Beth's Blog: Nonprofits and Social Media

7 Things I learned From #Beth53 Fundraiser and PoST Class

Final Slides PoST

View more presentations from Beth Kanter.

The key to success in social media is to leave room for reflection at the end of a project.   Reflection gives you a chance to understand what worked and what didn't.   You need metrics to measure against goals, but you also need harvest those insights.   I do this with every social media activity as well as whenever I teach.

With that said, it is hard to do when you have a big, hairy to do list breathing down your neck.  It's hard to do when you get pulled in to the fast moving, forward current of Twitter or when you're chipping away to get your email in box down to zero.  

But how to shift from the frenetic pace of getting things done to giving yourself time to think and improve what you're doing.  That was the reason for the eating chocolate exercise I did in PoST class on Monday. The exercise is intended to help you slow down, be in the moment, and shift you into a reflective mindset or at least feel what it is like. The exercise is simple - take five minutes to eat a hershey's kiss and notice everything about the experience.

Chocolate activates the pleasure center of the brain, at least according to some research. I asked the students what else does that? After a nervous giggle, I shared with them that donating and volunteering does the same thing as chocolate to your brain.

My challenge was to get into a reflective mindset about this birthday campaign.  I did not eat chocolate.  I listened to music to get into a meditative state.  You need to find what works for you to shift you into that mindset.

This post harvests what I learned and what I still don't know about the birthday campaign strategy and measurement as well as guest teaching a graduate school class.

1.) Setting the Right Dollar Goal

My 53rd birthday wish was to raise money for the Sharing Foundation to send 53 Cambodian Youngsters to school by covering the cost of their uniforms ($10 per child or $530).  We crushed that goal and raised $5,010 because of your generosity in donating and calling attention to the birthday wish. That means 501 youngsters will be able to attend school in Cambodia and hopefully, fine, a route out of poverty.

Kami Huyse Watson, my colleague at Zoetica, suggested the goal was too low and I should have aimed for $5,300.   And, the low goal was one of the reasons that community rallied with the self-organized surprise party.   But another reason I set that low goal was because the Causes birthday wish software did not give me the flexibility of setting a goal without attaching it to a gift amount and number of donors. The highest I could make it was $530 (10 gifts of $53)

I went with it anyway because this campaign was much a shorter duration than last year's birthday campaign where I raised $6,000.  This campaign was 5 days versus 14 days and I spent much less time implementing, so while the total is less, presumably my ROI is higher.

I remember talking with Stacey Monk on the phone last November about how difficult it is to set goals for social media infused fundraising campaigns.   She didn't set a specific dollar goal, but stages of goals and that were integrated into the platform.  I did this, but because I was using Causes, it was not integrated into the platform.  I did this by adding a match - I'd donate $10 for each year if the Sharing Foundation's Cause reached $25,000 - which it did.

One lesson is that if your fundraising platform doesn't allow this flexibility, don't use it.   Or maybe Causes will improve the goal setting feature.   And, if you are an individual or a small organization without $ resources or access to technical expertise to set up your own platform, you have some tradeoffs to ponder.

2.) Understand Your Theory of Change As It Applies to Donations

Enrique Allen, the teaching assistant for the PoST class, Social entrepreneur and Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab Researcher (and one smart dude who generously shares what he knows), created a drawing on the whiteboard that mapped out the my campaign in the context of a behavior change model.  In order for someone to make a donation, three things are required: motivation, ability, and trigger.  It blew me away.  I quickly took photos and did a fast video of him explaining it.  What I'd love to have is a worksheet to use for my next campaign. Hmm.

NTEN's Holly Ross's Birthday Blog Post

3.) You Can't Measure Love or Creativity, But These Are Essential Online Community or Network Signs of Life

Amy Sample Ward and Stacey Monk did plan and execute one hell of a surprise party!   In a google document, some how they put the word out and 66 people signed up to blog and tweet about the birthday wish propelling its success!   But they also asked to share how I've impacted their work, and by pointing that out created a very meaningful birthday gift.

As I read through the post (I'm not yet finished leaving personal thank you comments yet, I will), I was at the point of tears because of the love and support I've gotten from peers and colleagues - and even consequential strangers.   You can't quantify love as a metric, but it is important sign or signal of life in your online community.

So is creativity.  The array of creative ways that people wished me a happy birthday was very inspiring to me.  Self-expression is such a powerful thing to see and having people articulate it for your cause is the holy grail. Donna Arraiga whipped me up a Khmer Dessert on her food blog, Eddie Harran sent me virtual tim-tams from Australia. Debra Askanase gave me a terrific piece on reasons to read my blog which I've linked on my side bar.  Michaela Hackner's cute dog, Atlas, a bark and paw shake to the Cute Dog Theory.

Paul Lamb re-purposed the lyrics to a famous Beatle's Tune as a birthday song.   Can you guess the song?

When I get older suffering from Carpal tunnel ,
Many days from now,
Will you still be so kind
Supporting my Facebook Causes all the time?

If I'd been blogging till quarter to three
Would you still respond,
Will you still need me, will you still Tweet me,
When you’re fifty three?

4.) Real Time Tracking, Real Time Network Weaving

I've talked a lot about the importance of real-time tracking of your campaign while it is unfolding.  You reflect in real-time, observe, tweak and adjust.  For example,  I noticed that Spencer Brodsky, who I helped last December when he was doing a fundraiser campaign for his project in Rwanda, re-tweeting the birthday call to action.   So, I encouraged him to help me with reaching my influencers on Twitter - that I learned about from Eric Peterson.

I also realized the opportunities for real time network weaving as the campaign is unfolding.  I've learned so much the past few months from the master of network weaving, June Holley and Christine Egger.     But networking in real time has to be supported by developing relationships over the long haul.  In reading the posts, it struck me a lot of these relationships are not transactional, but deeper.  Jean Russell has a great post on some simple ways to do real time network weaving.

I didn't realize how many people I had connected with over the years through social media and how much reciprocity there is.  I pointed to a lot of posts in my thank you note immediately after the event, but want to pick out a few more posts that contain a wealth of information about relationship building on the social web.  Some are people I've known for many years, some are people I've just met in the last few weeks.

Joe Solomon
Danielle Brigida
Britt Bravo
Steve Bridger
Rebecca Krause Hardie
Rosetta Thurman
Mark Horvath

5.) Design for People To Self Organize

One of the big surprises for me was the surprise party.  Amy Sample Ward wrote a reflection on crowdsourcing a surprise party!  It has made me curious about how you design a campaign or social action for self-organization.  Maybe it is just a guiding principle.

Certainly, there are some areas where you can be intentional about it - for example, in your choice of software and how it is designed.   For example, the google document served a quick wiki - it was simple, not over built and easy to participate.  Also, the fact that Amy Sample Ward and Stacey Monk asked people to ask others, using a networked approach to organizing this party.

6.) Measure the Whole Funnel

This is perhaps, the most important learning for me. Enrique Allen asked me what I call a "teachable moment question" during the class. "Should you send people in the tweet to the donation form or to page describing why to donate?"   I angsted over that question while I was setting it up.  When I posted my lesson plan, I asked Sean Power about measuring conversion and he pointed me to an awesome slide deck that he and Alistair Croll created.

I adapted above funnel framework from one his diagrams.  I shared what I was measuring with the class and asked them what was missing.  CONVERSION! 

Why wasn't I measuring conversion - you know the people who click from the Tweet to donation landing page and actually make a donation.    The reason I can't track these metrics is because the donation landing page was not in my control - it was from the Causes application.  So, yet another reason to think carefully about features in your donation platform and the ability to capture important metrics.

I decided to move forward with this because I thought, if anything, Sean Power,  Enrique Allen, Avinash Kaushik, KD Paine, or maybe some other metrics gurus might teach us something.

Here's what I did measure:

Seed

• Identification of key retweeters

Engagement

• 475 Tweets w/Hashtag by 261 contributors via What The HashTag
• 2047 Clicks http://bit.ly/beth53 (call to action, linked to the FB Causes Birthday Wish)

Donations

$5010  Raised
    148 donors
    40% new donors
      8% increase in new Cause members

Here's what I wasn't able to measure:

Attention

• Views on Facebook Causes Birthday Wish Landing Page
• Total unique impressions (the unique number of Twitter users who saw the retweets - that is the unique number of the combined number of Twitter followers for the above 475 Tweets).  I know that this is possible using the API as per Julio, but I don't know how to do it technically.

Conversion Rate

• The number/percentage of donors who clicked through from Twitter and made a donation
• The number/percentage of donors who clicked through from blog post and made a donation
• The number/percentage of donors who clicked through from seeing it on Facebook/Causes and made a donation

I know this would not be accurate, but what if I said that given 2047 clicks on the donation landing page and a total of 145 donors, the conversion rate would be 7%.  I, of course, don't have anything to compare it to - other campaigns I've run, other nonprofit campaigns, or some sort of industry benchmarks.  Not to mention that the way the number was derived is bogus. 

Metrics and measurement gurus, what do you think? 

7.) More Time Thanking, Than Asking

This is the first fundraiser where I spent more time thanking than I did asking. I'm not sure what that means, but I think it is something positive.

Some Quick Reflections on Instruction

I was honored to be included in the line up of for the invited guests,  The Power of Social Technology Class is a graduate course, at Stanford Business School.    This class answers the question "How to leverage the power of new social technology to effectively create real social good."   The theoretical framework, "Dragonfly Effect: Mindset and Method" is geared towards helping students create a project with a clear single, focused goal to cultivate social good.  It also helps students learn the process of a rapid prototype experiment that has viral effects, can be measured, and improved with reflection.

The instructor Jennifer Aaker just rocks.   Spend a few minutes on her page and read a few of research papers.  She's currently working on a book with her husband based on the course, so I'm definitely reserving my copy.   After the class, she shared the story with her three children (above) who rallied together and made a contribution to the Sharing Foundation!

I also got meet Bernadette Clavier at the Center for Social Innovation while we were chatting in between class segments, she told me this amazing story of her eight-year old daughter's birthday campaign for clean water over at charity:water.

The class blog features posts by the students. Ann wrote a post about my session here.  Definitely go check them out and leave some comments.

Grace talks about joining the Twitter Revolution and asks a great question related to her project:

I'm raising tens of thousands of dollars for a nonprofit from corporate sponsors. One open question for me is how to balance influencing individuals vs. companies when fundraising for a nonprofit, and how to identify key decision-makers in philanthropic companies.

Perhaps Michael Hoffman Brian Reich, Jasmin Tragas, Avi Kaplan, Qui Diaz, or Scott Henderson might have some advice? 

Beatrice has a good reflection on user-generated content and micro blogging. She writes:

I love how social technologies allow us to discover more beautiful voices and empower people. I'm going to twitter more! Follow me @wikibea :) and tell me when I'm not doing it right!

I suspect Marc Pittman, Kivi Leroux Miller,  Steve Heye, Tom Watson, Nancy Schwartz, JD Lasica or Sloane Berrent might have some advice.

I'll stop now, but if the students taking this class want to connect with people who work with nonprofits and are using social media, my birthday party has a terrific list of 66 bloggers to connect with.

Thank You for the Best Birthday Ever!

Today was the best birthday ever!  My 53rd birthday wish was to raise money for the Sharing Foundation to send 53 Cambodian Youngsters to school by covering the cost of their uniforms ($10 per child).  We crushed that goal and raised $4,540 because of your generosity in donating and calling attention to the birthday wish. That means 454 youngsters will be able to attend school in Cambodia and hopefully, fine, a route out of poverty.

But there was something else at play for me this year, my fourth, celebrating my birthday with social media and a networked fundraising campaign for the Sharing Foundation ...

Bora Vuth, a young man from Cambodia who is attending college here in US, put his finger on it as he joined 136 other people on Facebook who donated to the Sharing Foundation. Kami Watson Huyse calls this a shared accomplishment. It makes you feel good to give and celebrate and be part of a network of people doing the same.  Like the children in the orphanage managed by the Sharing Foundation who celebrate their birthday on the same day once a year,  it felt like everyone was having a birthday today!   

One of things I've learned about social media and doing fundraising for causes is that you will be surprised!   And little did I know that Amy Sample Ward and Stacey Monk were planning one hell of a surprise party!   In a google document, some how they put the word out and 66 people signed up to blog and tweet about the birthday wish propelling its success!   But they also asked to share how I've impacted their work, and by pointing that out has been created a very meaningful birthday gift.

Reading the birthday greetings and blog posts, made me thing about network weaving and how much Christine Egger and I have learned from June Holley recently.   I've had the honor to work many people who are using social media for social change or fundraising, support their work, cheer them on, and learn from them.  So, being able do some real time network weaving while the birthday campaign was unfolding was highly satsifying.

I met Spencer Brodsky last December when he was doing a fundraiser campaign for his project in Rwanda. He helped me with reaching my influencers on Twitter.  And connected with Mark Horvath. I noticed dozens of these connections and facilitated a few.   It's like we're all working together, informally, in a networked way to support one another's work.

In reading all the blog posts, it is reminding me that relationships are not transactions and developed over time through a series of opportunities to work together.  For example,  in reading Allison Fine's post, the coauthor with me of our forthcoming book, The Networked Nonprofit, I realized that we've known each other through out blogs since 2006.   There are other colleagues that I've met through social media and probably wouldn't have known or worked together if it had not been for this new connected, for example Nick Booth and Steve Bridger.

When Amy posted that Tweet, I was on my way to be a guest instructor at a Stanford Business School Class, the Power of Social Technology taught by Jennifer Aaker.  I got to teach two back to back sessions of the class and it was exhilarating.  When I peeked at my Twitter stream and saw the happy birthday tweets, Facebook wall posts, and blogs, I nearly fell off my chair!

Well, I'm rolling up my sleeves as Jordan V would say and as Sean Power suggests will be writing a post to share insights about what I've learned from today's action learning experiment about real time tracking, analytics, metrics, and reflection.  I'll also share some insights about instruction.   But it is late, and time for bed!

For now, enjoy Amy Sample Ward's reflection on crowdsourcing a surprise party!

Thank you!

The Art of Retweet Birthday Party: Enlist the Help of Your Top Retweeters

It's my 53rd birthday on Monday and here's my birthday party plans.  I combining raising money to send Cambodian youngsters to school, an action learning experiment on the art of retweet, guest teaching at Stanford Business School class on social technology, and eating chocolate.  What could be more fun?

I've set a modest goal this year because small actions add up.  Thank you for donating!  I'm very honored that @hardlynormal, a homeless activist, has donated.  As well as friends and colleagues:

Anne Mai Bertelsen
Anne Quinn Ulseth
Wendy Harman
Amy Sample Ward
Michael Hoffman
Farra Trompeter
Stephanie McAuliffe
Sandy Lopacki
David Krumlauf
Spencer Brodsky
Sandra Sutton Andrews
Judith Sol-Dyess
Marianne Richmond
Mark Horvath
Catrina Joy Roallos
Korey Lee
Patti Anklam
Joyce Schneider
Samathida and Monothiya Kem
Norman Reiss
Jill Frank
Ray Nichols
Katya Andresen
Amy Jussel
Emma Latham
Bill Grey
Barbara Levy
Joe Baker
Shanon Des Roches
Dian Francesca
Jay Frost
Samantha Sakemiller
James Wu
Janet Fouts
Geoff Livingston
Jay Hall
David Neff
Sean Power
Adin Miller
Shara Karasic
Thomas Kelly
Ayelet Baron
Laura Clos
Danielle Brigida
JD Lasica
Carol Cone
Roger Carr
Tim Brauhn

   

Want to wish me a happy birthday?:

If you want to help send a Cambodian youngster to school in honor of my birthday ... $10 or more will do it.  And you can participate in my action learning experiment and spread happy birthday on Twitter with this tweet:

Happy birthday #beth53! Let's send 53 Cambodian kids to school: http://bit.ly/beth53

Insight: Art of Retweet

Eric Peterson who created a Twitter analytics tool called Twitalyzer sent me a birthday donation (a dollar for each year) and offered advice.  He suggested that I use Twitalyzer's Top 25 retweeters report shows the twenty-five people retweeting me ranked by impact as measured by Twitalyzer.  Impact, as defined by Twitalyzer, is a combination of the following factors:

    * The number of followers a user has
    * The number of unique references and citations of the user in Twitter
    * The frequency at which the user is uniquely retweeted
    * The frequency at which the user is uniquely retweeting other people
    * The relative frequency at which the user posts updates

Based on the analysis, he suggested that I focus on asking the people on the top of  list to retweet the message.  In looking at the list, it also makes sense to focus on those who have high engagement with their followers.

What have you learned about the art of retweet?

Sharing Birthday Wishes and Donations from Cambodia and More Insights!

My birthday is on Monday, January 11th on Monday.   I'm celebrating with an action learning experiment and birthday wish fundraiser for Cambodian children.   When I checked the names of donors so I could leave a thank you note, my heart stopped.  

There was a $25 donation from Samathida Kem, the daughter of Kem Sokha, a human rights leader in Cambodia.   Her sister, Monovithya, who is in Holland attending school couldn't get her dutch ATM card to work so she asked her sister, who is in the US now, to make the donation.

A big thank you Monovithya and Samathida for their generosity.

I've never met them face-to-face, but almost four years to the day, our paths crossed virtually when their father, a human rights activist, was thrown in jail in Cambodia.  His daughters were quickly put on a plane out of the country.  Once they arrived in America, they organized an all-night candlelight vigil in front of the White House to call attention to their father's plight.  I blogged about it, after tracking them down on the phone.  Their father was released from prison several weeks later and organized a Freedom of Expression Rally in Cambodia.

Insight

Prepare to be surprised!   If your organization ventures out on social networks - tries a few experiments - you never now what connections will be made and what relationships will be cultivated.    The community of people who have support the Sharing Foundation through my connection with them constantly surprises me.    What also surprises me are there are people I don't know face-to-face who have donated.  Social networks and connections let you strengthen loose ties with consequential strangers.

The Sharing Foundation has raised a little over $24,000 on Facebook.  If my birthday campaign can bring the total to $25,000 by my birthday, I'll kick in $530, $10 for each year.  If we get to $28,000, I'll kick in $53 for each year or $2809.   You can donate here.

The American Cancer Society Wants Your Birthday!

Over the summer, I wrote a post called "Crowded Roads Ahead for Charity 2.0:  How To Address Cause Fatigue and Scaling."  As more and more nonprofits and individuals flock to social networks, creating acacophony of fundraising pitches and the subsequent cause fatigue, how can organizations scale?   charity:water was one of the first to create it's own social network for fundraising.

Now we have the American Cancer Society scaling the concept of the birthday fundraiser.    It's birthday fundraising on steroids with the creation of their  birthday fundraising platform and accompanying social media presence.  They want to create a world with more birthdays!  And, they want you to declare your birthday to cancer (not the year, but the month, date and more importantly your email address)

The American Cancer Society campaign,  called "More Birthdays," is aimed at creating a "birthday movement."    The message is that if there is less cancer, there are more birthdays.   They are encouraging people to declare their birthday to cancer (and adopt a healthy lifestyle). 

The campaign caught my attention because their Twitter branded account was wishing people happy birthday on Twitter, including me.  (They're searching on the term "happy birthday" and tweeting a birthday greeting with a pointer to their More Birthdays Site.)

The campaign web site incorporates a person-to-person fundraising platform where you can set up a personal fundraising birthday page and raise money from your friends for the American Cancer Society.   Think Relay for Life fundraising pages with a different theme.  The web site has additional content, for example tips on how to celebrate your birthday in a healthy way as well as how to use it as an excuse to donate to the American Cancer Society.   There's also a cake contest.

This multi-channel campaign includes a Facebook App and even an iPhone app.  When you download the Facebook app, you are asked for your contact information, but when you skip past that and the other ways that the American Cancer Society wants you to promote their cause on Facebook.  You finally arrive in the birthday center, where you can see a list of people's birthdays, including your friends.  And you can easily "celebrate" their birthday with one click, sending a birthday greeting to their Facebook profile. 

Birthday Campaign Reflection: Will Your Nonprofit Embrace Free Agent Fundraisers?

Photo emailed from Cambodia by Elephant, Sharing Foundation's in-country director

In this post, I share some learnings as a free agent fundraiser (an individual who uses personal fundraising to raise money for a charity) who is leveraging their personal network to support a nonprofit's programs that help children in need.  I've also summarized the story of a how one social media guru, David Armano, leveraged his large network to help a family a need and has stepped into the role of donor steward and even service delivery.  

I'm An Embedded Free Agent Fundraiser

My most recent social media fundraising experiment was a birthday campaign that raised $6225 from 161 donors using Facebook Causes Birthday application to benefit the non profit organization, The Sharing Foundation.  This was my 7th campaign since November, 2006, bringing the grand total raised for Cambodian kids to approximately $215,000 using social media tools.

While I am a long-time volunteer and board member for the Sharing Foundation,  my experiments have been from the point of view of a "free agent fundraiser," that is an individual who leverages their network using social media tools to raise money for a cause or charity.  I have not been met with resistance from other leaders inside the organization, so I'm operating as an embedded free agent.    

Strategy Learnings

I am convinced that incorporating social media successfully into a nonprofit marketing and fundraising plan requires a rapid listen, learn, and adapt sequence.   This is reiterative learning.  It's not easy to do because it requires balancing action with reflection.   On an organizational level, incorporating this approach may be easy or hard depending your organization's culture.

How do nonprofits incorporate iterative learning about their social media strategies within the organization?

• Make It Personal:  I've said this before and so has Katya Andresen.  "The messenger is more important than the Cause."   All of my messaging speaks to why I'm passionate about helping children in Cambodia and why it is  important to my family.  I tweeted about how my family was involved, how my kids dipped into their piggy banks and how other family members were contributing.   Also, when people contributed, I sent them a tweet with a link that shared why the Cause is so important.  

• Conversational Fundraising, Not Asking: Twitter is great for "viral spreading of your message" and is useful for donor acquisition.  But I really wonder in the long term if that is an effective strategy.  I think Katya Andresen's "Preach to the Choir and Get Them Singing Your Tune Outside of Church" is so right on.   Are you focused on using social media to build deeper relationships and repeat donors over time or is your strategy simply viral spreading?   In this campaign, I did less direct asking for money or retweeting on Twitter and focused on engaging followers in conversations about the campaign.   The reason is because this was a more intimate campaign and The Facebook Birthday Cause focuses on your friends, who you have a relationship with.

• Show how a small amount can it make a big difference:   Now here's where  Facebook Birthday Causes application gets in the way of good fundraising practice.  It forces you to ask for donations in the amount of your age or in my case $52.    So, I messaged around that letting folks know that a donation of $10 will make a huge difference because it will cover the cost of a school uniform and allow a Cambodian youngster attend school.   When I gave progress reports, I let people know how many kids would be able to go to school because of the total donated.   I hope Facebook Causes makes the ask a little bit more flexible.

• Keep It Multi-Channel, But Within Your Capacity To Implement:  I have 1,500 friends on Facebook, although it pales in comparison to some super connected social media gurus like Chris Brogan and Robert Scoble.  When I first sent word out about my birthday campaign to my Facebook friends, I started to hear back about how they would like to donate, but not through Causes.  For example, some of new Romanian friends wanted to contribute, but couldn't because Romania wasn't on the list of accepted credit cards.  I already anticipated this would happen based on my experience with my 5th campaign, so I had a Network For Good badge set up and waiting to go if people asked.  They did and I was ready.  

I had also set up a TipJoy with an eye towards a micro donation Twitter component,  but my capacity was maxed out.  I was concerned about directing people to too many different places to donate might cause confusion.  I want to explore this at some point in the future, so for now I'm watching what Laura Fitton is doing with her Charity Water Micro Donations Campaign.

• Keep It Happy, Keep It Fun, Keep A Deadline, Keep It Urgent:     I try as much as possible to have fun with these campaigns.  I think it works.  For example, I started Tweeting about that I was writing a post about happy people on Twitter and people were curious about it.   The post was a fun fundraising appeal, "I Feel Good Now That I've Donated"   I also had a deadline thanks to the Birthday Causes application and the match I set up.  We had to make that match by my birthday.  I tweeted that I would donate 10 x my age if we made the match, and this message was retweeted.  

• Saying Thank You In Personal Ways:   This is something that is important to me - to say thank you in a personal way - even if it is a personalized 140 character tweet.   I try to treat every donor like their they're special, not matter the size of the gift.  Of course, there are scaling issues.

I spent less time chasing after people who were not in my network who may have a lot of influence and asking them to blog, post on their Facebook profile or retweet.   While an endorsement from a social media rock star can help spread awareness, it's way more important to find the influencers in your network.    Also, as someone who is constantly asked to blog about this campaign, donate to that campaign, please retweet this or that, I know how that feels.

Creating a Culture of Giving in Your Network

This is my 7th personal fundraising campaign.  Not alone, of course, but with lots of help from my friends and network.  This is a passion-driven effort on my part with two goals: to support Cambodian children through the work of the Sharing Foundation and to share my lessons learned with other nonprofits so they can use these tools for the greater social good.

This campaign wasn't about getting the huge donor numbers, velocity, or dollars amounts , it's about building a culture of giving in a personal network or "collective" - and that is about relationship building.  I've learned some interesting ideas about why people are motivated to give.  Some sincerely want to support Cambodian children and others wanted to wish me a happy birthday or express gratitude.  With traditional fundraising, say for example with endowment campaigns, when there are personal solicitations - there is sometimes an undertext of transaction.   "I'll donate to your charity, if you donate to mine."

Working With Free Agent Fundraisers

The Facebook Birthday Causes is designed for an individual, a free agent fundraiser, to fundraise on behalf of a charity, cause, or nonprofit organization that has a Facebook Cause set up.   This means that any one of the half million daily active users of Causes could celebrate their birthday by raising money for your organization's Cause.  

• How will you support and embrace their efforts?

I've already written a fairly detailed post about the positive and negatives of the application features and design.  The biggest flaw I see is that lack of coordination and communication between the individual free agent fundraiser and the organization's Facebook Cause.  I'm not sure exactly how it would work, but a simple message to the Cause administrator that someone has set up a birthday cause would be great.  Or in the reminder tips sent by Cause, tell the birthday fundraiser to contact the Cause administrator.

For example, Amy Sample Ward implemented a birthday campaign for Free Geek, but unless she, as a member of the organization's Cause, tracked down the Cause administrators, there would be no way for the organization to support and build on her efforts. 

I'm also the volunteer administrator for the Sharing Foundation's Cause on Facebook.  I launched the Sharing Foundation Cause last year as an experiment.   We raised $995 and recruited 206 members, but I haven't really done anything with the Cause. 

As my birthday fundraising campaign unfolding, I wondered whether there was some way to incorporate some of the new features in Causes not available in the Birthday Cause.   These features included a donor challenge match and setting a specific fundraising goal with a time period.   If used strategically, these features could provide giving stimulus to a dormant cause.  And, it did.  The Sharing Foundation's Cause ended the campaign with an increase of 30% in members or 349 members and increased the total amount raised by almost 7 times or $6893.

All of the above is most relevant to nonprofits are actively thinking about how to integrate social media into their marketing and fundraising and work with free agent fundraisers.  An event from the last week, makes this all the more compelling for your organization.

The Big Picture

Last week, I blogged about how social media rock star David Armano leveraged his network to raise over $15,000 for a family in need.   He has a large network, is an influencer, and used Twitter and his blog to raise money at the speed of light.  He was performing a human act of kindness for a family in need and in dire circumstances.  I don't know him personally, but I believe he was sincere in intent and donated a small amount to his campaign.

Scott Henderson summarized the initial story as:

Daniela is from Romania and has three kids, the youngest with Down’s Syndrome. According to Armano, “Daniela is divorcing her spouse after years of abuse. In recent years her mortgage went unpaid and she’s lost her house.” Since I have no firsthand knowledge, you’ll need to take it for what it’s worth. Armano and his family have taken Daniela and her family into their home. This week, he decided to leverage his social media network to raise money to get them into their own apartment and on their feet again.

Scott also points to some posts about why the campaign worked from Scott Drummond and David Griner.

The response from his network was nothing less than impressive surpassing the $5,000 goal in two hours and ultimately raising over $16,000 as word of the family's plight traveled around the blogosphere and media and the community that rallied behind David celebrated.

I was sitting in a meeting with some people who work in the nonprofit sector and mentioned the campaign - and there was a less than enthusiatic reaction.  Scott Henderson had a similar reaction explained as "Every dollar raised doesn’t fix the root of the social problems that led to Daniel’s situation.  It all goes to privately benefit one family."

His post (and go read it) created a firestorm of debate as to whether individuals should raise money directly to help other individuals or to support the work of nonprofits who serve the greater social good.   Fascinating conversation, I couldn't help but leave this comment and summarized here:

You've done a beautiful thing to help an individual who is in need right now and who is standing right in front of you. Helping other people in the way that you've done is a passion-driven endeavor and when you see human suffering in front of your eyes, you can't just stand on the sidelines. (Believe me I know. That's what has driven me for the past eight years to raise money from my networks to help individuals in need both in my community and other places in the world)

The collective, social graph, or whatever you want to call it - has opened the doors for new models of giving or a new definition of charity - whether we're donating to nonprofits who are the intermediaries who help people or directly to people in need.

What can those of use who have developed generous and responsive networks and use social media tools do when we want to help an individual in need or make the world a better place? What is the best mechanism to raise money and deliver services?

(1) They can raise money from their networks and directly give to that person or family in need as you have done.

There's nothing new about that .. it's been in churches, immigrant communities, and many other places offline for years. Or, there are loans from family members and friends - that are private transactions. But what happens to those individuals in need who do not have this support network? Where do they turn?

So, now we have this age of connectedness - and the ability to leverage out networks to get something done - and rather quickly - even good deeds. So, you've raised money from your extended online network to help a family in need. Which is a fantastic thing.

You've taken the model one step further in that you are now in the position of providing stewardship of the donated funds (being transparent about how they are being used, spent and reported on) as well as providing social service delivery. In this equation, there isn't a nonprofit intermediary involved to collect and steward the money, oversee the service delivery, and if the event of excess funds raised - apply towards other programs that help more than one individual and indirectly the root causes.

(2) The other approach is by raising money for a nonprofit that can deliver the program or services directly to the person/family in need or help others.

There's been a number of individuals that I've raised money to help (a young woman's college tuition, etc), but I decided to direct donations to a nonprofit that I trusted with the implementation. I also wanted to make sure that people who donated could get a tax receipt. I also didn't want to take on the service delivery aspect as it wasn't my expertise. And, I'm glad I did because I ended up raising more than needed and the excess when to help other students.

Now maybe raising money for a social services nonprofit that could help Daniella wasn't an option in your situation -- maybe there wasn't a social service agency that was nimble enough to steward the donations, set up a fund to assist Daniela, and provide services. Or maybe it wasn't an option that you thought of.

So, now in in addition to fundraising, you've taken on the responsibility of donor steward, creating a community of support, and making sure that Daniella is getting what she needs beyond the money.

I wonder what this says about  the role of nonprofits and charities in an age of social networks?

There's more to the story here.  Scott Henderson posted some further thoughts on the situation based on a conversation with David Armano.  (Please go read it)  

Scott makes some astute observations about how this campaign was different from a traditional fundraising campaign and the new role that David has stepped into.

Furthermore, the Armano family and Daniela will be subject to scrutiny of those who gave and those who know about it. It’s just like if you raised money to help the family next door from everyone in the subdivision. Everyone’s going to be watching, some questioning any new purchase.

Fundraising Sidenote: This drive followed the exact opposite pattern of traditional campaigns. Donations started on the periphery of their social circle and worked inward. Those who gave first were more distant digital neighbors, most of whom were separated by at least two degrees. It was later when their first-degree digital neighbors and geographic neighbors started to join with their support.

Scott ends the post with a few points about his personal charity giving style in age of social networks.

I remain steady in my personal belief that giving to solve the roots of problems through sustainable non-profit organizations is the best use of my time, money, and energy. You’re free to choose otherwise.

Scott makes a point about what it means for nonprofits:

Incumbent non-profit organizations are at risk of becoming irrelevant if they ignore the fundamental shift in how we communicate, connect, and collaborate. Scandals in the wake of 9/11 and Katrina continue to erode confidence in them. Those who choose to embrace the immediacy, intimacy, and velocity of social media to demonstrate the impact they’re making in the world will thrive. The rest will cease to exist.

There are many aspects of this debate and fodder for discussion all around, including Scott's:

• How can you best help people in need?
  
• Is it direct giving on a 1:1 basis or through non-profit organizations?
  
• What do non-profit organizations need to do to stay relevant in the Interconnected Age?

Also thinking about Geoff Livingston's post about the Long Tail of Philanthropy and how the "leveled" playing field not only makes it possible for small organizations to leverage social media for the causes, but for individuals too.

What do you think?

Update:  How is your relationship balance and why it is important to be in the black? by Scott Drummond with links and analysis

Update:  AdvertGirl - Does social Media Really Connect Us?

Update:  Elke Sisco writes about the campaign

Thank you for the best birthday ever! We raised $6,255 for the Sharing Foundation to send 625 Cambodian youngsters to school!

Cambodian youngster in the Sharing Foundation's Education program practices her alphabet.

In Roteang Village, where the Sharing Foundation has programs that help over 1,500 children each and every day, there was a birthday bash at the orphanage for the 70 plus children.  The Sharing Foundation hosts an annual, for-everybody-at-once Birthday party, with cake, fruit, and soda.   This year the girls each received a handmade doll by two women from a nursing home in Massachusetts and the boys got matchbox cards donated by a local Cub Scout Troop, along with handmade birthday cards.

Today is my birthday and this year, as I have done for the past 8 years, I asked friends and family to donate to the Sharing Foundation in my honor. (If you want to know more about why my family and I care about the children of Cambodia and this charity, take a minute to watch this video my son, Harry made.) Last year,  I got 51 people to donate $10 for my 51st birthday using my blog, Twitter, and other social media outposts.   This year,  I experimented with Facebook Causes birthday application.

We raised $6,255 from 162 donors!  That's enough to cover the cost of school uniforms for 615 Cambodian youngsters.  Many children in Cambodia do not go to school because their families lack the $10 for a uniform, required for school attendance.  Last year, the Sharing Foundation's sewing school, a vocational training program, made over 1250 uniform sets and donated them to needy children in Roteang Village, to the Street Children's Assistance NGO, and to a poor government orphanage.  The sewing girls, who are employed by the Sharing Foundation's vocational training program, earn from the first day of their training, so this is a win-win situation.

Link in Tweet

As part of the experiment with the Facebook birthday causes,  I added a donor matching challenge to the Sharing Foundation's Facebook Cause that I would donate 10 x my age if the Sharing Foundation Cause reached $5,200.  Causes has recently added a donor match feature and since I am also the volunteer administrator for the Sharing Foundation's Facebook Cause, decided to experiment.    We met the match on January 10th and my credit card was automatically charged $520.

Here's the Campaign by the numbers:

161 donors contributed $6255  in total

115 people contributed $3429 through my Birthday Cause
  38 people contributed $2509 through the Sharing Foundation Cause
    9 people contributed $317 outside of Facebook

Before the Campaign: The Sharing Foundation's Cause
206 members
$955 in total donations

After the Campaign: The Sharing Foundation's Cause
349 members
$6893 in total donations

Happy Birthday Facebook Wall Messages
167 (42% non-donors)

Donors
45% new donors
25% has donated to at least one other of Beth's campaigns
30% have donated to at least two or more of Beth's campaigns

If you want a full accounting of how the money is being spent, you can look up the Sharing Foundation's form 990 on GuideStar.  Also, subscribe to the Sharing Foundation's email newsletter.   We send it out quarterly with detailed reports.  Also, as a board member, feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

This is my 7th personal fundraising campaign using social media tools to help the children of Cambodia.  In total, have raised over $220,000 since November, 2006.  Not alone, of course, with lots of help from my friends and network.  This is a passion-driven effort on my part with two goals: to support Cambodian children through the work of the Sharing Foundation and to share my lessons learned with other nonprofits so they can use these tools for the greater social good.

I'm working a deeper reflection about this Birthday Cause - what worked, what didn't in terms of strategy. Right now, I've been taking the time to send a personal thank you note to each and every one of the donors no matter the size of the gift.  I've been leaving notes on Facebook walls, Twitter, or whatever is the best channel.   This isn't about getting the huge donor numbers, velocity, or dollars amounts , it's about building a culture of giving in a presonal network or "collective" - and that is about relationship building.

Here's a big thank you to everyone for the best birthday ever!

Donors (Partial List)
Agenthandy Loves
Adina Levin
Alicia C. Staley
Allison Kipta
Alnisa Allgood
Amie Gillingham
Amy Lenzo
Amy Sample Ward
Andrew DellaPietra
Ann Marie Miller
Avi Kaplan
Ayelet Baron
Barbara Clarke
Bernadette Mannix Feeney
Beth Alexander
Beth Jackson Bates
Beth Kanter
Bill Snyder
Bora Vuth
Britt Bravo
Bruce Brown
Caren Levine
Carol Lewis
Carol McCreary
Cheryl Hanback
Christina Arnold
Christina Jordan
Christine Egger
Christine Martell
Corey Pudhordsky
Corey Pudhorodsky
Craig Cunningham
Danielle Brigida
Darlene Charneco
David Krumlauf
David Wilcox
Debra Roby
Donna Callejon
Ed Nicholson
Ed Schipul
Eduardo Bejar
Eduardo Jezierski
Elana Centor
Elke Sisco
Emily Culbertson
Emma Lathan
Ethan Zuckerman
Garth Moore
Gayle Thorsen
Geoff Livingston
Holly Ross
Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer
Hope O'Keeffe
Ivan Boothe
Javier Avellán Veloz
Jay Hall
JD Lasica
Jean Case
Jeff Weidner
Jennifer Pahlka
Jeremy Chapman
Jerry Michalski
Jesse Wiley
Joe Baker
Johanna Bates
Judd Feurstein
Judi Sohn
Judith Weiner
Julia Bailey
Julie Lloyd-Dove-Kennedy
Kari Dunn Saraatovsky
Kate Bladow
Kate Teeling Talbot
Katrina Heppler
Katya Andresen
Kevin Ball
Kim Synder
Kristjian Fjord Peturson
Laura Palmero
Laura Whitehead
Lisa Harris
Lisa Nordick Colton
Louise Coventry
Lynn Tveskov
Maria Thurell
Marie Deatherage
Mark Grimes
Mattise Bustos Hawkes
Megan Ryan Stohner
Michael Hoffman
Michael Stein
Michael Wesolowski
Michaela Hackner
Michelle Murrain
Miriam Dayan
Nick Booth
Patti Anklam
Paul Lamb
Peter Deitz
Phil Klein
Qui Diaz
Ray Nichols
Rebecca Krause-Hardie
Robert Weiner
Roger Carr
Romina Oliverio
Rose Vines
Samphy Y
Sandra Sutton Andrews
Scott Stadium
Seth Mazow
Shonali Burke
Sokunthea Sa Chhabra
Stephanie McAuliffe
Stephen Sherlock
Sue Waters
Sus Nyrop
Susan Chun
Suzy Twohig Quinn
Todd Van Hoosear
Tom Watson
Tori Welch Tuncan
Tresha Thorsen
Tresha Thorsen
Walter Schwabe
Wendy Harman
Woody Collins

Bora Vuth and Samphy Y Thank You for your birthday donation - 1 day till my birthday!

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far and I'll be sharing a reflection about this campaign in the coming days for sure.

Bora Vuth and Sampy Y are two Cambodians who are attending graduate school in other countries, on scholarship.   They know personally the power of getting an education in a country like Cambodia and know that even at $10 donation to purchase a uniform will make all the difference in the world for that child.

I connected with them and other Cambodians who are attending graduate school through various fellowships and scholarships on the social web, I think first through Facebook.   I've known them "virtually" for a while and they've always a contributed a little bit to my fundraising campaigns for Sharing Foundation.  Most recently my birthday cause.

I've been writing a lot about the return on investment of your blogging (and social media use) and how so many things are hard to quantify - like donor relationships.  Laura Lee Dooley pointed me to this wonderful post called "Strategic Serendipity of Social Media" that talks about how the collective brings serendipity and how difficult that is to measure but it has value.   There's something here about a new way of creating a culture of giving with your network and how social networking tools and social fundraising is not just transaction donations, but over time you create this collective relationship.

I pledged to donate 10 x my age or $520 if the Sharing Foundation's Cause get's to $5,200 my by birthday.   Right the cause stands at $4139 with $1061 to raise before it automatically (gulp) charges my card. (My giving style)   Of that, $2175 has been donated through my birthday cause.

Tomorrow is the big day - so if you haven't had a chance to wish me happy birthday - do it now. 
And remember, a gift of $10 will make a huge impact for a Cambodian youngster.

Donate on Facebook or Network for Good

Birthday Campaign Update: $2,929 Raised From 50 People - Need $2,321 for Matching Money - Can We Do It?

First of all, stand back and admire that image.  I won't tell you how long it took me to create it, but I wanted to thank the 50 folks who have so generously contributed to my 52nd Birthday Campaign.  You all rock.  I appreciate you!

One of the people on that image is a coder who helped code the birthday causes.  

My birthday is officially on Sunday and if we can raise $5,200 - we can leverage some matching money - $520.  Okay, that's not a huge amount, but I'm the donor!

I just got an email from Dr. Hendrie who is in Cambodia right now.  We have an opportunity to receive a couple of  OLPCs for our literacy program at our farming project (we school the kids of farmers who we train to farm the land, sell vegetables, proceeds go into micro loan fund.)

The money raised from my birthday campaign would help us hire one of the college students that the Sharing Foundation has sent to school to teach the kids.

If you'd like to wish me happy birthday and help leverage matching dollars for the Sharing Foundation, make a contribution to my birthday cause.  If you don't want to donate through Facebook, here are some other ways to wish me happy birthday

I Feel Good Now That I've Donated ....

Flickr Photo by Halepoki

Forget chocolate, drugs, puppies, exercise, prozac, or anything else that makes you happy. 

Giving money (and your time) is a great way to express your personal gratitude. but it makes you feel good.   Paul Lamb, in his post "The Year of Living Givingly" points to this article at SF Gate, that says charitable giving offers the donor significant and positive health and cognitive benefits.   There's an added benefit, people who donate generate more dopamine, the "happy" neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, craving, and reward.   Hmm ... maybe that's why some of us become "giving junkies" in the best sense of the word.

There are benefits to the nonprofits too because having a predictible source of income in difficult economic times makes its it easier to plan.   And a regular, ongoing contribution, even small contributions of $10 can make a difference.

Stowe Boyd in his post "Nature or Nurture in Social Networks" points to this research about how your friends through social networks can affect your mood.   He sums it up, "Looks like we are who we hang with, for better or worse, and to the degree that we can control where we wind up networked we should try to move toward those that are doing the fun stuff."

So, get happy, feel good, and donate $10 to the Sharing Foundation to celebrate my birthday.  Make a contribution to my birthday cause and help me leverage some matching dollars.  If you don't want to donate through Facebook, here are some other ways to wish me happy birthday.

Reflections on Using Facebook Causes Birthday Wish

Just as I was about to hit publish, I got an alert that Steve Sherlock donated to my birthday campaign and the total is now $1,206.  I want to thank the other 31 Facebook friends for their donations to the Sharing Foundation in honor of my Birthday Cause.  We've raised $1, 206 to help children in Cambodia.   I shared some thoughts about the Causes Birthday application design, and have continued my reflections below.

Five Insights:

1.   The Causes Birthday Application Makes You Feel Good
2.   The Causes Birthday Application Meshes Better With Fundraising Workflow
3.   Collaboration with the Organization's Cause would be a good thing
4.   Causes Birthday Application Flunks Math
5.  Will you be a free agent fundraising and make 2009 be the Year of Living Givingly?

Detailed Reflections

1.   The Causes Birthday Application Makes You Feel Good

What's more fun than a birthday celebration?  And giving makes me feel good.   Even though I'm not raising huge dollar amounts, what makes feel great is that small donations go a long way in Cambodia.  Friends who've donated $10 have helped a Cambodian youngster go to school for a year! Now, that real bang for your buck!

I love the application wall because it is is like an electronic group birthday card. It lets my friends write a personalized birthday wish.  The leader board lists who donated and how much and leaves a blank space for the next donation.   This all works well for psychology of collective influence which is an important part of Facebook application design.

2. The Causes Birthday Application Meshes Better With Fundraising Workflow

One of the keys to successful socially networked fundraising on Facebook (and elsewhere) rests with how well an application meshes charitable giving behavior and the psychology of collective influence in its application design.  I contributed a chapter on this topic to the Psychology of Facebook, so I'm going to stop myself from going on about that now.   I'm giving Causes an A plus for the tips and reminders in email.  I also like the "good job" praise I got for raising the money.   Best of all, the tips match a personal fundraising campaign workflow.

Amy Sample Ward, in her birthday cause wrap up shares the details of the pointers that Causes will email to you everyday to help guide your birthday fundraiser.  The tips include:

• Set your status
• The ask on your birthday cause page
• Inviting Friends to contribute
• Use the email tools available on the Birthday Causes applications (you can email 2s during your campaign)
• One-on-one requests
• Send Notifications to your friends

About the ask on the birthday causes page,  I would have liked the ability to include a video (like the one I made below with my son for last year's personal fundraising campaign.)  It is important to always say why the cause is important you - even if you feel like you already said it a million times.   There are always people who are new to your network and may not know this yet.  Thanks to  Lamarguerite for this important reminder.

Harry's First Fundraising Video

3. Collaboration with the Organization's Cause would be a good thing

I'd like to see how Causes might facilitate more collaboration with the organization's Cause administrator to leverage some of the other new fundraising features on the Causes application.  Let me explain.   I'm the (volunteer) administrator for the Sharing Foundation's Cause on Facebook (my birthday cause donations feeds into that Cause's total)  I knew I had set up the birthday Cause, but wonder if I wasn't the administrator whether I would have known.   

If I was working for an organization that had an active Cause on Facebook, I'd be promoting this opportunity to Cause members or group members, or on my organization's Fan Page.

Also, I discovered that Causes has added two more features to the Causes application - the ability to set up a shorter-term goal and the ability to issue a matching challenge.   For the latter, I issued a challenge grant of $520 if the Sharing Foundation Cause reaches $5,200 by my birthday next Sunday.

 

Notes about application. Click to see larger image

4. Causes Birthday Application Flunks Math

I've decided that I really hate the fact that Causes doesn't give me, the birthday girl, any say in setting a monetary goal, suggested minimum donation amount, or minimum number of donors for my campaign.  As I explained in detail in an earlier post, it is based on your age.   Given that micro donations are where it is at, if you're older than 15, than you're at an disadvantage. 

This application is still in beta so that is why some of the math isn't working.  For example is says 18 x $52 = $969 as the monetary goal that Causes forced me to select on the Birthday Causes Canvas page. Last time I checked, it was $936.  And, I'm relieved that since I've surpassed my goal, that the application doesn't automatically prevent me from fundraising more.

For suggested donation amount, I added some text in all my messaging that any amount would be most appreciated.   A few folks donated $25 telling me that I looked much younger!  If the messaging in the application included the phrase "or the amount of your choosing" there'd be no problem.  Even better,  just let the birthday girl choose.

5.  Will you be a free agent fundraising and make 2009 be the Year of Living Givingly?

In a round up of 2009 social media predictions,  expert Charlene Li predicted that Obama-maniacs will spawn a new age of activism and fundraising.  "The millions of online-activated volunteers in the Obama campaign will champion causes ranging from gay marriage to local school improvements.  Non-profits will recognize the potential of bringing on these virtual community organizations, especially their ability to raise in tiny increments in a down economy.  So, despite a recession, charitable giving will have new numerous new -- albeit smaller sources of contributions."

I think that social media savvy nonprofits will be thinking of strategies and ways to find and work with free agent fundraisers.  I'll have a lot more to say about this in some forthcoming posts.   There are also some systemic ways to address this, certainly the work that social actions is doing.

Paul Lamb points out that giving has beneficial psychological and health benefits.  He also set a goal for the year to give money and time this to become a better giver.   He's reserved Givingly.org as a place where a personal giving tracking tool/widget/mobile app can potentially be built - unless a good one already exists? He is interested developing some sort of  social credit card which allows individuals to track their borrowing and expending of social capital and giving.  I love that idea.

Other Resources

Amy Sample Ward, Birthday Cause Wrap Up
Amy Sample Ward, Birthday Cause: Free Geek
Beth Kanter, My Facebook Birthday Cause
Beth Kanter, My 51st Birthday Challenge
Beth Kanter, You're Not Going To Ask Us To Give You An Outhouse for Your Birthday?
Beth Kanter, Round Up of Social Birthday Greetings. Social Fundraising. Thank You
Beth Kanter, Celebrate My 50th Birthday
Beth Kanter, How Can We Make Charitable Giving A Yearround Habit?
Beth Kanter, Be A Geek Who Gives
Paul Lamb,  The Year of Living Givingly

If you'd like to wish me happy birthday and help leverage matching dollars for the Sharing Foundation, make a contribution to my birthday cause.  If you don't want to donate through Facebook, here are some other ways to wish me happy birthday.

Celebrate my 52nd Birthday: Help send a Cambodian youngster to school for $10 Donation!

If you've been reading my blog in the last week, you know that in eight days I will be celebrating my 52nd Birthday.   As I do every year for my birthday, I ask for donations to the Sharing Foundation in lieu of gifts or cards.  This nonprofit helps to care for children in Cambodia.  It was founded by retired pediatrician, Dr. Nancy Hendrie.  (If you want to know more about why my family and I care about the children of Cambodia and this charity, take a minute to watch this video my son, Harry, made last year.)

Many children in Cambodia do not go to school because their families lack the $10 for a uniform, required for school attendance.  Last year, the Sharing Foundation's sewing school, a vocational training program, made over 1250 uniform sets and donated them to needy children in Roteang Village, to the Street Children's Assistance NGO, and to a poor government orphanage.  The sewing girls, who are employed by the Sharing Foundation's vocational training program, earn from the first day of their training, so this is a win-win situation. 

This year for my birthday, I'm inviting the readers of this blog, my professional colleagues, my friends, and family to donate $10 or more so we can send these youngsters to school in 2009!   I've already raised enough through my Facebook Birthday Cause to send 100 kids to school this year!  I'd like to be send 520 to school or raise a total of $5,200.

Several blog readers have suggested that I set up other ways to donate to the Sharing Foundation in addition to Facebook Causes. (Thank you Celeste for the suggestion AND donation!) I've set up a  Network for Good charity badge where you can use your credit card, check, or PayPal to contribute.

Can you think of a better use of $10 or more? Send a poor Cambodian youngster to school, provide employment for young women in Cambodia, and help celebrate my birthday! 

My Facebook Birthday Cause: Thank You (and Some Unsolicited Feedback To Causes)

Before I go further, I have thank everyone for the early birthday present - a donation to the Sharing Foundation.   In less than 24 hours, I've raised $806 to help children in Cambodia using a new feature in Facebook Causes. 

January 11th is my 52nd birthday and even though I'm an official member of AARP, I couldn't wait for my birthday this year.  Why?   Every year I do a fundraising campaign using social media.  Last year, when I turned 51, I posted a challenge on my blog - could I get 51 people to donate $10 to the Sharing Foundation?  And, yes they did!   For my 50th birthday, I held a 50th Birthday Card Flickr Photo Remix Party

Well, a few weeks ago, I read a blog post by Amy Sample Ward about Birthday Causes,  This new feature lets individuals on Facebook create a birthday fundraising campaign as part of a Cause.  It's easy to set up.  It lets you ask your friends for donations instead of presents and makes it easy to thank them. 

After donating $26 to FreeGeek to honor Amy's 26th birthday, I went poking around Causes to see if I could install the application.  The folks at Causes are controlling the installation.  This is a good way to avoid application fatique and a great way to build interest in the application.  As soon as I read and contributed to Amy's campaign, I knew I wanted to set up my own campaign for the Sharing Foundation.

Not two minutes had passed after I set up my birthday campaign and added it to my profile, I got pinged from Facebook friends asking how they could install it.   The short answer:  you have to wait until two weeks before your birthday and you most likely receive the email from Causes if you have installed the application.

Yesterday, two weeks before my birthday, I got this email.

Happy (Almost) Birthday!

Thanks to Facebook, in two weeks all of your friends will see that it's your birthday. Instead of just writing on your wall, or giving you something you don't need, what if they had a chance to help a cause you believe in? Whether you want to raise money for clean water in Ethiopia, vaccinations for children in Haiti, or a safe home for a puppy in Mississipi, with a Birthday Cause your friends can give in honor of your special day.

The email directed me to a set up page where I selected a Cause from the too many I've installed on my profile There was also a recommendation from Causes which was for CharityWater.   There was link to the Charity for more information, but it made wonder how they are selecting these recommendations.  It would be good to spread the love.

The set up page was easy to set up, but you are only given a limited number of options for the fundraising pitch.  You can ask 5, 10, or 20 friends for as many dollars as you are in years.   So, in my case, the campaign goal was:

• 5 friends donate $52 = $255
• 10 friends donate $52 = $510
• 20 friends donate $52 = $1,020

I've never lied about my age (okay, once when I was senior in high school), but I was tempted to say I was younger because the trend is with micro gifts, smaller gifts.   $52 isn't a huge amount, but it is more than the cost of a latte.  But the overall goal would have been smaller (I'm guessing).   So,  I added some messaging that any amount would be appreciated.   There wasn't enough flexibility in the suggested donation amount or campaign goal or number of donors.

I opted for a 20 friends campaign, the largest number.  But it set up my goal as 18 donors for $969.  Probably some glitch. 

Despite some drawbacks with the interaction design - please let me have more flexibility in setting up my campaign parameters - amount, number of donors, etc., I think this is application might just be a winner:

• It meshes with Facebook culture

Celebrating Birthdays is definitely part of Facebook culture.  When you log into your Facebook account, you can see which of your friends is celebrating a birthday.   I remember when I was first joined Facebook in 2007 how surprised  I was the first time friends left birthday messages on my wall.  There are many ways to send virtual presents, greeting cards, and even applications that make sure you won't forget a friends special day.

• It uses the status line and newsfeed for viral marketing

The application helps you promote your campaign.  You can send a message to all your friends immediately which I selected and I also checked the option to send the reminder to everyone two days before my birthday.  You can also send out invitations to the Cause (up to 60 per day).    The application also automatically updates your status with messages and link to your birthday Cause.  As friends make a donation, it automically appears in your profile newsfeed.

• It matches real world philanthropic behavior

Asking for donations in lieu of birthday gifts is not new.  I've been doing this for years.  Kids being brought up today are also learning about the importance of giving and philanthropy.  I'm sure I'm not the only parent who has hosted or attended a kids birthday party where donations were requested instead of gifts.

• It facilitates free agent fundraising

In a round up of 2009 social media predictions,  expert Charlene Li predicted that Obama-maniacs will spawn a new age of activism.  "The millions of online-activated volunteers in the Obama campaign will find the drudgery of governing unappealing and abandon Obama's citizen government movement.  Looking for new challenges, they will champion causes ranging from gay marriage to local school improvements.  Non-profits will recognize the potential of bringing on these virtual community organizations, especially their ability to raise in tiny increments in a down economy.   So, despite a recession, charitable giving will have new numerous new -- albeit smaller sources of contributions."

On that latter point, social media savvy nonprofits will be thinking of strategies and ways to leverage this free agent fundraising - and it gets back to relationship building.   The role of having an active individual presence on behalf of the organization on a social networking site will be important.   

I asked Danielle Brigida for her thoughts about the application:

So far, the birthday feature on causes has impressed me the most. I wonder if they got the idea from you last year! It is really sweet on a number of levels and if we see people really using it I could probably convince people here to get the birthday person a card and little gift to thank them for their thoughtfulness. I think it's a great way to support a cause and a friend all in one!  I recently asked our supporters on Twitter if they'd prefer a personal or organizational blog, but nearly everyone preferred personal blogs. Our supporters want a personality included and a relationship.

I promoted this campaign mostly through Facebook friends, but also mentioned it on Twitter.  Some of my Facebook friends let me know that budgets were tight this year and couldn't participate with a cash donation.  Robert Tolmach from Changing the Present  emailed me this screenshot and concerns about credit card security.  (He'd probably prefer to send me a birthday card from Changing the Present, I suspect)

Friends that aren't using Facebook asked if there was another way to donate.  Ah, I needed a multi-channel birthday campaign ...  In addition to sending a birthday card, the Sharing Foundation has just launched its campaign for college student sponsorships over at Global Giving.

And, I've also set up Twitter Micro Campaign using TipJoy and will ask folks for $5.20 to support the Sharing Foundation.  That's the cost of one school uniform and will try to get 100 kids covered.

I've also set up a way for those want to raise money for their favorite cause - the Beth 5.2 Flickr Photo Birthday Card Remix Contest. Join the group, remix a photo of me, add the name of your favorite charity, and I'll donate $52 to the winner's charity. More on this later, my kids just made a wonderful video to promote this.

How will you celebrate your birthday this year?

A Geek's Reflections on Personal Fundraising Via Blog, Twitter, and Facebook

On September 3, I blogged and tweeted about a story about two interesting social media fundraising opportunities in Africa.  One of them was charity: water, a non-profit bringing safe, clean drinking water to people in developing nations that had launched a September Birthday campaign. (Hat tip Brett Meyer at NTEN) They asked everyone born in September to give up birthday presents and ask their friends and family for donations to build water wells in Ethiopia instead.  More information here.

I tweeted the link one of my twitter followers, Paul Young decided to give personal fundraising with social media a whirl.   According to this post on Mashable, Paul's September 18th birthday fundraiser was a success!  He has raised over $800.

Even better, he shared a detailed analysis of what worked and what didn't.  His key takeaways:

• You’ll have a few super-strong relationships, and these must reside in the real world (your family and best mates) - this is where most of the money came from
• Twitter is a great way to drive people to take action - yes I tweeted many times (up to 20) and I ‘bribed’ followers a little by giving shout outs to those who donated, but $4.50 per click through is great!
• Facebook ‘friends’ are just weak ties - 77 people left me Facebook wall comments saying happy birthday, 34 of them clicked through to my charity page, 1 donated.
• A facebook status is less ‘active’ than a Twitter message - maybe a lot more people are on Facebook, but they’re paying less attention
• The new Facebook design may have confused people - it’s quite possible people missed the link, though 33 of the 34 who did didn’t do anything about it
• A bigger network = bigger results - Pete Cashmore of Mashable fame shares my birthday (and dang, he’s 2 years younger!) and his 12,000 Twitter followers have helped him raise over three times as much money so far (but granted, people aren’t going to throw a thousand bucks at me in order to suck up :))

Paul is hoping to make his goal of $1,000 and still has a week left to do so.  You can donate here.

Social Fundraising! Social Birthday Greetings! Thank You

Today is my birthday!   Thank you everyone who donated in honor of my birthday 51st challenge as part of the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge Global Giving Fundraiser

This Cambodian child who lives at The Sharing Foundation's Roteang Orphange is saying thank you.  In Cambodia, the gesture for thanks is to put your palms together and say "Augoon."

The contest doesn't end until January 31st, so it isn't too late to donate in honor of my birthday or simply to support a good cause.   I will continue to share stories about the Sharing Foundation and hope that we can ultimately win the $50,000.  Stay tuned.

Laura Whitehead gave me an invite to seemic, a sort of video twitter.  So also sent me a Seesmic Birthday Greeting - thank you.

so I thought I would demonstrate the Cambodian gesture for thanks and share a learning about "social fundraising" which is reciprocity - so when the clock struck midnight I gave a donation to the Frozen Pea Fund and Ashely Spencer's Memorial Fund.

 

and on Facebook many, many wall posts, but love this one Phatry

(Birthday in Khmer)

You're Not Going To Ask Us To Give You An Outhouse For Your Birthday (1/11)?

Several weeks before my birthday every year, my mom calls and asks "What do you like for your birthday?"  And every year since she became a grandmother to an adopted Cambodian child, I said, "Make a donation to the Sharing Foundation."  This year, she wondered whether I was going to ask my family to give me an outhouse for my birthday.  No, I asked them to contribute $10 to the Sharing Foundation (and they did)



I guess you're wondering why my mom asked about the outhouse?

TSF has helped support a poor school named Beng Krom School, with 595 grammar school children on the far side of the Mekong.   Sharing Foundation's founder, Dr. Hendrie or our in-country director, Elephant,  regularly makes two trips a year across, on a rickety wooden ferry, to bringing school uniforms made in the Sharing Foundation's sewing school, and school supplies. Two years ago, with funds from the Long Island chapter of the American Association of University Women, we were able to replace their highly arsenic contaminated well with a huge rainwater collection tank and delivery system to supply safe drinking water. Now Beng Krom’s children really need three latrines to expand from the two they have for all their children and teachers. Now thanks to a generous Sharing Foundation donor who responded to our appeal in the holiday newsletter, local builders will build three latrines, bigger and stronger than the “family latrine” shown above.

My kids emptied out their piggy banks to helped and cooperated in making a birthday campaign video.  Unfortunately they don't have credit cards (that's a problem for some of the potential donors like the bloggers I met in Cambodia - take for example Denith)

I want to thank everyone who has contributed so far.  One problem with the Global Giving interface is that I can't get to a back end to see exactly who has donated to follow up with a personal note or blog post, so please leave me a comment if I haven't personally acknowledged your support.  I do get to see icons with first name and last initial.  For example, I know that Earl K. and Ruth K. are my parents. 

Here's a round up of wonderful birthday blog posts and even a "bethcast" that I can say thank you.
 

Christine Martell from VisualSpeak blog created a screencast with a delightful analysis of the photographs used to describe the campaign.   I never realized this before, but one of the photos I took at the Khmer Literacy School has someone's butt in the background.  I was so happy to get the kid to smile and look in the camera that I didn't notice!   

fter I posted my birthday invitation to donate to the Sharing Foundation,  I also told my friends on Twitter that my birthday was Friday.   I tried not to over tweet or become a twit.  And tried not to put the ask in my tweet, just something to get people to click on the link.

Some responses:

 

Holly Ross at NTEN tweeted about the blog post on the NTEN blog.  Then I got a google alert that let me know that Michele Martin had posted and I tweeted about it, thinking that if I mentioned "bunny suit" without a direct ask for money, people might click thinking that I was wearing one of those other kinds of bunny suits.  Also on the Google Alert, I discovered that Britt Bravo has posted on the Netsquared Blog too.  I was relieved that she didn't use the naked photo of me.   I tweeted that too .. And, Amy Gahran responded that teasers like that do sell.

A quick Happy Birthday to Sue Cline and thank you for the b-day donation.

This is just a sampling of birthday wishes so far - and it isn't even my birthday yet!  So, thank you to those who donated.   My birthday isn't until Jan 11th, so there is still time to contribute $10!    And,  if you want to write a post on your blog to celebrate my birthday as part of the bloggers campaign, you'll find a whole bunch of embarrassing photos here and here

Beth's 51st Birthday Challenge: Can I get 51 people to donate $10 to the Sharing Foundation for my birthday? (It's on Jan. 11th)

My birthday is on Friday, January 11th.   Last year for the big 5.0, I celebrated with a flickr photo birthday card remix contest.   That's a photo of me celebrating my 5th birthday oh so many years ago.   This year I'm gonna celebrate by trying to get 51 people to donate $10 in 51 hours to the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge over at Global Giving. 

Think we can do it?  I set a goal three years before for my big 5.0 of loosing 50 pounds and I did it.  I set a goal of having a resting heart rate lower than my age.  My resting heart rate is 56 (fabulous according to my doctor), but I didn't meet the goal.  That goal was probably not realistic.   Anyway, can we go for 2 out of 3 or am I being overly optimistic?

Those are some kids from the Sharing Foundation's Roteang Orphanage, opened in 2000.  It represents a new standard of hygiene, medical services, nutrition, and compassionate care for children in Cambodia. The orphanage is home to over 70 infants and children, nearly half of whom, due to serious disabilities, will remain in the Foundation's care indefinitely.  Last January while I was celebrating my birthday, all of the Roteang Orphanage children were celebrating theirs!   The annual birthday party celebration includes cookies, birthday cake with candles, fruit and soda. Every child received a balloon which was really a thrill for them.

I'm hoping to get atleast 51 people donate $10 to celebrate my birthday by my birthday on January 11th and by the end of the challenge have the most unique donors!

• Donate $10 or more to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving Fundraiser set up by Blogger Michele Martin of the Bamboo project!
• If we are four of the top causes to get the most unique donors, we'll win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America's Giving Challenge. With $10  you can help improve the lives of over 1,500 children in one of the world's poorest countries.

Update:  I just saw Seth Godin's "I Gave the Office"  -- My fundraising on behalf of the Sharing Foundation is an example of what he is describing.  Agree?

Harry's First Fundraising Video: Why Donate $10 To Support the Sharing Foundation

Click To Play

Harry and I are enjoying making media together.  He not only picks up the technical part very quickly, but he is enjoying the design and editing process.   If you make media with your kids, believe me you'll learn.  For example, Harry showed me a few keyboard shortcuts that I didn't know. Making media together is another way to teach your children about various causes.  This ended up being a collaboration because Harry had to go to bed and I didn't want him to miss story time -- so I finished the narration.

Here's a few stories about some children mentioned in the video:

Sina, age 15, is an orphan and head of her family, two younger sisters aged 12 and 9. She earns a monthly wage working for the sewing school and shop, a vocational program run by the Foundation that trains young women so they can earn a sustainable living wage. Sina helps makes school uniforms that the Foundation provides to over 1,000 street children in Cambodia.

Chheng Srey Mom, 16, has completed grade 8. Since her parents work in the Sharing Foundation's farm program, she attended the Foundation's Khmer Literacy School which helped her enter the local village school. Her family has been willing let her pursue her education instead of working in the fields.  Blogger Roger Carr of Everyday Giving Blog has written a beautiful post about the Khmer Literacy School!

Leda, a young child, was abandoned in a local market. She now is being taken care of at The Sharing Foundation's Roteang Orphanage. Opened in 2000, it provides a new standard of compassionate care for children in Cambodia. Orphans are admitted without regard for medical diagnosis. The orphanage is home to over 70 infants and children, nearly half of whom, due to serious disabilities, will remain in the Foundation's care indefinitely. There are just three of more than 1,500 Cambodian children that the Sharing Foundation cares for each and every day.

• Donate $10 or more to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving Fundraiser set up by Blogger Michele Martin of the Bamboo project!
• If we are four of the top causes to get the most unique donors, we'll win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America's Giving Challenge. With $10  you can help improve the lives of over 1,500 children in one of the world's poorest countries.
• If you are a blogger and want to participate in this blogger's campaign, you can sign up here.

Thank You Adam and Mark for the early Birthday present!

As some readers of this blog may remember, last year at about this time, I celebrated the big 5.0 birthday in true social media style with flickr 50th photo birthday card remix contest and I donated 50 bucks to the winner's favorite charity.  (The winner was Cogdog blog because my kids were the judges and he used a cute doggy photo)

Anyway,  I'm using my status on Facebook to tell everyone what I want for my birthday later this month.  And I've already gotten two early gifts and wanted to say thank you!

I "met" Mark Grimes (Ned.com) virtually on Omidyar Network and he was part of a group that proposed community support for the Sharing Foundation.  I'm glad we're friends on Facebook and that he reads my status.   Mark is fast approaching 100 Kiva loans, so his support of the Sharing Foundation means a lot!   He knows a good investment in the developing world.

   

That's Adam Nicholson.  We've never met face-to-face, but I think he emailed me a question after reading an article I wrote for a print publication and we've been Facebook friends.   He contributed to the Facebook Cause and also to Global Giving page if that icon below is you Adam.

I should say that I'm trying to encourages as many people to make their donation through Global Giving.  There's a lot of reasons for that. 

Thanks again to Adam and Mark.  I really appreciate it!  51 isn't sounding so darn bad either.

• Donate $10 or more to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving Fundraiser set up by Blogger Michele Martin of the Bamboo project!
• If we are four of the top causes to get the most unique donors, we'll win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America's Giving Challenge. With $10 and 10 minutes of your time you can help improve the lives of over 1,500 children in one of the world's poorest countries.
• If you are a blogger and want to participate in this blogger's campaign, you can sign up here.

America's Giving Challenge Days 8-9: Happy 86th Birthday Dad!

 

My Dad Bouncing Harry and Singing "I'm Just Wild About Harry"
My Flickr Stream

Today is my Dad's 86th Birthday!   I sent him a box of pears (his favorite) and made a donation to the Sharing Foundation through our Global Giving Fund Raising page (as part of America's Giving Challenge)!  On my Dad's 78th birthday in 1999, my husband and I received our official adoption notice and our first photo of Harry.   Harry was the first grandson. 

Harry's grandparents joined us on our trip to Cambodia to bring Harry home.  My parents were incredibly helpful teaching us how to change a diaper, how give a bottle and bath.  They also had a ball playing with Harry.   Harry is named after my grandfather and I'll never forget my dad holding Harry in his arms in Cambodia, dancing around the hotel room and singing, "I'm Just Wild About Harry."  I captured a snippet on my mavoca digital camera here.

My Dad got to see first hand the great work of the Sharing Foundation (in the early days).  He had the same reaction I did:   Harry is lucky to have the opportunity to come to America for a better life, but what about all those other children?  That's why I'm sure he be pleased that I kicked in $10 to support the Sharing Foundation in honor of his birthday.

Call to Action: Wish Dad A Happy Birthday!

• Donate $10 or more to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving Fundraiser set up by Blogger Michele Martin of the Bamboo project!
• If we are four of the top causes to get the most unique donors, we'll win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America's Giving Challenge

Thank you John Powers! Donor 15

John Powers is a long-time blog reader and we've often gotten into conversations topics raised in my blog.  John and I share an interest in health care in the developing world.   I believe we met via the Omidyar Network. I'll never forget the Hats for Health he sent me for my birthday last year. 

Now here is the amazing thing.  John and I have never met face-to-face, but I feel like I know through having conversations online for years.  Thanks John for helping with this campaign.

Read more about how Facebook, Twitter, Chris Brogan, and 45 other people including this donor helped Leng Sopharath get to college!

And the winner is .. and some reflections on user-generated content

Click here to view the video

As many of you know, I celebrated a milestone birthday this month.  To celebrate, I concocted an action learning experience in user generated content, the Beth 5.0 Flickr Photo Birthday Remix Contest.  I set up a flickr group, uploaded some instructions and some photos from the past half-century, and invited people to celebrate.  The winner would receive $50 to their favorite cause or charity.   I blogged the invitation, I emailed friends, family, and a few colleagues, I skyped, and sent an invitation to join the flickr group to all my flickr contacts.

54 people joined the group.  Ultimately, 22 remix photos were posted, slightly less than half of the people who joined.  The cards were amazing!  I had a lot of trouble selecting a winner.  So, my kids of the "We Gen" served as the judges.

Some people who I invited to participate confessed to being photoshop or flickr challenged, some opted to create birthday blog posts and, Loretta, created a birthday blog.  Many of the contributors are flickr community members or dare I say addicts.   Even people who are close to me (like some family members who I asked to send me a card) did not overcome some barriers to engagement. 

These were:

-The extra step of creating a flickr account and perhaps a slight learning curve -- easier to get a hallmark card from the grocery store
-The creativity challenge -- one person told me that they looked at the clever cards and felt they couldn't compete, while someone else told me their visual muse was on vacation
-The perceived technical challenge - even though a lot of the photos can be easily generated with flickr toys, some felt this was beyond their technical skills.  (It actually isn't which says to me to add something about how easy it is to be creative with flickr fd toys)

Using a flickr group for contest was a good strategy because as the admin, you can easily add and remove photos and dups.  You can also tags.  That is important if you want to stream them with a tool like splashr.

For some big picture ideas on user generated content, see this resource.  In addition, the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants has an excellent round up of advice on engaging audiences - which is necessary if you want to dip your toes into participatory media.

Harry's advice:  Put a dog on the card!

And, congrats to the winner, CogDogBlog and $50 will be donated to his favorite cause.

Music in video:  Wonder Drums by porchcat

Hats for Health!

Hats for Health is an idea that comes from John Powers, one of my blog readers.  He sent me a batch of hats for my birthday, along with the history and how he is connecting the idea of making party hats to stamping out water-borne diseases in the developing world.

Thanks John!

Splashr - A Way to Make Slide Shows Out Of Flickr Photos

One of the things you have to do with user-generated content -- participatory media projects is show the work to encourage others to jump in.   Lacking any programming skills to speak of, I've been looking at widgets and tools that put an easy interface to flickr that let you display photos.   Alan Levine left me a comment suggested Splashr and shared his notes.

Unfortunately, it didn't have an option for "groups" - you can only pull photos based on tags or a user.  So, I went to the pool and added a unique tag to the 17 photos.   Unfortunately, it doesn't seem want to pull two of the funniest ones(here and here) in the group, both magazine covers created with another flickrtoy.  I can't figure it out.  I checked for typos.  Another one of those mysteries because as I am previewing this, one of the magazine covers is showing up.  Maybe I am just too sleep deprived.

A reflection about participation.  Seems like it is hard to get someone who might be interested, but it isn't already a flickr user to participate. 

All the folks who sent me birthday cards are people who are already my contacts in flickr.  Other people who I emailed and don't have a flickr account have not sent a card, even if they know me really well.

Case in point.  My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I jokingly said a black lab.  I've had three different labs over the past twenty years -- all birthday gifts - and all of them, unfortunately,  have passed away.  My husband isn't a big black lab fan (long story about labs who like to chew expensive leather shoes and pee on the oriental rug), when I mentioned a possible four-legged present -- it just wasn't going to fly this year.  So, I said, "Make me a flickr birthday card instead."   

He is familiar with flickr as he watches me obssessively email photos from my treo to my flickr account.   But he hasn't ever used it.  (And, he's a techie too, so he could certainly figure it out).  It just wasn't his thing.   ( I'm not sure which is less appealing - flickr or the dog!)  And, I got a great analog birthday card!

I got a blog for my birthday!!

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from the Beth 5.0 - Flickr Photo Birthday Card Remix Contest group pool. Make your own badge here.

This has got to be best birthday ever ...  check out the birthday cards ... and I got a birthday blog!!!  Check it out!  I was so crazy busy trying to get everything together for my session next week that I didn't notice the message from Loretta Donovan the Blog Queen - who created it!  Thank you!

Here I am, pulling an almost all nighter.   I'm going to get them into a slide show when the contest is over on the 25th ...   I really love them!  But must get some sleep.