GiveForward

This summer, GiveForward has a dynamic new team of interns. Let’s get to know this awesome group of people who have been working their butts off to make GiveForward a success.

Guenter Stoeffelbauer- “Koenig of Communications” (Koenig means King in German.)

Guenter is our newest addition to the GiveForward team! From Vienna, Austria, Guenter has joined us in Chicago to be our miracle marketing and communications strategist. He is a volunteer paramedic for the Red Cross Austria, and his hobbies include music, music, and more music. He’s even turned his hobby into a profession. Guenter specializes in music event marketing, management, and consulting.  While also working for radio stations and other businesses, he works on various marketing strategies that will work best for them. Guenter is currently writing his master thesis in communication. At GiveForward,  he will mainly be working on developing our communication/marketing strategy, and helping to organize GiveForward events. (i.e. Run for a Reason!)

Sheila Barden- “President’s Right Hand, Vice President’s Left Hand”

From preparing meetings to returning phone calls, Sheila does a little bit of everything for GiveForward. As a  senior at Loyola-Chicago, she is studying Public relations and Advertising. She grew up in Gaylord, Michigan, where she says being raised in the family business developed her work ethic. She’s obsessed with Michigan State sports, and would definitely go to a sporting event over a concert. Her current favorites are the color pink, chicken gyros, the Food Network, and Uncle Fatty’s Bar. She finds her free time consumed by her new puppy, Roo, who has her running from training classes to walks to the doggy beach. After Roo, her next love is her husband. These high school sweethearts will be celebrating their one-year anniversary this September. (Congrats!) When she “grows up” she aspires to be a special events coordinator for large-scale events and corporations. But that’s nothing compared to her goal for this summer: to buy a two-pound burrito from Chipotle and consume it in one sitting.

“Working for GiveForward has been amazing thus far. I learn about new charities everyday and have fun working in the office. It is heartwarming and makes me look at the world a little differently everyday,” said Sheila.

Erin Sherwood- “Social Media Maven”

Ever notice the GiveForward Twitter or Facebook accounts? That’s all Erin. Among other things, Erin is responsible for everything social media related with GiveForward, so you can thank her for the great Tweets and Facebook messages sent out. She was born in Florida and moved to Buffalo, NY, where she attended the State University of New York in Buffalo for her B.A in Communications. She then moved to Chicago to attend graduate school at Roosevelt University, and is on her way to obtaining her M.S in Integrated Marketing Communications. She hopes to one day move to Miami to work in a Sports & Entertainment Public Relations firm. Erin is a huge fan of shopping, spur of the moment vacations, and feasting on crab legs. (Mmm…)

“The experience thus far has been nothing short of exciting, between scavenger hunts through the city to setting up lemonade stands by the bike path. I enjoy getting to have hands on experience in helping to create a buzz around the organization while experimenting with new ideas to gain new fundraisers and donors. I enjoy the idea that everything we are doing here can easily be applied to any position I may hold in the future,” said Erin.

Erica Trzeciak- “Fundraising Guru”

Most GiveForward users know Erica. (or at least know she’s the girl who sends them all those nice emails) As our fundraising coach, Erica works to make sure users get the most out of their fundraising experience and guides them on the road to a successful project. Holding down as the only true Chicagolander currently on the GiveForward team, Erica grew up in La Grange, IL. She graduated this year from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Psychology. Her current obsessions are the color green, her nine-month old nephew Lucas, football (Bear down!), gummi worms, gummi bears, and gummi peaches. (basically anything in gummi form) She watches travel shows religiously with hopes of one day visiting every continent, and maybe even every country, if her future finances allow it. She has an adorable pet bunny named Pancakes, who gets along well with her 14-year old black Labrador retriever, Trixie.

“I chose GiveForward because I wanted new perspective on giving back to the community.  I’ve done so much work with philanthropy, community service and fundraising on my own, that it’s nice to be helping on a large scale now.  Helping other people help the causes they care about so much is more rewarding than I could have ever imagined, ” said Erica.

Maya Walker- “Lord of the Fiesta”

From creating fliers to choosing table decorations, Maya is kept busy at GiveForward with our huge upcoming fundraising event, Run for a Reason. She’s planning the event, along with an awesome pre-race party. She grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (home of Krispy Kreme and Ben Folds!) and is a junior at Northwestern University in the Creative Writing program. She loves to spend her time sailing, cooking, and dancing, and she is currently in the process of learning how to parallel park. Some favorites include the movie “The Graduate” and Ben and Jerry’s Half-Baked Ice Cream. (clearly, we GiveForward interns have great taste in food.)

“So far, my experience with GiveForward has been an absolute blast! It’s been great working with the other interns and Ethan and Desiree, and I’m looking forward to connecting with some of the smaller non-profits around the city,” said Maya.

Ranjani- “PR/Marketing Extraordinaire”

That’s me! Well, if you’re reading this, you can see that my job entails anything Public Relations related…i.e. things like writing blogs and newsletters and preparing marketing strategies for GiveForward. I grew up in a huge family just outside of Houston, Texas (yes, I say y’all) and am now a sophomore at Northwestern University studying Broadcast Journalism, Political Science, and Religion. I hope to one day become an international news correspondent or documentarian. (i think that’s a word?) I’m a fan of random dance moves, quoting movies, the colors hot pink and bright green, mint chocolate chip ice cream, shoes (what girl doesn’t love shoes?), drawing and painting, theatre, and anything chocolate. Buy me a Three Musketeers bar and I will be your best friend.

My time at GiveForward has been amazing. I’m so glad I can put my skills to use and work for a company that’s redefining the idea of fundraising and giving. It’s been a great learning experience, and as you can see, the intern team, along with Ethan and Desiree, are absolutely wonderful to work with.

Now you know a little bit more about the people who have been working this summer to make GiveForward YOUR fundraising site.

Chuck Pappas is unlike most people you’ll ever meet. He’s created a miniature sanctuary of his own adopted turkeys, goats and chickens. He’s rescued pigs out of the flooding banks of Oakville, Iowa. He’s got the ability to craft anything out of salvaged lumber and hardware and turn it into a work of art…i.e. his coffee table. His friends describe his talent, strength and incredible compassion. But last March, Chuck Pappas was diagnosed with “Grade IV Glioblastoma Multiforme,” a form of brain cancer.

To help out with his medical expenses, Chuck’s friends have decided to walk (or bike) from the Taking Action For Animals Conference in DC to the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down in Watkins Glen, NY this July. They set up the “300 Miles for Chuck” project through GiveForward, and are doing great with fundraising! So far, friends and family from all over have raised close to 34% of the $25,000 goal.

We’re so happy that GiveForward is enabling fundraising for causes like Chuck’s, and hope everyone in the community can be inspired by stories like his. With a supportive community, Chuck Pappas is on his way to enduring the expensive road to recovery. Our thoughts go out to Chuck and his family, and good luck to all participating in his 300-mile walk.

Make those 6 a.m. runs count for something this season. With GiveForward you can raise money for any cause that you care about by participating in Run for a Reason. We’re so excited to be a part of the Chicago Half Marathon and 5K on September 13th, and have set our goal for this Run for a Reason to have 200 runners participate.

Why not get involved? Runners get to choose a cause they care about, and use the site to fundraise towards their goals. You get the satisfaction of raising money, finishing a 5K or half marathon, AND a kick-ass GiveForward t-shirt. (Who could resist that?) Also runners are invited to attend the official GiveForward Run for a Reason party to celebrate with raffles, food, and lots of alcohol.

If you know anyone training for a race this season who might want to participate and make their run more meaningful, be sure to tell them about GiveForward’s Run for a Reason! To get started join our group page at giveforward.org/runforareason or if you know of any Chicago nonprofits that want to start their own fundraising team tell them to email us or visit giveforward.org/groups.html

This week we’re launching the new GiveForward site. (Get excited!) Among all of the changes on the new version of the site, we’re especially thrilled about starting our “Group Pages.” These pages will make it easier for nonprofit organizations, school clubs, and other institutions to fundraise for their cause and have a permanent place here at GiveForward.

How do they work? It’s simple. Groups can set up a page on GiveForward so that any individual can start their own fundraiser to specifically benefit their cause…i.e. marathon runners can choose which GiveForward group to start a project in, and any money raised would go directly to the non-profit of their choice. Even fraternity/sorority members could utilize group pages to easily fundraise directly to their philanthropy.

The purpose of GiveForward groups is to help both institutions and fundraisers. Established institutions have a permanent page, where they can send supporters to start projects for their cause. Fundraisers have one place where they can choose a group they care about, and easily start a project to directly benefit them.

This week we have a special fundraising tip of the week.  We asked one of our users, Amy Cowin, who raised $30,000 on GiveForward for her sister’s kidney transplant to write about her experience and share with everyone how she did it.  Here’s what she had to say:

On April 2, 2009, I donated my left kidney to my one and only sister to save her life. Jessica was in renal failure, also known as kidney failure and needed a transplant. Upon completion of testing, Jessica was cleared for surgery and listed on the transplant list. In hopes that I would be a match to donate one of my kidneys, the hospital did some testing on me. Most of the testing was done, when the hospital called Jessica to let her know that the transplant process was going to be stopped. This meant that until Jessica received Medicaid, which could take at least three months to get or until we could pay for the transplant up front there would be no kidney transplant any time soon. Upon hearing this discouraging news, I jumped into action to start raising some money for the transplant.

Not knowing exactly what to do or where to go to get started raising money, I turned to Facebook. I wrote a somewhat frantic message to a small group of close friends and confidants, specifically chosen based on their various capabilities, knowledge and connections to different facets of the business world. Original message sent on Facebook:

Subject: “NEED HELP ASAP”

“Hi,
I’m sure most of you know that Jessica needs a kidney transplant and she will be taking one of mine. Unfortunately we have had some major problems with insurance and have hit another bump in the road. I need to figure out how to raise some money asap. If any of you know how to do this through Facebook or know of someone who knows how to do this let me know. The insurance will only cover $30,000 and the whole transplant will cost over $100,000. The rest we will have to pay out of pocket, which we definitely do not have. The hospital will not move forward if they don’t think we can pay for the transplant. She cannot wait another 3 months for a kidney.
PLEASE let me know!
Thanks so much,
Amy”

Within three hours I had responses from my friends, some were how they wanted to help me, times we could meet up to figure out ideas and websites to look at, including the one I chose to host my fundraiser, www.giveforward.org. The GiveForward website had everything I needed to start fundraising almost immediately. I spent three intense hours on Give Forward to make sure I had all of the information that the website required, such as a description of why I was fundraising, pictures, where the money would be going, a timeline, and much more. This process helped me strategize, organize and get excited about fundraising; because fundraising is a daunting task, especially for medical purposes.

I wanted to raise up to $100,000 in less than 90 days. In three hours of having the fundraiser published online, I had over $5,000 in donations. I didn’t raise the $100K like I set out to do, but I did raise $30,000 in less than 30 Days. Here are a few of the strategies that helped me raise $30K in 30 Days.

read more…

Last Friday, The Illinois Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center awarded us their $5,000 grant for being a ‘high-growth potential firm.’

We are so excited and honored to receive this grant, and it’s going to be put to great use! The award comes at an especially perfect time for us, since we are in the process of promoting the new version of our site.

On the new site, which launches this July, we are starting specialized “group” pages, where it will now be easier for nonprofit organizations, college and grade school clubs, and other institutions to fundraise for their cause and have a permanent place here at GiveForward.

This award will also help expand our user outreach. With the grant, we can help more individuals fundraising directly to friends and family for meaningful causes, such as medical expenses.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about the changes to come with GiveForward. We’re growing fast and we couldn’t do it without the support of our awesome community!

This story was originally posted on March 5th, 2009 in the CenterTalk Blog by Raman Chadha, the Executive Director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul University.

1 Week. $21,000*. That’s how long it has taken to raise that much money. In one week, a fundraising effort catalyzed, mobilized, and evangelized by social media has already generated over $21,000 in cash donations. All with no cost.

If you have doubted the power of social media and social networking, I humbly ask you to stop doubting. If you have wondered “what good does it do?”, stop wondering. If you’ve asserted that “it’s just a fad”, stop asserting. This story will hopefully change your entire perspective.

Last Wednesday, one of my students approached me before class with the story that a recent DePaul University alumnus, Jessica Cowin, needed a kidney transplant. Jessica’s sister, Amy, had volunteered to donate one of her own kidneys but the surgery bill would amount to $100,000. Of that amount, Jessica’s insurance would only cover $30,000, leaving an incredible sum of money to be paid by a young woman and her family.

So Amy did what any loving family member would do, and should do – she reached out to her network and asked for help. She sent a Facebook message to fellow DePaul students and alumni sharing Jessica’s story. She appealed to them to help out in any way they could. My student was one of those who received that message.

Later in the day, Amy set up a donation page to “Help Jess” at www.giveforward.org/helpjess (BTW, GiveForward.org is a Chicago-based social venture).

She then created a Facebook page and invited, I imagine, all her friends to visit that page, learn more about Jessica’s situation, and make a donation. Within a few hours, I had already received a couple more messages from DePaul students pleading for people to Help Jess.

So on Thursday, I visited the Help Jess page and made a donation. I was surprised to see that over $8,000 in donations were already made…in less than 24 hours. The amounts ranged from $10 to $5,000. It was amazing.

Then I started seeing messages on Twitter. Then I got more emails, Facebook messages, and Twitter replies and direct messages. I was watching the power of social media in real time and for a real benefit.

* * *

I made a donation because I know Jessica fairly well.

She was president of our Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization chapter, for which I am the faculty advisor. She launched a business with her sister, Amy, and worked with the Coleman Center to get it off the ground (to this day, I’m proud that we were also their first customer). She convinced her parents that their business could use some help, and so they, too, became a client of the Coleman Center.

Jessica would regularly stop into our office, with a smile on her face, chatting and networking with our staff, clients, and fellow students. You could find her studying in the lounge area outside our office on a daily basis. We all got to know her very well.

Yet never once did Jessica mention her health issues, which included a heart transplant (yes, you read that right) at the age of 16.

In the middle of all that interaction, consulting help, conversation, and mere physical presence, Jessica never took it upon herself to draw that kind of attention. Her humility and modesty is an example for all of us, young and old.

* * *

But today, she needs the attention, and the power of social media has given it to her. Family, friends, and complete strangers have come together to save a life. But we haven’t come together in a physical way. We didn’t attend a fundraiser or have someone approach us at our homes or offices. These “fads” called social networking and social media brought us all together.

They brought us together to make a difference in a span of time that is mind-boggling. And I’m asking you to continue this amazing effort, and to Help Jess.

Please visit www.giveforward.org/helpjess and help in any way you possibly can. Almost $50,000 is still needed to Help Jess.

A donation of any size will help us move towards the certainty that a young person’s life can be saved. And after making that donation, tell your friends, family, and complete strangers to do the same. Use your voice, use your email, use your iPhone, use your Facebook, and use your Twitter.

Together, we can not only Help Jess, but we can Save Jess.

www.giveforward.org/helpjess

* editor’s note. Since this article was originally published Amy and Jessica’s fundraising total has reached $25,626

We just wanted to thank everyone who participated in last weekend’s Run for a Reason in NYC. We had about 25 runners join us in the 5 mile run through Central Park. Through your AWESOME efforts you all helped raise $13000 for 13 different charities and causes. Overall, it was a great weekend and we look forward to next year’s run!

Here are a few pictures from the event.  You can check out the rest of the album on Facebook

On October 26th 2008 GiveForward will be in New York ‘running for a reason’ to raise money for our favorite charities in the Poland Springs New York Marathon Kickoff Fun Run.

We aren’t in good enough shape to run the NY Marathon, but we’re pretty confident we can conquer a five mile fun run through Central Park. The idea behind ‘Run for a Reason’ is that unlike most charity races where everyone runs for the same charity, with this event, you get to run for the charity or cause that is most important to YOU.

If you are interested in joining us, send us an email (ethan@giveforward.org) and let us know, sign up for your GF fundraising page, and make sure to register for the race before Oct 11th. It’s $25 to register. $30 after the 11th. You can register at http://www.nyrr.org/races/2008/r1026x00.asp

Hope to see you all out there!

If you read “The Three Ps to Successful Fundraising“, you probably already know that spreading the word to friends and family about your fundraising effort is critical to reaching your fundraising goal. But what you might not know is that there is a right way and a wrong way to spread the word to your peeps. You have to promote strategically if you plan on raising lots of money for your cause. This blog post explains how.

The Wrong Way. I guess it makes sense to first start off by telling you what not to do. What you don’t want to do is set up your fundraising page and then IMMEDIATELY send a mass email to everyone you know asking them to donate. Sending a mass email to start off your campaign sounds intuitive, but in fact, this is a bad idea. No bueno amigo.

It’s not that mass emails are necessarily bad. In fact, mass emails are a great tool and SHOULD be used. It’s just that sending the mass email should be the LAST step you take, not the first.

Here’s why:

First, mass emails are impersonal. People don’t feel as compelled to donate when they receive a mass email. People respond much much much more positively when they receive a phone call or a personalized email that is directed towards them.

Second, if you send out a single mass email to everyone you know, you have no control over who donates first. Why does it matter who donates first? Well, it has to do with the law of monkey see, monkey do.

When people come to your fundraising page, they check out the donor list to see the average donation size. Then they donate a similar amount. If they see that most people are donating between $50-$100, then they will likely donate between $50-$100. On the other hand, if they check out your donor list and see that most people are donating between $5-$10, then they’ll probably donate $5-$10 too.

By contacting all your friends, family, co-workers and schoolmates at the same time with a single mass email, you’re leaving your fundraising campaign entirely up to chance, as you’ll have no control over who donates first. For all you know, your first few donations might be from people who give you $5 or $10 prompting subsequent donors to donate equally small amounts and making it hard for you to ever reach your fundraising goal.

To summarize, mass emails can be a very useful tool to reach out to lots of people. However, the mass email should always be the last step, not the first!

The Right Way. The right way to promote your fundraising page, is to use what I oh-so-modestly call “Ethan’s Super-Awesome Strategic Fundraising Model”. In short, what you’re going to want to do is to categorize your potential donors into different groups and then contact them over a period of weeks starting with your Big Guns (i.e. those likely to donate the largest amounts) first.

STEP ONE: Subdividing Your Contact List

The first step in creating a strategic fundraising campaign is to break down your potential donors into three different groups.

Group One: Your Base

The first group is your base. Your base consists of parents, grandparents, spouses, aunts and uncles, godparents and siblings. These are your BIG GUNS — the people you know will donate to your campaign and are likely to be the most generous with their contributions.

Group Two: Your Semi-Awesomes (more awesome than 99% of the rest of the world, but a little less awesome than your base)

This second group consists of friends, extended family, family friends, and co-workers. A good number of these people will donate to your campaign as well, but they might not be quite as generous as your base and it might take a few requests before they all donate.

Group Three: Your Stretch Group

Your third group of potential donors is your “stretch” group. This group consists of facebook friends, friends of friends and other acquaintances. These people probably won’t donate the first or even second time you ask them, but with a little persistence you can probably win over a good number of these fine folks as well.

STEP TWO: Contacting Your Subgroups

After you’ve broken down potential donors into three groups, the next step is to begin contacting your base. Since you probably speak to most of these people on a regular basis, it’s best to call them first and ask them to contribute to your fundraising effort before you send them an email. By calling them first, they’ll be quicker to donate once they actually get your email request.

What’s nice about handpicking your first few donors is if they all give you nice big fatty $100 or $200 donations, subsequent donors will follow their lead and donate similar amounts, or at least amounts somewhat close to that range.

Once you’ve raised a good bit of money from your base (which could take anywhere from a few days to about a week) you should begin contacting your Semi-Awesomes. You can call these people on the phone if you are close with them and have the time. If you don’t have time to call, sending them personal emails requesting that they donate should be sufficient.

Continue emailing individuals and/or sub-groups of people (e.g. college buddies, high school buddies, co-workers) on your list. After about half of your semi-awesomes have donated. You can begin to email your “stretch group” of Facebook friends and acquaintances. Again, keep going down the list and don’t stop until you’ve contacted everyone you know.

STEP THREE: Rinse and Repeat

Once you’ve contacted everyone once, it’s time to rinse and repeat. Even close friends and family “forget” to donate right away so you’ll have to keep reminding them, often three, four, five or even six times before they donate. But don’t get too frustrated. Persistence always pays off and if your friends and family like you even a little bit, they’ll almost certainly come through for you in the clutch!