Now that my fundraiser is over I’ve updated the Worldshaper slides, including this shorter bite size version for you to enjoy!
I hope you are inspired by these women who use the web to shape, influence and change their worlds.
Wonderment and Possibility
Published July 1, 2009 inspiration 2 CommentsTags: Chris Brogan, imagionation, inspiration, joanna young, positive, possibility, web, wonder, writing
Joanna Young has an interesting writing challenge happening on her blog over the next couple of months on the theme of ‘Possibility’, covering the language of possibility, writing beyond our sense of what’s possible and helps to make things happen, achieving (im)possible writing goal and the promise of “a group writing project to help stretch the boundaries of what’s possible in blogland…”
Her post appeared in my RSS reader just after I read ‘The Value of Wonder’ by Chris Brogan where he challenges us to add some wonderment to our working day.
When I started this blog nearly two years ago I called it Wonderwebby because I like to wonder about the wonderful webby things. The possibilities. Just imagine. Dare to dream a little.
- Image “Look to the Sky” by *- mika -*
What sparks your imagination at work? How do you like to include ‘wonderment and possibility’ in your day?
Twitter Fundraising Tips
Published June 30, 2009 non profit , social media marketing Leave a CommentTwitip kindly accepted my guest post about the benefits of using Twitter for fundraising. I shaed a couple of tips based on the last several months raising funds for Opportunity International Australia- which ends in just a few hours! Over $7,000 was raised for a program to help women out of poverty through small business loans and a 2 year development program.
From the post “Raising funds on Twitter isn’t just about getting money for your charity. It’s about connecting with people, creating awareness and it’s about giving.” …you can read the rest on Twitip.
I couldn’t resist. I created a second set of slides for the Fuze Tell A Story Contest. Enjoy this simple A – Z story about using social media for a fundraising campaign 
Feel free to vote too! Any prize money will be donated to Opportunity International
Fuze Tell A Story Contest
I use Google Alerts for different things, including a regular search for microfinance. Last week I discovered James Pratt, a lawyer who is riding his bike across South America over the next 12 months to raise funds for Opportunity International (US). James has just started using his mobile phone to tweet about his adventure.
I also stumbled across a woman called ‘Linda‘ on Twitter. Linda is cycling across Canada to raise awareness about ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) – a debilitating neurological disorder.
While there’s nothing new about charity bike rides I think it’s great that people are starting to use Twitter to share their personal journeys as they cycle for a cause, raising funds using sites like Chipin and First Giving.
- image originally uploaded by Pieter Musterd
Their use of Twitter, blogging and video gives us an insight into their experience and allows us to interact with them as they hit the road, and the fundraising widgets help us to visually track their fundraising efforts over a period of time.
Do you feel better connected to non profit causes when individuals use social media to share their experience?
Despite what some people say, it’s not difficult to find the time to use social media. You can write a blog post to share your knowledge, rather than answer the same question multiple times via email to a limited audience, for instance.
However, have you considered how social media has become almost too easy to use? It becomes too easy to quickly skim through the blog posts in your RSS feedreader, even the posts you enjoy. It can be too easy to read a blog post and move onto the next task, rather than engage in conversation by commenting or sharing it. A lazy retweet is easier than adding a couple of words with your own point of view. We become consumers and regurgitators of information again, when we could really be participating in something more valuable.
When I saw this animation, I nearly wrote a quick tweet about it. But I thought it was worth posting for posterity. Watch it in full screen, with a cup of tea (or coffee or whatever takes your fancy) and enjoy.
Watching this reminded me of my animation lecturer explaining how animation allows you to create illusion and make something out of nothing. The definition of animation is - from Latin animatus, give life to, from anima breath, soul. As you know, it takes a lot of time to create an animation and only a few minutes to enjoy the results of an original idea.
I hope you were able to take your time to watch this little creative 3 minute refreshment and catch your breath in a fast paced day.
Keep on inspiring!
A drink for Wonderwebby
Published June 8, 2009 non profit 3 CommentsTags: donatoins, fundraising, microcredit, microfinance, nonprofit, Opportunity International, philippines
This month I’m wrapping up my fundraising activities for Opportunity International and need to raise another USD$4,000 for a 2 year program providing small business loans and training for Filipino women currently living in poverty.
So I thought I would ask 1000 people to donate USD$4 - the price of a drink – to raise the total funds for this project. A coffee costs $4 at some places these days – I would be really grateful if you could shout me one
Many thanks to people who have chipped in so far already raising 50% of funds for this AUD$10,000 program including:
@sachac @socialtopher @sminkworks @badkoala @kt29 @gypsychk @joannayoung @digitalfilipino @joannestanton @gusposkus @juliancole @ethmanmcc @mspecht @bettinac @janelle_amet @onlinedialogues @blm849 @iggypintado @andypiper @nancywhite @verbaw @marigo @elsua @aqualung @SonjaBarfoed and @deswalsh
You can read more and donate at http://wonderwebby.chipin.com
Update – thanks for your donations so far including drinks and rounds from @kdelarue @deswalsh and @innotecture – only 981 drinks to go!
Somewhere tucked in-between focused hours spent with my loved ones, work, fundraising, moments of chaos and moments of rest (and maybe a cup of tea) I love the discovery of serendipitous and colourful things you share with me online. Like this striking photo of of tyre marks in dew that my younger brother August shared on Flickr.
On the same day I noticed this firework-like fern, taken by my Twitter friend Amy Palko, appear in my Flickr ‘recent uploads’ feed.
Thank you for having the boldness, audacity, confidence and joy to share such lovely and striking images. I appreciate the time you take to add colour to the web. It feels like finding treasure, especially when friends live interestate or overseas and the images allow me to see things through their eyes.
When you ‘discover treasure’ like this in-between all the information you process each day, you really appreciate it, don’t you? And even then, as Marigo Raftopolous so beautifully pointed out in the Worldshapers ebook, there is still something wonderful about the treasure you find in your own letterbox.
“despite my love of technology and social media, I still get a buzz out of receiving a letter from one of the children I sponsor from India, Bangladesh or Ethiopia.
Light-weight paper envelopes arrive in my letterbox, battered from traveling from the other side of the world, laden with a row of mysterious colorful stamps and with handwriting scrawled by a hand unfamiliar with our language.“
Perhaps it’s something about the connections we make as we share these lovely things with one another.
The Age of Conversation lives on
Published May 25, 2009 non profit , web 2.0 2 CommentsTags: AoC2, charity, collaboration, Drew McLellan, ebook, gavin heaton, lulu, marketing, self publishing, social media
In a recent comment about the WorldShapers ebook, one of the contributors Amy Jussel wrote “The Age of Conversation lives on”. And she’s right! Before WorldShapers was created, Amy and I participated in a collaborative project along with 237 Authors from 15 different countries. Being part of a project like this really demonstrated to me that with a big vision, a few people, and a little effort, social networking can produce great results. It also paved the way for me to feel confident about coordinating a small ebook of my own.
Gavin Heaton in Australia and Drew McLellan in the US published this book with all proceeds going to Variety, the children’s charity. Thanks to Gavin Heaton, The Age of Conversation 2 – Why Don’t They Get It? is now on Amazon. It was originally for sale on lulu.com (along with the original, which is also worth a read.)
Chapters include:
Manifestos – Declarations, up front, on the Age of Conversation. Why don’t people get it? What about companies? Where are things going? What can you help clarify?
Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation – With everyone talking so much, why do we need secrets? What is the role of privacy? What about different personas and identities? Why don’t consumers understand that their online conversations are tracked and can come back to haunt them?
Moving from Conversation to Action – Talk is cheap, or so they say. What are the practical steps that businesses and brands can take to move from conversation to something more valuable to their business? And if it is so easy, why don’t they just do it?
The Accidental Marketer – People “fall into” marketing. They may study and qualify in a different discipline but somehow find themselves in marketing and advertising. What is the attraction? Or…have you known a company or brand who just seemed to naturally fall into marketing success? How do you think that happened?
A New Brand of Creative – With the changes in the way that people communicate and collaborate online, marketing and advertising companies are needing to reach out and work with a new type of creative team. What do these “creatives” look like. What are their skills? Why do they evangelize digital and new media? And what are the challenges that they face?
My Marketing Tragedy – A topic only for the brave … Do you know a project that failed? Was it yours? What prevented success? What worked? And most importantly, what did you learn? Who didn’t “get it” — was it your client, your boss, the board, or (dare we ask) you?
Business Model Evolution – Just as the markets and people are changing, so too are the business models around both clients and agencies. What is your take on this? What is working and what is not? Where will things go? What happens if an agency doesn’t “get it”. How do you measure “it” … and where will things go?
Life in the Conversation Lane — Bringing it all back to the individual – how is life in a digitally connected, social world impacting our lives? What is the personal cost and what is the attraction? Is there a balance or are we just kidding ourselves?
I’m so grateful that Gavin and Drew made the effort to create this book, and that I participated in the creation of this book. Have you been involved in a collaborative project? What were the results?
wonderchatter