The Salvation Army introduces Mobile Bell Ringers

This looks really good from a tech perspective. Talk about Friend 2 Friend fundraising! Let me know if anyone finds a good video demo on this. What do you think? Interested in using it?

The Salvation Army Tidewater Area Command today announced that it will launch a Mobile Bell Ringer campaign. The campaign is the first of its kind, and will run through December 24, 2010. It is designed to introduce a mobile component into The Salvation Army’s traditional Red Kettle Christmas campaign. All proceeds raised from the Mobile Bell Ringer campaign will benefit local families in need in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Accomac and Northampton counties.

Becoming a Mobile Bell Ringer is easy. Interested participants can simply text BELL to 50555 to get information about registering. A link will be sent to the participant’s phone where they can register, download a Mobile Bell Ringer ring tone, collect donations, track donations collected, and compare their progress against the progress of other Mobile Bell Ringers.

Once registered, each participant will be encouraged to set a donation goal, and utilize their networks to collect $10 mobile donations to reach that goal. To collect a donation, a participant simply enters the donor’s mobile number into their mobile webpage, triggering a donation request that gets sent to the donor’s mobile device via text message. The donor will be asked to confirm the $10 donation to The Salvation Army. All proceeds raised from this campaign will help provide food, clothing, shelter and toys to local families in need.

SXSW wants more Nonprofits! And they are paying.

As all of you know Dale Thompson and I have been dropping this hint in the ears of SXSW for a long time and now it’s happening.  As all of you know the SXSW Interactive Festival brings together an eclectic mix of technologists, new media industry professionals, creative thinkers and marketing experts to launch new ideas and solutions into the marketplace.

For 2011, SXSW is proud to add a new scholarship program to make it easier for non profits to be part of the excitement of March in Austin.

Over the years, the energy and enthusiasm of non profit and cause groups has spurred much of the innovation that happens at SXSW. Recognizing these contributions, SXSW wants to ensure more of these non profit groups will be a part of the 2011 experience. In partnership with CauseShift, SXSW Interactive is introducing a scholarship program to benefit non profits.

How the Non Profit Scholarship Program Works

We are inviting non profit organizations and their supporters to enter 300-word essays by 11:59 PM CST on October 31, 2010. Essays should explain how new media and technology can help solve the organizations respective social issue and achieve its mission. Tell us why it’s important to leverage media and/or technology in this manner — how will it help you reach the finish line for your cause? And, in the spirit of SXSW, think big and think differently. After reviewing all the essays submitted, SXSW and CauseShift will select the top five (5) essays in terms of content and creativity.  The winning entrants will each receive a free SXSW Interactive badge (a $750 value) to give to their designated non profit in order to attend the SXSW Interactive Festival.

More and all the details here on the SXSW Scholarship for Nonprofits.

Can you help Flood Victims here in Central Texas?

::Special Guest Post from my friend Austin ::

On September 7th this year, the aftermath of hurricane Hermine washed into my childhood home in Round Rock and displaced my parents.  More than a foot of water washed through our stuff leaving soaked carpet, mud, and a huge mess to clean up.  It was a disaster that hit more than 600 families in Central Texas across 7 counties.  Whether it was a single foot of floodwater or 12 feet, the families affected now have to rebuild their lives.

What has amazed me in the midst of the rebuilding effort is how many people have donated their time, resources, and even donated money to the rebuilding effort.  I think that these “volunteers” are a bigger variable than the disaster itself.  The floodwaters will come, and the thing that we get to choose is how we react and respond to each disaster that hits our community.

The day after the flood I began working with the Austin Disaster Relief Network to organize more than 350 volunteers to work in Round Rock in my old neighborhood.  Working with the ADRN we also organized more than 30 volunteers to begin rebuilding the home of Charles and Gaye Lynn Bailey, one of the families who needed the community to support them.

On October 9-10 with 30 people, monetary donations, donated garage doors, bathtubs, and drywall, we as volunteers began work on the Bailey home to help them begin to rebuild.  All in all, the volunteers did almost $20,000 of work on the house in a weekend. That’s the power of volunteer work.

Now with FEMA’s refusal to grant the State of Texas’ request for disaster funds, self-organized volunteer efforts like this one are how the Central Texas community is going to rebuild.  The Austin Disaster Relief Network is taking the model we created on the Bailey House and spreading it to other volunteer projects and is going to be recruiting volunteers to adopt families that were displaced by the flooding.  In the coming weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to make the difference to a family like the Bailey’s by volunteering to help them re-build.

If you want to get involved, please volunteer or pledge to the Austin Disaster Relief Network using HelpAttack! HelpAttack is a cool online giving platform that let’s you tweet to donate to your favorite causes.

- Austin Gunter

NTEN voting Time! Help us Ignore Goliath

Hello Readers!
Can we get HELP voting on this panel? Should be a good one for us to showcase some amazing tech from right here in Austin, TX!

http://www.nten.org/node/9942

Simply go to that URL and hit the 5 star button plus leave a comment.

We want double rainbow status!