Big News: $2M+ Raised for Nonprofits in CrowdRise Holiday Challenge

Folks, I just got an update from Ed Norton, one of the co-founders of CrowdRise, about the #GivingTower Holiday Challenge I’m sponsoring with MacAndrews & Forbes, Fred & Joanne Wilson, and Isaac S. Gindi. This year I’m giving $50k to support nonprofits.

A total of $250k is being given away in prize money, but an impressive $2 million+ has already been raised by the nonprofits participating. Last year, at this point in the Challenge, the total raised was: $609,835. That’s $1,561,954 more raised right now than was raised at this same time last year. This is the real deal.

Each time a donation’s made, a brick is added to the #GivingTower. What does this mean?

There are 16,757 bricks in the Tower.
It’s over 2,514 ft tall.
It’s taller than 2 Bank of America Towers stacked on top of each other.
In 208 more feet, the Giving Tower will be taller than the Burj Khalifa, Dubai.

It’s inspiring to see the organizations putting in lots of effort and taking the lead. They’re orgs that aren’t household names, but instead charities like the Cure JM Foundation – which works on an extremely rare disease affecting children, and small but mighty animal reserves.

The Bonus Challenge winners so far are…

Bonus Challenge #1: Cure JM Foundation

Bonus Challenge #2: Wildlife SOS

And there was a Surprise Bonus Challenge: Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation

Bonus Challenge # 3 is happening now. Every org that gets 10 donations will be entered to win $10k. You’ve got til December 16th to get the donations. And there’s still time to sign your org up to participate in the Challenge.

December 11, 2014

What “New Power” Means for #GivingTuesday

History keeps getting itself made, and now and then, regular people get a chance at sharing power. Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms articulated this much more eloquently in Understanding “New Power”.

I’m pretty passionately committed to this for at least the next twenty years, have already been practicing it daily for the last twenty years.

Here’s my nerdly take on the thing:

Recently, we saw the British, American, and French revolutions each spread power around to different ends. In the UK and US, we got different forms of representative democracy, but in France, we got some rather unpleasant mob rule, later evolving into representative democracy.

For sure, in the US, democracy is increasingly centralizing toward a moneyed class willing to pay legislatures for results, that’s the whole Citizens United thing.

That’s also with Heimans and Timms call “old power”:

Old power works like a currency. It is held by few. Once gained, it is jealously guarded, and the powerful have a substantial store of it to spend. It is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. It downloads, and it captures.

Previous revolutions aspired to what these guys call “new power” and I’m very hopeful we can get there:

New power operates differently, like a current. It is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It uploads, and it distributes. Like water or electricity, it’s most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it but to channel it.

Power, as British philosopher Bertrand Russell defined it, is simply “the ability to produce intended effects.” Old power and new power produce these effects differently. New power models are enabled by peer coordination and the agency of the crowd—without participation, they are just empty vessels. Old power is enabled by what people or organizations own, know, or control that nobody else does—once old power models lose that, they lose their advantage.

This doesn’t say that new power involves no rules, like at the worst of the French Revolution. It’s not okay, for example, to “appropriate” (steal) anyone else’s stuff. We can, and already do better than that.

Anyone can share in this evolving power by participating, by making a genuine contribution, and there’re a lot of ways to do that.

One way that’s getting a bit of attention involves a new way to contribute to effective nonprofits, via CrowdRise and #GivingTuesday.

Everyone can pitch in, and work with each other.

This is just a start, helping people in the here and now, and getting ready for lots more.

Are you ready?

November 25, 2014

Tis the Season to Give Back

Folks, I believe that it’s really important to give back to our communities. One way to do that is to participate in CrowdRise’s #GivingTuesday Holiday Challenge for nonprofits. I’m giving $50K to go toward the winner of the Challenge, and together, with the other donors, there will be $250K in prize money.

CrowdRise has been working hard to make this Challenge and #GivingTuesday bigger then past years. One way they’re doing that is by creating a Giving Tower. It’s going to be a hologram tower. Each time someone donates, a brick is added to the tower. You can actually download an app and point it at a dollar bill to see how the tower’s growing. Here’s a little more about it:

The Giving Tower Holiday Challenge is a great way for organizations to rally their supporters, raise money for their cause, drive engagement, get lots of exposure and, most importantly, raise money for their cause (note intentional repetition). The Challenge is friendly fundraising competition launched by craigconnects, Fred and Joanne Wilson, and MacAndrews & Forbes. It’s designed to help you raise awareness and lots of money for your year end fundraising.

Here’s more about the Challenge this year:

The Challenge starts on November 25th and there are going to be huge grand prizes, plus lots of Bonus Challenges. The campaign is always amazing and last year, charities rallied to raise over $2.3m for their causes.

There will be $250,000 in prizes this year. The organization that raises the most will receive a $100,000 donation to their cause. Second place will win $50,000, third $25,000, fourth $10,000 and fifth place will receive a $5,000 donation to their cause.

There will also be multiple opportunities along the way to get extra cash donations in the form of Bonus Challenges. Folks, we’re talking an extra $60,000 in Bonus Challenges.

The good folks over at CrowdRise are hosting a webinar on November 20th at 3pm ET to walk you through everything about the Challenge, please Click Here to register.

So far, there’s more than 500 charities signed up, and plenty of time for you to sign up, too.

The Toolkit will tell you everything else you need to know that I may have forgotten.

Use the hashtag #GivingTower to continue the conversation.

Looking forward to getting this Challenge started, more to come…

November 21, 2014

Just a few more days to help out America’s heroes

Hey, there are just a few days left in Veterans Charity Challenge 2 and we’re raising money to help out folks who are risking their lives for us, and their families. We need your help. I figure, the least we can do is give back. These charities do some really innovative work to support vets, and other American heroes.

If you want to help these orgs out that’re supporting veterans, police officers, military families, and firefighters, now’s your chance to give to the nonprofit of your choice. Over $225,700 has already been raised for causes that are the real deal, but with the important work they’re doing, they can use as much help as we’re able to give.

Folks, a few reasons you should support this Challenge:

All money raised goes directly to organizations supporting veterans, military families, police, and firefighters.
The participating nonprofits are doing good work, for example:
- Some orgs are helping to take care of military member’s pets,
- Others provide educational and employment services to vets who face economic hardship,
- A few are raising the money to provide scholarships to kids of milfams,
- Others train service dogs for returning veterans,
- Some of the money raised will go toward providing mentors to women vets looking for jobs,
- And a few orgs are providing books overseas. There’s so many more causes you can give to over on CrowdRise, too.
With your support, these organizations will have the opportunity to win the prize money awarded to first ($20k), second ($10k), and third place ($5k). But, hey, please remember that even if the org you support doesn’t end up coming in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, they’ll still keep all the money they raise.

Email CrowdRise with all questions and they’ll be ready with great customer service.

June 30, 2014

How your charity can raise $50K+ for Vets and Heroes

Hey, we’re launching the Veterans Charity Challenge 2 to raise money for good causes.

Last year I sponsored the first Veterans Charity Challenge to raise money for nonprofits that support veterans and their families. The challenge was so successful that we decided to host the Veterans Charity Challenge 2 this year, but include more folks who really have their boots on the ground. I’m giving $50k to support orgs who are doing good work.

This challenge is for all nonprofits that support veterans, military families, police, and firefighters. It starts in just a few weeks, over on CrowdRise, and there’s still time for you to get involved. Here are some reasons why your org should sign up:

Last year’s Veterans Charity Challenge raised over $445,000 for causes like yours
This year’s Veterans Charity Challenge 2 goes from May 22nd at 12pm ET and runs through July 3rd at 11:59:59am ET
The charity team that raises the most during the Challenge gets $20k, second place get $10k and third place gets $5k
Plus, there’ll be another $15k given away in cash and prizes throughout the Challenge
Even if you don’t win a grand prize, you get to keep the money you raised

Getting involved is easy, folks. Just Go Here and click the Start a Fundraiser button.

Okay…now that you know how to sign up for the Veterans Charity Challenge 2, check out the Veterans Charity Challenge 2 Toolkit. It’s a reference guide to help you raise more money than you thought possible for your cause. The Toolkit has really important stuff, including sample calendars and tips.

And, as an extra bonus, if you browse the Veterans Charity Challenge 2 Toolkit and find the hidden movie quote, Email CrowdRise with the name of the movie it’s from and you’ll be entered to win a pizza party for your org on launch day (May 22nd).

Please share this challenge with all the orgs you know that support vets, milfams, police, and firefighters. These folks do a lot for our country, and it’s important to give back. Email CrowdRise with any clarifying questions, they’re the real deal.

This isn’t altruism, it just feels right.

April 28, 2014

Unbelievable: Over $2 Million Dollars Raised for Nonprofits

Hey there, the CrowdRise #HolidayChallenge just ended on Thursday, and you won’t believe how much the organizations raised collectively in small donations for their nonprofits: $2,394,827, more than double last year’s total for the Vets Challenge.

Yup, that’s right, over two million dollars. Plus, I gave $75k, in grand and weekly bonus prizes and that money was distributed between several nonprofits who are really getting the job done.

A much-deserved congratulations to all of the nonprofits who really had their boots on the ground doing good work. Especially the top three winners:

Cure JM Foundation came in first place, winning the Holiday Challenge. The total amount that they raised and won was nearly $400,000 to help advance Juvenile Myositis (JM) research, a rare and life-threatening autoimmune condition affecting mostly children.
US Friends of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust won 2nd place ($40k prize) by raising $133,576 to support care for orphaned elephants in Africa.
Hope and Opportunity Through Literacy won 3rd place ($20k prize) by raising $111,114 to support education and health programs for the poor living in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Portugal, and the United States.

These nonprofits couldn’t have raised over $2 million dollars without your help, so a big thank you and congratulations to everyone who participated, and to all the good folks over there at CrowdRise, Huffington Post, and the other philanthropists who are really making a difference.

Thank you again for making this happen, folks. A nerd’s gotta do what a nerd’s gotta do.

January 11, 2014

This is not an exaggeration: Over a million dollars raised for nonprofits

Folks, huge news! The #HolidayChallenge just passed $1,000,000. That’s a million dollars for charities.

As many of you know, I’m helping to fund the CrowdRise #HolidayChallenge to help nonprofits around the country raise money this holiday season. This is many of the orgs’ year-end fundraising campaign, and they could really use your help.

There are some really good causes that funds are being raised for, and I’m so inspired. There are animal rights and sanctuary orgs, greenhouse projects, promotion of education, veterans, mental health, human rights groups, women’s health, self-esteem and body image groups, orgs raising money to help children with diseases, literacy campaigns, and the list goes on, and on.

If you’re able, take a look through all of the good orgs participating in this challenge, and give to one that really sticks out to you.

This week the Bonus Challenge is fun, the first two fundraising teams to raise $250, beginning at noon EST each day, will go head to head in a heated game of rock, paper, scissors. The winner each day will get $1,500 for their cause. You can help decide who wins this week.

Bonus Challenge #1 was won by Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.

Bonus Challenge #2 was won by Cure JM.

Bonus Challenge #3 was won by Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

Bonus Challenge #4 is happening right now.

There are seven Bonus Challenges total and they’re all listed here.

There are a lot of Huffington Post winners so far. 119 teams have raised at least $1,000 for their cause, winning at least one of the HuffPost prizes. HuffPost is offering “tiered” prizes during the Challenge, which are called “HuffPost Prizes for Everyone” because they’re non-competitive. If you raise the money required in a tier, you get the prize and when you reach the next tier, you get that prize too.

When CrowdRise was gearing up for the #HolidayChallenge, five charities won “Get your charity profiled by a HuffPost reporter.” They are:

• Building Botswana

• ShoeHeals

• Chicago Adventure Therapy

• Canstruction

• Toilet Hackers

Now head on over to the Holiday Challenge, and let’s try to raise $2M for charity, what do ya say?

December 17, 2013

Interview: Swords to Plowshares

Hey there, as many of you know, I gave $50k to the CrowdRise Veterans Charity Challenge earlier this month. The total money raised for Veterans and Milfams exceeded $448,000.

In my #VetsChallenge wrap up post, I asked you to stay tuned for the interviews I’d be conducting with two great orgs, both winners of a Bonus Challenge.

The first interview was with Jordan Towers, Social Media Coordinator for Swords to Plowshares. Jordan talked about how the org has provided core services, like housing, employment, and training to vets since 1974.

Some of the things that Jordan said during the interview really stuck out to me,

“The amazing thing about Swords to Plowshares is that we help all veterans of every generation…[We help] about 2,000 veterans in the San Francisco Bay area every year….[and] really try to tackle what the veterans need, and to restore their dignity and self-sufficiency. All veterans are welcome, regardless of discharge status.”

You can listen to the full interview here:

July 30, 2013