Welcome to Firstgiving’s August newsletter.  We hope you’re having an awesome summer and just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you about some of the awesome stuff we’ve been up to.  As always, there’s much more to read at the Online Fundraising Blog.
Endurance Fundraising & World Run Day If you love to run and especially if you love to raise money for a good cause while running, you’ll love our new blog, Team Firstgiving.  It’s all about maximizing your running and fundraising performance.  What’s more, Firstgiving is partnering with World Run Day, a global day of running as far as you want as fast as you want.  If you’re not already doing an organized run this Fall, you should check it out our Facebook group to learn more.
Katrina Anniversary & The Music in Motion Tour This week marks the third anniversary of hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans.  Thanks to the good work of many people and organizations, things are much improved, but much still needs to be done.  Firstgiving is partnering with the Patron Music in Motion Tour to raise money for two great New Orleans charities, with over $18,000 raised so far.  If you raise money with the Music in Motion Tour and register at http://www.musicinmotiontour.com you could win a trip and concert tickets, so check it out today.
Firstgiving Referral Program Let’s be honest, we get most of our best information from friends and colleagues, not from email newsletters.  That’s why we’ve created the Firstgiving referral program.  If you nominate a nonprofit organization and they join Firstgiving for six months or raise $5,000 you’ll get three months of Firstgiving service free.
Thanks for reading.  We’re looking forward to a great Fall full of inspiring fundraising.  You can get more fundraising tips, inspirational stories, and promotions at our blog, the Online Fundraising Blog. All the best, The Firstgiving Team

Tags: music in motion, newsletter, Patron, referral

When someone you are close to passes away, it is difficult to deal with the pain and grief. But instead of giving into despair and feeling sad about losing that person, why not use your energy to do something in their honor and memory.

My uncle Rich passed away July 10th from a sudden heart attack. He was the assistant director at the ARC of St. Clair County (Port Huron, Michigan), and worked there for 31 years. He was a dedicated employee but also a friend, mentor, and advocate for all those who belong to the ARC community.

So to honor the 31 years he spent in service to the people at the ARC, I have set up a Firstgiving page to raise money for the place that meant so much to him.

www.firstgiving.com/richschock

My uncle took the mission of the ARC seriously as he tried to improve the lives of others that he served. He was an incredible man with a huge heart and a place for every person he touched through his work, and still had enough space for all his beloved family.

 If you have lost a loved one due to disease, or illness, or there was a cause they truly cared about, set up a fundraising page in their memory and personalize it with touches of them. For me it was a Beatles song, as they were uncle Rich’s favorite band, and he loved to play guitar too.

This is a great way to remember the ones you have lost and also to honor and celebrate their lives and raise money for great causes that can help others.

Here are some other pages raising funds in memory of someone that is loved and missed:

http://www.firstgiving.com/kayskrew123

http://www.firstgiving.com/scgsr_devon

http://www.firstgiving.com/richardolenchek

http://www.firstgiving.com/randypausch

Tags: ARC

As many of you may know, today is the third anniversary of the tragic catastrophe: Hurricane Katrina. The storm was the third strongest to hit land in the history of the United States and the costliest, leaving tremendous damage in it’s wake.

Now, three years later, it is comforting to see those who have recovered and are strong as ever. This holds true for Robert Mills Lusher Alternative Elementary School, the number one public school in New Orleans, according to Gambit Weekly. The school is not only praised for its arts curriculum, high test scores, and diversity, but for it’s parent involvement as well.

Several Sources report that what needs the most improvement in the New Orleans public school system is more parent interest in his/her child’s education. As First Court Judge Sonja Spears stated, “I think that parental involvement makes all the difference in the world. That’s what I see at Lusher, which is lacking at many of the schools that are not doing as well in the public school system. There’s a myriad of other problems and challenges, but I think they can be overcome, as long as parents and families continue to invest in the system.”

Evidence of vast community involvement at Lusher is clearly represented by an event that took place on February 24th of this year, called the Lusher Mardi Gras Marathon Fundraiser. Organized by the school’s PTA, the Carnival race raised over $10,000! However, The greatest achievement of this fundraiser was not just the amount collected, but the community involvement. Local runners (including Lusher teachers!) participated in the marathon and received encouragement from seventy donations on the Firstgiving page. Shout outs like, “GOOD LUCK MS. TULLY” and others wrought with endless exclamation points show the student excitement that was generated in the parent/teacher participation.

What appears to be the most important aspect of this fundraiser is the clear correlation between a student’s academic success and his/her parent’s involvement in the school.  That is why a PTA event, such as this marathon, is ideal for its fundraising initiatives. It is inexpensive to put on, encourages local commitment, and is a whole lot of fun for families! A parent can chose to run in the race, help organize it, or simply donate online and then rally around the parents and teachers who have taken on the challenge.

It is fundraisers and events like this, especially in a place that has experienced such devastation, that are the key ingredients for camaraderie that keep a community strong.

 

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Lusher Mardi Gras Marathon Fund Raiser, PTA fundraising, Robert Mills Lusher Alternative Elementary School

This morning I received an email from World Vision highlighting the most recent news on the current food shortage in East Africa.

BBC East Africa Food Crisis report

World Vision does an excellent job of keeping its donor community up-to-date on how instability (economic, political, environmental) is affecting people around the world and where there are opportunities to donate for impact.

When it comes to international crises and concerns, most charities and NPOs are referred to as NGOs (non-governmental organizations). As you may well know, there is no shortage of NGOs, large and small, working for good all over the world and for a variety of causes. NGOs often occupy a unique position because they are active in local communities on a year-round basis, may employ local staff, and often partner with governmental organizations and for-profits with shared interests. NGOs tend to have a degree of expertise or “on the ground” insight (aka local knowledge) that others do not, and, like World Vision, may be poised to respond quickly to emergencies because they are already there when they happen.

Clearly there are times when immediate and urgent responses are needed, and NGOs that harness the power of social media to get the message out to the donor community are more likely to be effective in this. Information about funding needs might otherwise be slow to reach us through traditional news sources, or it might not reach us at all.

I wonder how much of the fundraising and donor community, however, when it comes to international concerns, associates fundraising primarily with these short-term efforts to provide aid in the form of emergency provisions. Is this a short-sighted view? Can social media also be used to spread the word about fundraising for long-term investment and development projects?

Want to donate or fundraise for World Vision? See the World Vision Landing Page to get started.

Tags: disaster relief, East Africa Food Shortage, email fundraising, emergency relief, Ethiopia, food prices, fundraising, Horn of Africa, international development, international relief, Kenya, local knowledge, NGOs, NPOs, online fundraising, Tanzania, Uganda, World Vision

When Beth P wrote a blogpost relating her degree in economics to Firstgiving’s services, I was impressed and inspired to do the same using my major at Boston University: Art History. So how am I going to relate online fundraising to the History of Art?

The painting displayed above is entitled “Along the Shore,” by talented artist Addison Palmer and will be the grand prize in a raffle to raise money for lung cancer. Dusty Donaldson, a survivor of this disease herself, created the event, as well as a Firstgiving page, where every $5 donated counts as one raffle ticket. Then, at the Triad Free to Breathe 5K Race/Walk & Rally on November 15th, the artist himself will draw the winning name from a pool of all entries and present the work of art.

Another event that is bringing together the two realms of art and fundraising is an art auction in support of Doctors without Borders. The event is being called Art Knows No Borders and aims to raise awareness of the effects of war, ethnic conflicts, and genocide, focusing particularly on the stalemate struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh. The night will take place November 18th and include special performances, music, and a silent auction of over a hundred pieces of artwork!

Art raffles and auctions are not new ideas, but very effective ways to raise money. Yet, writing about these types of fundraisers is not quite the same as making a direct connection to art history, so I’d like to push it still further.

Many agree that one, if not the greatest aspect of art is that it is essentially undefinable. Each time some critic or historian attempts to have it classified and understood, a contemporary artist does something to turn the new perspective on its head. The only explanation I have ever heard that has come close to encompassing even the most bizarre exhibitions was said by one of my professors. He stated, “Art can be anything that has been deliberately changed for a reason.”

This seems to fit. When Gustav Klimt painted “Le Baiser,” he took the oil paint medium and changed it into forms on canvas to express the moment of a kiss. When Duchamp stuck a bicycle wheel on top of a stool during the Dada movement, he changed the location and orientation of those objects for the purpose of expressing what art can be.

So who says there cannot be an art to fundraising? Isn’t it just a thing, like compassion, that is expressed through different means? Whether it be through a funny mustache, the selling of artwork, or bathing in a fountain, people are expressing their desires to fight disease, poverty, disorder, and disaster in a creative and effective ways.

Hey, it may be a bit of a stretch, but I dare you to argue it…

Tags: Addison Palmer, Art, Art History, Art Knows No Borders, Doctors without Borders, Duchamp, Dusty Donaldson, fundraising, Klimt, Triad Free to Breathe 5K Race/Walk & rally

Here at Firstgiving, we have the honor of working with thousands of nonprofit organizations and that experience has given us invaluable information about what works when it comes to online fundraising. We’ve put together a document with some of these fundraising best practices.

A great example of #6, “Get some fundraisers” comes from our friends over at The Angel Fund, who sent us a copy of their Walk For Hope brochure which included this great section on getting started with Firstgiving:

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thanks to the Angel Fund for sharing this with us. If anybody else has a best practice to share, please do get in touch or leave a comment on this blog.

Tags: ALS, Angel Fund, best practices

When I came across the PTA Florida Congress (Forest Lakes Elementary PTA)’s 84 fundraising pages, I couldn’t help thinking about something I read today. On my 45 minute commute to Firstgiving every morning, I have become engrossed in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Don’t worry! I am not an Ending Spoiler (you can exhale), but may I interest you with a harmless quote?

“To act together. To think- together. To feel- together… then- unite and rule.”

If you have read this novel, then you are aware that the speaker is not really talking about charitable giving, but the words were fresh in my mind when I started reading about the Dolphin Splash PTA Walkathon at the elementary school in Oldsmar, Florida.

Every October, the PTA organizes a walkathon to raise money for a specific project at the school. In 2000, the fundraiser financed the construction of a roof over the children’s play area to prevent sunburns and heat stroke in the Florida humidity. Students, parents, teachers, and other members of the community joined together to raise funds for this $30,550 project.

What is so impressive about this fundraiser is that while individual pages raised a few hundred dollars at best, put those 84 pages together and they raised thousands! This PTA gets an A+ for promoting and achieving unity in its school system. Making a Firstgiving page is simple enough that even young students were able to make their own!

 So here is your second PTA fundraising tip: Unity.

…and you can Rule your school fundraiser!

Tags: Dolphin Splash Walkathon, Forest Hills PTO and Boosters Council, Forest Lakes Elementary School, PTA fundraising