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

Do Non Profits Make Video? HELL YES

EDITORS NOTE: Taken from my post here. What’s the top thing you can do this year to engage your constituents? Both online and off? Quick, what springs to mind?

Well I’m here to tell you that it should be video. If you are going to do one new thing in 2010 to help get the word out about your organization’s mission, it should be to create a video.

Lights. Camera. Help.Now sure, as the creator and co-founder of my own nonprofit called Lights. Camera. Help., I may be a little biased! Lights. Camera. Help. is the world’s first nonprofit focused on helping other nonprofits do good through film. We do this through our education programs, volunteer match programs, screenings and our annual film festival. But what I am here today to do is share three tips to help you get your first project up and running.

1. Check out the Flip Video Spotlight from the folks over at Flip Video. This really cool program lets you buy cameras at a two-for-one price break. All you have to do is tell them, in under 500 words, why your nonprofit deserves to be in the program.

2. Now that you are starting to film, check out Creative Commons to find amazing work to build upon—not everything you shoot needs to be video. Find some amazing photos and even music to mix in for free over at http://search.creativecommons.org/. And, they are a nonprofit just like all of us!

3. Now that you are starting to put together your first video, you may be starting to think “Where should it go?” Check out the amazing YouTube Nonprofit Program. I think having your video on the #2 search engine in the world would be a good place to start, right? Just be sure to check out the rules they have for nonprofits and the types of videos they accept.

So what are you waiting for? In the meantime, check out the Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival for a little inspiration. Our 2010 submission process is now open. Films are free to submit and we are having cash prizes for the best feature film, the best short film and the best PSA. So if you already know of some great nonprofit and cause-driven films please submit them today, or go out and start shooting your own!

NTC Re-Cap

Hey Gang,
I recently attended the Non Profit Technology Conference (NTC) in Atlanta GA. I had an amazing time learning and growing with my fellow NTC friends. I was also lucky enough to present on two panels.

Results here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%2310ntc.wives

Results here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23bestntcpanelever

More personal notes here: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9VF2B3gqZmZZTVhYzIyYWItYmNmMS00MGI2LTgxNmMtOGZmM2VhZmY0ZGU0&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

NTC truly is one of those conference that can not only change minds (technology, strategy and practices) but can also change hearts (Mission, polar bears, cartwheels and youtube parties). That’s something that is a rare find these days.  My hats off to the NTEN crew who made this all happen. Please leave your thoughts and comments in the comments field below.

SXSW Crowdsourcing Re-Cap

Hey All,

I had an amazing time on a panel yesterday with Kari, Amy Sample, Beth and Holly. This is just a quick post to talk about my top three takeaways from the brilliant crowd that showed up yesterday (we packed the house BTW..yay NPO’s at SXSW!).

1) Start small. Start by crowdsourcing a T-Shirt contest. Use voting for the best shirt and the hybrid model to pick the winner. The next year actually give them your logo and have them design the shirt.

2) Give great value to the community. Yes you are a non profit and you do give back, but make sure you are not just asking for free spec work from folks. Make sure that the prizes are good and people feel appreciated when they enter.

3) Be carefull of crowdfunding vs crowdsourcing. It’s one thing to let the “hive mind” create amazing content for you and colloborate. It’s another to lose focus on your mission because you are chasing an impossible $$ prize with all your resources.

For more check out our hashtag on twitter here: http://hashtags.org/crowdx