “I want to help animals!” I asked her why we don’t try and help people too as well as the environment? She agreed and we formed a “partnership”.
Kids Are Heroes is a web site that showcases children who perform outstanding selfless acts for others in their community. The concept is that parents bring their own children to the site for inspiration. Kids see how many other kids are really changing the world and they quickly learn that they can do it too. What usually happens is a child will read a particular story that triggers something inside them. They do not necessarily mimic the same exact project, instead they use components of a project or two and turn those ideas towards their own passion.
We are still a budding organization, but we are starting to see direct evidence of this concept. We are so excited with the positive visceral reactions of those that “get it”. Since we started we have featured children from all over the US and Canada. Our effort is indeed growing substantially. We are starting to speak to schools which is a natural progression for us. We can’t wait to see what happens next.
We have been asked how did our 10-year-old, MaryMargaret, come to be this way. In 2006 my dog Charlie founded Wags for Hope, a local pet therapy group in Frederick, MD. MaryMargaret and I would take Charlie to a local nursing home to visit the elderly. MaryMargaret is better at this activity than I am – I realized that early on. One particular day a lady came out of her bedroom wearing just her pajamas. She petted Charlie and gave him a smile. MaryMargaret said to her, “I like your pajamas!” The lady replied, “You do? Would you like to see the other ones I have?” And before you know it she was in the lady’s room rummaging through her dresser drawers to the lady’s delight. Yes I would say that MaryMargaret is a nartural at this sort of thing. That may partly be because we expose her to a lot of this sort of activity. I think the key is though we never make her (or ourselves) do any of this. If she doesn’t feel like visiting the nursing home when I do then we don’t make her. I think that is part of the success of Kids Are Heroes – that we don’t tell them what project they must do. We spark their minds and let them find their own passion which keeps them interested in working toward their own goal.
This is a very exciting time for us. Our presence on Twitter has opened many doors. We are facing a chance to take Kids Are Heroes to a global level through Richard Branson’s “Pitch TV” concept. Our pitch is on his blog site right now! The selected winners get placed on all Virgin Atlantic planes as part of their in-flight entertainment system. The idea being that businessmen (or wealthy philanthropists in our case) can see the pitch and possible fund it if they are interested. So please vote for Kids Are Heroes by April 27th. This could be the start of something amazing. Here is the link: http://entrepreneur.virgin.com/vote Thank you!!
March of Dimes Fund Soars in Memory of Maddie Spohr
April 21, 2009 by Danielle Smith · 3 Comments
Less than 2 weeks ago, something terrible happened.
A mother and father took their little girl to the hospital.
Sweet Madeline Alice Spohr never came home again.
Maddie lived 17 beautiful, amazing months. In that time, she touched lives and brightened the world of everyone who met her.
News of her passing rippled across the Blog World. Friends and family of Maddie’s parents, Heather and Mike Spohr, reached out to help.
Something happened. One person shared the story of Maddie with another, and then that person passed on the light of this little girl – until hundreds of people were wringing their hands in their own homes across the country—feeling helpless, wondering what they could do to ease the pain of this family they didn’t even know.
Strangers sat at their computers late at night, reading post after post about the beauty of this little girl, about the tragedy of her loss, and sharing their need to help. Crying was the norm.
The color purple became a rally cry—Twitter Avatars changed color, Twitter backgrounds switched to purple, blog backgrounds made the jump.
Heather’s close friend became the source for information. AMomTwoBoys was where you could go for all things Maddie. You could find:
- Links to all the amazing tributes to this little girl (close to 500 of them)
- Learn about how to donate to the March of Dimes in Maddie’s honor. In less than 2 weeks, more than $31,000 has been raised. I understand 90% of that has been in increments of less than $25 or less.
- She even sent you to the websites that had the links for buttons to help the family—neither Heather or Mike are working right now and clearly, expenses are overwhelming.
If you would like to get right to the heart of Maddie – visit her Daddy, Mike and Mommy, Heather.
Pictures are from Maddie’s mom, Heather’s website.
Milwaukee Couples Food & Fundraising for Lots of Fun!
April 21, 2009 by Colleen Venier · Leave a Comment
You may recall I announced a Wisconsin blogger’s get together awhile back. The event was to be part of a campaign put together by the lovely ladies at Mom it Forward and would raise money for a great charity that helps Kenyan woman start their own coconut oil extraction business. Those oils are then sold to a company that make them into lotions, soaps and other products.
Besides, it’d be a lot of fun, yo.
I’ve planned a lot of events, and never have the details fallen into place so easily. It was like putting together a preschooler’s jig saw puzzle.
Easy peasy.
One great blogger offered to have the event at her house. Another owns a great online store and donated a gift card for our raffle. Early on, I had a lot of people excited that something local was being planned and looked forward to meeting other “imaginary friends” in person.
But somehow when it came time to collect registrations for the event, the numbers, well…trickled in. In the end, only three of us lovely ladies met for dinner this past Saturday.
Boy, did the rest of you miss out!
Carrie S., Carrie C. and myself (an honorary Carrie for the evening) met at Trattoria Stefano in lovely Sheboygan, Wisconsin and laughed ourselves silly.
It really was a great time. And who would have thought that in a small Wisconsin city, in a teeny little restaurant one could find such GREAT FOOD?!? Honestly, the prices were comparable to that of one of the chain crap restaurants, only Trattoria Stefano featured salads with “organic farm raised Norwegan salmon” and other entres with so many delicious ingredients that our server stood for five minutes at a time reciting them back to us.
(I translated after he left: “A salad with fish, a dish with some meat, and one with noodles, sauce and more meat.”)
We sampled the silky and yumma-licious lotions from Basa Body. (And found that despite how delicious it smells, the chocolate mint soap still tastes like soap if you take a bite. Thanks for that, Carrie S.)
And we laughed.
And enjoyed the fact that there were no little short people yelling, “MOOOOOM!”
And then we saw this guy and the night just got *thismuch* better.
Yes, that’s a full grown man in a nice restaurant wearing a Snuggie. (Who rocked because he didn’t bat an eye when we took his picture. And then told his wife, “You married THIS!” which was super awesome because we all concurred that was something our husbands would say.)
So, big thanks to the Carries for joining me for a super rad evening. Thanks to Basa Body for the lotion and Mom it Forward for organizing such a great chain of events for a great charity. And huge thanks to Angie of Good for the Kids for the raffle prize.
The rest of you — well, we hope you’ll be able to join us next time!
Just a few finishing thoughts:
1) Buying a product from Basa Body or donating $20 to The Pope Foundation (the charity that trains Kenyan women to start their own oil extraction businesses) between now and May 12 enters you to win one of three great gift cards, including a $250 Disney Gift Card, a $150 Amazon.com Gift Card or a $100 Target Gift Card! Click here for more info, or visit the Basa Body site or click on the widget in my left side bar to make a donation. You can still win!
2) If you don’t have money to donate right now, check out Mom it Forward’s “10 Ways to Donate to Charity Without Spending a Cent” article. Good stuff.
3) If you’re ever in Sheboygan, I highly recommend Trattoria Stefano or its “sister restaurant” across the street (owned by the same folks). Their menu was impressive and their prices budget friendly. Plus they let us sit and be all loud for nearly three hours and never once gave us the evil stink eye.
4) Come back on Friday – I’ll be giving away some of the Basa Body lotion. And, no, it doesn’t smell like coconuts.
Reposted with permission from Mommy Always Wins.
RSVP for #GNO’s Parenting Party: Raising Giving, Service-Oriented, Charitable Children!
April 20, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 4 Comments
Among the amazing adult guests on Tuesday’s #gno virtual panel (see bullet list below), we are also excited to announce our first kid panelists—Mary Margaret, an amazingly charitable 10-year old from Kids Are Heroes and Jason from Pencil Bugs, one of the world’s youngest entrepreneurs who believes in giving back a portion of what he earns to charity.
Join us for an inspiring evening where you’ll learn how to raise giving, service-oriented, and charitable children. We hope you’ll bring your best tips, insights, and experiences to share with other party goers as well!
- When: Tues., Apr. 21 from 9 pm to 1 a.m. EDT (8 CDT, 7 CDT, and 6 PDT)
- What: Girl’s Night Out (What’s GNO? Click here to find out!)
- Topic: Raising giving children—in conjunction with our charity to fight poverty in Kenya (Yehu, BasaBody, Coast Coconut Farms)
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- What are the best ways to be giving and charitable and teach this to your child(ren)?
- What are the best ways to model service and giving to others?
- How can you engage children in “giving” conversations?
- Given the state of the economy, what volunteer activities can you
do as a family that don’t cost money? - What are fun activities that teach service, giving, and sharing?
- In what ways can you focus on your & your kid’s skills sets,
talents, and interests to engage them in giving and service? - What fundraisers or volunteering have you done or are currently doing?
- What are ways you can teach being charitable with your money?
- Where: Tweet Grid (use the #gno hashtag)
- Who:@kidsareheroes @MMsmusicforlife @pencilbugs @lemonadedayfun @txworkingmom @resourcefulmom
- RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_momIF). If you would like to include your blog, please enter it next to your name. Make sure to include your twitter URL in the URL line. Please do not enter your blog URL there.
National Volunteer Week—What Will You Do to Make a Difference?
April 19, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
April 19-24 is National Volunteer Week with Earth Day taking place on April 22 and Global Youth Service Days Happening April 24-26. What will you do to make a difference this week? How will you get your kids involved, teaching them the important skills and attributes of service, giving, and charity?
Visit Hands On Network to learn more and to find volunteer opportunities in your community.
Blogging and Social Activism
April 17, 2009 by Brooke Naylor · 1 Comment
For Catherine Connors, becoming a driving force for action in her community did not mean traveling to foreign lands or holding a sign to protest for the causes she believed in. She enacted change with a few keystrokes on her computer.
Catherine is a mother, a blogger, and an online social activist.
She became interested in this new outlet of campaigning after interviewing Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon and founder of New York Magazine. In her interview, Gloria told Catherine, she felt like the new realm of blogospheres was at the forefront of a new kind of revolutionary movement.
“A movement wherein we really talk to one another, and listen to one another,” Gloria told Catherine. “A movement wherein the highest premium is placed on telling the truth, and deriving inspiration and power from the truth. A movement that we further with every post that we write, with every supportive comment that we leave, with every empowering conversation that we spark and fuel and fan to a blaze…”
But with Gloria’s encouragement came a warning.
“Never forget that such a movement, based as it is on dialogue and debate, can only ever be a support for action; It cannot replace action,” she said. “Don’t cocoon in your blogosphere. Don’t mistake speaking or writing for acting. Don’t just talk: do.”
Gloria’s message inspired Catherine to try something new.
“I made it a personal mission to do as much as I could to push myself, and other members of my online community, to use this medium for good, and as a springboard for action,” she said.
From there, she began hosting blog actions- asking bloggers to write about causes they are passionate about- doing online fundraising, and raising awareness through online resources.
What to start campaigning for was clear for Catherine – her nephew is dying of Muscular Dystrophy.
In 2007, Catherine founded the Canadian arm of BlogHer’s social action network, which expanded to include Give Good Blog, a program designed to promote social responsibility in blogging.
“My objective has and remains, basically, to promote the idea that we have an important platform in the Internet and blogging, and that we should use it for good,” she said. “Whether that means using it to raise money for charity or support your favorite cause or simply to make time/space to write about things that make the world a better place, every little bit counts. And it’s as easy as simply writing a post, or tweeting a link to a charity, or passing along review swag to someone who needs it. The little things matter.”
The greatest challenge, Catherine said, was overcoming her hesitation to ask her community for help, whether that means asking for their attention, their effort to promote an issue, or even their donations.
“ … Overcoming that kind of fear/anxiety can be difficult, and I think that we all need to do a better job of reminding each other that it’s okay – it’s good – to ask for support in our causes,” she said.
Fears aside, blogging about social activism is something Catherine fully invests in, as she continues to fight the causes and brings awareness to the issues she believes in.
“The beauty of online social activism – it’s easy; It’s accessible; Anyone can do it,” Catherine said. “If you have a social network, you can do it. If you have a blog, you can do it. Sky’s the limit!”
