On Saturday, January 23rd, Actor Josh Duhamel (star of the new movie, When in Rome) teamed up with the Red Cross of Santa Monica to organize the Youth Run for Haiti, which took place along the beach in Santa Monica, CA.  The purpose of the event was to raise money for the relief efforts in Haiti.  I had the opportunity to travel to the event in Los Angeles and I have to say, the results were nothing short of amazing!

Actor Josh Duhamel, the man behind the event (and apparent Dodger fan)

Growing up in North Dakota, Josh’s mom was a P.E. teacher, and so the actor has long supported causes that get kids healthy and involved in active lifestyles.  He  also happens to be a long time supporter of the Red Cross.  So when the disaster in Haiti struck, Josh took it upon himself to combine two of his passions and create something special. “I felt like the youth should have a voice.” said Duhamel when asked why he organized the event. “This was a way to empower them.  They’re a powerful group when they all get behind something and this is my to say that they are here to help.”  

YOU CAN LISTEN TO MY FULL LENGTH AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH JOSH AS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE PLAY CITY BLOG HERE

1500-2000 kids showed up to run for Haiti Relief

I’ll be perfectly honest – I wasn’t so sure the event was going to be a huge success.  First of all, Josh and his team only had about a week to plan it and rally support for it. Second of all, the five days leading up to the run produced the worst rain southern California has seen in years, and having grown up in SoCal, I can tell you that Angelenos aren’t exactly known for their toughness when it comes to bad weather.  (Ugg boots, ear warmers and scarves become the norm when temps drop below 60 degrees in LA).
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This week, our friends at let’s dabble came to us with the idea of creating a video to help promote the efforts in Haiti.  We thought a lot about what we wanted this video to accomplish, and we came up with two goals.

First, we want to document what people are doing to help and encourage others to contribute what they can.  Second, we wanted to show the people of Haiti that they are not alone…that people all over the world are praying for them and sending them positive vibes for a quick recovery.

So we created this video “Words for Haiti.”  We hope that the video will encourage you to make your own words of encouragement video response.  Maybe we can get short clips from people all over the world on YouTube, sending positive energy to the people who need our support in Haiti.

To leave your own words of encouragement, visit one of the many fundraisers on our Help Haiti page.

Since the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti two weeks ago, we at GiveForward have been amazed by the generosity of people to help others.

We’ve seen President Clinton, scores of professional athletes and major celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Josh Duhamel all contribute huge sums of money to help the people of Haiti.

But what has been most remarkable to us are not the Bill Clintons and Angelina Jolies of the world but the everyday people who have rallied together to do what they can.  Within the first 24-hours following the earthquake, before many people had even seen the news on CNN, we were amazed to see that several members of the GiveForward community had already begun setting up fundraising pages for relief organizations like Oxfam and CARE.  One such member, Nabiha Niazi,  set a goal of raising $1000 and used Facebook to ask for support.  Within a week, she had already surpassed her goal! Another member, Beth Rapach has been raising money so her friend, a nurse practitioner, can travel to Haiti to provide direct medical aid. Indeed, the efforts of Nabiha and Beth have been extraordinary — but they are not alone.

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Actor Josh Duhamel has joined forces with American Red Cross of Santa Monica to come to the aid of Haiti victims.  Pulling together youth and teens from LA and from around the world, Josh has teamed up with American Red Cross of Santa Monica to host “Youth Run 4 Haiti.” Josh describes this relief effort as a “movement.” This is a movement of youth and teens from everywhere coming together to run for a cause and to demonstrate the power of youth. The emergency response 2 mile run will bring out thousands of youth and teens who have been empowered to come to the aid of Haiti.

According to the actor, “Youth Run 4 Haiti, is not your typical run. It is a run for hope. It is a race against time. Through this run and movement, lives will be saved.”

We think that what Josh is doing is pretty awesome, and the GiveForward team will be traveling to Los Angeles to take part in this event.  If you are in the Los Angeles area, Saturday, January 23rd, please come join the GiveForward team in this run as a symbol of unity with the people of Haiti.

Josh and the Red Cross are asking that each runner wear something red to show your support for the people of Haiti as well as to bring a minimum donation of $10 – either cash or a check made out to Red Cross of Santa Monica and write Haiti on the bottom.

The Details…

START TIME: The actual run will start at 10 a.m. but runners are encouraged to arrive at 9 am!

LOCATION: The starting point- Runners will assemble at Beach Parking Lot #1 where Ocean Park Blvd meets 2600 Bernard Way (Ocean Park Blvd. at the beach)
Santa Monica, CA 90405

MAP

For more information, visit Youth Run 4 Haiti

Ethan and Desiree are signed up to do quite a few radio interviews over the next couple of weeks—we’ll try to keep you posted so you can listen in and put up the audio files whenever possible.

Here’s our first one. Special thanks to Chris Oaks and 1330 WFIN for taking the time to talk with Desiree!

Press the play button to listen or click here

Recently, our wonderful co-founder, Desiree Vargas, was interviewed by Olivia Khalili of CauseCapitalism.com. Olivia started CauseCapitalism.com to “give companies the resources, evidence and inspiration they need to use social responsibility to grow their business.” Thanks for noting us as socially responsible, Olivia! You can hear the audio from their conversation here or on the original post or just check out the key points below!

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In March 2009 Amy Cowin raised $32,000 through a personal fundraising page to pay for an operation to remove one of her kidneys and donate it to her sister Jessica. This is not Amy and Jessica’s story. It’s the story of GiveForward.org–the idea and technology that enabled this operation and hundreds of others like it.

I spoke with Desiree Vargas, co-founder and president of GiveForward, an online platform that provides free fundraising pages to individuals and non-profits to raise money for loved ones’ medical treatments, volunteer service projects, community initiatives or charitable sporting events. Vargas runs GiveForward with her co-founder Ethan Austin and crew of interns.

Since its launch in August 2008, GiveForward has helped more than 5,000 individuals raise more than $660,000 and has earned praise from the Chicago Tribune as ”the future of medical fundraising in the Internet Age.”

In our conversation Vargas talks about the voice that woke her up at 1 a.m. telling her to “Get Started,” inexpensive resources for getting your startup off the ground and what she does with failure. 

Key points from our conversation:

• After Hurricane Katrina Vargas wanted to directly donate to affected individuals. She was frustrated that instead, her donation needed to be processed through a larger organization where overhead and administrative costs would dilute it. A year later, she was thinking about how she could raise the money for a different business idea, when the thought of raising capital from friends and family came to her. She conceptualized this as an online platform that would enable people to connect on a individual basis to raise and donate money.
• Vargas threw a handful of mini-launch parties around the country to raise money from friends, usually in $10-$20 increments, to seed GiveForward. Each party raised $1,000-$1,500.
• Many universities have resource centers in their law or business schools that offer free or low-cost legal and business advice to entrepreneurs. Vargas used Northwestern University’s Small Business Opportunity Center to solicit feedback on her business plan and to legally establish the company.
• GiveForward charges a 3% transaction fee, which doesn’t cover Vargas or Austin’s salaries (like most entrepreneurs with young businesses, they pick up additional work) but does cover the company’s minimal operating expenses. 3% is lower than the 5-15% charged by similar sites.
• After the success of people like Amy and Jessica Cowin, medical fundraising on GiveForward has grown exponentially. It now comprises 70% of the site’s fundraising pages, and medical fundraising drives 80% of new users and donations.
• From a mentor, Vargas learned to talk about her idea as much as possible. By doing so, you’ll glean feedback, ideas, contacts and publicity for your business. Outside of high-tech, stealth-mode is overrated.
• Look at failure as an opportunity to learn. In GiveForward’s first months, some donations took too long to go out and sometimes the donate button wouldn’t work. Austin in particular was passionate about seeing these snafus as a means to engage and win-over the customer.
• Be flexible. GiveForward’s original mission had nothing to do with medical fundraising, but this is what people came for and needed. Now, GiveForward can target this sector.
• Give-Forward aims to be ‘the eBay of giving’–the preeminent destination to fundraise for–and fund–personal and non-personal causes.

Please enjoy some of the nice things GiveForward users have said about us lately—we’re so happy to have helped these fundraisers work towards their goals!

“Thank you so, so much! I don’t know what I would have done without you guys and your website.”
-Amy Cowin raised $31,000 for her sister’s kidney transplant

Thanks so much for the opportunity to use your site. It helped tremendously! Between the Fundraiser and GiveForward, I reached my goal.
-Beth Dahlke Kiens raised $3900 for a brain surgery to prevent paralysis

“Thanks to Giveforward.org we were able to surpass our goal and raise over $3,000 that Liana’s family can use towards her chemotherapy treatments. Thank you so much for providing this tremendous service! It made it so easy to raise money for a great cause.”
-Katherine Deurloo raised $3300 for her neighbors daughter battling leukemia

“You guys are wonderful. It’s people like YOU who are making the dreams come true for people like me! or at least enabling us to make our own dreams come true.”
-Michelle Brovitz has raised [ongoing] $10,000 to purchase medical equipment for her Multiple Sclerosis treatment

“You guys have been marvelous…Can’t even tell you what a wonderful job you have done with the site and the whole Give Forward mission. I’m impressed with all you guys do……Much love and gratitude.”
-Brandi Fischer has raised $22,000 to help pay for her friend’s liver transplant

“It’s been a crazy day, I never in my wildest dreams thought that things would move as quickly as they did. I am shocked, and entirely humbled by the generosity of the community that I am beyond fortunate enough to be part of…I know I said it already… but let me say it again : THANK YOU! Big up’s to you and your team.”
-Jeff Mueller raised $15989 in a single day to help his friend pay for his cancer treatments.

“Thank you so very much again for taking the time to contact me, and for founding GiveForward so that people like us could have an easy way to raise money for our loved ones medical expenses.”
-Sarah Griffin raised $7000 for her uncle’s stroke recovery fund

“I would recommend this website to anyone who needs to do a fundraising event and take advantage of their tips/suggestions to make it successful. If I ever have to do another fund raiser, I would not hesitate to use GiveForward site again—they are wonderful!”
-Carmen B. raised $1700 to help her nephew pay for his kidney dialysis treatment.

“Your site, GiveForward, is great. It is professional and extremely easy for people to navigate. If there is anything I can do to help you promote the site or a letter expressing my satisfaction with your site, please let me know. Once again, thanks for your help and support. Don’t forget, if there is anything I can do to help you in your efforts to promote Give Forward, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
-William Loncar ’s daughter, Shaughna raised $12,770 for his lung cancer treatments.

“Thank you so much for your amazing work, again. You guys are great. I am so happy with the fundraiser results and I know Jeremy and Noah will be so grateful. Sometimes, words just are not enough, I guess “thank you” will do for now, but this fundraiser and the training have given me a focus during a really hard time. For that I am forever grateful. I hope to stop by the next time we are in Chicago, I would love to meet you guys.”
-Meghan Kaplan raised $4100 training for a triathlon in honor of her friend who was battling gastric cancer and passed away during Meghan’s training.

“Thanks to you and the rest of the Give Forward team for providing this service. It made our fundraising efforts much easier.”
-Kellie Sadens, raised $2,330 for her sister-in-law battling Lymphoma

Read more testimonials and success stories from our blog here!

I hope everyone’s holiday celebrations have been great.  I decided to take a little time away from planning my new year to tell you all about our great new interns here at GiveForward.  They have all taken some time away from their work to give me information I’ve been badgering them for.  Since we usually save the best for last, I’m going to start off by telling you a little about myself.

My name is Rob Vizza, and I work with Public Relations and Marketing for GiveForward.  I am currently in my fourth year at DePaul University where I keep busy with my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi) and play for the Men’s Rugby Team.  I love Arnold Palmer’s, Italian food, the Chicago Bears, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, rock music, Kevin Smith Movies, and going on random nightly adventures.  I can’t stand cheese, low ceilings, and Nicholas Cage’s acting.  In my free time I like to do community service, write screenplays, play sports, and just have a great time with my friends.  I got involved with GiveForward through a meeting I had with Ethan about doing fundraising for my fraternity.  He informed me that he was looking for interns, and I was excited to work with GiveForward.  This experience has been great.  I have never worked in a more positive environment.  Enough about me, lets meet Leigh.

Leigh Johnston grew up on the east coast in Stafford, VA—a small area that can’t seem to decide if it wants to be part of the Washington D.C. city life or not. She went to school in Blacksburg, VA at the ever-fabulous Virginia Tech, and then earned her Master’s in Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon. Despite being an east coast girl for so long, Leigh isn’t sure how she ended up in the Midwest, but is okay with being here. “My favorite things in the whole world are zombies, diet coke, sushi, Neil Patrick Harris, pumpkin spice-flavored berry chill, good paperbacks, stellar concerts, Threadless t-shirts, and my cat. Oh, and my fiancé. I like him too.” Leigh said.  In her free time Leigh likes to watch zombie movies, drink diet coke, eat sushi, swoon over Neil Patrick Harris, eat berry chill, read books, go to concerts, buy things at Threadless, and throw cat toys for her cat.  Leigh chose GiveForward because Ethan’s craiglist ad for a social media maven required burrito-eating skillz, and she figured there’d be a lot of Chipotle involved in this internship. So far, she hasn’t been disappointed. Leigh said, “GiveForward is doing great things and I’m stoked to be a part of it.”  Leigh is our Social Media Maven here at GiveForward  Next is our Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire, Erica Trzeciak.

Most GiveForward users know Erica as the girl who sends them all those nice emails.  As our fundraising coach, Erica works to make sure users get the most out of their fundraising experience and guides them on the road to a successful project.  Erica grew up in La Grange, IL.  She graduated last year from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Psychology.  She is currently studying for the GRE’s to go to grad school next fall for Forensic Psychology.  Erica loves the color green, football (Go Bears!), finding new music, watching karaoke (not participating), gummi worms, gummi bears, and gummi peaches.  She watches the travel channel with hopes of one day visiting every continent, maybe even every country if her future finances allow it.  She is a terrible liar, but admits to reading the Twilight series multiple times and seeing New Moon in theaters at 3:15A.M.  She can’t stand Miley Cyrus, claiming that evens out her Twilight obsession.  She loves Christmas music, and is very critical of tacky Christmas decorations. “I chose GiveForward because I wanted a new perspective on giving back to the community.  I’ve done so much work with philanthropy, community service and fundraising on my own, that it’s nice to be helping on a large scale now.  Helping other people help the causes they care about so much is more rewarding than I could have ever imagined,” said Erica.  Lastly lets meet Sarah Seely.

Sarah grew up in Wrentham, Massachusetts.  She is currently studying sociology at DePaul University where she is putting the super in super senior.  Sarah likes incorporating guacamole into every food she eats, listening to trashy rap music, and wowing people with her extensive football knowledge.  When Sarah isn’t working at GiveForward she enjoys watching Cash Cab, starting but not finishing books, smiling at babies and dogs on the street while completely ignoring the adults attached to them, and constantly ignoring the pile of dirty dishes in her sink.  When asked how her experience with GiveForward has been Sarah said, “I love GiveForward!!!! Ethan and Desiree are awesome bosses, we’re like one big happy beer and burrito loving family.  It’s wonderful to help people and organizations that are doing awesome things.  It warms my heart everyday.”  I hope you all find our GiveForward Interns as awesome as we do!  Good luck with sticking to your new year resolutions!

-Rob

Patrick Sallee, a fundraising professional from Kansas City with a blog full of killer posts on fundraising and nonprofits, generously offered to write a guest post for us this week! Patrick says “I believe in hard work mixed with a little luck. I think things happen for a reason and timing is everything. My experience tells me a couple of things about fundraising. One, its not that complicated. Two, experience doesn’t always pay. My blog is to share some of those thoughts.”

You can e-mail him at patrick@patricksallee.com. Thanks again, Patrick!

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Last year, Bank of America and the Center on Philanthropy released a study of high net worth donors from across the country.  It is a lengthy and in-depth look at where donors give, why they give, what they expect from the nonprofit organization and what influences their giving.  Personally, there were a few facts that stood out to me that nonprofits should take into account as we work with volunteers that are out raising funds on our behalf.

1. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but donors that volunteer give almost 4 times as much as those that don’t.  Also, those that volunteer give to more organizations, 7, than those that don’t, 5.  For me, this reinforces a couple of thoughts.  First, it is important to continue cultivation of those closest to you, your board, your committee members, your long time friends. Second, it means that as a fundraiser I should continue to learn what agencies my future prospects are currently involved with.  If they are currently on a board they likely are more generous with their support.  Finally, it could simply mean that those high net worth families who serve on boards, etc. are more likely to be seen by other agencies and solicited more often.

2. One of the statistics that came out in this research bothered me as a fundraiser.  When asked about the motivation behind their giving, high net worth households identified the expected reasons: giving back, support the same causes annually, social beliefs, etc.  The fourth one on the list at 67% was that they were “moved at how the gift can make a difference.” This fact I was excited about.  From a volunteer, peer to peer fundraising effort, continue to stress that the story attached to the campaign is the crucial piece.  People are giving to change lives.

The downside though, just under 20% said they feel the donations they are making have a major impact on the nonprofit recipient.  How is this possible?  If we are sharing the possible impact when asking, this says to me we need to improve at sharing the impact we are seeing. Even thought your volunteers are doing the asking, don’t forget it is our jobs to share the impact.

As I mentioned before, most major donors are giving on average to 7 organizations annually.  Nearly 40% stopped giving to at least one organization in 2007 and their reasoning was, “No longer felt personally connected.”

Our major donors aren’t feeling the impact of their giving because we aren’t showing them! and this is why they leave.

3. Online giving continues to rise (up 15% from 10% three years before). Yes, this is a statement I’m sure we are all aware of, but when you factor in other statistics, like donors giving 19% more to a charity when asked by someone they know.  How does that change your online approach?  At Big Brothers Big Sisters in KC, people aren’t finding our website and donating because it looks great and tells a great story.  People are donating to us online because a mutual friend asked them to.  We raise over $300,000 a year through an event that involved peer to peer fundraising, primarily online. This accounts for over 90% of our online gifts.  The absolute best people all of us can use our volunteers that already care about us and have a story of their own experience to tell.

Our fourth GiveForward Blog Award Winner is….Heidi Massey of NonProfit Ingenuity! Heidi has been an outspoken supporter of  many nonprofits in the Chicago area. She’s extremely helpful when it comes to networking and always has something supportive to say! Heidi’s blog “highlights of nonprofit organizations that are innovative, effective and use ingenuity in their mission and their work” and if she writes about your organization, it’s an honor! If you’re looking to connect with nonprofits in the Chicago area, Heidi is a good place to start.

According to her blog, she “has worked in the nonprofit community her entire career, and never wants to leave. She is inspired by all of the nonprofit organizations that are doing extraordinary work. Heidi hopes to become a social entrepreneur herself one day by starting a nonprofit organization that does something no other organization does. As soon as she figures out what that something is, she will start the organization.”

Congrats, Heidi! Keep doing what you do!