makehope

Small is a BIG problem for Non Profits

Small things are so often a portent of bigger problems. Regular readers of this blog or it's sister blog Behind the Button know that I started a company called Buttons of Hope that uses custom photo buttons to help people with their fundraising by putting a face on their cause. Mine is a small start up with a big ambition and mission ~ to change the face of fundraising. While the major charities have been thus far less than enthused about the idea I am making buttons for hundreds of people who are inspired and often share their stories and powerful testimonials here, here and even here.

 

So is this just all about Mike Gibbons' sour grapes - not at all and here's why. As I forge on making 1000s of buttons caring about each button, each story and each fundraiser as if they were the only one ~ the people who wear buttons crave to share their stories with someone who'll listen ~ the big charities are too often indifferent and I think missing a very BIG opportunity.

In December Buttons of Hope made a (albeit small) donation to a well respected national cancer charity**. I sent the following letter (below) with a few of the actual buttons and the $41 check. Today I received a form postcard with fill in the blank for date and donation amount (see below) good I suppose for tax purposes but given the nature of my letter I was nonplussed to say the least.

You might be thinking geessh I read all this way and basically some guy is ticked because his $41 bucks did not evoke "top donor" recognition? NO the point is this: I think non profits have out of convenience, necessity or both forgotten the little guy, the grassroots. More disconcerting for them, you never know if that little guy is in fact a little guy? This non profit had no way of knowing that behind the $41 buck donation is a guy who also started a cycling team that has raised over $270,000 for cancer charities the past four years! Small can be a very big problem for even big non profits. Indeed.

(those are my thoughts I would really value your feedback/comments on this especially if you are with a non profit)

This is the letter I sent...

         This is what I received...

240 children will have died before you finish reading! | Blog Action Day 2008 poverty

On January 9, 2007 I did a blog post called 30,000 yesterday, 30,000 today, 30,000 tomorrow it was my  horrified reaction to the realization that by some estimates** 30,000 children die ~ not each year or month but EACH DAY! These children die from poverty related illness which are for the most part and here's the kicker.... preventable!

And so do the math if it takes you two minutes to read this post and maybe click on a link ~ 240 children will have died! Startling but true.

So here we are on Blog Action Day 2008 some 645 days since my first post and I shudder to think that in that period of time some 19,350,000 more children have died due to poverty. Let me say that again,

19,350,000 more children have died due to poverty

I really don't know what to say, I just don't. I know there are numerous organizations and amazing people working their butts off to end this scourge. Some you might want to check out ONE, Oxfam, Kiva and Global Action there are many more but that should get you started!

While the mountain of poverty seems insurmountable I do know wherever there are human being who care there is always hope and the promise of the sunrise, the promise of new and better day.

Learn more at Global Issues they have some disturbing and sobering statistics

**some say the number is more like 26,500 a day which is of course zero solace

Blog Action Day 2008 | remembering Harry Chapin

I had all but forgotten, did you ? about one of the leaders in the fight to end poverty Harry Chapin. Listening to my iTunes party shuffle in my office and all of a sudden there it is All my life's a circle ~ what a sign!

Please remember today this gentle, giving giant of a man and his fight to end poverty!

What Motivates Giving?

What motivates giving? | Motivated asking!

Giving is but one half of the equation. I work with a number of different causes and all sorts of fundraising events and methods. It would be hard, no impossible to make a case for one cause over another they are all worthy and passionate in their quests. So what is a giver to do? How do you differentiate? Give a little to each? a donation to juvenile diabetes Research this year & Susan Komen the next? And just how does one choose Susan Komen over Avon over American cancer Society over Lance?

So how do charitable organizations breakthrough? What motivates giving, to you? [That's the real question right?]

The answer is stories, you have to help people tell their stories. Make their stories part of your cause!

Here is a story from a young women Nicole Kenney who participated in her first Heart Walk in Charlotte NC September 2007 on the Bank of America team...her story in part

I thought it was a great idea to make [photo] buttons to wear on the day of the walk.  I knew just which picture I wanted to use. And you took the time out to find out exactly why I was walking and why I wanted to get the buttons made, which made me excited that people actually cared about my story.  It was a nightmare that my family went through in losing my brother, but I finally felt like something good was coming from it: being able to educate others on the dangers of heart disease. The walk was a big piece of that, but so were the buttons. My mom even cried when she found out that I was getting buttons made. Both my mom and I wore two buttons each – one on the front, and one on the back, holding our sign in place (see the pictures for a better idea). Now, my mom wears her button almost everywhere with her, and I wear mine pretty frequently too.

Nicole had a story to tell. The photo buttons of her brother Bill were a powerful tool, a tangible expression of emotion. Nicole's and her team raised I think over $6000 because she had a story to tell and we helped her tell it. Motivated asking, it is the answer. 

Photo Buttons Serve Many Causes, Focus on People

I am honored to be chosen as South Park (Charlotte NC) magazine's Snapshot for March 2008! Buttons of Hope is my passion & I hope this helps everyone understand just how powerful custom photo buttons & putting a face on your cause can be! | read full the article here

This would be a good time to give a nod and thanks to some remarkable organizations --  I am honored & excited about working with the following groups in 2008:  Charlotte Catholic High School | Lance Armstrong Foundation | Live Strong Challenge |NC Special Olympics | Memory Walk South Carolina | Polly Klaas Foundation (missing children) | Kristen Foundation (missing adults) | Memory-Of.com | Memory Jar |  Adopt A US Soldier | Free to Breathe | Hope & Hearts | Carolina Breast Friends | Mother's day Central | & 24 Hours of Booty cancer fundraiser.

Buttons of Hope are Simply Powerful

pushmi-pullyu | deja vu'

It's been driving me crazy. This blog recently has been a little lonely and ignored ...no more. I'm Baaaacccckk!

(Dr. Doolittle & pushmi-pullyu I presume)

So. My other blog Behind the Button will focus on everything to do with my Buttons of Hope "business." You'll find stories from my customers, innovative fundraising ideas using photo buttons , buttons as powerful memorials, buttons as personal billboards to help find missing people and of course lots of thoughts on active charity fundraising for events like JDRF Walk to Cure, Relay for Life, Race for the Cure and more...

For all the rest of my right brain musings like my recent (ongoing) infatuation with Skitch, my Squidoo network, my new blog/squidoo consulting biz YouBlog and some random rants and raves about stuff like girl scout cookie sales, stuff that interests me -- that will be over on Behind the Button .

Will there be overlap -- sure (this one) -- occasionally I might even post almost the same post on both blogs -- but this is mostly for you the reader -- maybe the easiest way to explain it is makehope is for me & Behind the Button is for you!

So enough about me, what do you think of me? haha

Makehope is now Behind the Button

Ooops I just realized I stopped posting here and gave my fans no where to turn --well now you have the opportunity to hear more of me in my newer blog Behind the Button. Please take  look -- more of the same but a year wiser I think!

Do not pass GO!

The good news is I finally figured something out -- I now know what I want, what I need -- what is most important to me is a "chance for greatness". I am as the Think Different motto says, "..the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do!" I am an entrepreneur with vision.

So my friend and fellow cubicle escapee Pam Slim wants to know what it's like to transition...

Well first off, I did not have three months of salary salted away, I do not have college paid for (let alone next year's middle school tuition) and after some fretful attempts to negotiate a severance -- a lead parachute -- nothin'!  I did not even get to pass go!       

But I did have something most people don't have, infectious passion and an actionable dream -- my Buttons of Hope
Candidly the mix of passion for BOH and dispassion for flexible packaging sales probably led to my early retirement. I have known for a while that I "think different" than most of my peers -- and while I lament often about their corporate success, their promotions, their country clubs and beach houses -- I know in my heart I am not even in the same game, probably never was.

Over the past 25 years I have tried now and then to break free from the "cubicle" -- but not until Buttons of Hope did I feel like the opportunity was equal to the passion -- well nothing quite matches the passion but you get the point!

Buttons of Hope is me. For the first time in my life I do not consider my work, work. It's not easy being a lawyer, editor, geek, designer, blogger, button maker...not easy but I flat out love every minute of it, every minute! And yes it is all done in my garage -- I have the pictures to prove it! So what is buttons of hope -- well first it's not just about the button. What I do is make it easy and fun for people to personalize their cause by making a photo button to support or honor a loved one. Behind every photo button is a powerful story. It's these stories that inspire, motivate and engage people to take their fundraising and awareness to the next level.

So where am I in the process? A little north of scared to death and just south of jubilant! Or put another way...On August 20, 2002 I wrote, "The one thing I've wanted to do in my life is make a difference by inspiring other people."  With Buttons of Hope now I do this every day!

Watch the video of me and some friends talking about Buttons of Hope.

Its autumn, do you know where your neighbors are?

it may suprise you....

There's a good chance they are out there supporting a charity like Susan Komen.

At least I now know what 65,000!!! Denver Colorado neighbors were doing.....yes that was 65,000!