Posts Tagged ‘Crowdrise’

Using the Social Web to Drive Real-World Social Action

Friday, October 15th, 2010

by , Hand’s on Network

I’m in Las Vegas today with of VolunteerSpot, of KaBOOM and of Crowdrise. We’re presenters in the Cause Track at the Blogworld New Media Expo talking about how to use the social we to drive real world social action.

In other words, how can anyone mobilize friends, fans and followers to take real actions that make a difference?

As we planned the session, it occurred to the four of us that that people are still inspired and motivated in traditional ways – even if it’s happening through a new medium.

In our session today, we hope to gather the collective wisdom of those in the room to create a more complete list, but as we head in to our workshop, I’ve outlined a few of our ideas for applying the best practices of traditional volunteer management to distributed action in the social space.

We’d love to know what ideas you have and what you would add to this list. 

Leave us a comment with your ideas, won’t you?

Here are some of our initial thoughts…

Make a personal appeal - the number one reason people volunteer is because they were asked.  This doesn’t mean they were asked via a mass e-mail, a generic tweet or a mass Facebook event invitation.  Someone they knew asked them personally.  Keep this in mind when recruiting within social networks.

Tell a compelling story - never underestimate the power of story!  Tell your story.  Why is the cause important to you?  How and why did you get involved?  What kind of change do you believe is possible if others get involved?  If you speak personally and from your heart, your friends will respond.

Make folks feel part of something larger than themselves – all of us want to find meaning in our lives.  You’re not just asking for help, you’re offering people an opportunity to contribute, to participate in making a difference.   Let this help you overcome your fear that you’re burdening folks with your request.

Make your ask relevant – think about the needs/concerns of your social media networks and how what you’re asking of them speaks to their needs and concerns.  Let them know what they’ll get out of it.  Don’t be shy about this one.  The truth is that all of us end up getting more than we give when we volunteer.  We’re transformed for the better by the experience!

Think creatively- How can you spread your ask beyond your immediate network? Brainstorm ways to create incentives for your network to pass it on. Can you make a game out of it? Might you offer a prize to the person who recruits the most people to join the effort or raises the most money for your cause?

Make it easy – remember volunteers have to be eased into a commitment. Make it quick and easy to take immediate action, ask for specific actions and small commitments first and work up to larger commitments.

Don’t waste volunteer’s time, be organized.  (Enough said?)

Invite volunteers to get involved in planning and shaping the next project.  (First you ask the mom to make cookies for the bake sale and the next thing she knows she’s President of the PTA!)

Report back – let people know the larger impact they’ve made possible.  Share the results of your team’s collective action.  How many students were tutored?  How many houses renovated?  How much money was raised?

Don’t skimp on the thanks & recognition.  Always thank and recognize your volunteers and donors.  You can send them an e-mail, call them, write on their Facebook wall, send a tweet out about them… just don’t forget to thank them.

What would you add?

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Posted in Equip, News & Links, Service, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Recognition, Volunteer Recruitment, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 11 Comments »

Volunteerism at the New Media Expo? You Bet!

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

by , VP of Social Media, Hand’s on Network and , CEO, VolunteerSpot

On Friday, October 15th at 12:15 p.m. PST, we’re facilitating a  session at the BlogWorld New Media Expo exploring what’s most effective in inspiring, equipping and mobilizing people to make a difference and take real world action.

We’ll be joined as facilitators by of KaBOOM and of Crowdrise.

This won’t be a ‘talking heads’ panel discussion.  Instead we’ll be calling on the wisdom of the crowd and challenging participants to drive real-world action right there, in the moment, from the conference room. (And there will be some cool prizes too!)

Session participants will compete to earn points and prizes for creating real-world actions that range from simple, like re-tweeting of messages,  to more complex commitments like persuading friends, fans or conference attendees not in the room to pose for humorous photos or make commitments to charities or causes they care about.

Between the four of us, we have boatloads of experience mobilizing people to make a difference.  If you’re coming to Blogworld and you attend our session, we’ll share simple best-practice strategies as well as demonstrate the way that social media can amplify your power to create change and involve friends, family, community volunteers and others in your local and networked communities.

There couldn’t be a better time to talk about mobilizing people to take real world action.  October 23, 2010, just one week after Blogworld closes, marks the 20th anniversary of Make A Difference Day, the largest national day of community service.   We hope you’ll Make A Difference in your community.

  • Spread the Word
  • Create a Project
  • Find a Project
  • Get Resources
  • Share Your Story

Follow the conversation on Twitter at #BWERWA at 12:15 PST on October 15th!

BlogWorld Expo ‘10 here we come!

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Posted in Equip, Events, News & Links, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

Hello Fundraisers! Meet Crowdrise.

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

by Robyn Stegman
(Originally posted on Narrations on the Life and Times of Robyn Stegman and cross-posted here with the author’s permission.)

Okay I’m hooked on Crowdrise. Yesterday at the Mashable Media Summit Edward Norton spoke about his new project: . Initially I was skeptical. Do we really need a new online fundraising site? What makes this project so special?

Then Edward Norton said this:

We’re actually getting a lot of phone calls from organizations that we haven’t even engaged with saying ‘Who are you and why are we getting checks through ‘ And we’re saying it just means that somebody out there who supports you has gone and set up a fundraiser and started raising funds for you.

Wait a sec, bud! You mean that people will fundraise for nonprofits and you don’t even have to ask them to do it? They don’t even have to register on the site? I’ve got to try this out!

So I started a profile, and like claimed in his talk it was really simple. It took me about twenty minutes to get a complete profile and I’ve got to say it looks pretty cool!

That’s when I began to notice the difference between Crowdrise and other sites. For starters it has some of the best copywriting I’ve seen. The beginning of their How it Works section reads:

Please only read all this if you’re super bored or you’re writing a paper on ways to give back and you’re looking for something to plagiarize..

This perhaps is my favorite text from the site which you get while uploading a photo:

You’re going to see this message every time you post a new pic. So, we’re making the text really long so that it’ll take you at least five picture uploads to read it all. Here’s what we’re thinking…While you’re first picture is uploading think about someone you want to kiss. When you upload your second pic think about one friend who you can beat in a race. On your third photo upload think about your favorite food that begins with the letter H. While your fourth picture is uploading think about how great it would be if you were a world class breakdancer. While your fifth picture is uploading try to think of the best candy to eat if you were a mime spending a month in New Zealand. If you upload a sixth and seventh picture please just read all of this again.

And for those of you who can’t get enough of rock, paper, scissors you can actually choose your preference on your profile. Every once in a while a player on Crowdrise will throw rock, paper, or scissors and if whatever you have on your profile beats it you get 1,000 points.

That’s right points. Every time you raise money or someone votes for you on Crowdrise you get points. What do they do?

Points mean potential prizes, lots of respect and hopefully one day, a trip to the White House or at least a trip to Vegas.

For all of you in the volunteer and service field Crowdrise can help you turn your dedicated volunteers into fundraising machines! It has volunteer pages where volunteers can ask their friends and families to help support their volunteer efforts and they can also show them exactly how many hours they’ve given to your organization.

So I admit it, I’m hooked. For those who still aren’t sure here are a couple of other gems of Crowdrise;

  • Ease of Use: Crowdrise nearly all US 501(c)3 charities already in its database so you don’t even have to register to allow people to fundraise for you. However if you do want to spruce up your site you can go ahead and claim it and simply update your profile.
  • Celebrities: Edward Norton isn’t the only celebrity using this system. Already Seth Rogan and Will Farrel have signed up. In fact if you donate to Will Farrel’s cause you get a with semi-nude pictures of him on them.
  • Personalized Fundraising: The profiles and projects profiles give you tons of space to post pictures, a place to post a video, and places to tell your story. Since each project has to be supported by a person  not an organization it really allows the fundraising to be about you and your story.  I think that is the best part about this site and what gives it potential to change the fundraising game.
  • Picture of Napkin: ‘Nuff said.

Last note for AmeriCorps members, program directors, alums, etc.: Let me just say this has some great potential to allow members to fundraise and give back to their sites. In fact a City Year member (which is a national AmeriCorps program) is featured on the front page of their website. City Year LA is already using it by encouraging members to sign up and share their City Year stories on their profiles and challenging them to raise money for their projects and for City Year. I’m excited to see how this project evolves and see how other people in national service can use this to build their programs.

So now that I’ve signed up who should I fundraise for? Any suggestions?

What do you think about Crowdrise? Are you using it? How? Are you hooked? Are you unsure? Let me know! I’m always listening .

Robyn Stegman is an AmeriCorps VISTA,  social media nerd, and founder of Geeks for Good. Follow her year of service on Twitter

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Posted in Equip, Fundraising & Development, News & Links, Tools You Can Use, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »