Oprah’s Big Give … a little update

I have been trying to keep up with Oprah’s Big Give every Sunday to see which directions the show is taking.  The closer each week gets to the end, the more intense of challenges are given to the contestants.  I still don’t know how I feel about the overall money-making aspect of the show, and I wonder whose pockets this money profited is going to.  The great thing I have to say about the show is the vast amount of people they are reaching as they travel from place to place.  It is great to see the outcomes and the people affected.  I’m anxious to see how it ends.

text, text, text

It seems that all we do anymore is text. You can not go anywhere without seeing someone with their phone out texting. I actually think as texting becomes more popular with even the older generation, organizations will confide with texts for donations, promotions, gifts, etc. Texting will catch on to almost every generation because it’s so easy. If you know how to spell, than you can text! I do believe, however, that the phone company should only allow the messages to be sent if you agree in your contract. That way you know you will be receiving texts from various organizations. I think it will take time for this new wave of communication catches on, but as for now- I think it is a great idea as long as you agree to receiving them.

Craig’s List: Pay It Forward

After reading the blog post about Craig’s List, I thought I should offer my two cents as well. I agree that the site does seem a little strange. The idea of donating money to a random person seems a little stupid on my part. I think the “Pay It Forward” idea is great, but there should definitely be more information about who this person is. Do they work for a non-profit group? Is it just an average person trying to make a difference? Either way, this individual needs to put a little more information out about himself, in order to make this seem like a credible way to donate.

Text Solicitations

Prior to class the other day, I was completely unaware that not for profits were asking for donations though text messaging.  My first thought was that this was great.  A new tool to get donations, one way to better compete with other not for profit organizations with similar interests.  After all the world keeps on becoming more and more tech savvy.  However, as the class discussion continued I quickly realized many problems with it.  Some people don’t receive text messaging, some do but hate it.  There was a mention of being put on a list to receive such messages if you wanted.  Also there was concerns on where the donations actually went, to the organization or phone company.  With all of these negative aspects, I believe not for profit organizations are better off perusing donations by previous means.

for profit and the national no call registry

I have been doing some research on the new trend of For profit charities. It is my media dilemma for class on Monday so I won’t go in to depth about them now. But, one common trend I have found in things people are writing about is what do about For profit charities and the National No Call Registry. One of the exceptions the FTC put in place is “A person may still receive calls from charities.” Well, for multiple reasons and now the new For-profit charity trend it’s hard to have the category ‘charity” it’s too broad. There are many organizations that can call themselves a charity, but yet have profits coming in. Where do we draw the line? Mozilla recently went from being a nonprofit to a For profit and they are still partaking in making soliciting phone calls. Which has people in an up roar, did they give their rights to make solicitation phone calls? I don’t know?  

Buying contributes to charity

I did my article presentation this week over some websites that give back to charity when you buy through them.  Most of the class thought this was an “ok” idea. It is not a life changing fund-raising tactic, but a lot of people would take advantage of this but, not go out of their way too.  Two of the websites I found were ebaygiving and goodshop.com Some other people have heard about other things such as  Toms Shoes, that for every pair you buy, they send a pair to someone in a third world country. 

I think that one way that this on-line buying could really benefit people is that if a non-profit org. used it as a fundraiser. I think that if they took donations of gifts, or things people would buy off e bay, and then sold them, and they got all the money for the organization that would be great. I can really see someone like FHCC using this, and making a few hundred off of it. 

I belive that one of the reasons it is not working or blowing up right now, is that people have not heard about it.  The general conscience I got from the class was if they had two items in front of them they could buy, and one the profit would go to charity and the other would go to Joe Brown’s pocket of course they would by the one for charity, even if it meant no tax deduction for them. 

I think this is a great idea, and hope that larger corporations start to grab on to this.

Pay it Forward….

I couldn’t help but chuckle after reading the previous post about the Craig’s list fundraising technique. I loved the movie “Pay it Forward” but found this person’s approach with money a little unrealistic. However, this does make a good point concerning social networking sites and non profits. Whenever I see a nonprofit with a social networking site it makes me think more highly of them that they are using the technology to promote their image. It’s also another tool for fundraising online.
But as far as Craig’s list go, I don’t really read anything off of that to be 100%. As with anything, research is needed in order to make the educated decision.

Pay it Forward?

All the talk in class about Oprah’s Big Give and the concept of changing lives, I couldn’t resist making a post about something interesting I saw on Craig’s List today.

If you’ll take a look at post ID# 611591357 , you will find a good Samaritan wanting to pay forward generous donations from strangers.  To save you the time of visiting the site I will quote:

“I am wanting to try an experiment, I am asking anyone wishing to make donations to me, I will pay it forward to those in need. I don’t know how many will respond, but I think a lot of money could be raised. Thanks for your support.”

This sounds like a good idea, but doesn’t it sound a little fish-y?  I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but I’m not going to send money to a random person on Craig’s List and hope for the best.  It does bring up another issue: do non-profits have a place on social networking sites?  I love when I see non-profits on Facebook, but where is the line?  Is Craig’s List appropriate?  Or does it only seem inappropriate because this specific link seems so… untrustworthy?

Cell phone solicitations?

Before the class presentation I hadn’t thought about soliciting donations via text messages.  I think it’s a great idea as long as people sign up for it.  If it become like telemarketing except through text messages I think it would deter donations rather than elicited them.  Everyone hates getting those phone calls from telemarketers and I’d hate to see that happen to non-profits too.  As I said in class, I’d be afraid it would be a Pandora’s Box and then we really would get unwanted solicitations via text messages, which I would hate.  So if people choose whether or not to be included on the list, I think it’s a wonderful idea and I think non-profits should pursue it as long as the phone companies don’t take away too much of the money.

Oprah’s Big Gift

I will admit that I enjoy my reality televison but I do think that it is getting a little out of hand.