Here's a great example of Viral Marketing and a top trend on Twitter right now. Earth Hour is Saturday, March 28th, 2009 everywhere all over the world. Watch these movies and take a look at the EarthHour2009 website to get a sampling of ways you can integrate user generated content into your marketing mix.
Voting for the earth is easy. All you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday March 28th. And if you can't do that (if you're in the middle of a dress rehearsal for a symphony concert or something) then you can vote by tagging your tweet on Twitter with #earthhour or #voteearth and your #location or tag your blog in a similar way. See the EarthHour2009 site for more information and a great example of integrating various social media tools to inspire and connect people to make a difference. Wow!
What are you going to do for earthhour? Or if your are reading this after earthhour in your location has passed, what did you do?
"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory." Friedrich Engels
That quote is in the email signature of my friend Bree who turned 25 last week and it's both humbling and inspiring to me.
Last week I mentioned that today would be the day to vote on the Google 10 to the 100 Project ideas. However, I have just checked the website and they are still collecting all the ideas to gather the top 100 out of more than 150,000 ideas submitted. I am very excited to see the ideas and wish that the voting could have started today, however we do want Google to pick the best 100, so we'll give them more time to go through all the ideas submitted. Your vote will be important when the top 100 are announced, so please add your email to be sent a reminder when voting starts.
Also, please let your voice be heard on giving and service. Be the change.
Just a quick reminder about the Google 10 to the 100 Project. Voting begins in one week on March 17th, so click the "Remind me to vote" button or make yourself a note to remember to vote. There will be many inspiring ideas for ways to help and Classes for Causes would really appreciate your vote. Thank you so much for your support.
How many times do you feel like you have so much to do there is no end in site? How many times to you feel like a project is a struggle, your goal is such a long way away or you just don't have what it takes to succeed. How many times do you let a good idea slip away because it comes to you at an inopportune moment? When I watched this TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) I was comforted that I am not the only one having those thoughts of self-doubt. Even people achieving the highest level of success in their careers confront these issues. Elizabeth tells us that if you just keep showing up, you will get to the end, you WILL succeed and you WILL reach that goal.
This weekend I spent the majority of my time working on the finishing touches of the 501c3 application and the California FTB 3500 application for tax exempt status. I have to thank QuestionCopyright.org for displaying their application as a resource for others to use when filing. It was a great help, so I am following in QuestionCopyright.org's footsteps and offering the Classes for Causes application on our site for reference as well.
If you are applying for tax exempt status, i.e. you want to be a nonprofit to which people can donate money and receive a tax deduction, you need to fill out and prepare a number of documents. It is not a simple process and takes time. If you need help or just want more information about what's involved, please contact me. I would be happy toto save you some time. And hey, the more time you have, the more money you can be making for your important cause, so let me help you so that you can help others and continue the circle of giving.
On March 5th, I taught a class called Marketing with Search Engines. It was the first real class that has run at Classes for Causes and we had one student. Would we have liked more students? Ofcourse. Did we consider canceling the class? No, because by offering the class we raised $32 for Women's Initiative and that $32 is the beginning of a regular stream of donations that I hope will be donated to Women's Initiative through Classes for Causes.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)
This is a journey and we have taken the first step. I would like to thank Renata J. Razza for being our very first Classes for Causes student and I am extremely grateful for the kind words he sent about the class.
"...This is just a quick note to say thank you for the SEO class last night! While I have a reasonable technical background, I had no real understanding of search engine optimization. Your class last night gave me the information I need in a package that made it easy to understand. I left with a clear sense of *exactly* what I need to do to improve my ranking. More importantly, I left with supreme confidence that I can do it!..."
