Archive for September, 2005
September 29th, 2005 at 07:56pm
Under fundraising
That’s what I thought to myself when I first heard of it. Bubble talk is ‘voice-texting’ through your mobile. A Singapore company, Bubble Motion, has teamed up with Swedish telecom giant, Telefon Ericson. It’s a messaging service that eliminates the need to tap out a text message. Instead, you flip open the phone — record a message like “you should be at this U2 concert - take a listen!” and then sending it as a message to someone else’s phone. It costs a fraction of a normal call — like text messaging. There are lots of people who don’t like typing on those postage-stamp-sized phones. Maybe a fundraising opportunity here?
Mike
By Michael Johnston
September 27th, 2005 at 07:24pm
Under fundraising
I remember a few years back when James Earl Jones would record people’s voice mail messages if they made a donation to the charity of his choice. Thought that was interesting… and now we’ve got another trend coming our way. Donald Trump and Christina Aguilera have lent their voices to two ‘voice tones’ available through a number of US mobile carriers including Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Cingular. When your phone rings, and you’ve purchased The Donald’s voice tone, it says: “You’re getting a phone call and, believe me, it better be important. I have no time for small talk and neither do you!”. I won’t tell you what Christina says.
But think about the nonprofit possibilities. If an organization has a well-known personality on board, they could record a ‘voice mail’ message in which a portion of the cost of that download goes to the charity they support.
By Michael Johnston
September 23rd, 2005 at 01:16am
Under fundraising
I’ve always emphasized that any nonprofit organization needs to emphasize its unique fundraising culture — or core competency — when investing in online fundraising and technologies. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation was a good example back in 1998 when it invested in the creation of one of the first online registration and pledge systems to support its special event — Run for the Cure. It knew what it was good at and stuck to it online. Post Katrina there’s a good example of how one site has tried to connect to the culture of New Orleans and to fundraising online, www.boobs4bourbonst.com, where proof of a donation to relief charities earns you a peek at men and women’s boobs — Marti Gras style. I have to admit its fundraising online done to match the culture of New Orleans!
They’ve reached almost $18,000 already and have a goal of $100,000.
By Michael Johnston
September 16th, 2005 at 09:25pm
Under fundraising
A few days ago I was at the annual Social Justice Retreat at Algonquin Park, out in the Canadian wildlands. Between workshops and kayaking, I had a chance to sit down with Phillip Smith from communitybandwidth.ca to talk about his work on a current Greenpeace Canada campaign that has a strong online organizing and advocacy element: www.kleercut.net.
In my chat with Phillip we talk about the concept for this “brand-damage” campaign which is focused on engaging consumers in local actions, and how the website has evolved to reflect the progress of the campaign, as well as some thoughts on fundraising integration into online activism campaigns
To hear the podcast (cross-posted to shakethepillars.com):
http://www.fundraisinginnovation.com/podcasts/phillipsmith_algonquin.mp3
By irishg