How To Use Twitter For Your NonProfit or Charity

DO YOU TWITTER?

Twittering is a way millions of people connect - in 140 characters or less by answering the question. What are you doing?

Simple and effective.

Here are some of the ways nonprofits and government agencies could use Twitter in their work, along with real examples and ideas

# Providing information and tips - ex: eDiets, womenshealth, Health News
# Providing motivational support - ex: Qwitter (smoking cessation), Twitter PT Challenge (fitness)
# Creating a social support network - ex: Frozen Pea community, Back in Skinny Jeans (weight loss), mental health, Traineo (fitness/weight loss)
# Fundraising - ex: 1PinkRibbon, Frozen Pea Fund, Beth Kanter/Sharing Foundation
# Responding to disasters - ex: San Diego fires, safeandwell (American Red Cross), InSTEDD (Google.org + Rockefeller Fdn), general emergencies
# Tracking activities or readings - Tweet What You Eat (food diary), SugarStats (diabetes), gtFtr (exercise), pain diary, My Mile Marker (fuel economy)

Thanks to Nedra Weinreich for posting this on her blog...go to it to read more.
Nedra is a consultant, author and speaker working in the field of social marketing

Unique and Ambitious Charity Idea

At Charity Intersection we are always on the lookout for promising new charity ideas. We recently ran across this intersting post on the forum "Personal Development for Smart People":


Hi, I have come up with an idea recently that I have been thinking about for ways to help less blessed people and animals then us, below is a copy of the e-mail I have been sending out to colleges in the country, right now I am just sending it out to all the colleges athletic directors, and volunteer clubs in hopes that they would forward it to all the schools athletic teams and sports clubs I would really like to hear your opinions on how I could improve this and ways to get it out there better. I have been thinking that I need to find an online volunteering organization that could devot several people to it, but I haven't found one yet btw, ok here it is.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, I'm a student that has been recently thinking about ways to help less fortunate people and animals, I have come up with an idea that I think could really impact thousands and hopefully millions of lives, along with raising money for the organizations providing the services.

It started with an idea I had for my rugby team to raise money, I proposed the idea of walking dogs for money, we would raise money for our team by fund-raising on the idea that for every dollar donated to the team we would walk one dog at the local shelter.

This works time wise because if the average team or other organization has 40 people each person would only have to volunteer once every 4 or 5 weeks. This breaks down like this, 4 people on a team would go for three hours to the shelter were they could each take 9 dogs for a walk or run for 20 minutes. This would allow 32 dogs to be walked during that time, if the team volunteered twice a week then each volunteer would only have to go to the shelter once every 5 weeks for 3 hours, but 64 dogs could be walked every week.

Each team could print out a single paper handout to be given to each member with the idea for the fund raising to show to the potential givers, or they could set up a stand in the union building, I think around campus students would gladly give up to 5 dollars for such a cause and faculty and other older members of the community would probably give up to 20 or more dollars.

I think teams could easily raise 5,000 dollars each semester for there organization and bigger teams such as football teams with 100 men on the roster could easily raise much more. All this money could go to the teams for their personal use as the dogs would still be getting walked or other services provided at the shelters or they could agree to donate part of the earnings to the ASPCA or other charity, I think 20-60 % of donations should be stressed to give to the ASPCA or other charities as the team would still have a significant financial benefit.

I then started getting the idea that I could e-mail this plan to every colleges athletic director, and volunteer organization, in hopes that they would forward it to all the schools sports teams, and college clubs such as the rugby club and geology club, it could also be e-mailed to all the churches in the community.

Here are a list of some of the potential recipients of this idea via e-mail
Every college in the U.S
Every church in the U.S
Every high school and middle school in the U.S
All the major newspapers,

In the future it's possible that this e-mail could also be translated and e-mailed to every University in the world, church, etc...

I have also thought about including other charitable causes to include in the E-mail as to give all the organizations receiving it, more choices for charitable causes to raise money, such as for every dollar donated we will spend 30 minutes in a children's hospital, or for every dollar donated we will serve five meals at a local soup kitchen etc.

I think the list should have about 10 or so other charitable ideas, because every sports team and club of a University couldn't possibly volunteer at the ASPCA or humane shelters there would simply be too many people. Some of the charities I was thinking about putting on it were, Children's Hospitals, Homeless and Abuse shelters, Orphanages, Big Brother organizations, the ASPCA, the Humane society, Camps for blind children, local Environmental causes, Soup kitchens.

Ideas or Help with this?

Sincerely,

Angelo Leon


Ed Note: Charity Intersection would be extremely interest to see if this idea has taken flight.

Here's A Switch - Dogs Give To Humans

Dogs are everywhere.

On Beartrap Meadow atop Casper Mountain, mushers, dogs and winter sports enthusiasts gather to raise money through Canines for Charity, an annual event hosted and sponsored by Timbermist Tracks Kennels.

Mushers pay entrance fees and friends and family sponsor sled teams. Money raised goes to the Arc of Natrona County, a non-profit organization in Casper that provides services and programs for people with developmental disabilities.

Ed. note: This is a great way to introduce family to the joys of giving and the discipline of animals and competition. Charity Intersection's hats off to the participants and organizers of this event.

Are We In A Recession?

Are we coming into a recession? The media and political pundits would like us to think so. Yet, I'm still buying stuff, still making some money, still giving to charity...It makes me wonder if some of this "chicken little" thinking is made up by the news media because it is a slow news day or maybe it is a good safe thing for the presidential candidates to talk about.

Let's not get too carried away with this type of thinking...as Abraham Hicks says,"When you think a little thought of something you are wanting, by Law of Attraction that thought grows larger and larger and more and more powerful. When you think a thought of something you are not wanting, that Law of Attraction adds unto it and it grows larger and larger also. So the larger it grows, the more power it draws unto it, then the more certain you are to receive the experience, you see."

A man lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes so he read no newspaper, nor did he watch TV. But, he sold great hot dogs. He put a sign up on the highway telling how great they were. He stood by the side of the road and cried, Hey, You, want to buy a great hot dog? And people came and they bought. So, he increased his meat and bun order. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. Then one day his son came home from college to help him. His son said, Dad, havent you heard the news about the recession? The economy is really bad. The unemployment situation is terrible. The energy situation is worse.

Whereupon the hot dog man thought, Well my sons been to college. He reads the newspapers and listens to the radio, he ought to know. So the father cut down on his meat and bun order. He took down his advertising signs. He no longer bothered to stand by the side of the road and yelled, Wanna buy my hot dogs? And his hot dog sales fell almost over night. Youre right son. The hot dog man said to his boy. We certainly are in the middle of a bad recession!

Shop The Bunny For Celebrity Charity T-Shirts

Stars Design T-Shirts For Charity



Iggy Pop, Duran Duran and Daft Punk are among the musicians who have designed T-shirts with their own take on the world-famous Playboy magazine 'bunny' logo for the 2008 Playboy Rock The Rabbit T-shirt series.

The shirts will be sold at Bloomingdales & at The Playboy Bunny Shop.
The original designs will be sold at auction with proceeds going to Rock The Vote, an organization which encourages young Americans to get involved in the political process.

Another Way To Give WIthout Money - $1 To Upload Your Smile

Duracell will donate one dollar for every photo you upload of your child to Mattel Children's Hospital
go to Power a Smile

Limit 5 photos per person, per day. Five Bucks a day - that is significant, people.
Get uploading!

Newsweek Publishes 50 Most Generous

The holidays are the time of year when most of us start thinking about giving, but to a true philanthropist, give is a year round obsession. Entire teams of people work to get money into the appropriate hands.

Newsweek has published the top 50 most generous philanthropists over the last 5 years. You will see Warren Buffet tops the list and right behind him, Bill and Linda Gates. The Waltons are there along with many names you won't recognize. It's interesting to note where the wealthy are spending their charity dollars. Education is a primary recipient. It would be even better if we could actually see how the money is being spent.

You can find the list here