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Tag: Fundraising

  • Facebook’s Gunning for GoFundMe With Expanded Fundraising Tool

    Facebook’s Gunning for GoFundMe With Expanded Fundraising Tool

    Facebook recently shored up its crowdfunding tool to include community donors and sports teams, thereby posing a real challenge to GoFundMe.

    The company introduced the tool last March, allowing individuals to donate money for public emergencies, natural disasters, medical bills, education, and funerals. However, that was considered a beta test.

    With the latest announcement, users 18 years old and above can make a separate FundMe page where the community can donate. Facebook also expanded the fundraising campaign to include those who need money for sports equipment, for instance, or to build a community garden.

    The social media giant will vet each page within 24 hours after they are created to make sure they don’t violate community standards and that the fundraising is warranted.

    Though Facebook’s tool threatens to eat up GoFundMe’s community, the company was quick to assure its users that they are not out to make a profit from charity.

    “Facebook’s goal is to create a platform for good that’s sustainable over the long-term, and not to make a profit from our charitable giving tools,” a statement from the company said.

    In order to compete with GoFundMe, Facebook will charge its users a fee of 6.9% in addition to another 30 cents for each fundraising campaign. This fee supposedly goes to processing, background checks, as well as fraud and security protection. Meanwhile, a slightly higher fee of 7.9% plus 30 cents is charged to GoFundMe users for each donation made.

    Facebook has never been shy about copying successful business models introduced by other sites in the hope of inviting more users into creating accounts while keeping their current users from leaving once they’re logged in.

    For instance, Facebook unveiled its Stories feature, an idea it virtually stole from Snapchat (not to mention the Facebook Poke, which could also be attributed to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel). Earlier, it also launched Facebook Places, which it copied from Foursquare. Then it ripped off Twitter by copying the Hashtag feature.

    It’s not clear whether Facebook will block any GoFundMe link that makes its way to their site. A fundraising campaign initiated by Manchester Evening News on GoFundMe raised money immediately when it was shared on Facebook.

  • Olivia Wilde Helps Others By Being Consciously Fashionable

    Olivia Wilde Helps Others By Being Consciously Fashionable

    Olivia Wilde, 29, is taking Hollywood philanthropy to another level.

    The “Cowboys and Aliens” actress, who is also a first-time mom-to-be, has been working on elevating a benevolent online business that blends charity and fashion into one.

    Conscious Commerce, also what Wilde refers to as a”FUNdraising” expenditure, uses a shopping savvy technique that not only gives consumers what they want but also provides the less fortunate with what they need. By connecting brands with selective charities, it guarantees that proceeds will be funded to an organization.

    “It should be shocking when a product isn’t somehow helping the people who made it,” Wilde told Forbes.

    As stated on the company’s about page:

    “Along with pointing you in the direction of cool, ethically sound businesses, we have paired some of our favorite brands with small, locally run organizations, to create limited edition products. These exciting collaborations are our way of bringing together consciousness and commerce, and making them make sweet, sweet love…”

    The fairly new commerce delivers an online store that consists of a variety of stylish products. Every item bought encompasses its own donation component, but just not to any charity.

    Wilde and her partner-in-crime, Barbara Burchfield, have made sure to team-up with small, local charities that would need the extra boost financially.

    Deals with big-time clothing companies like New Light India ensures that they donate a portion of their sales as dresses to schoolgirls in India.

    Despite Wilde’s passionate zeal for Conscious Commerce, she feels that philanthropy is hard work and can be repetitive at times, especially when it comes down to pleading with the same companies to donate money.

    Thus, Wilde obtained her inspiration from traveling to Haiti with film director and humanitarian, Paul Haggis.  From then on, she decided to take a different approach to philanthropy and develop something that would ultimately be consciously fashionable.

    “By incorporating a giving back structure into small purchases, it can make a huge difference,” she said.

    Just last month, Wilde opened up to People StyleWatch about some of her beauty mistakes following her nomination as Revlon’s spokesperson.

    One of her issues has always been with her eyebrows, which she equated to “devil horns.”

    “If I brush them up they look like crazy, pointy, “devil horns,” the actress previously said.

    Well, two things are for certain, she is far from mirroring the facet of a devil and she knows more than she thinks when it comes to using fashion the right way.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Rand Paul Heads To Silicon Valley On Fundraising Trip

    Rand Paul Heads To Silicon Valley On Fundraising Trip

    Rand Paul already made it clear that he’s a friend of tech businesses when he defended Apple during a tax hearing last week. Now the Kentucky senator is heading to the heart of Silicon Valley to see if he can drum up some fundraising support.

    The Hill reports that Paul will be meeting with Google, Facebook and eBay this week. It’s officially designated as a fundraising trip, but he will probably take some time to talk legislation as well. It’s not known if he will actually be meeting with executives, but we’re sure to find out later this week.

    So, what kind of legislation could Paul be talking about with the likes of Google and Facebook? Well, Paul did just recently introduce the Fourth Amendment Preservation and Protection Act. The bill would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant when snooping through email and other online communications. Google has indicated in the past that it would support such a bill, so it’s not out of the realm of reason to suggest Paul will be talking to Google about his legislation.

    Of course, we can’t forget the tax issue either. Paul called out his fellow congressmen last week when they accused Apple of dodging corporates taxes. In the hearing, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that everything Apple does is legal under current law, and suggested Congress reform the tax code instead of pointing fingers.

    Google CEO Larry Page largely agrees, even if he was talking about the UK tax code. He said that Google will pay whatever the tax code dictates. He called upon government to change the tax code if it’s unhappy with the current system.

    In short, it seems that Paul and Google have quite a bit in common when it comes to certain issues. I’m sure he will be engaging some of the people at Google on these issues this week while he drums up support for his next move.

  • George Bush: $500 Million Raised For Presidential Library

    George W. Bush‘s presidency will be be felt throughout the world for some decades to come, and now the 43rd president of the United States has also ensured that his presidential library will be the best-funded presidential center in history.

    According to a report from Time magazine, President George W. Bush has raised more than $500 million for the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. Loosed from the constraints of campaign finance laws, Bush was able to raise more money for the center than he raised during either of his presidential campaigns.

    Mark Langdale, the president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, told Time that half the money will pay for the construction of the building, which is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Other portions of the money will go to SMU and the U.S. government, while the remaining portion will be used to fund the George W. Bush Institute. Landale stated that the institute will contribute to “advancing freedom and the principles that have guided President and Mrs. Bush in their service to their country.”

    The George W. Bush Presidential Center is scheduled to be dedicated during a ceremony on April 25.

  • Big Changes Coming To PayPal’s Frozen Funds Policy [Report]

    Big Changes Coming To PayPal’s Frozen Funds Policy [Report]

    Eleven days ago, TechCrunch ran a story about PayPal freezing a science fiction writer’s fundraiser, and then apologizing for doing so. The company even donated to the writer’s fund.

    “We’re going to do a lot more communicating before making some pretty aggressive changes to our system to make sure that this stuff doesn’t happen,” PayPal senior communications director Anuj Nayar was quoted as saying. “At the same time, when we find out we’ve made mistakes, we’re committing to get it fixed and apologize.”

    Now, CNN is reporting that “agressive changes” are coming to the company’s frozen funds policy, as the company promises a “massive overhaul of it system within the next several months”. Julianne Pepitone quotes Nayar:

    “These are not minor — these are aggressive changes,” said Anuj Nayar, PayPal’s senior director of communications. “This is a fundamental shift in our business operations.”

    Nayar said he can’t go into specifics about what will change, but transparency is a major focus. “We want to be clear about how people can get out of the [frozen funds] situation,” he said. “We need to get better about helping people, or explaining why actions are being taken.”

    That’s not all that’s changing at PayPal. The company has already announced some big partnerships this year that will see PayPal becoming a payment option in major retail stores all across the U.S.

    In case you’re wondering why there’s a picture of Jeff Goldblum in this article…

  • Wikimedia Foundation Breaks Record With Fundraising Campaign

    The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has wrapped up its annual fund raising campaign, breaking a record with $20 million raised from over a million donors in “nearly every country in the world”.

    It appears those big banners at the top of Wikipedia, which have been ridiculed a few times, have been a success.

    The ridicule was mostly over the layout, where a user could look at a page for something like “bitch” or “rapist” and see the word appear right under a big photo of co-founder Jimmy Wales or various volunteers. It became something of a meme, though some were much more light-hearted.

    “Our model is working fantastically well,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Ordinary people use Wikipedia and they like it, so they chip in some cash so it will continue to thrive. That maintains our independence and lets us focus solely on providing a useful public service. I am so grateful to our donors for making that possible. I promise them we will use their money carefully and well.”

    The campaign has indeed been Wikimedia’s most successful ever. On top of that, it’s part of a streak that has seen donations rise every year since campaigns began in 2003. Since 2008, the number of donors has increased ten-fold, and the total dollar amount raised in the campaign has risen to over $20 million from $4.5 million.

    Wikimedia’s sites attract over 470 million people each month, and is the only major site supported by donations rather than ads, the foundation says.

    The money from this campaign will go to servers and other hardware, development of new site functionality, expansion of mobile services, legal defense, and support for volunteers (there aree over 100,000 of them).

    The foundation’s total 2011-12 planned spending is $28.3 million.

    Wikipedia itself has over 20 million articles in 282 languages. It will celebrate its 11th anniversary on January 15.

  • Craigslist Founder Starts Donation Campaign Using Twitter

    If you’ve ever sold or purchased goods, searched for a job, looked for an apartment, cruised for a hook-up, or generally used the Internet for anything, you’ve likely at least heard of craigslist.org if not used it yourself. Despite being a minefield of trolls and scams and very “interesting” people, craigslist has always been free and for that we should be thankful (even if we have only used it as a source of lurid entertainment).

    Now’s your chance to show your appreciation.

    Craig Newmark, the eponymous founder of craigslist, has chosen a unique way to observe his birthday this year. Instead of the self-congratulatory ritual of celebrating one more year he didn’t die (like the rest of us do), Newmark has decided to ask for something considerably different this year:

    Folks, yesterday was my 59th birthday, and I decided to celebrate by asking for a unique kind of gift – a tweet on Twitter about what someone considers the perfect gift this holiday season. Each time someone responds and tweets using the hashtag #perfectgift, I am giving a $1 contribution to the American Red Cross, up to $10,000 to purchase military comfort kits for our troops. It’s amazing because 91% of every gift goes to people in need.

    Newmark, who has a little over 45,000 followers on Twitter, says that following the aforementioned hashtag will help him keep track of how many support his humanitarian cause and, subsequently, how much money he will donate to the American Red Cross. He also hopes that the 585K followers of American Red Cross, who retweeted his original post, will help spread the word and get more people involved in his campaign. The promotion is also active on Facebook but actual donations will only be calculated through Twitter.

    I implore anyone reading this to head over to Twitter and tweet a quick post about what you think the perfect gift is in order to contribute to Newmark’s campaign (I posted that my perfect gift is a world with no pepper spray). It only takes a minute and, like the clickable awesomeness that is craigslist, doesn’t cost you anything. You’ve got through the end of December to do your part. Just think of this as an easy way to say thanks to Newmark for all of those Missed Connections that have kept you entertained over the years.

  • London Riot Victim Gets Social Media Help To Fix Destroyed Barbershop

    Social media has been an integral part of the riots in England, both for good and for bad. Though many blame quick, wide-scale communication for mobilizing and then prolonging the riots, social media has also been a tool for good.

    For instance, a few days ago Londoners took to Twitter to help orchestrate a giant cleanup operation. Using the @RiotCleanup Twitter account and #riotcleanup hashtag, activists mobilized thousands to take to the streets to aid in the restoration.

    One story in particular caught the attention of the internet. An 89-year old barber named Aaron Biber had his barbershop destroyed by rioters. They smashed windows, stole various items and left the inside in a state of disarray. The photo above caught fire online, even appearing on the front page of Reddit a couple days ago under the heading “He’s 89 and just discovered that his barbershop was totally destroyed by London Riots.” That post received 1271 upvotes and over 600 comments.

    Mr. Biber’s story was also picked up by various news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal.

    Interns at a London advertising agency called BBH decided to take up his cause. Mr. Biber said that he would likely have to shut down his shop because he doesn’t have insurance and can’t afford all the repairs. So the interns decided to raise the money for him through the internet.

    They created a blog called Keep Aaron Cutting. Here’s what they say about the project –

    Aaron has been in the Tottenham area for 41 years and at 89 is devastated by the damage to his livelihood.

    Let’s use the internet, spread this and all donate a couple of quid so Aaron can get his shop back up and running so he will not have to worry how he’s going to make a living at his old age.

    They are asking that people use social media to spread the story, in hopes that they can raise enough money to clean up his shop. currently, over 8,500 people have shared the blog page via Twitter and over 11,200 have shared it to Facebook. People are spreading the word using the Twitter hashtag #KeepAaronCutting.

    Here’s a short video that the BBH interns did with Mr. Biber –

    Keep Aaron Cutting from BBH Barn on Vimeo.

    This fundraising effort is the first project in the BBH intern program “The BBH Barn.” Their aim is to “expand and mix both the power advertising wields and youth’s inherent energy.”

    As of right now, the campaign has raised around 31,150 pounds, or around 50,700 American dollars. Sounds like they are well on their way to getting Aaron’s stop back up and running.

  • Goodwill Launches Job Training Campaign On eBay

    The Goodwill said today it is launching a fundraising campaign on eBay to help people find and keep jobs.

    In partnership with eBay Giving Works, eBay’s charity fundraising program, from February 7 to 13, Goodwill will be a featured nonprofit on eBay, offering people the opportunity to buy, sell or donate to support Goodwill’s job training programs. Dress for Success and the National Federation of the Blind will also be featured in February as part of the same campaign.

     

    eBay-Goodwill

     

    "We work with thousands of entrepreneurial nonprofits that are exploring unique ways to reach new supporters and raise funds online, with Goodwill and its agencies being one of eBay’s biggest success stories, having raised about $8.5 million from the eBay community," said Amy Skeeters-Behrens, head of eBay Giving Works.

    "At a time when jobs are still scarce, we hope that the ‘Workin’ It’ campaign will remind our community of Goodwill’s mission and tremendous work in helping employ people who face major challenges and help generate the funds to enable Goodwill to serve more people than ever before."

    In 2010, Goodwill generated more than $25 million in online sales, including $4.4 million through eBay Giving Works. Since the eBay Giving Works program was created in 2003, the eBay community has raised $230 million for U.S. and U.K. charities, and currently lists more than 650,000 charity items on the marketplace, all designated with a blue and yellow ribbon.

     

  • Salvation Army Launches iPhone App

    The Salvation Army has launched a new free iPhone application in an effort to improve its fundraising for its Red Kettle Campaign.

    Developed by Charity Dynamics, the Online Red Kettle iPhone app allows people to do their own fundraising campaigns on behalf of the Salvation Army.

     

    Salvation-Army-iPhone

     

    “Virtual bell ringers are an essential part of The Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle campaign, and now our new mobile app enables these online fundraisers to make an even greater difference," said Jason Wood, Director of Internet Services, The Salvation Army.

    "By equipping today’s ‘fundraiser on the go’ with such a convenient and effective fundraising tool, we’re able to broaden our impact as an organization as we serve those in need this holiday season and throughout the year."

    The app allows people to:

    *Make updates to their personal fundraising page that is optimized for their mobile device;

    *Track their fundraising progress with a customized Red Kettle donation meter;

    *Take photos and immediately upload them to their personal fundraising page;

    *Send fundraising appeals to friends, family and other contacts.