Find them all at www.ASocialThing.com !

NO TIME TO READ? Just go to either www.TopTenChristmasGifts.info

or www.ASocialThing.com - NON PROFIT SHOPPING MALL

Our mission is to affect social change through shopping!
ALL our affiliate profits from EVERY sale goes to charities that further social issues.

AFFILIATES OF THE BIGGEST NAMES OF THE WEB!
Our Affiliates includes names like Ebay, GoDaddy, Google, Amazon, The Buckle, Lane Bryant, Tilly’s, DELL, CompUSA, KB TOYS & Many More!

We are in the final stages of completing our transitiion to a 501(c)(3) non-profit
as well as completing the redesgin of our social shopping mall!

Our new website will be MUCH easier to navigate &
will feature options to search by store, brand, and category!

CURRENTLY THOUGH, YOU CAN STILL ACCESS OVER 2 MILLION PRODUCTS!
Just click on any of the producs at ASocialThing.com and you’ll be taken to that store!
….and yes along with the mission of ViralT-Shirts which may be how you found us we still have hudreds of the funniest shirts on the web. Find on the T-shirts page above or down in our links on this page.

Hello everyone and thanks for taking just a minute to read this. My name is Ron Lee and I am the founder of www.ASocialThing.com. We are new, we are small, and we are just a drop in the bucket right now. HOWEVER, IT’S A START! WHAT WE ARE DOING MAKE IT EASIER THAT EVER FOR EVERYONE TO MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE BY JUST CHOOISNG A HOME SITE TO START SHOPPING.  Go there now and PLEASE BOOKMARK! www.ASOCIALTHING.com

Just by using and following our links before you shop you can make a difference!

We are a non profit shopping mall / non profit shopping portal where all income

L’association d’aide au développement Helvetas sensibilise sur les problèmes sanitaires dans le monde et mène une action de street/ambient marketing impertinente à Lausanne et Berne pour dénoncer une situation inacceptable : plus du tiers de la population mondiale n’a pas accès à des toilettes.

ok, so i was really way skeptical of like myspace, friendster…waaay long ago…like when all you heard was that creepy guys were lurking for baby girls and stuff. it took one musician that had inspired me while in college and that i was in awe of to get me on…and i’ve been hooked since. altho…i’d surmise that one network is far better than the rest. my friends would argue that i am wrong about my pref…i didn’t intend on writing today but sitting here previewing/reviewing for my freelance opp…i’m just really in awe of what social networking has brought me (i’d hope to say “responsible” social networking)…and then some.

a few weeks back i had lunch with a college friend i hadn’t seen in like eleven years. sorta like how it is with really good friends, we kinda hadn’t skipped a beat in us…our conversation and it was a truly enriching experience. and i’m really editing out A LOT about what i’ve been able to do…and who i’ve met and their influence on my life…

and even just today i got a message from another college mate i haven’t seen and/or heard from in about eleven years…emailing me from his blackberry. social effin-networking is kinda cool in regards to that…i’m sure if without it…someone would have been more inclined to write pen and paper style…but it’s cool when technology can reconnect us. this guy i’d be hard pressed to forget…one night he sung/yelled stone temple pilots lyrics across the way. crazy guy!!

this being said…be careful, stalkers, weirdos, creepos abound…but that’s everywhere, right?

right now i’m listening to some hip hop outta rio de janeiro…life is way too short to NOT travel and step outside our comfort zone more often than we do. i wish riches and wealth wouldn’t be allowed to limit us so much in this. life is waaay rich, i don’t want to miss a thing, you know? and would love to say i’m preparing to travel to some country i’ve daydreamed of floating about in…

i’ve also watched my share of tv programming aimed at charity work…the cnn heroes special and oprah’s program last week…i’m reminded of how loserish i am…with the ability to give…but just needing to make time/effort to lend a hand to someone…anybody.

maybe over the next couple weeks i’ll list some charity/non profit sites so we can…out of our smallness give together and make a difference in someone’s life.

nelson mandela’s 46664…site is currently being updated for donations but read more about it….

tide’s loads of hope…is really cool. u get a vintage tee for fifteen bucks…

kanye west’s dr. donda west foundation…is geared at keeping kids in school

of course, with anything always check the legitimacy and…give.

They are awfully cute, and they’re looking for a new place to call their own.

Karuna Island - Ready for World AIDS Day

Press Release from Karuna:
Thanks to a generous grant from the National Library of Medicine, a brand new island dedicated to HIV/AIDS education, outreach, and support will open in Second Life on December 1 - World AIDS Day, 2008.

Christened Karuna, a word taken from an early Indo-Aryan language, the name of the island embodies the desire to remove harm and suffering, and to bring about the well-being and happiness of others.

Karuna team members include AIDS/HIV support group leaders as well as AIDS content information experts and educators, ensuring that the best, most recent, evidence-based information is available. The project objective is to empower individuals in healthcare decision making. Through this project, one-to-one health information reference services are provided by experienced medical and consumer health librarians.

In addition to providing infomation resources, support, and networking opportunities, Karuna will be built around a Garden of Experience, where the experiences of those dealing with HIV/AIDS will be shared in a variety of formats including poetry, photos, music, and video. For more information about this project, see http://www.karunasl.info.

The people of Karuna Island are proud to be working with other organizations in this effort, including AIDS.gov and the University of North Carolina Center for AIDS research, Community Outreach, Dissemination, and Education Office (CFAR).  Together, they work to ensure that the idea of community is foremost. Individuals are at the heart of Karuna, and they believe that it is through sharing tales and human connections that we find our best selves.

World AIDS Day AGENDA
All times listed are SLT/Pacific Standard Times
Location: Karuna Island Gathering Center

Karuna Island - The Auditorium

10-10:10 Story to Live By (Jenaia Morane)
10:10-10:20 AIDS/HIV Support & Experience (Ricken Flow)
10:20-30 Health in Second Life (Pathfinder Linden)
10:30-10:40 The HIV/AIDS Pandemic (Ellechim Fizzle)
10:40-10:50 Karuna: The Grant and the Vision (Carolina Keats )
10:50-11:00 Questions and Answers
11:10 – 11:45 Tours of Karuna
11:45 – 1:00 Lunch break
1:00 – 3:00 Story writing workshop and posting of stories
5:00-5:15 Closing Ceremony – Candle of Hope is lit
6:00 – 8:00 Dance with live DJ
8:00 – 9:00 Music: Live performance by Cylindrian Rutabaga

World AIDS Day EVENT SPEAKERS
Jena Ball / Jenaia Morane
Jena/Jenaia is a freelance journalist, editor, and educator who teaches nature and memoir writing in both lives. She will open the World AIDS Day ceremonies with a story that illustrates the importance of narrative in all our lives. Jena is also the leader for the Karuna story project, which will form the heart of the island.

Ricky Davis / Ricken Flow
Ricken was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 2000, but after three months on medication was showing no more symptoms. His doctor started using him as an example on how well medications can work. He also began to talk to patients, which was the start of his volunteer career. Karuna, which means compassion and mercy, is something he strives to bring to his work in Second Life every day. He will talk about his experiences both in his first and Second lives helping others learn about and come to terms with living with HIV/AIDS.

Karuna Island - Information Point

John Lester / Pathfinder Linden
Pathfinder Linden joined Linden Lab (the creators of Second Life) in 2005, bringing experience in online community development as well as a background in the fields of healthcare and education. His primary focus in on leading Linden Lab’s Proactive Education and Healthcare Mentoring Program, acting as a general resource and academic evangelist for people using Second Life for teaching, academic and healthcare research, and scientific visualization.

Carol Perryman / Carolina Keats
With more than 20 years in libraries, consumer/medical librarians Carol Perryman is currently a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina School of Library and Information Science. She has served as Project Coordinator for three Second Life projects and advisor to a fourth, all funded by the National Library of Medicine, and administered by Lori Bell, Director of Innovations at the Alliance Library System in East Peoria, Illinois.

Michelle Samplin-Salgado / Ellehchim Fizzle
Michelle Samplin-Salgado, MPH, has over eleven years professional experience in health communications, public health, project design, and management, with a specific emphasis on emerging technologies. Ms. Samplin-Salgado has managed the design and development for both federal and partner organization’s online activities. At JSI, she has worked with federal agencies and partners on emerging technologies, and researched and implemented new technologies to deliver content to diverse target audiences. As New Media Strategist for the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy (OHAP)’s AIDS.gov program, Ms. Samplin-Salgado has effectively developed podcasts, wikis, blogs, and social networking opportunities to promote federal domestic HIV/AIDS resources. She has also helped developed online trainings for the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) Data Technical Assistance and Training Center

Further photos can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/karuna/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/verdeo/sets/72157608590656238/

Not much about the world of celebrity philanthropy surprises Stephanie Sandler anymore. For the past nine years, Sandler, senior vice president at the Giving Back Fund, a philanthropic consulting and management firm in Los Angeles, has helped celebrities set up their own foundations. Along the way, she's had first-hand experience in the not-always-truthful world of celebrity giving.

via The Truth About Celebrity Giving - Forbes.com

Rainforest2Reef, a non-profit, founded by the folks behind Playa Viva was recently honored at the SalesForce.com Dreamforce Event in San Francisco.  See this video presentation where Rainforest2Reef is honored along with other non-profits worldwide using Salesforce.com products.  We are proud of the success this organization has had over the last 8 years in establishing a successful model for conservation by private individuals in Mexico.  This group has an agenda of accomplishing some extraordinary feats in the years to come including obtaining carbon credits for the owners of the land and setting up a permanent trust fund to insure the long term viability of its programs.  To see more about Rainforst2Reef, please visit their website.

Read the article and watch the video from CBS channel 5 at

http://cbs5.com/jeffersonawards/Jefferson.Awards.Crawford.2.874612.html

Pictures can be seen at http://gallery.knoxxgear.com/thumbnails.php?album=461

Team, I’m privileged to be a guest poster over at the excellent 101 Smackdowns For Your Inner Critic.  I wrote about a great technique for calming the whirlwind - and your Inner Critic’s negative voice - when you’re totally overwhelmed.  Here’s an excerpt:

I am prone to a) inserting myself into totally-out-of-the-comfort-zone situations and b) getting totally overwhelmed as a result.  Since part a) is what helps me grow the most, and generally pays the biggest dividends, I have had to find a smackdown to combat part b). I’d like to share it with you by way of my favorite example:

I graduated from a very small liberal arts college with a writing degree and then for the next six years worked exclusively in and with non-profits and lived a freewheeling lifestyle of clubbing, tattoos and underground commix.  Suddenly one day I decided to pursue an MBA and a life in corporate America. This decision was borne not from cool-headed thinking, but from the emotional aftermath from a political takeover of my agency and the firing of my mentor.

Talk about out of comfort zone.  Not only did I have no undergraduate education whatsoever in business or economics, I had no corporate experience at all.  Nor did I even own a suit. Nor do I really have a head for math. Or skill at golf.

But I had decided to join a top-30 ranked business school, study finance (math math math!), sell out into a corporate job, hold my own with the “golf playing assholes,” as I mistakenly thought all corporate types were, and wear a suit.  And because I’m both a perfectionist and competitive, I took it upon myself to kick ass at it all.

Talk about overwhelmed. Totally, utterly, unbelievably overwhelmed.

What did I do to combat this? Head over to 101 Smackdowns to find out.

Durex lance un concours de vidéo sur le thème du Air Sex. Le concept est fort, car il reprend à son compte le mouvement du Air Guitar qui a fait un carton et qui maintenant a même son jeu sur les consoles du type Wii.

L’explication ici :

Ce concours est soutenu par un site qui est graphiquement simpliste, mais l’ensemble des modules sont faits pour que tout le monde puisse télécharger une vidéo sans se poser des tonnes de questions, où la mettre sur son blog. Par conséquent, je le trouve vraiment bien réalisé.

La meilleure vidéo sera diffusée sur les chaînes hertziennes lors de Journée Mondiale de Lutte Contre le Sida.

via

Belle initiative participative de Durex.

IT Creative Design Studio (IT CDS) has been set up to help community organisations with their marketing and PR. IT CDS is an organisation of volunteers and their services are free of charge for clients that qualify as a non-profit organisation.

This organisation has been set up as part of the Australian Work For The Dole Scheme at Kangan Batman TAFE.

Due to being a volunteer organisation we have a pool of temping designers and a small group of commited assistants. The art director is Federico Viola, a Melbourne based Communication Designer and Illustrator.

IT CDS is based in Melbourne, Australia. We work globally.

Requests can be made here by leaving a comment and e-mail address. Contact details will be treated confidentially.

PR Team
IT Creative Design Studio

I’m inspired by ordinary radicals who work with what they’ve got to change the world one step at a time.  I don’t actually know if things will be different for the world…or simply if something is internally different for them…either way, this is a pebble in a pond…life in the Way of Jesus (and for that matter, what I implicitly mean…this is about being more fully human).  A co-worker recently blogged about her family’s own Christmastime tradition. I loved it.  Thanks Gretchen:

In addition to drawing names we find a cause to support with the money we would otherwise spend on things we don’t need. Last year our family bought a pig we fondly nicknamed “Mrs. Bacon” … this year we’ll be buying a goat. Our barnyard purchases are a part of World Vision’s gift catalog which allow ordinary people to bless families across the world with things they actually need. For just $75, our little goat will give a family consistent dairy, an income source, and fertilizer for crops.

Anyone want to go goat shopping?

Also–don’t forget about “Make Something Day“.  While Black Friday is all about a day where we reinvest our carefully earned dollars back into the GDP of Empire, feeding our own culture of never having enough and always wanting something more, camping outside of the mall waiting (like vultures) to swoop down on socks and trinkets that will need replacing several months down the road; Make something Day is all about using your time and energies, creativities and sense of beauty to craft presents or gifts for others–gifts as special as they are.  My own personal sense of what it means to be fully human includes Artistry, Creativity, and connection with Beauty.  This is a celebration that everyone benefits from.

And finally…on a similar note: The Advent Conspiracy.  This was actually started by a local Portland Oregon community of Christ followers looking to connect with the true and subversive story of the origins of Christianities founder: Jesus.  Their understand tied in with 4 statements they drew from that birth story of Jesus.

1) Worship Fully–know the creator…enter into relationship with creation…love your neighbor…

2) Spend Less 

3). Give More–one reason why New Testament “tithing” doesn’t exist is because it was too much of a low bar…10% is an easy way off the hook.  Give more, more of your time, more of your self, more of your possessions…on and on…

4) Love All.

Things are cha-cha-changing…

Underprivileged children in India are facing various problems which include problems of proper diet, proper shelter, medication etc. They do not enjoy the facilities of education like other children. The environment in which they survive is also a hazardous one.

Underprivileged children spend their childhood in broken homes with broken dreams. For them life is a challenge for survival. Every single day they have to fight for bread and butter. They loiter around in streets and public places begging money out of which they afford their meal. For a single meal they have to beg around the whole day. Various underprivileged children do not even have proper home to take shelter. They sleep under the open sky without any proper bedding. It is in fact appalling to think over how one can sleep under the open sky during extreme weathers

Various Nonprofit Organizations for Children are under operation to help and assist these needy children. They raise funds from various firms and transfer help and support to these children to assist them with a much better lifestyle.

Child charity foundation provides help and support to underprivileged children. They offer these children with proper food, shelter. These organizations also come up with child development education program. Under this program underprivileged children are provided free and compulsory primary education. This program has been of much help for underprivileged children to fight living in a deplorable environment.

Première fraction de seconde, on se dit que ces filles sont sublimes, qu’elles doivent avoir une vie de rêves, mannequins ou créatrices, en tout cas fashion addicts qui s’habillent chez les créateurs…

Puis en y regardant de plus près, on se rend compte que ce sont des femmes battues…

Grey Portugal signe ici une campagne Non Profit pour l’ APAV qui démontre bien que la violence touche toutes les classes sociales.

]]> http://aspenbaker.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/the-future-of-money-raising/ Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:41:20 +0000 aspenbaker http://aspenbaker.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/the-future-of-money-raising/

http://www.nten.org/blog/2008/11/20/how-will-your-nonprofit-raise-money-in-2012

How Will Your Nonprofit Raise Money in 2012?

Peter Deitz, Social Actions

With the global financial crisis at its peak and a recession looming, many nonprofit managers are probably asking themselves, “How will my nonprofit raise money next year?” I suspect fewer fundraisers are asking themselves, “How will my nonprofit raise the money it needs four years from now?”

The second question is the more important of the two, and the more difficult to answer.

Current best practices will serve nonprofits just fine in 2009. Between email solicitation, direct mail, major donors, and grant-writing, the vast majority of nonprofits will weather the economic hard times. But a shifting communications environment and changing donor demographics could render those best practices ineffective at best, and obsolete at worst, as early as 2012.

Raising money in 2012 will require creativity and foresight. Micro-philanthropy — that ambiguous term that refers to all things socially networked, small-scale, and charitable — will have matured.

Donors of all ages will be looking for meaningful points of engagement with your organization. They’ll want to set the programmatic agenda, select the beneficiaries and target areas, communicate the organization’s message, and, in real-time, evaluate feedback as it comes in.

Notice something strange about those tasks? None of them involve passive check-writing on behalf of your organization. In 2012, individuals will come to your organization with the expectation of being full partners in your work, not just dollar wells to be tapped when cash is needed. Donations will be a consequence of meaningful engagement, not a measurement of it.

Over the next four years, innovative organizations will use technology to transfer to individuals the reins on everything from program work and evaluation to fundraising and communications. Raising money in a micro-philanthropic environment will come naturally to these groups.

The economy may be hopping four years from now. For organizations that stick to a more traditional managerial and communications structure between now and then, however, raising money is going to be tougher in 2012 than in the darkest days of 2009.

So how should your organization prepare for the changes that are afoot?

Get accustomed to using social media to communicate with all of your potential donors.

There’s an unfortunate consensus emerging in the nonprofit sector that social media is only helpful for communicating with young people. Nonprofits are spicing up their social media communications strategy with language and informalities that may turn-off older supporters and major donors. This is a flawed assumption. The fact is that program officers at foundations, boomers, and prospective employees are all turning to social networks to get a sense of your organization.

In this medium, openness, responsiveness, and inquisitiveness serve your cause well. Simplistic appeals targeted at teens and college students don’t. Therefore, when crafting your social media communications strategy, focus on the qualities you want to be associated with and not the target audience you want to reach.

Experiment with online contests, both creating them and participating in them.

Online contests like the Knight News Challenge, The Case Foundation’s America’s Giving Challenge, and the AmEx Cardmember Project can be resource draining to participate in, especially for a time- and cash-strapped nonprofit. Nevertheless, participating in some (surely not all) of these contests will provide your staff members a focused opportunity to use social media to communicate with supporters. As a result, your nonprofit will get a sense of how many of your supporters are following you online, and to what extent you can count on them to act on your behalf.

Another approach to the online contest phenomenon is to run your own. Platforms like Genius Rocket and NetSquared provide nonprofits an opportunity to crowd-source a communications or technological need. Figure out what your need is, set a bounty on it as a deliverable, and then witness how the Internet responds. You’ll probably be pleased with the outcome.

Participating and running challenges encourages openness, responsiveness, and inquisitiveness online. These are important traits to develop, and will make fundraising easier as micro-philanthropy matures.

Make hiring decisions based on social media know-how and not just resume smarts.

When it comes to preparing for the shifting communications environment and donor demographics, your employees are your biggest asset. Most job seekers still list their desktop computing skills in their resumes instead of their social media know-how. When interviewing for any position at your organization, make sure to ask about the applicant’s familiarity with social media. Training employees down the road can be expensive and ineffective. You are better off hiring people who are at home online than trying to make them that way after they’ve been hired.

Note: Age is not a good indicator of social media know-how. Ask questions, and you’ll be surprised who’s on top of the technological changes and who’s not.

Empower your interns.

If your organization has interns, make sure to tap them for ideas on how to use social media to create meaningful points of engagement with your organization. Too often, interns are given menial tasks like photo-copying and filling out Excel documents. And yet, they are the ones who have volunteered to spend time with your organization (read: “they care”). They also have an outsider’s perspective on how your organization is represented online. Make the most of their time with you by asking them for ideas on how to better represent your organization online. Their ideas could very well lay the foundation for an effective micro-philanthropy campaign.

Get an iPhone.

The future of interacting with your organization is mobile as well as online. Get an iPhone or portable data-device in order to start experiencing the possibilities. If your nonprofit’s managers are not using portable devices to communicate with staff and supporters, they’re not going to understand the potential for mobile technology to change the what and how of your organization’s work. Get them started now, so that in 2012, you’re not beginning at square one to develop a mobile fundraising strategy.

Four years ago, web 2.0 was barely on the radar of nonprofits. Today, it’s becoming standard practice to communicate with supporters using tools like Flickr, MySpace , Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. If four years of social media can transform the way U.S. presidents get elected and people connect with causes, imagine the changes that another four years of social media will produce.

My advice to the nonprofit technology community: let’s start preparing now by thinking as creatively as possible