10 Ways to Show Animal Shelters Love

I try not to show favorites with causes because all are equally important but I have a soft spot for any organizations that helps animals- specifically dogs. I found this list “10 Ways to Show Animal Shelters the Love” from an email newsletter I receive from a site called care2.com.

Care 2 is essentially a social networking and news site for people who are interested in causes, green living and health. I am still exploring and haven’t come to a definite conclusion about the site.  However, I do suggest joining and talking about your organization- it can’t hurt.

Lists, like the one below, are a great way to organize information about your organization. Lists are straight forward and easy to read.  Breaking down your organizations needs into a list of simple tasks illustrates how easy it is to get involved.  The top 10 list below gave me realistic options for helping my local shelter, that I was excited about.

My suggestion is to create a list of the top ten ways to help your organization and post them on your blog, website, Myspace, Facebook or GoodTube page. The list should appeal to all supporters your organization can think of.  Instead of just asking for money ask for supplies. The list below suggests purchasing dog beds so that the animals have a place to sleep- which really struck a cord with me.  Think of helpful lifestyle changes that people could make that would further your cause. Think out side of the box.

What about creating a top ten ways to help your organizations video?

Check out the list below to get you started:

“10 Ways to Show Animal Shelters Love”

In 1996, The Humane Society of the United States launched National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week–this year it begins Nov. 2. This campaign was designed to acknowledge and promote the invaluable role shelters play in their communities and to increase public awareness of animal welfare issues and shelter services. Here are the top 10 ways that the HSUS suggests you can show your appreciation:

1. Donate a Subscription to Animal Sheltering Magazine.
Shelter workers appreciate Animal Sheltering–an award-winning bi-monthly magazine chock full of articles to educate, inform and inspire anyone who works or volunteers with homeless pets. Donate a year’s subscription to your local shelter for just $20.

2. Learn How to Help Injured or Abandoned Animals.
Your local shelter and animal control officers depend on the community’s help to reach animals in need. Learn everything you need to know to take action, from how to put together a first aid kit to which community phone numbers you need to know.

3. Be an E-mail Ambassador.
Spread a shelter-friendly message every time you hit send–attach a tagline like this one to your signature for all outgoing e-mail messages: Love animals? Support your local shelter!

4. Adopt or Foster an Animal.
Consider adopting or fostering a homeless animal. Whether you decide to bring home a new pet or foster an animal until she finds a forever family, you’ll be giving a critter a safe and caring home while making room for another homeless pet in your community’s animal shelter, where space is limited.

5. Say Thank You.
Drop a note in the mail or shoot an e-mail to your local shelter and let them know how much you appreciate all they do for animals. If you can, sweeten your thank you by adding an item from the shelter’s wish list, a check or a gift card from a pet supply store.

6. Volunteer Your Time and Skills.
Whether you end up walking pooches, helping at special events or lending your expertise as a newsletter editor, your shelter can match your schedule and talents to their needs. Not only will you be helping animals in your community, but you also will be building knowledge and skills. Call your local shelter and find out how to start volunteering.

7. Support Spay-Neuter.
Spaying or neutering your pet or offering to help fund a spay/neuter surgery for a friend, family member or neighbor’s pet will save animals’ lives by helping to lower the number of unwanted animals in your community and reduce the strain on your local shelter’s resources.

8. Donate a Dog Bed.
No shelter dog should have to sleep on a cold, concrete floor while waiting for a forever home, but providing bedding for the millions of homeless animals in our nation’s animal shelters can add up to thousands of dollars each year–not to mention loads of laundry. Help a dog in need by donating a durable, shelter-tested bed to a shelter of your choice through the Kuranda shelter donation program. The beds can increase the overall physical and mental well-being of a shelter’s doggie residents.

9. ID Your Pet.
Your pet should never go naked–that is, without a collar and ID tags. It’s the number one way that lost pets are returned to their owners. Without it a Good Samaritan or animal shelter will likely have no idea how to contact you. Even if your pet is microchipped or your cat never goes outdoors, always err on the safe side and make a collar and tag permanent–your pet’s life could depend on it.

10. Add a Banner to Your Web Page.
Post a banner to your MySpace profile, blog, or website to show your appreciation for your local shelter. Just copy and paste the code here into your page.

Creating a Video for YouTube or GoodTube

aster internet speeds mean websites with rich media capabilities.   YouTube, GoodTube and GodTube are all video sharing sites that millions of people visit each day.  The ability to reach a worldwide audience is as simple as uploading. You know the technology is there, you know the audience exists now what to say.

There isn’t a  formula for a successful online video it depends on a number of factors- your message, your audience and your platform.  It is important to lay out a simple plan for the videos you put online considering all of these things.

The first step of any successful campaign is to watch your competition. When considering online video, don’t just watch non profit videos or cause related videos watch all videos. You are competing for the attention of the online audience, everything is game.  Take some time to watch the most popular YouTube videos in all categories. Then take sometime to watch popular videos that relate to your cause on more specific sites like GodTube, GoodTube or DoGooder.tv. Take note of the videos that capture your attention and those that don’t.

Then select five videos from the ones you view and put them in one of the following categories:

Humor- videos that get attention and keep it with something absurd
Dramatic- videos that grab your attention by focusing on the drama of a situation
Edgy- captures your attention by challenging your views
Emotional – video that captures your attention by playing to one of your emotions
Sexual(non pornographic)- captures your attention by appealing to ones sexual nature

After you have categorized the five videos ask yourself, which category could I use to tell the online world about my cause? Then focus on that category, watch the videos you put in that category, watch the first thirty seconds and try to identify what caught your attention. Watch the rest and identify what held your attention.  Now ask how can I incorporate this into my video?

It is also good to take sometime and watch a couple awful videos. Videos that don’t hold your attention, bore you in the first 10 seconds and ones you would never watch again. If you start mentally taking note of the good and the bad in online videos you will teach yourself how to create a great video.

Stay tuned to GoodBlog for more video tips. If you want some sound advice on production check out these simple production tips from the producer of “Profiles In Caring”. An emmy nominated tv series about non profit organizations and volunteering.

Web 2.0 Badges

It seems that almost everyone today has a blog, MySpace account or website. These pages are easily customizable and offer internet users a place to express themselves. Why not give your supporters something to decorate their space with?

If I had one piece of advice for all non profit organizations that want to increase their online presence, it would be to design and create a Web 2.0 badge. Now some of you may be reading this and have a blank stare…what is a web 2.0 badge?

A web 2.0 badge is simply a graphic people put on their website, blog or social networking site to express themselves. Web badges are generally small and come in all shapes and sizes.  Organizations post the badges on their website, usually as a .PNG, .GIF or .JPG, which visitors can download or copy from the site.  Then post the badges on their blog, social site or web page.  A couple of badges I came across ask visitors to link the badge back to their website or include their web address in the badge (see below).

Recently, I found a website called GreenJobsNow that incorporated web 2.0 badges into their marketing plan.  The website promotes this idea of building a sustainable economy from green jobs. For instance, erecting wind turbines, installing solar panels and planting gardens.   To show support for the idea they created the following badges that anyone can download and post on their various pages to show support.

Putting these badges on my blog was simple, all I did was:

- Download the image

- Upload the image to WordPress by selecting insert image

ASPCA is another organizations that uses Web 2.0 badges to promote their cause. From the ASPCA’s MySpace page anyone can copy the code of the banner below then paste it on their MySpace page or into their blog.

Providing the html code on your page is great because all people have to do is copy the code and paste it where they want it- no download no uploading. The downside to only providing a code is some people may not know where to paste the code so that is show up as an image.

While your organization is going into planning mode for the fourth quarter why not incorporate these simple Web 2.0 badges into your marketing plan. Here are a few ideas:

- email the badges to past and present donors and encourage them to add them to their blog or social networking pages
- Post the badges on your website, blog and social networking site with instructions for adding them to a blog, website and social networking page
- create more than one badge, give supporters a variety

- Host a design contest and have supports select the ones they like best

- Give the badges as gifts to donors

- Post a video on GoodTube or YouTube then create a badge that links to the video or your organizations video page

The possibilities are endless.

Tell me about your organizations success or failures using web 2.0 badges and post your favorite badges here and we will all vote on our favorites.

Eyes on Darfur

Darfur has been in a state of emergency for the last 6 years. The U.N estimates the death toll in Darfur to be around 300,000, according to an article in the Associated Press from April of 2008.  Former U.N secretary puts the death toll at no less than 400,000.

The situation in Darfur is unimaginable to most westerners.  The word genocide doesn’t render a mental image for me, 400,000 deaths doesn’t either. I know it’s awful but how can I, a 25 year old from the suburbs of Utah, really understand the horror that is really taking place?  The key to a non profit organizations success is illustrating their cause so that someone like me can connect emotionally to the cause or situation.

I found a website the other day called Eyes on Darfur. This site profoundly illustrated to me the horror that has and continues to go one in Darfur.  The site uses satellites 280 miles above the earth to show the how the government actions are affecting humans in Africa.

In 2005 the government of Zimbabawe forced 700,000 people from their homes. The first image shows the village before. The second shows the village after the government bulldozed  the entire village leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

I thought to myself after looking at these images – how would I feel if it was my house amongst the ruble. What if the before picture was my neighborhood-Sugarhouse and the government destroyed my home, my neighbors home, the grocery store up the street…everything. What would I do, where would I go and how would I get there?

These images shocked me, the images on the Eyes of Darfur illustrated genocide, these images illustrated an entire village being destroyed.  I now feel like I need to help, I need to do something, anything for the people of Darfur.  I encourage non profit marketers to look at this site, then look at their own and ask themselves “Does my organizations website compel me to connect emotionally with my cause?

These images are not only used to gain support of the cause. Amnesty International is using the satellite images to watch over the 12 intact and vulnerable villages in Darfur.  The project is lead by the Crisis Prevention and Response Center, Amnesty Internationals response center for preventing human rights crises around the world. The project is funded by Save Darfur.

Harsh Economy Equals Fewer Donations. How Can Your Non Profit Survive?

The sluggish United States economy is affecting millions of people across the country. We are all searching for areas to cut back and save money. Non profit organizations are feeling the pitch as well, finding it increasingly difficult to raise funds. An estimated 29 percent of individuals say they will decrease their charitable giving this fall, according to a study conducted by the Grizzard Communications Group.

Only 13 percent of the 500 individuals surveyed said that they planed on increasing their giving from the previous year. An important consideration for non profits becomes who are these people and how do I reach them. Respondents between the ages of 25-34 are the most likely to increase their giving the study found. Gizzard’s vice president and senior strategist, Terry Barber, emphasizes the importance of attracting these young philanthropist. Younger people usually don’t have as much invested in the stock market so they are less affected by falling stock prices. People age 25-34 are also less likely to have families and mortgages.

Reaching this younger audience will require non profits to rethink their marketing strategies. Those organizations that take advantage of the new media will be more successful than those organizations that don’t have an online marketing strategy.

Social marketing is key to reaching people between the ages of 25-34. Non profit specific sites like change.org and idealist.org are a great place to get your organizations message out and increase donations. Not only will you introduce your organization but also start a conversation about what your organization can achieve with their support.

Non profit marketers must rethink how they are delivering their message online. A great new technology is online video and web users have responded to this medium in a profound way. YouTube’s non profit program and GoodTube.org are video sites specific to non profit organizations and chartable causes.

Videos allows people to connect more emotionally with your organizations cause. You are no longer limited to text and photographs, you can now take potential donors where you work and introduce them to who they can help.

Blogging is another new technology non profit organizations should take advantage of to start a conversation about their organization.

The best thing about all these new technologies, they are all accessible and affordable. The people you reach with these mediums are not only younger but they are seeking out causes to support.

I would love to here is any success stories of non profit organizations that have incorporated blogging, videos or social networking into their marketing.

Clean Water

When it comes to water the hardest thing we have to do is decide between Smart or Fiji, sparkling or still. A bottle with a sports top or twist top. We have no idea what it would be like to go thirsty or die of dehydration.

This is not the reality for 1.1 billion people in the World today. People have to walk miles to collect water for their families, the water is dirty and full of disease. It is the sad reality of many developing countries.

Luckily, for some of those 1.1 billion people Scott Harris founded charity:water. A charity devoted to bring clean water to third countries around the World. The organization sells twenty dollar bottles of water, with all the proceeds going to a fund that build wells in developing countries.  Clean water improves health, hygiene and overall quality of life. Having water accessible saves families time allowing mothers to work and children to get an education.  

Check out charity:water’s new video starring Jennifer Connelly  and directed by Terry George (director of Hotel Rwanda).

The video is great because it takes a situation happening in African villages everyday and brings it home. It shows what we would have to go through each day, what our children would drink if we didn’t have clean water in our taps, fridges and shelves. 

This year the World Health Organization dedicated World Health Day to “Protecting Health from Climate Changes”. As the climate changes due to an increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere our water supply is affected. While most developed countries don’t notice, the countries who get their water from rivers and streams do notice. Flooding, sporadic rainfall and drought all affect the water supply and the spread of water born viruses.

Water is a necessity of life, H2O is used in nearly all of humans cellular functions. It’s great to see an organization be so successful in bringing water to those who need it most. You go charity : water!

 

 

 

Volunteer Trips

Spring break is a popular ritual for college students around the country. Students flock to places like Mexico, Florida and Lake Havasu to get away from books, homework and professors. Spring break is often associated with parties, drinking and crazy college antics. However, more and more college students are opting for a very different kind of spring break.

Alternative Spring Break Trips are vacations for students who want to do service work. The trips are set up by non profit organizations, colleges, universities, charities and religious organizations. Students either work in large or small groups do anything from tutor children, build schools or help the homeless.

Choice Humanitarian is a non profit organization that sets up trips for students and families all over the world. Check out a video about Choice Humanitarian’s work in an African village on GoodTube. The volunteers dig ditches, build schools and play with African school children. All in all the trip is a win win situation for all involved.

Ascend is another organization that connects volunteers with humanitarian vacations. Ascend’s primary focus is helping impoverished people ascend from poverty. Volunteers travel to the poorest regions in the world to help people learn skills to be self sufficient.

The following are tips from of an article from Suit 101.com entitled “Alternative Spring Break Tips” by Naomi Rockler-Gladen. It is helpful for students or parents who are interested in finding out more about Alternative Spring Breaks.

” Where do I find out about Alternative Spring Break Trips? Many colleges and universities now organize Alternative Spring Breaks for their students. Contact your school’s Office of Community Service (or similarly named office). You may also look into Alternative Spring Break programs at nearby colleges. Many colleges and universities organize trips with the help of Break Away, an organization that has been very active in the Alternative Spring Break movement since 1991. Check out their website to see if your school is affiliated with Break Away, and to see if there’s a link on their site to your school’s Alternative Spring Break Program.

What kinds of activities do students participate in? All kinds of things. Some of the volunteer work involves manual labor, such as building houses and schools and clearing away debris from storm-torn areas. Habitat for Humanity, an organization that builds homes for families, offers a Collegiate Challenge for groups of five or more students to get involved. Other work involves tutoring children, working with the elderly and hospital patients, teaching English to immigrants, or registering voters in rural areas. Do some research to find an activity that you find meaningful and feel comfortable with.

Do these trips cost money? Most of these trips do come with fees, which vary greatly. Does it sound odd that you’re expected to pay to help people? Maybe. But charitable organizations don’t have the money to pay for the expenses of thousands of volunteers, so the fees are necessary. If money’s tight, do some research for inexpensive volunteer opportunities, and some organizations may be willing to waive your fee if necessary. Suffice to say, none of these volunteer efforts will cost as much as it would to spend a week in Cancun.

Can anyone participate? Many Alternative Spring Break trips require students to apply for participation. In some cases the application process is simple and almost everyone who applies can participate, but some opportunities are more competitive. Again, do some research to find trips that suit you best.

How far in advance do I need to plan an Alternative Spring Break trip? As far as possible. This trips are complicated to organize, and many have deadlines to apply for participation.

Is there still a need for students to volunteer to help Katrina victims in New Orleans and the Gulf Region? Absolutely. In 2006 and 2007, thousands of students spent their Spring Break rebuilding homes, parks, and schools throughout the Gulf Region, and help is very much still needed. Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization responsible for organizing the participation of thousands of students in Katrina relief efforts last year, is organizing four-day long relief trips to the Gulf Region for students. Many local affiliates of Hillel, the largest campus Jewish organization, also are organizing trips. In conjunction with thinkMTV, The United Way also is organizing an Alternative Spring Break effort in the Gulf Region.

Are there international Alternative Spring Breaks? Absolutely. These trips are considerably more expensive than domestic trips, but your experiences will be unforgettable. If you’re interested in international volunteer work trips, you may want to wait until summer or winter break and take a longer trip. One organization to contact is United Planet, which organizes volunteers to help people in need worldwide. i-to-i, a similar organization that focuses largely on environmental volunteerism, is organizing Spring Break trips to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

These trips aren’t just for students, many organizations set up trips for anyone who is interested. National Geographic lists volunteer trips for people interested in doing research. Here are a couple of examples from an online exclusive from nationalgeographic.com.

1. Carry Chimps in Uganda
Supported by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary (www.ngambaisland.org) in Uganda is at the front line of primate research. You’ll hike through the forest, recording observations in a diary as juvenile chimps swing from tree to tree alongside you. “Some of them want to be carried,” says Liz Roodt, a staff member. Bring an extra camera battery. Year-round, one-week stays start at $1,500.

2. Explore Jurassic Park, USA
Roughly 140 million years ago, a 6,000-foot-high (1,829-meter-high) plateau in Red Lodge, Montana, was a stegosaurus watering hole. During a dig with the Cincinnati Museum Center (www.cincymuseum.org) you can lay trowel to the site, now chock-full of fossils. The week-long trip in July 2006 costs $1,200. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center (www.wyodino.org) in Thermopolis, Wyoming, offers a similar, day-long program for $125. Both sites are two hours from Yellowstone National Park.