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August 22, 2004

Strengthening The Good: The Gulf Coast Community Foundation Of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund

1 September 2005 Update: If you've found this page because you're looking to help with Katrina relief, or because you're looking for a matching donation program, please visit our Matching The Good: Katrina Relief page. We're matching donations up to a total of $1,000 with a donation to the Red Cross 2005 Hurricane fund. If you'd like to join in the match challenge (helping us up the match to more than $1,000) through a donation of your own, please email me at alan at strengthenthegood dot com. Thanks.

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[Update: We've had a great resoponse to our first charity. Here's another way you can help: I'm donating all Google Ad revenue to the charity we profile for the time its profile runs. So if you can't donate directly, click on the Google Ads in the right-hand column and visit those sponsors, and I'll donate the resulting revenue on your behalf. Thanks.]

[Update 2: This from the GCCF of Venice website:

In an effort to direct additional funds to nonprofit organizations in the areas devastated by the hurricane, the Board established the Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund with an initial gift of $25,000 and voted to match contributions to the Fund up to $200,000. The community met the match this weekend.

I'm sure we helped in reaching the goal, and thanks for working to strengthen the good. And if you've not yet helped, people in Florida still need help, and assistance is still welcome.]

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I lied. I said that the scope of Strengthen The Good is to raise awareness of:

“micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and, like Susan Tom, inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

And here, with our very first charity, I’m going to vary from that scope.

MJ29.jpgHere’s the issue: a burning charitable need at this moment is relief for people affected by Hurricane Charley. And while I very much want to highlight a Charley micro-charity, the fact is that the need right now is macro … incredibly macro. Fundamental needs: housing … water … huge quantities of baby formula … needs that are best met by macro charities such as the Red Cross, the Christian Contractors Association, and Salvation Army, and it’s going to be this way for some time.

But I also think I’ve found something you can get behind and feel good about: The Gulf Coast Community Foundation Of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund.

Call it a “macro-micro charity.” From its website:

A community foundation is a charitable organization that derives its funds from gifts provided by its citizens. Citizens can contribute any amount of money to a community foundation, which in turn invests the gifts for growth and income. The community foundation then uses that income to make grants that strengthen the community. As a community foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice operates under the principle of perpetuity ensuring that gifts made to the Foundation will grow and make a lasting impact for the community now and in the future.

Founded in late 1995 as a result of the sale of Venice Hospital, it was originally named The Venice Foundation. In 2003 the name was changed to Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice to reflect the communities it serves, from Osprey to Boca Grande. It has awarded grants of more than $40 million to the community in the areas of arts and culture, health and human services, education, and civic affairs.

In addition to making grants that benefit our area, the Foundation also help donors to achieve their charitable dreams. When a donor creates a fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, they get the resources and expertise of our staff...and the service that could only come from a community foundation. We work with our donors to make sure their fund(s) meet their needs and allow them to have an impact on the community and issues they care about.

As you can see here, the GCCF of Venice has been extremely involved in supporting the local community … funding everything from public libraries to scholarships to senior centers to animal rescue to YMCAs.

Venice was just north of Charley’s most severe effects, but with the devastation in nearby Charlotte and North Port, it’s no surprise that such an active foundation would create a Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund.

MJ10.jpg

But here’s the really good part: last Tuesday The GCCF of Venice Board of Directors voted to match contributions to its Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund up to $100,000, noting they are "pleased to be able to offer a means for giving where 100% of the donations will be directed to the agencies providing the services required to sustain and improve life for the victims."

That’s right: a total match, of every dollar, until they’ve raised $100,000.

Only have the resources to give one dollar? Fine … count it as two. Think you can pony up ten? Call it twenty. Think you can part with fifty … feel good about contributing one hundred. And what’s more, you can do so knowing that you’re supporting a local Charley relief effort, staffed by and benefiting people from the community and administered by professionals.

You can donate online with a MasterCard or Visa here (all transactions are processed through a Verisign secure server site). If you do, be certain to select the Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund from the drop-down menu, and if you would, please note “Strengthen The Good” in the Special Instructions field … I’d be interested to learn how much our network ultimately contributes.

If you prefer not to donate online, you may mail a contribution to:

Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund
601 Tamiami Trail South
Venice, FL 34285

If you donate via mail, please note “Strengthen The Good” in the memo line on the check. Finally, if PayPal is your thing, you may donate via the Strengthen The Good PayPal account … the button is over in the right-hand column of the main page. I’ll write a single check to the fund for all donations made via PayPal over the next three weeks (and will find a way to offer a full accounting online so we can all exercise due diligence). Note that if you do donate via PayPal (1) it’s not tax deductible (although I’m working on that for future charities), and (2) PayPal will be taking a cut of the donation for their service fee … so unless you absolutely don’t want to, I’d suggest donating to the fund directly via their online donation form.

Now … be responsible. Just because I’ve satisfied my qualification of this charity does not mean you’ve satisfied yours. You are responsible for satisfying your own qualification of this or any other charity STG may point to, and while I am profiling this charity, I do not guarantee its legitimacy, its use of whatever funds you might donate, or the accuracy or of the information on its web site.

Hopefully that’s satisfied the attorneys, and we can get back to the business at hand.

Thank you for working to strengthen the good.

[If you've come here from an external link and are wondering what Strengthen The Good is all about, go to the main page, start at the bottom, and read up. And if you're a blogger, we'd love to have you join our network ... you can learn how on the main page as well.]

Posted by Alan at 09:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 19, 2004

Strengthen The Good In Florida

1 September 2005 Update: If you've found this page because you're looking to help with Katrina relief, or because you're looking for a matching donation program, please visit our Matching The Good: Katrina Relief page. We're matching donations up to a total of $1,000 with a donation to the Red Cross 2005 Hurricane fund. If you'd like to join in the match challenge (helping us up the match to more than $1,000) through a donation of your own, please email me at alan at strengthenthegood dot com. Thanks.

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[NOTE: If you're coming to this post from an external link and are a blogger, the concept is to create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

I’ll find them, if you’ll link to them. All I ask is that you please consider joining our network. Read more on the main page, or go here to join right away and help us strengthen the good. Thanks.]

[NOTE 2: I've moved this post to the top of the page as there's updated information about how to offer general help until we post our Charley micro-charity. Thanks.]

We are getting many requests at Command Post for how to help people in Florida. I and others are working as you read this to locate a “micro-charity” in the area that fits with the mission of this site: local charities with a personal face, with very little or no overhead, where the story of the organizers and beneficiaries are inspiring, and where $1 can make a difference.

I’m afraid that with Charley, we’ll have many choices.

Until we can select a single person or group, however, there are things people can do in the interim to offer relief to the region, and I’ve posted some initial sources here as an interim step.

Thanks for working to strengthen the good.

More sources to contact if you’re in the area:

Posted by Alan at 04:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Update: 127 Members & Counting

127 blogs and counting in the network, which is something to feel good about in itself, I think. We're making progress in identifying our Charley charity ... it might be a bit more macro that what will be our standard—things are simply just so chaotic down there (still), that finding that perfect person may take weeks, let alone days—but it won’t be United Way macro.

And we really should act while people are in the greatest need.

But that's my problem to solve, and I expect that this Sunday night I'll email the first charity post. In the meantime, you can get a sense of just how chaotic things are in Gulf-Coast Florida by visiting this large gallery of post-Charley aerial photos, taken by a Florida DJ (the "Schnitt Show"). They are astonishing. (Nod to Seki.)

Thanks for all you do to strengthen the good.

Posted by Alan at 01:08 PM | TrackBack

August 17, 2004

The Good Keeps Getting Stronger

What do Al Franken, Virginia Postrel, Michele Catalano, Solonor, Seldom Sober, and Jeremy Grimshaw have in common? They’ve all joined the Strengthen The Good network. We’re at 89 blogs and counting, and the response continues to be wonderful.

In terms of a charity update, Tammi, Wolf, and Jay are either on the ground in the Gulf Coast looking for the right charity or talking to people who are. We have several medium-sized options right now, but are still searching for just the right person or group who fits our micro-charity mission (the lack of power in the area continues to be the problem … in many places information transfer is still face-to-face, so ideas aren’t diffusing quickly). When I find the right person or group, and I will, we’ll activate the network.

That said, I already have group number two … a person who does something so touching and remarkable it’s nearly hard to believe. But that story will wait for another day.

I’ll keep you posted, and thanks again for working to strengthen the good.

Posted by Alan at 11:56 AM | TrackBack

August 16, 2004

A Fantastic Initial Response

We've had a fantastic first-day response to the idea of Strengthen The Good, with nearly 70 bloggers having joined the network. I'm adding members to the blogroll as fast as I can given my schedule today ... if I've not yet blogrolled you, trust me: I will.
Thanks again to everyone who's signed up so far ... please don't hesitate to forward the Strengthen The Good URL to any other blogger who you think might join the network. And if you want to strengthen that which is good yourself, read the posts below and click here.

Finally, I'm still working on the Florida micro-charity. Things are complicated by much of the print media (and blogs) being off-line down there, but we'll have a candidate soon. Until then, read the post just below to see how you can offer immediate relief.

Thanks for helping to strengthen the good.

Posted by Alan at 02:46 PM | TrackBack

August 14, 2004

How We Can Strengthen The Good

The Idea & Call To Action

Create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

I’ll find them, if you’ll link to them. Every third Sunday night at Strengthen The Good I’ll post about a micro-charity with enough detail that people can qualify the charity and feel good (or even inspired) by what the charity stands for and who it benefits. I won't ask for donations; the mission is only to raise awareness.

All I ask is that you join the network and every third Monday link to that month’s charity post. To help us all remember, I’ll email a reminder and permalink to the network on Sunday night.

To join the network and use your blog the strengthen the good, click here.


The Full Background

This past May, I made an open call at The Command Post to counter the evil of Nick Berg’s murder by strengthening the good of Susan Tom and her kids. It was an easy promise to make—we would donate any funds deposited in our PayPal account over a 48 hour period to the Tom Family Education Trust—and I never really thought we’d meet the $10,000 goal. Indeed, I had been casually planning my “well, we gave it a good show and at least we helped” post literally from the moment I made the initial request. People are, I thought, just too often asked to contribute to charity, from their United Way Drive at work to the CF candy bar drive at their door to their church tithe.

But people DID respond, and not only did we meet the $10,000 goal—we did far better, raising $15,000 for the education of the Tom children.

From reading the comments and emails I received, it wasn’t just the idea of countering evil by helping good that attracted people to Susan Tom and compelled those people to give. For many, it was just reading her story and hearing about something noble and caring in this difficult world. It was about having a break from constant reminders of death and terror and crime. And for many, it was the chance to help in a way that was immediate, simple, and very, very personal. The chance to give to something they could trust … something with a face where they knew their impact would be felt, even if they only gave $1. The chance to actually make a difference.

I think there are many, many such chances in the world. I also think the sentiment to read about something good and strong, and to have the opportunity to make a difference if one so chooses, runs very deep.

And so, in late May I had an idea, and now I have a proposition.

With The Command Post, regular folks from all walks of life and from all points of the world—over 120 bloggers in all—came together to create something wholly new: decentralized journalism … journalism by the people. And while the Post isn’t the day-to-day bandwidth hog she was during the run to Baghdad, her power is in her network, and the model still works: when news happens … be it the 2003 Northeast Blackout, the New Hampshire Primary, or Hurricane Charley, our contributors know where to post, and people all over the world know where to turn to get the story from multiple sources in real time.

It’s proof not just of the power of the Web. It’s proof of the power inherent in the global network of blogs, and in the end, of the power of people within that network to create something greater than the sum through individual but coordinated action.

Now I think it’s time to extend that power to something good … to make the leap from decentralized journalism to decentralized charity.

Here’s the idea: Create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and, like Susan Tom, inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

We’ve had starts at this … TroopTrax and Wiggles’ work being examples. But what we’ve lacked so far is the critical mass in the network to create truly widespread attentiveness to charitable opportunities. Metcalfe's Law states that the usefulness, or utility, of a network equals the square of the number of users. Command Post worked not because it was a great idea, but because of the size of it’s network: we had over 100 people all over the world posting to, and more important, linking to the site.

While the Command Post was about aggregating information, Strengthening The Good is about amplifying awareness. And for that to work, the size of the network is everything.

So here’s the proposition: I’ll find them, if you’ll link to them.

Last May I registered the domain www.strengthenthegood.com, which now is the home for a blog of the same name. (It’s a placeholder design for now while Sekimori works her magic.) Every third Sunday night I’ll post about a “Susan Tom-esque” micro-charity. I’ll find them, I’ll qualify them, and I’ll post their story with enough detail that people can qualify them for themselves, and feel good (or even inspired) by what the charity stands for and who it benefits.

I will NOT ask for donations, or set a goal for donations, as I did with Susan Tom. Instead, the mission of the site is only to raise awareness of the charity in question … to simply say “Look at this, it’s a great and inspiring example of good in the world, and if you’d like to contribute $1 or more or get involved in some way, here’s where you go to do so.”

All I ask is that you join the network: every third Monday, link to that month’s charity post. To help us all remember, I’ll send an email to every blog in the network as a reminder on Sunday night, including the permalink for the post.

With enough blogs in the network, we should be able to generate significant awareness for each micro-charity, and benefits for each charity should naturally follow. Further, if traffic on the site is high enough to support ad revenues, I’ll donate all revenues for that period to its appropriate charity. I'll also pay the hosting fees.

Now, to action: Charley presents the first opportunity. Indeed, I threw the blog up before Seki’s design was ready because we’re already getting requests from readers about how they should help. Rather than give to the Red Cross, however, I’m working to identify a more local cause, which should pop up in the next day or so. When it does (and it will), I’ll post it as the first Strengthen The Good micro-charity. I’ll send the reminder email, and I hope you’ll join in with your link.

One link is all it takes. The Strengthen The Good blogger network. If we can do it for Carnival of the Vanities, we can do it for people in need.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress. If you’re not interested, please email me so I can remove you from the list. If you DO want to join the network, please join the mailing list. I’ve posted this same email to the site, and I'd be glad if you'd link to it as well. I'll also build a blogroll as I go, and will roll everyone in the network on the site.

And if you have any questions, please email those as well.

Thanks for reading this long note, and thanks for being such a great blogger. It is a hell of a hobby, and now, it just might become a wonderful way to strengthen the good.

Best regards,

Alan

Posted by Alan at 05:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack