Tag Archives: charity

I’m a sucker for a non-profit. In fact, I’m spending all of today teaching an introductory class on Social Media to a room full of non-profit folks. I know these folks, in general, have very little money, time, and tech skills. That’s why I was so excited to stumble upon Grassroots.org.

Grassroots.org is there to help non-profits with some of the hard stuff. They offer free (yes, free!) services to registered 501(c)3 organizations. The Toolbox includes graphic design, domain name registration, web hosting, a web site builder tool, web design services, SEO consultation, virtual phone services, and an online marketplace, among other items.

The Grassroots web site boasts that they “currently serve 1,959 charitable organizations in the US and Canada and have provided them with a total savings $2,299,044 since 2003.” That’s pretty fantastic.

How do they do it? As far as I can tell, they match up willing volunteers (web designers, graphic designers, SEO consultants, and so on) with a non-profit. Additionally, Grassroots.org is itself a non-profit, so they’ll happily take either your offered talent or cash donation.

It’s too late for me to add this wonderful site to my Social Media for Non-Profits presentation, but you can bet I’m going to tell them about it.

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

Creative Commons announced today that Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, Ann Wojcicki of 23andme, have donated half a million dollars to the non-profit. Creative Commons focuses on expanding and improving copyright and licensing in the digital era. The money will go to help Creative Commons as a whole, but will have a special focus on Science Commons, an initiative that focuses on lifting legal and technical barriers on research. The Creative Commons blog states that

Today’s challenging economic climate has made it difficult for nonprofit organizations like Creative Commons to raise funds, making Wojcicki and Brin’s wonderful gift all the more appreciated. CC is busier than ever – we’re working with artists, scientists, educators, students, programmers, entrepreneurs, companies, universities, governments, and cultural institutions around the world to increase sharing and improve collaboration in ways that benefit all parts of society. As a nonprofit, we simply couldn’t do this work without the generous support of people like Wojcicki and Brin, as well as the other private donors, foundations, and corporations that enable Creative Commons to operate.

This private donation is in addition to the support Creative Commons receives from Google.

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Cheers!

Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

by Brian Solis (via PR 2.0)

Presented by The Society For Geek Advancement, “I AM A GEEK” brings together some of the biggest personalities and celebrities in the online space to proclaim their geek pride. “I AM A GEEK” also urges viewers and the community to “be the geek who keeps on giving”, and for the launch, has partnered with the non-profit Room To Read, building schools and libraries for children in developing countries around the world.

The video features:

Shaquille O’Neal (The Real Shaq), Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder), Kevin Pollak (Actor), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jason Calacanis (Internet Entrepreneur), Samm Levine (Actor), Felicia Day (Creator of The Guild / Actress), Kevin Rose (Co-Founder Digg, Revision3), Alex Albrecht (Co-Host Diggnation), Leo Laporte (Technology Journalist and Broadcaster), IJustine (Internet Celebrity / Lifecaster), David Karpe (Founder of Tumblr), Veronica Belmont (co-host of Revision3′s tech-centric show, Tekzilla,), Sarah Lacy (Sillicon Valley Journalist and Author), Randi Zuckerberg (Marketing Director Facebook), Pete Cashmore (Founder of Mashable), Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com), Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Jonathan Coulton (Famed Singer-Song Writer), Kevin Pereira (The Cable Television Darling), Tay Zonday (YouTube celebrity), Julia Allison (Internet Celebrity, Lifecaster), Julia Roy (Blogger), Marina Orlova (HotForWords, YouTube Internet Celebrity), Shira Lazar (On-air personality, blogger), and yours truly.

Get your Geek Badge.

Give.

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by Michelle Lentz

Worldsings.com is new networking site for music lovers – and musicians – that offers the opportunity to learn, share, and discover new music. WorldSings.com is dedicated to global friendship, peace, and creating a home for artists to promote their music.

The community for artists and friends is also launching a $1 million contest with a pretty lofty goal: to find the world’s best song.

The World’s Best Song competition is open to any musician or band performing original music. In line with the site’s community-centric philosophy, WorldSings members vote for their favorite songs. The top 20 vote getters are sent to Las Vegas to compete before a live audience at the WorldSings concert at Planet Hollywood on March 19 next year. Competition prizes total $1,000,000, with the winner taking home $500,000 – along with the title of The World’s Best Song. (Detailed rules for the competition can be found on the WorldSings website.)

A helpful twist is that the artists have the ability to see the key demographic data (age, gender, location) behind each vote – offering unique visibility into who is enjoying their music. WorldSings allows musicians to get to know their fan base not just through demographics, but through interactivity. Artists can upload music and videos, create a profile, and list their concert or live events. The social features of WorldSings allow artists to grow and encourage their fan base by directly interacting via messages, wall posts, or live chat.

WorldSings also offers options for the music fan. Members can become friends with fellow music lovers regardless of geographic boundaries and get to know favorite artists on a more personal level. Throughout the year, members can also win prizes, including a trip to Las Vegas to hear the top artists perform live at the World Sings concert.

WorldSings also contributes a percentage of their profits to charities worldwide. And you thought I was being funny with the post title. Turns out it’s pretty accurate.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Brian Solis

Dave Morin, Sarah Lacy, and I co-hosted the West Coast leg of Julia & Randi’s Bi-Coastal Birthday Bash last night at Rosewood in San Francisco.

Julia & Randi are celebrating their birthdays with us on both coasts this weekend, San Francisco (Fri, Feb 27) and New York City (Sat, Feb 28) in an effort to raise awareness and donations for Charity: Water and Women for Women International. The theme honored the charities by promoting the colors that uniquely represented them, blue and pink. It created a wonderful ambiance of continuously shifting fashionable decor, which complemented the intimate mood set by the Rosewood’s stylish motif.

Julia and Randi, you are amazing and wonderful. I can’t express that enough. Thank you for always being there…And, thank you for sharing your special day with us and also for raising awareness of two very important causes. Happy Birthday!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Randi’s Birthday Cake

Randi Zuckerberg and Chris Kelly

Meghan Asha and Sarah Lacy

Tim Ferriss

Aubs and Daisy

Cupcakes

Oren Michels and Lane Becker

Birthday Cocktail

Tim Ferriss

More about Charity: Water

Charity: Water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Right now, over 1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. Charity: water funds sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need. Just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 years.

For more pictures from Julia’s and Randi’s SF Birthday Bash, please visit my album on Flickr.

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