Giving Challenges: Atlas Service Corps, Part 2

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. This is the second from Scott Beale; you can also read his first post.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

A lot has happened since my last blog entry on NTEN so let me bring you up to speed. My name is Scott and I am the founder of Atlas Corps, a new international organization that brings nonprofit leaders from the global south to volunteer in the U.S. for one year (some call it a "Reverse Peace Corps"). We have decided to enter America's Giving Challenge in an effort to motivate a large number of people to give us $10 (or more) donations in order to win $50,000. We have entered in the GlobalGiving category, because we are a very international organization, despite our U.S. 501(c)3 status.

I am excited to share that we've gotten off to a great start: we are in first place with 171 people. This is what we've been able to do so far:

Giving Challenges: Atlas Service Corps

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

I heard about Americas Giving Challenge through our partner GlobalGiving. I was immediately excited about the possibility of putting my political and social networking experience to good use for Atlas Corps.  We are making this competition a top priority for Atlas Corps. Atlas Corps is a new organization, so we see this as great way to increase awareness and also raise $50,000+.

Giving Challenges: Fellowship of Reconciliation

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Ruby Sinreich, Fellowship of Reconciliation 

Ten days ago, a colleague forwarded an e-mail saying that the Case Foundation would be giving $250,000 to the nonprofits that generated the most supporters through the Causes application on Facebook. A week earlier, another colleague had discovered that some folks had started a "No War Iran" Cause and designated our organization, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, as the recipient. They had already recruited over 5,500 supporters and generated $210 in unsolicited donations, so we were feeling pretty open to the potential of Facebook.

Giving Challenges: Children's National Medical Center

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Mark Miller, Children's National Medical Center

I was the vice president for communications at the Case Foundation from 2005 to 2007. During that time, I led the development of www.casefoundation.org and helped the team explore ways to get everyday people involved in giving. A big part of that was studying new tools for online fundraising.

Because my daughter has received such great care at Children's National Medical Center, I took a job doing fundraising communications there in June 2007. When I heard the Case Foundation was sponsoring the Facebook and Parade.com giving challenges, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. It fits our strategy perfectly to use the latest technology to raise national awareness and dollars in new and innovative ways.

How to Work with Your Organization's Wired Fundraisers

With the proliferation of fundraising widgets and social networks, nonprofit professionals are finding that they must share control of their organization's message with individual supporters, a concept that can be difficult to accept.

The most committed "wired fundraisers" or "uber-activists" will often accompany a homegrown fundraising campaign with their own images, video, and text. These personalized accounts of an organization's work present concerns about messaging and accuracy -- but opportunities for collaboration, as well.

Join NTEN and Peter Deitz for the webinar, "Sharing the Message: How to Work Effectively with Your Organization's Wired Fundraisers". We'll explore the impact of person-to-person fundraising on communications strategies and fundraising for nonprofits large and small.

When: Thursday, December 6th, 11 am PT / 2 pm ET

Cost: $25 NTEN Members, $50 for Non-Members

Presented by: Peter Deitz, Founder of Social Actions

> Register Today