Living life with vision
The first time I applied for a car loan, the loan officer at the credit union did everything he could to discourage me. And I quote, “buying a car is like throwing money down a hole.” After being stranded on the side of the road many times by my prized Mustang, I already knew that!
Thanks Dad, for the Mustang, and the link to this video! (BTW, the car I bought with that loan – a Ford Tempo. Not quite as glamorous!)
It’s been a little over a week since the Twestival and the donations are tallying up. Over $250,000 has been raised for charity: water, a non profit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries.
Many of the events were small networking parties, bringing together people who normally only correspond via the web, specifically the microblogging site Twitter. I was not able to attend any of the live events, as the closest one to me was two hours away. But I did participate by making a small donation via the TipJoy online donation system.
(Not familiar with Twitter? Marc Pitman has a great introduction, Twitter for Nonprofits and Fundraising. If you’re a member, or become one, follow me: @sandrasims)
Here’s a few links to the headlines that this event generated:
Twestival Raises Over $250K and Counting Amanda Rose (@Amanda), the global organizer of Twestival, discusses the results of the fundraiser and next steps.
Toronto Twestival had a rocky start planning, but on event night there were over 450 attendees and raised over $10,000 for charity: water.
L.A.’s Twestival bring hipsters, websters and Tay Zonday Los Angeles Times reports on that city’s event (@twestival_LA)
Twestival-goers meet face-to-face BBC Scotland reports on Edinburgh’s Twestival (@EdTwestival) which attracted about 250 people for live music and socializing, raising over $3500.
London Twestival: Wigs, beer and hotpants at a very real world meet-up the Guardian (@guardiannews) reports on London event
More: View entries tagged twestival via Tweetag or search for Twestival pages on Twitter.
Did you participate in the Twestival? I’d love to hear your take on it. Post your comments below.
Watching the news and the latest on the stimulus bill. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports on how this impacts nonprofits in Senate-Passed Stimulus Bill Does Not Include Philanthropy Measures:
The economic-stimulus package passed by the Senate today does not include a number of measures that nonprofit and foundation leaders had proposed to help ease the impact of the recession on the philanthropic world.
Interplast is an organization that champions a great cause — helping children with serious medical needs. They provide free life-changing surgery for children and adults with cleft palette or disabling burns and hand injuries. You can see their website here and then the blog is here. They use the blog to share stories of the people who volunteer in the medical procedures and after care.
Kivi Leroux Miller interviewed Liliana Vazquez, Interplast’s Communications and Technology Coordinator, about their blog. She shares what their goals are with blogging, how they get people to write posts and handle comments. You can read that interview here: Nonprofit Blogger Q&A with One of My Favorites.
This was the subject line in an email that I got this week from RocketMail.
What if they had a recession and nobody came?
It has been well documented that in every prior time of economic stress, only those companies who engaged in aggressive marketing were able to prosper.
I love it. While the scary truth is that we are in the toughest economy in recent memory, it’s not a time to stop moving forward. It’s just time to be more creative. Which is why it’s such great timing that blogging and social media have come of age. These are inexpensive tools that can bring in loads of publicity, advance a cause or mission or of course market a product.
