Monday, January 25, 2010

Jack the Donkey and support your Favourite Charity...




Can time spent online translate into real world action? That’s the big idea behind JackTheDonkey.com.

Be you rich or poor—in good times and in bad, most of us care about and take up the fight for some kind of cause or another. Be it helping to raise money to assist the survivors in Haiti, raising awareness for the work of Hospice, supporting research to help children with cancer, fighting for the environment, or Aids in Africa, there's now a way to show it online... just by surfing the web and being social.

JackTheDonkey is a recently launched people powered charity enabling web site built to make supporting a cause - any cause - social, interactive, engaging, fun and most importantly, easy. Yes easy. Just by doing what you do online every single day - click, post, upload, and share with each other in social networks - millions can help raise much-needed funds for any organization they care about, to the tune of 1.1 cents each and every impression.

In development for just under a year, Katz has been actively talking and listening to the non-profit and corporate worlds as well to the broader public in terms of what will get people motivated to give a poop regularly, and what will help charities in what is clearly a time of need.

"Coming from a long family history of activism and volunteerism, I realized that Jack The Donkey is what I call my Grandfather's Legacy 2.0," says David Katz, Jack's proud creator and father. "My grandfather, Jonathan Miller, created one of the first "Fun Runs" in Toronto and spearheaded countless other community projects in his time. This is my way of turning a lifelong ambition of activism and outreach and putting it out there in a way myself and millions of others who spend their best hours online can relate to."

Do you care about the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada? Alex's Lemonade Stand? Best Friends Animal Society? or The New Orleans Area Habitat For Humanity?

Set up your own personal cause profile on JackTheDonkey.com and you're on your way to supporting the cause—just by being social. It's simple and effective.

Plug In America, The MS Society of Canada and The Ontario Special Olympics are just a few of the 2 dozen non-profits from Canada, The US and The UK now on Jack.

Intended as a general purpose social network, JackTheDonkey.com takes a soft sell approach to keeping the charities top of mind among existing supporters while trickling into the consciousness of potential supporters.

“The response from the public and non-profit sector has been tremendous.  I am optimistic that once more people hear about what we’ve been launching, coupled with key components being rolled out in the New Year, that Jack's virtual world will drive the changes we hope to achieve in the real world," says Katz. "If Jack can get you to fall in love with these organizations and the people helping run them, my mission is accomplished."

For further information, visit JackTheDonkey.com,

We think this is a novel idea worth talking about. Cheers to David Katz, he is an emerging New Radical. What about you? Do you have any innovative ideas that if executed could help clean up the planet, tap into the power of Social Media to enable everyday people like you and me help people in your local community or in distant parts of the world who really need our help??

Let us know, we just might write about it here and tap into the powers that be and send the shout out.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Toronto breaks fundraising record for United Way. T.O. Ranked number one fundraiser in North America!





TORONTO — In a time of great uncertainty and heightened need, the people of Toronto have responded with a stunning demonstration of community commitment and compassion, United Way President and CEO Frances Lankin said tonight as the charity announced a record fundraising achievement of $109 Million.
Historic result surpasses United Way campaign goal by $1.5-million
United Way Toronto's 2009 Campaign surpassed the $107.5-million goal it set in the fall by $1.5-million. Lankin read out a letter from Brian Gallagher President and CEO of United Way Worldwide, congratulating United Way Toronto for having the largest campaign achievement in North America last year.

“With the city in recession last year and uncertain times ahead, the pressure on people and families is great. The community responded with compassion and unparalleled generosity helping United Way reach its highest achievement ever,” Lankin said. “We're here tonight to thank everyone who stood with us and stood with the community from the beginning,” she said.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”



Lankin was joined by United Way's Campaign Chair, Bill Downe, President and CEO BMO Financial Group.
“When people living in Toronto need help, more often than not, it's a United Way agency that gets the call.  It takes a lot of money to fund these agencies — it also takes the dedication of many people and volunteers.  They and the people they serve bring meaning to our campaign efforts” said Downe. “On behalf of the Campaign Cabinet, I would like to thank every donor – you have shown great kindness and given so much to help make the work of United Way agencies possible.”
Lankin noted that tonight's event was the capstone on a week of achievements for United Way. She pointed to significant progress in United Way's Building Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy with the opening of the first Community Hub in Eglinton East/Kennedy Park, the first of eight hubs planned for the priority neighbourhoods.
“This campaign reminded us that united we can make a difference in our city. But we most certainly can't do it alone,” said Lankin. “In 2009, we were reminded that tough times bring out the best in people, and the unwavering generosity and commitment of the thousands who worked so hard this year for their community will go a long way to strengthen the social fabric that unites us all.”

CBC Broadcaster and host of CBC Radio's Here and Now, Matt Galloway hosted the dinner held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The money raised will provide stable funding to United Way's network of 200 health and social service agencies across Toronto that are providing the urgent services people need most during tough economic times. Funds from the 2009 campaign will also support United Way's long term efforts to strengthen the 13 priority neighbourhoods through its Building Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy.
Established in 1956, United Way Toronto is a charity working to advance the common good and create opportunities for a better life for everyone in our city. Working in partnership with others, we mobilize people and resources to address the root causes of social problems and to change community conditions for the better. United Way supports agencies that provide services to strengthen individuals, families, and communities.

We think it is fantastic that Toronto ranked so high on the North American scale of things. That says a lot about the character and dedication of Torontonians. What do you think?

Did you contribute to the United Way campaign or other community support organizations in 2009? Do you have any plans to set aside some money and or time to help out your local community in 2010?

At FRANK, we are passionate about great ideas that drive social purpose. We love breaking new ground, combining great ideation with innovative technology and using it all to leverage the power of social media to successfully drive these ideas forward. Do you have any great, unique or highly original fundraising ideas that tap into the power of the community to achieve wonderful things for the greater good?

Feel free to share with us your ideas and experiences. Currently we are working on some terrific mobile applications that for a very, very low cost will really help drive the efforts of the social purpose crowd. Maybe there is a way we can leverage some of those tools to help support you and your cause. Give us a call or send us an e-mail.

To find out more about the Building Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy, read the coverage the United Way received in last Saturday's Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/751444--13-neighbourhoods-in-need


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Media contact:
Caitlin Stidwill
United Way Toronto
Desk - 416 777 1444 ex 396
Mobile - 416-525-5632
cstidwill@uwgt.org

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Aviva Community Fund : Five days to go



Aviva Community Fund wants to support what's important to you by helping you make a positive change in your community. If you're interested in changing Canada for the better, you're in the right place.

How the Competition Works:
Create an idea that will have a positive impact in your community. Enter it in the Aviva Community Fund competition and get your friends, family and everyone you know to vote for it. The most popular ideas will have a chance to be funded with the $500,000 Aviva Community Fund

Ideas have come in that confront a variety of challenges.


Competition Timeline:
The voting is over now, but it is worth noting how the process went. Ideas came in and have already competed for a spot in the Semi-Finals over 3 rounds of voting that took place from October 13th and November 29th. During those rounds, Canadians voted to select the semi-finalists. The most popular ideas from these 3 rounds competed in a Semi-Final round run up until December 16th.

The top ideas, as selected by you and vetted through the judges, will receive funding through the Aviva Community Fund.

How will ideas be evaluated?

The Judging panel will evaluate the 25 finalist ideas based on these criteria:
  • Impact: How deeply are people impacted by this idea, and how urgent is the need? How many people will this idea benefit, and will it be compelling for a broad audience?

  • Likelihood of Success: Is there a high probability of speedy and successful execution of this idea?

  • Longevity & Sustainability: How long will the Idea's impact last? Will this Idea require regular funding beyond the initial request? If so, is there a plan to obtain additional funding? Note that regular funding beyond the initial request will result in lower scores unless there is a feasible plan to obtain ongoing funding from other sources.

  • Originality: How novel is the idea?

  • Submission Quality: How much effort went into the quality of the idea entry? Was it well thought through and clearly explained?

Winners will be announced on January 25th, 2010.

All of the ideas are wonderful, but only a handful can win. Our fingers are crossed for the Children's Storefront. The Children’s Storefront was originally conceived as a toy exchange and play centre and was Ontario's first Child-Parent Centre.

For over 35 years, it has distinguished itself as a space that brings parents and children together in a helpful and sustaining environment for them both. Since there were no scheduled programs and predictable daytime hours, families could come whenever they were able and stay for as long as they liked and needed to.

It was a vital community resource for families. Whether it was having somewhere to go on a rainy day that is free of charge to having a resource in the community that aids in preventing the isolation that many of us can feel - especially when our children are small. For parents and care givers, it was a place to find support, commiserate, socialize, share parenting ideas and stories, and hear each other’s strategies for raising our children.

On the morning of October 31st, fire broke out in the apartment building above The Children's Storefront, located at 1079 Bathurst Street in Toronto. As a result of structural damage caused by the blaze, the building was demolished. The Children's Storefront, which has provided much needed community support for families, children and care givers for over 30 years is now gone—forced to rebuild at another location or close its doors forever. This has been a devastating event for the whole community. It is our hope that this organization is one of the lucky ones selected by the jury for funding.

Sign up today and be one of the first to discover who gets funded.

The Aviva Community Fund is an awesome and innovative use of social media and online community building tools employed to the benefit of a social purpose. Have you seen or do you know of any other novel and innovative ways that individuals, companies, community groups and not for profit organizations are harnessing the power of social media and technology to fund important projects in your community?

Tell us about it. If we report on your story, we'll give you full credit and post a link to your story.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The power of Design to inform, influence, pursuade and affect positive change

Please Recycle

Design functions to organize, clarify, persuade, add dimension and depth to an otherwise ubiquitous idea. Good design will simplify and facilitate our everyday life, enable us to accomplish our tasks more effectively, and help us to enjoy the details along the way.

For the past two years, FRANK has participated in a wonderful program sponsored by the Design Exchange, the Ontario Arts Council and TD Bank Financial called Designers in the Classroom. Designers from across the city are dispatched by the design exchange to lead a class in a curriculum based project that centres around design.

Each participating designer leads the students through the program with the assistance of the classroom teacher and the Design Exchange. During the program, students learn about form and function, as well as the general principles of design. Each designer provides a context by presenting examples in art and design history as well as contemporary art and design works, and leads their students through a project. Each project follows the design process and includes the development of a portfolio of preliminary sketches and drawings leading to a final prototype.

The culmination of this program is an exhibition of the student-produced work at the Design Exchange. This exhibition also highlights the designers through a profile and photo of the work currently being produced in their practice. The exhibition is a great opportunity for all of the students and their families to see the work on display.

For the second consecutive year, FRANK sent Richard Carmichael out to a local public school in the Toronto Area, to engage with the community and participate the program. This year Richard lectured at Orde Street Public School in Toronto. He partnered up with Ms. Karen Hughes and lectured to her Grade 2/3 class about the evidence of design all around us. How it permeates our lives on every level. How it impacts us. He talked about its power to inform, to inspire, to influence and to affect positive change in an embattled world. How anybody, no matter how small, has the ability to take on a challenge and make a meaningful difference.

An essential part of this curriculum is media literacy which involves understanding graphic design, what forms it might might take, the language we use and where they might encounter examples of it: (um, its everywhere!) TV, video games, movie posters, movies, videos, billboards, transit shelters, bus and subway ads, newspapers, magazines, brochures, pamphlets, packaging, point of purchase display items, the internet and all of its myriad of channels—YouTube, Flickr, Facebook etc.

In an early lesson we discussed the components of a good public awareness campaign. We talked about TV, Radio, Advertising, posters, direct mail, print campaigns, online ads etc. We then narrowed the focus down to one item in a campaign, like an ad or a poster and explored the potential of this as a medium for delivering a message or influencing people and/or behaviors. We studied some examples together and then had the kids review some other examples in groups and present their thoughts to the class. Discussing all of the elements. Visual Image, overall message, headline, subheads and body or descriptive copy, logos etc.

Then we introduced the topic of our natural environment. Asking the students about all of the things that make up the environment we live in and why all living things around us are important. We talked a little bit about the forests, the trees, the oceans, lakes and rivers and natural habitats for wildlife. Then moved on to discuss wildlife, urban life and how the two have evolved over time and are now often in conflict with each other.

We talked about how the ever expanding civilization of the human race comes at the expense of the natural environment. How it has come so far that the health and safety of our environment, natural habitats and living things are being threatened by our own progress. We discussed some examples of that like how logging in the forests takes habitat away from animals, and the pollution of our oceans, lakes and waterways threatens not only our water supply but the very existence of the species that depend on it for survival. How years and years of polluting the air with carbon emissions from factories and cars is causing global warming, the melting of the polar ice caps and threatening the survival of entire species, like the Polar bear etc, etc.

We asked them to think about and talk about that. What it means to them and why.

The mission here was to inspire a sense of awe and appreciation over our natural world. To foster a sense of ownership and stewardship over all of these things and a sense of control, of hope and of possibility that each of us has the power to make the changes that are necessary to reverse the damage that has been done by man over time. That it is our job to let the world know that these things are important and that we need to do something, to act now if we are going to make a meaningful difference. That we as individuals can do things no matter how small that will contribute collectively to create positive change.

Next Class, we spent some time on what we all know about air and water and animals in the environment and contemplate our individual interests together to help each child focus on a topic that is important to them. We assigned a project that was to culminate in the end with a inique personal mission for each child and a campaign poster created by every student in the room.

Each student was to choose their own cause to take ownership of and was to make a poster to help support that cause in their local community. We asked the kids to take this idea home and think about it and come to class next week with their own personal cause in mind. We asked them to seek out and find sources of information related to the causes they are interested in and bring them in to class for next week. We also contacted some environmental support organizations like GreenPeace and the Wilderness Committee to request support collateral to help arm the kids with words and images to use in their effort. We are very grateful to them for their support.

Then of course there is the visual aspect of it—gathering the images and putting it all together. We spent one class looking at what people brought in to show us and discuss, then presented and passed around additional samples of marketing collateral as provided from a wide variety of environmental activists (World Wildlife Foundation, Greenpeace, Environmental Defence, Wildnerness Comittee etc). The kids were very busy cutting out pictures, headlines, subheads, body copy, and logos etc to come up with a unique and original mashup poster of their own. This was the primary activity for two or three consecutive weeks of classes.

It has been an incredible experience, both for the teachers and the students. This year, Richard is reporting back to review how the process went and to show you some examples of the work that was produced as a result. You will see the amazing work of some very bright and talented kids from Ms. Hughes class at Orde Street, plus that of all the other talented designers and classrooms participating in the program on display at the Design Exchange, but we will give you a sneak peek here as well.

In the end, each child has produced their own poster, which has been photographed and printed, mounted and put on display for your enjoyment over there at the Design Exchange. What you will see here in the DX Poject Gallery is the product of eight weeks of work by these very bright and talented kids. The originals will be posted on display at their school as a reminder to their family, friends and community to admire and respect the world we live in, take ownership of it and take care of it for future generations.