GiveForward

Want a free iPad? We know you do! Here’s how to win one:

“Like” GiveForward on Facebook. This should be easy since we already know you like us just from being a user on our site Go to our new GiveForward page on Facebook and “like” us.  This will automatically enter you into a drawing for a brand new iPad.  After you have done this, get extra chances to win (and extra brownie-points on our radar of awesomeness) by telling us what Giving Forward means to you on our Facebook wall.

Thanks for helping us cross over to our new Facebook page so we can keep all of our Giveasauruses in one central place and part of the GiveForward community!

… more details here

When you add updates to your GiveForward page, you can now upload a picture to go along with the update. This is great for a couple reasons:

- Did you know… the update you create gets sent to your donors? So any image that you upload with the update will be included with the email that goes out.

- If you’re creating an update to your donors about an upcoming local event you’re organizing, you could add an image of the poster/flier you created for the offline event.

- Updating your friends and family about any changes in the beneficiary’s well-being are greatly enhanced if you include a picture of them while visiting with loved ones in the hospital, for example.

- Any photo that is uploaded to an update is automatically added to the photo gallery on your GiveForward page! This makes it a lot easier to add recent pictures to the page along with the update in one easy step!

We’re super excited to roll out a new feature that so many of you have asked for– you can now keep track of the emails sent through the GiveForward site.  This means that in your user account, you will have your very own address book and message history to help you arrange and manage all the invitations you send to your friends and family telling them about your GiveForward page!

The address book will allow you to import your contacts from an outside mail provider, like Gmail, Yahoo or MSN.  You can keep all your friends and family organized in the same place as your donors.  This allows you to send messages that are designed specifically for certain groups of people, so that you can make more personalized invitations, thank you messages, and reminders.

The message history will allow you to track what messages were sent for each fundraiser.  This organization of messages will help you in seeing what messages you have already sent and to what groups of people you have sent them to.

GiveForward is hiring summer interns for our Chicago office, and we’re looking to you- our users- to help us find the perfect candidates!  Know someone in the Chicagoland area that’s looking to start their career in Marketing, Public Relations or Communications? Tell them about us!  You can send them to our super-duper professional job posting.  Okay. I lied. Nothing with a picture of an evil monkey has ever been considered professional. But that’s just one more reason to want to work for GiveForward. It’s a healthy balance of important work and a light-hearted atmosphere of intelligent individuals who like to goof-off every now and then.

P.S. We race each other around the office on big bouncy balls on a regular basis. Marty usually wins.

Organizers of fundraising pages can now manage how often and what type of notifications are received when fundraisers receive donations or hugs.  You can now opt to receive email updates after each donation, a daily summary with all the donations and hugs from the day, or a weekly summary of all the donations and hugs from the week.  You can opt to receive all three or just the one that is most suitable for your preferences. You will be able to change your option whenever you want, so if you decide that the option you chose was not ideal, you can always go back and switch your notification option.

This option will be available to you under the “Manage This Fundraiser” column in your user dashboard for your fundraising page when you log in to your account.  It will be the last item in the list of options for you to update and edit your fundraising page.

May 4th is World Give Day, the one day of the year that is fully dedicated to giving- whether it’s performing a random act of kindness, donating to a good cause, or taking part in community service. Asking your friends and family to support your GiveForward page is the perfect way to encourage them to participate in World Give Day, especially because of the World Give Day fundraising competition to win an extra $750 for your fundraiser.  But there are many ways to take part in this movement of global giving thanks to small scale acts of generosity. Read about them here.

The GF team is going to be giving out free hugs all day, how are you going to participate in World Give Day?

Today is the day to start promoting your fundraiser to compete in the official 7 Days to World Give Day Fundraising Competition to win an extra $750 for your fundraising efforts.  Unfortunately, the prize won’t come in a cute little stack of money with a bow on it like this visual display.  (In all seriousness, the GiveForward team will donate $750 directly to the winning fundraising page on May 5th when the winner is announced).

Starting April 28th, the fundraisers that raises the most money throughout the course of 7 full days will win an extra $750 for their fundraiser.  Each day we will post the leaderboard here so you can track the standings of the Top Ten fundraisers.  Even if you’re not always at the number one spot… keep promoting your heart out– there may even be a super secret prize to another lucky fundraiser if we’re really letting the spirit of World Give Day get to our heads *wink*

This is the time to gather your friends and tell the masses!  You only have 7 days to win this competition, so don’t waste any time! Promote your page by asking everyone to help be a part of World Give Day 2011 by giving to your fundraiser and in doing so, helping you win $750.  The more money you raise, the better chance you have at being crowned the King (or Queen) of World Give day 2011!

Winner of the World Give Day Competition

The 7 days leading up to World Give Day were exciting ones as each day it seemed a new leader was in the #1 spot every time we checked the leaderboard.  We were happy to see all the generosity and love that poured out i n honor of World Give Day to all of the deserving fundraisers on the site.

GiveForward is very pleased to announce that the winner of the World Give Day fundraising competition is:

Brian Corbett Recovery Fund

April 18th 2011, Brian Corbett from Fort Lauderdale, FL, was injured in a terrible car accident that unfortunately took the lives of two of his friends.  Brian and two others were lucky to survive, but were seriously injured.  At only 18 years old, Brian is fighting for his life as he suffered  neck and spine injuries and now remains in critical care.  The huge network of support that has come together to help the Corbett family is truly inspiring.

This fundraiser was started by Brian’s cousin, Rob who lives in New York.  Starting this GiveForward page was a way for Rob to organize this community of support even though he was so far away.  This solidifies the idea that distance doesn’t mean you can’t show your love and come together to help a family in need. Congratulations; we send our well wishes and LOTS of positive vibes to the entire Corbett family.

Brian’s fundraiser will be awarded an extra $750 to his page in honor of World Give Day.

During the 7 days days leading up to World Give Day on May 4th, we’re holding a fundraising competition since we’re going to be in such a giving mood.  The lucky fundraiser that raises the most money between April 28th and May 4th will be awarded  an extra $750 towards their efforts!  Read all about it here.

If you have an active fundraiser, be on the look-out for an email from your fundraising coach giving you some tips on how to effectively promote your page as part of World Give Day.  In the meantime, make sure that your page has an end date after May 4th.  Since we will be posting the results and the winning fundraiser, fundraisers that are marked as private will be ineligible.  You can edit both of these by clicking “Edit” or choosing one of the options under “Manage This Fundraiser”.

If you would like some help, contact your fundraising coach with any questions Good luck & happy fundraising!

Check the leaderboard to see if you’re in the top ten!

Inspired by the daily hug that every GiveForward staff member gives out to lucky fundraisers, now everyone who visits your page will be able to send you positive vibes and show their support!

On every GiveForward page, there will now be a tab labeled, “Hugs”, where friends and family can send some love to the fundraiser for everyone to see.  So be on the look-out for the warm fuzzies that are coming your way in addition to all the generous donations.  Your community of support will just keep on growing!  And feel free to spread the love too- leave some words of encouragement for other fundraisers on the site- think about how nice it would feel to get a virtual hug from a fellow fundraiser

Get out there and get hugging!

Two lucky GiveForward fundraisers have competed against hundreds of other projects to fight their way to the final round of the GiveForward March Madness Fundraising Competition to win extra $ for their fundraising efforts! We are so proud to call these two our first March Madness winners, and they are more than deserving of the title

Super Jordan – Winner of $750!

“1 1/2 year old, Jordan, is battling Leukemia. The funds will be used for Jordan’s medical costs & related expenses not covered by insurance.  Jordan’s journey began on 10/24/10, when he was diagnosed with a bacterial bone infection in his leg. A few weeks later, on 11/8, they received the life-shattering news that their precious 16-month-old had leukemia.”

Saving Simon – Winner of $250!

“Simon’s mommy is raising money to help pay for surgery to help give him many more happy, healthy years to share.  Simon has a bladder stone that has become lodged in his urethra. It cannot be dissolved, and must be surgically removed. This is a life-threatening ailment that must be treated as soon as possible.”