Are any nonprofits using Alternate Reality Gaming?

I would love to hear an answer to that question. I can’t find any. And trust me, I am looking. What is your experience? Know any that I missed? Not sure what alternate reality gaming is?

Check out these links.

NIN Alt Reality
http://www.jawbone.tv/news/1-news/466-trent-reznor-transmedia-case-study.html

LOST Alt Reality
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lost_Experience

Olympics Alt Reality Game
http://blog.avantgame.com/2008/03/lost-ring-alternate-reality-game-of.html

P.S. I am in love with Jane since seeing her keynote at SXSW.

So take a look and let us know what you find. Or maybe pitch us on how they SHOULD be using it.

Crowd Sourcing your Nonprofit Website Pt 2

So who won?

The Winning Design

Our developer, Heather Gardner-Madras can attest to this, our design was not necessarily web ready. Genius Rocket Creative, and designer of the entry we chose as winner, Alexandra Pokras, put together an amazing design which we loved, but making it into a website was the next challenge.

For those who may not know Heather, you should. She’s a passionate web developer who cares about causes and making them shine online. She gave us solid recommendations on CMS’ and which was likely to best serve our needs (we ended up with Drupal – and it rocks!). She helped us work through some of our site architecture. She helped us understand modules that would best help us achieve our goals. And above all else she never handed the reins over until we knew what we were doing and still is more than happy to help us as we move along! Mostly, maybe, for her benefit (breaking a site can be a complicated “undo”), but we are well trained today to be able to handle the site.

Overall I would call the experience positive. We believe we have a forward thinking design that is of the web “now.” I don’t know if I would recommend crowd-sourcing for every project that a nonprofit faces, but with limited financial resources it is definitely an option that could result in you meeting your project goals.

We’d love for you to take a look at our website and tell us what you think!

Have you crowd-sourced a project? How’d it work for you?

Do you think crowd-sourcing is a smart choice for nonprofits?

Nation’s First Cause-Driven Film Festival Call for Entries Almost Closed

Nation’s First Cause-Driven Film Festival Call for Entries Almost Closed

Last week for nonprofit community to submit films for consideration

06.23.2010 – AUSTIN, TX – Lights. Camera. Help., the premier film festival exclusively for nonprofits and cause advocates, is entering the last week for nonprofits to submit their films. Submissions need to be submitted by June 30 for consideration.

No other film festival brings together filmmakers and nonprofits to share their stories and promote their causes. Last year’s festival brought in over 140 submissions of documentaries, PSAs and short films focusing on cause-driven issues.

“We really want to foster the growth of this industry and offer a place where people looking to use their talents for good can collaborate,” said David J. Neff, creator and co-founder of the organization.

The submission form can be downloaded at the Lights. Camera. Help. Web site. The festival will be held July 29-August 1 in Austin, Texas.

“We believe that film and video are the best way for nonprofits and other cause-driven organizations to share their stories with the world,” said Rich Vázquez, Lights. Camera. Help. co-founder. “That’s the whole reason behind the film festival and, ultimately, the nonprofit organization overall.”

In July, Lights. Camera. Help. will judge the submissions based on the cinematic quality and the ability to tell the nonprofit’s story, among other factors. The winning films are then awarded the proceeds from the festival’s ticket sales.

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About Lights. Camera. Help.
Lights. Camera. Help. is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to encouraging other nonprofit and cause-driven organizations to use film and video to tell their stories. They do this through education, volunteer match programs, screenings and an annual film festival.

Volunteer Gig: It’s Hot, can you help? Driving Kids in Austin

How easy is this? Consider helping this amazing cause out today, they are right here in Austin, TX and need your help.

“I teach a free ESL class for immigrant kids, which is open to children from about 39 countries.  The teaching is free, and I give them all their school supplies, and every time they come to class I give them a few books in English to take home to keep.  I am writing because I am hoping you may know someone who can help me with one problem I am having.

There are refugee kids who want to come but who don’t have transportation. They know how to ride city buses, but the closest one stops at least a mile from the class site, and they’d have to walk in July and August heat, and sometimes rain, plus walk over a railroad track.  These kids are all here legally (their families have escaped  from places such as Burma, Bhutan, and so forth, and then been invited here by the U.S. government), and their parents have SS #’s, I-94′s, etc.   The kids could be picked up at the 1700 block of Rutland, or at a central point amongst a group of apartments one block north of Lamar and Denson, or at a central point on Reinli one block east of I-35.

There are little groups of children at each location, and being able to include even a few kids of them would really be a good thing.  They have not signed up yet because they don’t have any way to get to the class.

The class begins on June 28th and ends on August 6th.  It meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 2 – 5 p.m. The class will be held at a community center on Duval Road, between 183 and Mopac.”
Can you help drive these kids during the day?”
Contact:

Elaine M. Allan, B.S.,J.D., retired
borntohelp@earthlink.net

cell (512)750-7730