Yesterday, the Case Foundation, PARADE Publications officially kicked off America’s Giving Challenge (giving image by whisper). The 30-day national online competition encourages people to leverage their online and offline personal networks to help win cash awards that will total $170,000 on behalf of their favorite nonprofit.
With awards based on the number of donations to a cause, America’s Giving Challenge is not focused on how much money can be raised – but how many people organizations and individuals can motivate to get involved with causes they care about. That means every single one of us can make a difference!
One thing I like about the campaign: The integration of old and new media. Hollywood star Matt Damon is participating via a PARADE article dated October 11. In it he encourages the magazine’s 73 million readers to “find out what you can do to make a difference. Take five minutes to educate yourself on an issue you didn’t know about before. Then tell somebody else. Or make a small donation, if you can. Every dollar counts.”
As you may know, the previous Case Foundation Giving Challenge in 2007-2008 motivated more than 70,000 individuals to participate and helped to raise more than $1.8 million for nonprofit organizations. With the explosion of social media in the past few years, it will be interesting to see the new and innovative approaches nonprofits and individuals take to raise money for their causes.
From now until November 6 at 2:59 p.m. EST, participants will have the opportunity to compete for daily and overall awards of up to $50,000 based on the number of donations to their cause using the Causes application on Facebook. Nonprofit organizations and individuals who wish to participate in the Challenge can get involved by either becoming a “cause champion” or by promoting, donating or joining a cause. Participants can register to compete, view details and donate to a cause they care about at www.americasgivingchallenge.com.