Bloggers across the country are continuing to encourage their readers to join the first-ever coordinated effort at using social media to raise funds for charity. The effort has already reached 884 children in various schools around the country, providing materials for more than 2,000 hours of instruction and homework. But the effort is far from complete! Even after Total Divorce yesterday matched all donations made during the first day of the challenge, many projects remain unfunded or partially funded.
One project requires only $6 to be complete--that quick and painless donation could allow a teacher to purchase books on tape for her grades 3-6 ESL class! Please, take a moment to donate even that $6, and make a difference to kids across the country!
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
What's NOT Wrong Around Us
According to Technorati, there are more than 280 posts urging visitors to participate in the Blog Catalog challenge to use social media to raise funds for schoolchildren.
Here are just a few of the most recent posts on the subject--please join in this effort! Even if every person reading one of these posts donates only $10, it will make a tremendous difference in classrooms across the country.
Blog for School Projects
Blog Catalog Bloggers for Good Fundraising Challenge
Donors Choose: Non-Profit Site for Education
Blog Catalog Community Comes Together to Raise Funds for Education
Blogging for Good
Here are just a few of the most recent posts on the subject--please join in this effort! Even if every person reading one of these posts donates only $10, it will make a tremendous difference in classrooms across the country.
Blog for School Projects
Blog Catalog Bloggers for Good Fundraising Challenge
Donors Choose: Non-Profit Site for Education
Blog Catalog Community Comes Together to Raise Funds for Education
Blogging for Good
Social Media...it Isn't Just for Google Ranking Anymore
Social media started out...social. But it wasn't long before the world of online marketers large and small discovered that it was a natural, inexpensive way to spread the word, place links, build rankings, and much more. Just like Google rankings themselves before it, social media was soon faced with a whole movement to manipulate the system for dollars.
And then Blog Catalog's Tony Berkman had an idea. Why not "work the system" for good?
Now, countless bloggers have signed on to use their blogs to raise funds for Donors Choose, an organization that allows donors to choose the particular project they'd like to fund from requests made by public school teachers and administrators across the country.
Donors choose has collected more than $12 million in contributions to benefit school children since its inception. The organization provides a quick and easy way to make a donation while offering enough specific information that donors can know exactly what they're funding and enjoy a personal connection to the project.
There's an even bigger reason to donate to Donors Choose through this post or one of the hundreds (or thousands) of other posts on the subject. Berkman has indicated that if the effort is a success, Blog Catalog will develop a community service page to promote similar events in the future. While every donation counts, the impact of a widespread social media effort to raise funds for charity could be much bigger in the long run. Please take a moment to follow this link and make a donation--every dollar counts! Donate to Donors Choose
And then Blog Catalog's Tony Berkman had an idea. Why not "work the system" for good?
Now, countless bloggers have signed on to use their blogs to raise funds for Donors Choose, an organization that allows donors to choose the particular project they'd like to fund from requests made by public school teachers and administrators across the country.
Donors choose has collected more than $12 million in contributions to benefit school children since its inception. The organization provides a quick and easy way to make a donation while offering enough specific information that donors can know exactly what they're funding and enjoy a personal connection to the project.
There's an even bigger reason to donate to Donors Choose through this post or one of the hundreds (or thousands) of other posts on the subject. Berkman has indicated that if the effort is a success, Blog Catalog will develop a community service page to promote similar events in the future. While every donation counts, the impact of a widespread social media effort to raise funds for charity could be much bigger in the long run. Please take a moment to follow this link and make a donation--every dollar counts! Donate to Donors Choose
Friday, April 20, 2007
Some Questions about the Homeless
Don't get me wrong.
Homelessness specifically and poverty in general are huge and very real problems in our country, and anyone who claims otherwise has made a conscious decision not to see the truth lest he be required to do something about it. I work downtown in one of the largest cities in the U.S., and I give away a lot of money on the street, in addition to the money I give away by mail and the money I slip into the poor box at church and....you get the point. The homeless are there. There are many, many reasons that they can't "just get a job" and stop pestering us for money. Some of those reasons include lack of contact information to write on job applications, lack of the necessary literacy to fill out job applications, lack of transportation, lack of a place to shower, lack of suitable clothing to show up to fill out a job interview, lack of access to newspapers or internet job banks (don't tell me "they can always go to the library!" You need a DRIVER'S LICENSE to use the internet connection at most libraries!), lack of proper documentation to complete I-9 forms...and much more.
Still, I'm analytical by nature. A lot of people view this as "finding fault" or "picking things apart", but it's not something I DO. It's just the way I see things. Some people love this about me, some hate it, but for better or worse, it is what it is. And so, a few things have been bothering me about the homeless downtown ever since I started my current job.
I'm not talking about the usual things like, "That guy is dressed as well as I am and clean and apparently young and healthy--what is he doing out here?" or "Why is that woman walking down those stairs when she was sitting in a wheelchair yesterday?"
No, I'm talking about real mysteries.
Things like Where do they get the markers?
You know what I'm talking about. Every homeless person on the downtown streets has a cardboard sign written in black marker. Sometimes they're written in multiple colors, which raises whole other issues, but for the time being, let's stick to black.
I work in a thirty-story office building and a lot of times I can't find a good black marker. How is it that every homeless person in town has easy access to one? And, since they're homeless, where ARE their markers while they're sitting there on the streetcorner with their signs, and no apparent marker in sight?
And, on a related note, where do they print out those full-color pictures of Jesus they have taped to their signs sometimes? (Let's leave aside for a moment why they think it's cool to use Jesus as a marketing ploy and stick to the practicalities.) I don't know about anyone else out there, but I never have color ink when I need it. I, of course, have a home, and a computer, and a printer, and a regular income, but it's not all that easy for me to print out a full-color picture...and I think twice before doing so, anyway, because it eats up so much of a cartridge that runs about $35.
So I guess the real question in my mind comes down to this: where do the homeless keep their office supplies?
Homelessness specifically and poverty in general are huge and very real problems in our country, and anyone who claims otherwise has made a conscious decision not to see the truth lest he be required to do something about it. I work downtown in one of the largest cities in the U.S., and I give away a lot of money on the street, in addition to the money I give away by mail and the money I slip into the poor box at church and....you get the point. The homeless are there. There are many, many reasons that they can't "just get a job" and stop pestering us for money. Some of those reasons include lack of contact information to write on job applications, lack of the necessary literacy to fill out job applications, lack of transportation, lack of a place to shower, lack of suitable clothing to show up to fill out a job interview, lack of access to newspapers or internet job banks (don't tell me "they can always go to the library!" You need a DRIVER'S LICENSE to use the internet connection at most libraries!), lack of proper documentation to complete I-9 forms...and much more.
Still, I'm analytical by nature. A lot of people view this as "finding fault" or "picking things apart", but it's not something I DO. It's just the way I see things. Some people love this about me, some hate it, but for better or worse, it is what it is. And so, a few things have been bothering me about the homeless downtown ever since I started my current job.
I'm not talking about the usual things like, "That guy is dressed as well as I am and clean and apparently young and healthy--what is he doing out here?" or "Why is that woman walking down those stairs when she was sitting in a wheelchair yesterday?"
No, I'm talking about real mysteries.
Things like Where do they get the markers?
You know what I'm talking about. Every homeless person on the downtown streets has a cardboard sign written in black marker. Sometimes they're written in multiple colors, which raises whole other issues, but for the time being, let's stick to black.
I work in a thirty-story office building and a lot of times I can't find a good black marker. How is it that every homeless person in town has easy access to one? And, since they're homeless, where ARE their markers while they're sitting there on the streetcorner with their signs, and no apparent marker in sight?
And, on a related note, where do they print out those full-color pictures of Jesus they have taped to their signs sometimes? (Let's leave aside for a moment why they think it's cool to use Jesus as a marketing ploy and stick to the practicalities.) I don't know about anyone else out there, but I never have color ink when I need it. I, of course, have a home, and a computer, and a printer, and a regular income, but it's not all that easy for me to print out a full-color picture...and I think twice before doing so, anyway, because it eats up so much of a cartridge that runs about $35.
So I guess the real question in my mind comes down to this: where do the homeless keep their office supplies?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
