This morning a group of people interested in using social media for social good met for coffee and an exchange of ideas. So what did half a dozen of us have to say? I tried to record our notes using scrap paper and textas. Here’s a glimpse of our discussion…
(Hat Tip Eileen Clegg for reminding me to think visually)
And here’s the inspiring thing. A lot of global projects already reaching people in poverty have the support of local small business owners and bloggers, who are flexible with their time and services for a good cause. We’re talking about doing something later in the year for Twestival or Tweetsgiving. I’m looking forward to seeing what eventuates. How would you like to be involved? Have an idea or two on how people can help? Leave a comment
The next Melbourne NetTuesday is penciled in for October the 5th – or you can locate a NetTuesday close to you on Meetup.com.
If you follow my blog at all, you’ll remember me asking for donations to help a bunch of women out of poverty. People around the world responded by blogging, tweeting and most importantly donating $7,000 to a 2 year microfinance project! And more great news is that I just got the first report from Opportunity International Australia. I am thrilled to introduce you to the 12 women who are now starting or building their small businesses to get out of poverty, and save for their children to go to university.
Furao Trust Group
The Furao Trust Group is composed of 12 female members. Furao is a small village on the outskirts of the nearest town, however the closest market from the village is still 7km away. Furao Trust Group members have to travel 10km to buy stock for their businesses at the large public market in Roxas. In Furao most homes have two rooms, so families often sleep in their living room. Water is accessed from a communal well.
Furao Trust Group members are engaged in various small businesses including tricycle driving, piggeries, vegetable gardening and barbeque vending. With the loans received, members can invest in larger quantities of their product or can expand their range of stock. Members meet with a loan officer every Thursday to make their loan repayments and receive business training and mentoring. Members also enjoy the strong friendships created within the Trust Group. Client Profile
Norma Diampoc runs her own sari-sari store business. She is married to Augustus, a farmer. Together they have three children: Cristine, 24 years old, Alma, 22, and Elgie, 18.
Out of the hardships she endured as a child, Norma has become a strong business woman. Being part of a family who did not have enough resources to provide for their needs, she was forced to leave high school early.Norma usually opens her store at 8am and closes it at 9pm. She chose to open a sari-sari store because she is able to earn a living and still fulfill her responsibilities as a wife and mother… (read more from the report)
Usually these women have no access to capital, therefore are unable to obtain business loans. However with microfinance in a Trust Group, they are able to co-guarantee each other’s loans.
Thanks again for collaborating with me online to show your care and generosity. Your tweets, blog posts, encouragement and donations have made a huge difference to these women, and to the future of thier children.
How easy is it to tell a story? Easy – so I thought. I’ve been trying to think up a story for a Slideshare competition for a few days and had grand plans of creating something unique with hand drawn charcoal images. But first you need a story, right? I felt just like my six year old who freezes up when his teacher asks him to write about his weekend – overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. I did manage to come up with a starting point for a story, but then the weekend swallowed up my idea.
Eventually I was left with a couple of hours last night. I was going through some files on my computer when I saw some photos from the Shout Out Social exhibition, and thought to myself ‘I really ought to do something with those’. Voila! Instant story.
Please vote for these slides in the Fuze Tell a Story Contest, because if I win the prize money will be donated to women in poverty through Opportunity International (Grand Prize is $5,000.) I hope you like this short story ‘about love, beginning with you’. It might not be the story I had hoped to write, but I think you’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
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:
A little while ago I had a little notion for a blogging challenge and was waiting for the right time to launch it. Little did I know what form that would take – a challenge that raised over $1500 in just a few days for women in poverty! So how did this happen?
Thinking Ahead – Ideas for a rainy day
While I was arranging the last fundraising event and making mental notes of things that were working, and things that I would do differently, I came up with an idea. I wanted the next creative challenge to be really simple and the word ‘Tribute’ came to mind. I wanted to honour the women in the Philippines who were taking steps into working their way out of poverty.
Opportunity Arises - social networking serendipity
One morning I friended the friend of a friend on Twitter. I never expected him to follow me back with a direct message the next day, asking me to call their offices. When I rang, I never expected to be having a conversation about a potentially significant donation to my fundraising project for Women’s Opportunity.
Money changes everything – respect the community
I had a weekend to think about the ideas they suggested and think up a project. I read up about Incentive House. I had to consider what I wanted to achieve (awareness of the Philippines, fundraising) and how I could still respect and create something that my online community would appreciate. I wanted this to be as authentic as possible (at least, as authentic as corporate sponsorship can get). Suddenly my ‘Tribute’ idea sprung back to mind. By Monday I shared my idea for a paid blogging challenge ($100 per post donated to Opportunity International) and soon after the initiative was launched, raising $1300 in just a few days through the generosity of bloggers around Australia.
Sharing Ideas – social media sanity check
Before launching the initaitive I vetted the idea with a social media friend Des Walsh to get his feedback, which was all positive and helpful! He even interviewed me later on for the Social Media Show to get some more information about microfinance and this project. Subsequently I received two more donations creating an additional US$200 donation.
I didn’t just have an idea that was suddenly funded. There have been a number of good people in my social network who have been involved in creating some awareness about poverty in the Philippines, trust banks and microfinance. Together some amazing people have been collaborating with me to create slideshows, blog posts, tweets and finding all kinds of ways to help create some publicity for the entrepreneurial poor, from the Women’s Investment Slides, to the Beyond challenge, SOS09 and this recent Tribute project . Not every project has had equal success in raising significant funds, but I feel it’s a collective contribution that helped get to this point.
I was thrilled to see that the ‘Tribute’ blogging challenge for donations worked, and that it was well received. Which leads me to wonder ‘what’s next?’ This project seems to have created a little buzz with other Australian corporate sponsors, and I’m talking to some more for another project I’ve had in mind for some time (hint…email wonderwebby at gmail.com if you want to be involved!) More details to come!
Intiative – the first step to great things
When you take the initiative to help make a difference, (no matter how big or small the effort) your contribution might end up accelerating other ideas and initiatives way beyond your imagination. I really value the energy that many people have taken to write blog posts, make donations, tweet, retweet and encourage me along the way. What about you? Are you ready to leap into a project? Every jump counts!
A couple of days ago I launched a blogging initiative asking ten Australian bloggers to write a special post as a tribute to the entrepreneurial poor. In return, Incentive House will be making a donation of $100 per post towards an Opportunity International microfinance program in the Philippines, to help women out of poverty.
So far three amazing people have joined in the challenge by writing ‘Tribute” posts – that’s $300 raised by these bloggers in 3 days for women in poverty! Wonderful.
Incentive House are willing to donate $700 more dollars but I’m looking for seven more Aussie bloggers to unite for women living in poverty over the next two days – simply write a post before midnight Tuesday (31st March) and Incentive House will donate $100 towards this special project. Will you join in?
(oh and meanwhile, my laptop appears to be no more, so expect me to be quiet on the interwebs for a little bit….I will be watching you from afar, probably on my iPod somehow, somewhere!!)
Update 31 March: You did it! Together we raised $1300 in funds towards this project. And another US$200 was donated in the last 24 hours on my Chipin. You are amazing people!!
You can also listen to a podcast of me mumbling late at night, trying to explain the purpose of Women’s Opportunity – courtesy of Des Walsh on the Social Media Show
Social Media isn’t just about getting the most Twitter followers, Facebook friends or enhancing your online reputation. Social Media also provides a way toexpress, create and give.
Around the world, individuals used their creativity to express something that mattered to them, including topics such as Healthcare, Hope and Green Spaces. They submitted their images to a Flickr Group, and the images were displayed as part of a digital wall show at Horse Bazaar over the weekend.
Eileen Clegg graciously created a mural to shout out for Creativity and explains her message on video
She says,
“The more we can express ourselves and what is authentic about us, we are sharing with others to add to (this) collective knowledge…
..” so the more we can define ourselves, our creative selves, what we are interested in, our knowledge – then it makes it easier for other people to find us as well, so we can work together..
When we use visuals to express ourselves we are saying: ‘this is a picture of what I am thinking right now’ we are not passing judgment on the world or trying to tell it like it is. We are saying ‘this is what I see right now’
And that’s the best part about creativity – it’s completely individual, nobody can argue with it – and it’s always wonderful.”
Shahin Shafaei reminded people of the importance of creativity and expression in our day to day lives, by sharing his experience of nearly two years in isolation at an Australian detention centre.
Although the event (unfortunately) didn’t raise a stack of funds, being part of this project and event was personally fulfilling. Eileen and Shahin spoke from the heart. A number of individuals around the world took a few minutes to use social media for positive change, and a small bunch of people braved the rain to come along to the SOS09 event. Even the decor of the venue represented the importance of people, history and culture in a technical and creative context.
Saturday evening I left the event knowing that people around the planet had made a difference, however small, and that each of us had experienced something good through our individual contributions to this project against poverty.
Have you been part of a creative project that made a difference? How important is authenticity and “speaking from the heart” to you?
If you would like to thank the people who contributed to this project AND make a difference to a group of women living in poverty right now, you can make a donation or purchase some quality greeting cards or wall art (all proceeds go towards this Opportunity International project in the Philippines. Thank you for your kind support.)
It started off as a small virtual creative challenge – supported by a real life event to raise some cash and awareness for a nonprofit cause. Now Shout Out Social has grown a little bit more to include some great guest speakers. I’d still love to see heaps more photos or art in the Flickr Group (anyone can submit!) Anyhows, here’s a little blurb about the event…
Shout Out Social promises to be a special two hour event for anyone interested in the arts and community development. This celebration of the creative voice will include a digital exhibition of images and words created by people around the world, and a video message from the inspiring visual journalist Eileen Clegg. Special guest speaker, actor and playwright ShahinShafaei will be there to share some words, drawing upon his incredible personal story.
Shahin Shafaei
Shahin Shafaei, an acclaimed actor and playwright in his native home of Iran fled his country after having his work banned. He found his way to Australia in 2000 through Indonesian people smugglers, and ended up spending 22 months at Curtin immigration detention center in WA – 10 of those months in isolation. These days Shahin continues his creative work and empowers others to share their own amazing stories through the arts.
This special event will be held one night only – Saturday 14th March 5pm to 7pm at Horse Bazaar in Melbourne (which kicks on until late.) Entry is free and a donation box will be available to raise funds for a Opportunity International Australia project.
You still have your chance to submit photos or artwork to the Flickr group.
RSVP to the event on Facebook or help to spread the word by becoming a Fan! Please tell your friends and come along to be inspired and help make a difference!
Andy Piper shouts out for Friendship from the UK
Gypsychk shouts out for Green Spaces from the US
And if you would like to be involved in any way – please shout out!
Over the last few months I have been exploring some creative webby ways to raise funds for a special project enabling the poor to work their way out of poverty. So what kind of circumstances, tools and people help to make that happen?
Honestly, if I had never started blogging, using Twitter, or building up some great online friendships I wonder if this would have happened. There are some wonderful people out there! Still I have a long way to go, raising some funds. Here are some examples of social media I’m trying out to do this.
1.A place to raise funds – Chipin. This website has been helpful in creating a page where people can make payments, with the added benefit of a visible widget updating the fundraising status. People have donated over AU$1200 so far this way and left some lovely comments of support. On problem is I’d like more flexibility to display Australian dollars and I can’t embed it in this blog or Facebook (I think). Also the ‘page’/blogging functionality is pretty crude so I ended up creating a blog.
2.A place to call home - a Blog. Yeah, yeah I created another blog. I used Blogger so that I could easily embed the Chipin Widget. In retrospect, I’m not sure if a blog was the best way to go, but it’s there now. I also created a page about the project on this blog.
4. A place to mention it – Twitter. No, I didn’t create a second Twitter account for my ambassadorship. I could, but I think it’s important to know your own limits. When you have part time work, a great husband, three young boys under the age of six, and your fingers in other creative pies – another Twitter account just didn’t seem to be priority! I’m trying not to bombard people on Twitter with requests to participate or donate, but I’m thinking of a Twitter challenge on International Women’s Day.
5. A place to stitch images together - Slideshare. I was fortunate enough to get a couple of slides featured on the homepage, but I’m not sure it helped to raise any funds. At least Slideshare has been a central place to share some of the creative work.
6. A place for people to get something in return – RedBubble. Yesterday I uploaded some of my photography to RedBubble. So you can now buy cards or prints with all proceeds going straight into the Paypal account I set up for this fundraising project.
I’ll give an update in June once I have raised some more money. The funds will establish a group of 15 to 30 of these entrepreneurial poor. The project is similar to the good work of Kiva, except this Opportunity International project additionally focuses on equipping individuals to develop small businesses AND impact their community.As soon as I raise the AU$10,000 the group will be sponsored and I can share their encouraging stories with you.
What about you? Have you used any social media for nonprofit fundraising? I’d love for you to share your story.
If you would like to make a difference and donate (tax deductible) to this project against poverty, you can do so over at Chipin
Shouting Out from Melbourne Australia to transform communities
From Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth in response to the last Shout Out post:
I’d like to shout out for ACCOUNTABILITY!
From industry, parents, media/marketing mavens and the youth themselves, we’re ALL stakeholders in taking responsibility for how messaging and actions are uniquely entwined. It may take visual insight and media distribution like this to shout about it…but it’s clearly a necessary element! We all have a role in creating a massive mindshift toward healthier living for our planet, for ourselves…
