That’s right, to raise money for charity: water Hassan Hassan will sing any song and dance along to it in a video for your gifting pleasure. When this email came through, I chuckled and thought “Who wouldn’t want to receive a dancing a bear video AND a donation to charity as a gift?”.

The Raise5 project was launched in Toronto during the last Startup Weekend in November. The site hopes that the service will enable anyone to leverage their skills, talents, knowledge, and creativity to raise money for charity $5 at a time.

Of course this is a brilliant bit of marketing to get the site out there, but there’s a genuine social good implication here which shows that you don’t have to be famous or popular to raise money for charity and make a difference. All you need is a bear suit and some dance moves:

➤ Bear suit video for charity on Raise5

While it’s easy to compare Facebook and Google+ because they’re both social networks and write off the latter because it doesn’t have quite as many users, Google+ has done an amazing job building tools that help facilitate strong communities. Google’s social network is only a few months old, but it has quickly become a top destination for photographers to hang out, chat, and share their work.

Some of these photographers decided that it would be a great idea to put together a book of their work. The twist is, the proceeds from the book are going to Kiva, its chosen charity. They call the book the “Plus One Collection“.

The project has turned into a standard book, e-book, a limited edition version, and soon, it will have an accompanying iOS app. With 520 photographers taking part by offering up their work for free, the book is yet another example of how people are leveraging Google’s social platform to express themselves, whether they’re a professional or not.

Here’s how the project creators explain the idea:

The idea is simple.

We, a group of photographers from an online community on social network Google+ thought, hey, why not publish a photography book together? We spent a lot of time talking photography online, share and look at each other’s work, and even meet together to socialize and shoot. Why not collaborate on a project together? That’s how the idea of this book was born. When the call to contribute came, 520 photographers, both known and less known, from all over the world responded, willing to donate their art for the project.

The cost for the limited edition printed version of the book is $200, and all of the net proceeds go to Kiva. A standard version will be available on February 21st. You can see a full list of photographers that made it into the printed version here.

➤ Plus One Collection

Social presentation service SlideRocket is all about thinking outside of the box. We told you about Hanna Phan last November, who wanted to work for the company so badly that she created a presentation using the service to explain why. She got the job because SlideRocket recognized that using the product to get a job with the product took some creative thinking.

SlideRocket is looking to give rewards for creativity again, this time it’s for the greater good. The company recently announced its “Make an Impact” contest, which is open to anyone who’s passionate about a cause.

Here are the rules posted by the company:

The contest is open to staff at 501(c)(3) non-profits as well as people who would like to support their favorite non-profit by winning the contest on their behalf. You can enter any time between January 17 and March 28. We will publish the leaders with the most presentation views on a daily basis, and you can always check your SlideRocket presentation analytics to see how you’re doing. It’s a fun way to compete and do some good in the world!

The top four presentations will each win $5k for its charity, and this is a simple way to stretch out your brain for social good. SlideRocket provides the platform to create the presentation and all you have to do is make it and get it out there in the social world. The top 25 presentations with the most views will be reviewed by a panel of judges, from which the four winners will be selected.

Here are some tips on making a killer presentation to win this competition for a lucky cause:

1. Choose a charity carefully

Don’t choose a charity because it’s “famous”, pick one that you’re really passionate about. Your passion will translate to a great presentation. Don’t worry about how many famous people support a charity, because at the end of the day it’s regular folks like you and me who can really make a difference. Try picking a small charity that’s based in your local area and bring that local flavor into your presentation. Presentations about topics you’re not well-versed on don’t end up too influential.

2. Do some prep work

Really research the history of your selected charity. Remember, this is a presentation, so try to tell a story about the charity you’re representing. While this shouldn’t just be boring graphs and numbers, explaining the story behind the charity as well as the story on why you chose the charity is a great way to get attention from the judges. By the time someone finishes looking at your presentation, they should be just as passionate and knowledgeable as you.

3. Make it social

Including tweets and posts from other people who support your charity will make for a fantastic presentation. By showing the judges that you aren’t the only one who is passionate about this cause and organization will make them feel like they want to be a part of it too. If you’re going to include a video in your presentation, make it short or edit one together on your own with highlights from others. Be sure to attribute the original works accordingly.

Just do it

With just a little bit of your heart and some of your precious time, you could make a real difference for a charity who can put the $5k to good use. If you’re not sure on how to get started, get a team of your friends together and collaborate on your entry. Have some fun and do some good at the same time!

➤ SlideRocket “Make an Impact” Registration

The Gates Foundation has focused on eradicating Malaria, helping third-world countries grow rice, and a crusade to end Polio.

Gates is carving out his legacy with his post-Microsoft efforts, which are both admirable and impressive.

Source: frugaldad.com

]]> http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/01/14/bill-gates-philanthropic-efforts-have-helped-save-over-5-8-million-lives/feed/ 27 BillGatesBetterThanBatman photo http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/01/12/social-good-app-suggests-micro-donations-to-charity-instead-of-grabbing-a-coffee/ http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/01/12/social-good-app-suggests-micro-donations-to-charity-instead-of-grabbing-a-coffee/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:40:39 +0000 Drew Olanoff http://thenextweb.com/?p=312142
Giving money to charity is something we always have on our to-do list, but finding the extra money and remembering to actually do it is another thing. Most charities say...]]>

Giving money to charity is something we always have on our to-do list, but finding the extra money and remembering to actually do it is another thing.

Most charities say that it doesn’t matter how much money you give, because every little bit counts. App developer Ovenbits has come up with a unique proposition for you. When you’re at Starbucks, how about donating the money to charity instead?

The iOS app is called “Instead“, and it’s meant to get your charitable giving into gear by putting micro-donations into context with things that you give up and make a charity happy instead.

It’s extremely well designed and serves as a great reminder that giving a few bucks to any charity makes everyone a winner in the end.

Instead of coffee…

While this app won’t make donations all by itself, it does serve as a good reminder to give a little bit once in a while. I highly suggest giving prominent placement to Instead on your iDevice’s home screen, that way you’ll be sure to get in the giving mood one of these days.

After you open the app and set up a new account, you can tap the “Give” button, and choose a monetary value as well as what you’re giving up for the donation. The dollar value is completely up to you, but if you’re donating instead of buying a coffee, perhaps $4 will work quite well.

After you’ve chosen your dollar amount, you’re shown a huge list of different charities to give your money to. You can search for one, or simply scroll down until you find one that suits you. Once you’ve picked the right charity, the app spits you out to a mobile Safari page that will ask you for your credit card information. The reason for this, says the developer, is that Apple requires these types of transactions to happen outside of the app. That’s a shame, as it causes an unecessary extra step when all you’re trying to do is give money to charity. Having said that, it’s not a huge deal in the longrun.

The company is very transparent about the fact that it takes a 5% cut of the donation, since its handling the costs of keeping the app up, as well as processing the donations on your behalf. You can still write these charitable givings off on your taxes, as the company is a registered 501(c)3 itself.

What’s really nice is that Instead will track all of the times you decided to give to charity instead of doing something else. Keeping a log like that reminds you of the good work you’ve done and the charities you’ve helped. Even if you only give $4 instead of buying a coffee, you can make a real difference.

➤ Instead

On Friday, I wrote about Mozilla’s Firefox Challenge for charity. The idea is simple; 12 celebs, 12 causes, and the one who raises the most money by January 11th, 2012 gets an additional $25,000 from Mozilla for its charity.

“Which celeb will win?” was the question a few folks have had. Well, we might have our answer before the competition is over. It’s not a celebrity that’s in the lead, it’s a group of geeks calling themselves #TeamJS. JS standing for “JavaScript”, of course. Mozilla allowed anyone to create a team to compete with celebs like Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, and Sophia Bush.

Out of nowhere, #TeamJS has raised over $12,000 for its charity, “Feeding America“.

At the helm is O’Reilly tech writer, David Flanagan. In a post called “Geeks vs. Celebs“, Flanagan calls on his geeky pals to help raise enough money to win the $25k prize in January for Feeding America.

Here’s what Flanagan had to say about his rally for social good:

I want to challenge the JavaScript community, and the web developer community, and heck, the whole geek community to go head to head with the celebrities and raise more money than they can. So I’ve formed TeamJS to compete against the celebs in the challenge. We don’t get the head start of $5k seed money, but we can still win the $25K prize!

While everyone wins during this challenge, especially the charities, this is an interesting narrative to the social good movement on the web. No big names are needed to raise money, just passionate people with big hearts. Geeks have a voice too, and can obviously move crowds in a big way. See the tally below from the team’s Crowdrise page:

I’d love to see celebs like Jason Bateman and Will Ferrell pick up the pace as we enter the holidays. Putting a celebrity name in front of a charity alone doesn’t make the true difference, the passion has to be there too. Get involved by giving money to your charity of choice, and be sure to share your good deed on Twitter and Facebook.

Will the geeks reign supreme? We’ll be watching!

➤ Mozilla Firefox Challenge

This week, creator of Firefox, Mozilla, announced a holiday charity campaign called the “Mozilla Firefox Challenge” in which it has seeded 12 celebrity backed charities with $5,000. The organization that ends up with the most donations by January 11, 2012 will get an additional $25,000 donation from Mozilla.

That’s a total of $85,000 Mozilla will donate to charities over the holidays.

This is what Mozilla had to say about the challenge, which is taking place on the popular charity platform Crowdrise:

Mozilla builds products, like Firefox, that put users in control of their online experience and shape the future of the Web — not for profit, but for good. As part of our commitment to making a difference, this holiday season we’re hoping to get everyone in on the spirit of doing good. So, just like we do with Firefox, let’s turn individual action into global impact together.

Mozilla certainly nabbed a well-known group of celebrities. Here are the twelve of them and their organizations who get $5,000 each to start and could win the $25,000 prize if they raise the most money on their own:

• Paul Rudd, The Rolling Dog Farm
• Will Ferrell, Cancer for College
• David Blaine, Charity: Water
• Barbra Streisand, Cedars-Sinai Women’s Heart Center
• Jason Bateman, City Year
• Christy Turlington Burns, Every Mother Counts
• Sophia Bush, F Cancer
• Seth Rogen, The Alzheimer’s Association
• Sean Penn, The J/P Haitian Relief Organization
• Edward Norton, The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
• Jonah Hill, Nothing But Nets
• Zooey Deschanel, The Innocence Project

Donating to a cause that you care about is at the crux of this campaign, but the celebrities have some treats in store for lucky folks who are of the giving persuasion. For example, you could win a signed cowbell from Will Ferrell, a voicemail from Paul Rudd, or a signed copy of the “Elf” DVD from Zooey Deschanel. That’s pretty neat.

Go support your favorite causes and celebrities, and win some cool stuff in the process.

➤ Mozilla Firefox Challenge

In 2011 alone, Google gave $100 million to a whole slew of charitable organizations all over the world. Those organizations included ones that focus on education for girls, ending modern-day slavery and human trafficking, as well as bringing more jobs and training to third world countries.

The $100 million in charitable donations included $40 million worth of grants to further these causes.

The video below highlights Google’s efforts in 2011 to make the world a better, and smarter place.

In addition to its fundraising efforts, the philanthropic arm of Google has asked users on Google+ to support charities and organizations they care about by using the hashtag #CauseILoveEm, getting celebrities like Usher, Russell Brand, and Linkin Park in on the act as well.

Google+ would also like nonprofits to join the service, and has launched a portal to teach organizations how the service can help them raise awareness and donations.

One T-shirt, available for seven days, with seven dollars going to charity. Super simple, yet an absolutely powerful way to raise money for charity online.

Each week, Sevenly features a new cause to support with a coinciding t-shirt to buy. The t-shirts cost $22, with $7 going directly to the charity.

The site is beautifully designed and puts the charity and its needs front and center.

This is how Sevenly describes its efforts:

Our Mission
To raise capital and awareness for the world’s greatest causes.

Our Purpose
Our purpose is to learn the issues that break God’s heart, engage with the people who are called to the issue, and create awareness & a funding movement that supports them in their efforts.

Our Vision
To see thousands of lives changed through the efforts we enabled.

Along with raising money for charities, Sevenly is getting people to donate by action, meaning by sending tweets and wall posts about the charity and driving new followers for the organizations on Facebook and Twitter. I highly suggest that you visit Sevenly’s site to read its explanation of the “Charity Dilemma”, and how the company aims to solve it.

New charity every seven days

When you visit Sevenly, you’re shown the shirt of the week and which charity it’s benefiting. You can watch a video about the charity of the week, and then can tweet and share the cause on your wall. If you want to donate money to the cause Sevenly is featuring that week, simply buy a t-shirt or hoodie, and $7 will go to that charity.

But Sevenly is not just about making money for charities, the company truly wants you to build a relationship with them as well. By showing us a video like the one below, it’s difficult to not be pulled into the experience of how far your $7 can go:

Along with the video, the site promotes each charity’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, hoping to raise awareness as well as a long-lasting following for the cause that matters each week. By doing that, Sevenly has created a near-perfect charitable experience for those looking to get involved with new causes.

In addition to all of this, simply wearing your t-shirt will raise awareness for each charity, so Sevenly gives us a fantastic 360 degree experience that starts online, and ends up with a question at the supermarket about your fashionable new shirt.

➤ Sevenly

This weekend, some of the best and brightest minds from 25 locations all over the globe will get together for an event called “Random Hacks of Kindness” to collaborate on solving huge global challenges.

Big named companies and organizations like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NASA, HP, and the World Bank have created this event to invite experts in global issues to collaborate with talented developers and engineers. This year’s hackathon’s attendance should be impressive, according to the venues we spoke with.

Each location is focusing on solving different problems, with San Francisco’s local event taking a look at bicycle commute mapping and emergency drinking water. In San Francisco, Voxeo Labs will be the host. This year, events are being held in cities like Philadelphia, New York, London, Toronto, Tel Aviv, and Zurich. For a full listing of events, check out the Random Hacks of Kindness site.

In recent years, Random Hacks of Kindness events have made an impact on social good by turning out mapping tools to report bushfires, apps to connect food stamp recipients with sources of fresh produce, and visualization tools around landslide risks.

Johnny Diggz, Chief Technology Evangelist for Tropo and founder of Geeks Without Bounds says about “RHoK”:

When disaster strikes, more than ever, people need to communicate and we are excited to see RHoK developers use Tropo to help in crisis situations.

Tropo is a service similar to Twilio, which lets you embed calling and texting features into your own app. Imagine the possibilities for disaster related communications utilizing that technology.

This weekend during Random Hacks of Kindness, some of those possibilities and ideas will become actual working applications thanks to thousands of developers and thought-leaders worldwide.

➤ Random Hacks of Kindness