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Donating Professional Services in a Crisis

Charles Hamilton — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:09 +0000

Technology workers are often called on to donate our services, which most of us are happy to do. And we have skills that allow us to respond quickly to natural disasters or other crises.

For example, five years ago, I wanted to help those affected by the floods caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, since I have some connections with New Orleans. In my pre-web career, I worked in radio, and was privileged to manage community radio station WWOZ for a short time over twenty years ago. Although I only lived in New Orleans for a few months, I fell in love with the city’s unique music and culture.

So in the aftermath of the storms, I contacted WWOZ’s webmaster, who had evacuated to another city, and asked what I could do to help. At his request, I put together a temporary website that allowed station staff, musicians, and the community to share messages from wherever they were. This was in the days before Facebook, Twitter and the like.

I also developed a similar website, which is no longer active, to foster community communication during the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. And I’ve developed websites for political candidates and causes I believe in.

Of course, professionals need to set limits. My three-person company generally produces one pro bono website per year. Once we agree to take on such a project, we go through the same process we use to specify a scope of work for paid projects. It’s imperative to make sure that clients understand that there’s only so much uncompensated work we can do.

Unfortunately, the tax deductibility of in-kind donations is limited; check with your accountant for details. Nevertheless, my colleagues agree that donating our skills and time is an important part of what we do.

How have you used your professional skills to assist your community?

Photo courtesy NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Collection

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Opening the Gates: Using the Web to Give

Georgina Laidlaw — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:00:16 +0000

Bill Gates’s announcement earlier this year that he — and as many other of the super-rich that he can muster — will give at least half their fortunes to charity raises numerous questions.

Aside from the issues of wealth redistribution, questions of just how much money can achieve, and so on, Gates’s declaration has made many ordinary people reconsider their position on charity. We might not all be Bill Gates, but that doesn’t stop us from wanting to enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from altruism — from doing good things, or making some small sacrifice, for something we believe in.

For the web worker trapped at a desk for at least 40 hours a week, it might seem like the only real option is to give money to an NGO. But there are many ways to fulfill your altruistic inclinations.

Donating Cash

The web makes it easy to donate cash to charity either as part of a one-off emergency campaign, or in an ongoing arrangement.

But the web also makes it easy to research causes, NGOs, issues and so on. Let’s face it: between social media and news sources, it’s not hard to find bad news these days — and often, as in the case of the current flooding in Pakistan, the news reports will include a call to action for those who want to give money to help those suffering.

If you’re more keen on commitment, though, you might be looking for good news — seeking information on the successes of an NGO that you can happily back for the long haul. Again, research is the key. For example, as someone who’s interested in the environment, I find reports on NewScientist will often mention the NGO responsible for new research, preservation activities and so on, which makes it a good starting point for research on these kinds of organizations.

Perhaps you’ll decide to give a portion of your income to charity each year. If your income fluctuates, you might consider donating a portion of whatever you earn each month to a cause you believe in. This will give you financial flexibility, but will also allow you to spread your giving to help different groups on a month-by-month basis.

Donating Items

Between outdated — but still fully functional — computers, peripherals and devices, textbooks and educational materials, your dust-attracting CD collection and your wardrobe, every web worker has something they can donate to a cause within their own community. Even in my tiny town we have thrift stores, frequent fundraisers, and community education programs that could use one of these old computers I have lying around.

Donating items is a good way to help out within your own community. But you can make the web work for you in this regard, too. If you’re an eBay fiend, for example, and love the thrill of auctioning off your old stuff, perhaps you’ll consider giving a portion of the cash you make from those sales to a local charity.

Donating Time

Most of the employers I’ve worked for have invited staff to get involved in charity work. Some offer a day or two of leave to each person each year for this very purpose; others form teams to participate in corporate sports fundraisers and similar events.

Of course, those working for themselves have free reign to dedicate whatever time they like to a charity. Whether it’s local or global, your chosen NGO will likely have some programs in which you can participate for a day, or a day a month, and so on.

Donating time can be a good way to meet people who are interested in the same issues as you, and to get the satisfaction of making a practical contribution to something you believe in. It can also take you to other countries, to experience a different way of life. I know of a social media manager who’s currently doing a two-month stint working for a charity in Africa. She needed no special skills — just a willingness to give.

Again, research is key. Follow your favorite causes on social media, or sign up to their newsletters, and you’ll be kept abreast of all the activities you can contribute to. Greenpeace has a very well integrated approach to communicating news, information and opportunities to interested donors.

Donating Expertise

Yes, you might use your web design talents to reskin the website of your local community house, but the web provides plenty of options for you to donate expertise. Some offer you the chance to relocate for a period of time — weeks, months, a year — to use your skills to assist an NGO, local community group, or charity organization’s development.

This can be a really satisfying way to spend a period of your working life. As well as exposing yourself to different cultures, it can give you the opportunity to contribute what you may believe are your greatest capabilities, and to really get behind a cause in what may feel like the most constructive way.

The web can help you to research your options, as well as the issues and cultures you may consider contributing to. Obviously, these kinds of opportunities take a lot of commitment, so you’ll want to know what you’re up for before you begin.

How do you contribute to the causes that you believe in? And how do you find new opportunities to give?

Image by stock.xchng user sundstrom.

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The Giving Spirit: Donate Your Time or Services this Holiday

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:00:01 +0000

The holidays are a time for giving. I remember when, during my days as an office worker, the Unicef box would travel between cubicles, or if the organization was larger, sometimes management would ask that a portion of your paycheck go to such-and-such charity.

When you’re working alone from home, opportunities to give back aren’t presented as often or as easily as they are in an office work environment. Money might also be tight, as it always is around the holidays, but especially with the effects of the down economy still making themselves felt so thoroughly in all of our lives. Luckily, you can always donate your time and effort, which in many cases doesn’t cost you anything, besides a little leisure time.

Pro Bono Work

Often, charitable or publicly funded organizations won’t be able to offer compensation for things like graphics work, web site design, or content editing and production. They’ll post calls for volunteer “bids” on these types of jobs on sites like WorkInCulture.ca (for Canadians) and Idealist.org (for those in the U.S.). Note that these can still be competitive calls for proposals, so often you’ll have to work as hard as you would with a pay gig, but isn’t that the point, anyway?

If you can’t find anything up your alley using sites like those I just mentioned, it’s never a bad idea to directly solicit organizations yourself. Don’t treat it casually just because you’re being generous, though. Just because a nonprofit organization doesn’t have the means to award lucrative contracts doesn’t mean they’re interested in shoddy work. Present yourself professionally, with a brief cover letter and links to any relevant work and/or your online portfolio, if you have one.

Party While You Give

Holiday season means holiday parties. If you’re at all involved in Twitter, and pay attention to tweeters in your area, you’ve probably seen at least a few people advertising local events and parties. In many cases (though by all means, check thoroughly before you make any purchases) the proceeds or a portion of the proceeds from the sale of tickets for these events goes to a charitable organization.

For example, here in Toronto there’s “Heart for the Holidays,” a party organized by #GenYTO, a local Twitter user group. Proceeds go to Heart House Hospice, which is an organization that helps families with terminally ill members in their time of greatest need. #HoHoTO is another similar event here, with proceeds from ticket sales going to the Daily Bread food bank.

Spread the Word

If you work online, or even if you’re just interested in the idea, chances are you’re at least a little social media savvy. The holidays are a perfect time to make use of that savvy to spread more than just viral links about cats being impossibly cute or speculative theories about Tiger Woods’ recent short car trip.

You might not be able to make any of the charitable parties or functions going on in your neck of the woods yourself, but you can still let others know about it to help boost ticket sales. If even one of your Twitter or Facebook friends buys a ticket because of your broadcast, you’ve helped.

Likewise with calls for proposals for pro bono work that you either don’t have time for, or don’t have the right skill set to deliver yourself, you can either contact people you think might be interested directly, or just pass info along via your various social networks in the hope of getting a nibble from some interested party.

‘Tis the Season

Of course, these tips are applicable year round. Charitable events happen throughout the year, nonprofit organizations are always looking for help with work they can’t source internally and can’t afford to contract out, and using social media to spread the news about good causes is never a bad idea. That said, there’s also no denying that many of us are probably feeling at our most giving around the holidays, and there’s nothing wrong with indulging that urge, however you want to go about it. Hopefully if you were feeling at a loss regarding your charitable intentions, the above suggestions might help.

Are you planning on giving (in some way) to charitable causes this holiday season?

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Using Twitter for Distributed Fundraising

Mike Gunderloy — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:00:00 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk about what Twitter’s own monetization model will turn out to be – even though Twitter itself has been mum on the subject beyond saying that they do have a plan. But meanwhile, some of the communities on Twitter have taken matters into their own hands, and proven that money can flow into good causes based on the social capital that Twitter users build up in just chatting with one another. Whatever else you say about Twitter, it does seem to be bringing out the best in people and opening their wallets.

The most recent of these campaigns that I’ve run across is Well Wishes, an effort by prominent Twitter user Laura “Pistachio” Fitton to raise $25,000 for Charity: Water, two bucks at a time. She’s lined up some matching donations and hooked up with Tipjoy to handle micropayments; if you’re on Twitter, you can get involved simply by tweeting. So far, Well Wishes has raised thousands of dollars in this way.

Nor is this the only success story. Nonprofit consultant Beth Kanter has looked at a number of fundraising efforts on Twitter, from gathering money for heart surgery in India to motivating people to donate blood to raising over $10,000 for a classroom in Tanzania. She brings out a number of valuable lessons, from the need to have a human theme to how to best leverage multiple channels of motivation.

At least two services – Tipjoy and Twitpay (which we wrote about last month) are working on making it easy to collect and aggregate micropayments via Twitter. There’s still a bit too much friction to make things really easy (Twitter could do much more if they’d bring this functionality in-house), but the building blocks are there to run a successful on-line giving campaign.

It seems clear that the increasing rise of person-to-person connectivity is enabling some new models of how things can be done, from fundraising to publicity campaigns. Even if you’re not actively involved in raising money for a good cause, you should be asking yourself how your own web work could benefit from access to a huge network of potentially-motivated people.

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