I’ll be going on the air at 10 pm PST with my dear friend Marie (@mariadeathstar) in support of an organization that is incredibly important to us: Free Geek (you can see the notes about the birthday fundraising I did last year in support of Free Geek here).

Learn more about how you can get involved in the 30 Hour Day from wherever you are in the world!

THANK YOU to all of you who donated and supported my Birthday Cause; it means SO much to me!

I first talked about the Birthday Cause application on Facebook in December when I set it up for my birthday.  In addition to the Thank You, I wanted to share some thoughts about the Birthday Cause application and my experience using it for my birthday fundraiser.

It’s super EASY

It came to me, always. When conducting a campaign at your organization, you’ve probably experienced that you get a better return (whether it’s donations, volunteers, sign-ups, or whatever else) when you reach out to people often with direct opportunities.  Causes’ Birthday Cause application does just that when you set it up.

It emailed me two weeks before my birthday to let me know that I could use the application, and once I had it set up, it emailed me every day with direct links to help me make the most of the tool.  Birthday Cause “Tip of the Day” emails included actions for setting my status, emailing contacts, personalized asking, setting notifications and more.  Here are some examples:

Setting your Status:

Dear Amy,

Just 11 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $234 from 9 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings, and stop by your promotion page to thank them.

Tip of the Day: Setting Your Status
Every time you change your status, all of your friends can see the update. We’ve created a set of status messages for you to chose from that link directly to your Birthday Cause. Choosing a new one each day is an easy way to make sure your friends know about your birthday cause. To change your status just go here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/29850/status?m=7835d9b4

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

Birthday Cause Page:

Dear Amy,

Just 12 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $182 from 7 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings, and stop by your promotion page to thank them.

Tip of the Day: Your Birthday Cause Page
Your quote is the most important thing on your birthday cause page. Its what your friends will see when they go to the page, and what will help them decide if they want to donate or not. Spend some time making it look nice, and explaining why your birthday cause is important to you. To edit your quote, click ‘Edit Birthday Cause’ from your cause page, or click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/29850/edit?m=7835d9b4

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

Inviting Friends:

Dear Amy,

Just 1 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $312 from 12 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings.

Tip of the Day: Invite More Friends
You can now send more Birthday Requests through Facebook. This is one of the most effective ways to let people know about your Birthday Cause. Invite More Friends

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

Email:

Dear Amy,

Just 10 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $286 from 11 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings, and stop by your promotion page to thank them.

Tip of the Day: Email
Email is an effective way to get in touch with large numbers of your friends and let them know about your birthday cause.

We have set up an easy way for you to email all of your friends with the Causes application. You can do this up to two times, at any time up to and including the day of your birthday. To do so now, click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/29850/email?m=7835d9b4

Thanks,
Amy

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

One to One Requests:

Dear Amy,

Just 8 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $312 from 12 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings, and stop by your promotion page to thank them.

Tip of the Day: One to One Requests
People are most responsive to one-to-one requests. If you have some friends that you are comfortable enough with to ask specifically to donate, doing so is the most effective thing you can do to raise money for your Birthday Cause.

You can make these requests by posting to the walls of these friends from your Birthday Cause promotion page. You can get to that page by clicking ‘Promote your Birthday Cause’ from your cause page or clicking this link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/29850/promote?m=7835d9b4

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

Notifications:

Dear Amy,

Just 9 days left until your Birthday!

Congratulations on having raised $286 from 11 donors. Great work! If you haven’t already, take a look at your birthday cause page to see if they left you any birthday greetings, and stop by your promotion page to thank them.

Tip of the Day: Notifications
Notifying your friends about your birthday cause is a good way to spread the word. We allow you to send up to three notifications to your friends about your birthday cause. You can even queue up notifications to be sent automatically the day before your birthday and on your birthday. To send notifications, click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/29850/notify?m=7835d9b4

Keep up the good work,
The Causes Team

The direct links (most are hidden in the above examples as they were hyperlinked text into my account) helped me jump straight to where I needed to be to let my friends know about my cause.  Not only did it make getting the word out about the cause easy, but it helped me stay on top of the donations so I could properly thank my donors!  This is a huge bonus point for the Birthday Cause application because publicly thanking supporters is one of the biggest keys to keeping up the momentum of your fundraising appeal (because not only to donors feel appreciated, but also more inclined to tell their friends about the opportunity – plus, it’s another public mentioning of your campaign!).  Here’s what the email looks like when someone donates:

Lori Faye has donated $26 to your birthday cause! You have now raised $26 from 1 friend and need 9 more to meet your goal.

Thank Your Friends For Donating

Thanks,
The Causes Team

The emails has a direct link to my Birthday Cause page where I can read Lori’s message and thank her.

I was worried when I first set up the application that it would end up being more work to maintain than I had in the midst of holiday season.  Instead, I didn’t feel like I was doing any work at all and yet saw the donations streaming in!

It’s actually FUN

It let me connect with my friends, all over. Facebook is a tool I use to stay connected to my friends and family all over the world.  Regardless of where I’m travelling or currently based, I know everyone is just a click or two away.  That’s why it was such a great opportunity to celebrate my birthday INSIDE Birthday Causes because I’m now a continent away from most of my friends and family.  Connecting with friends as they donated was such a thrill, with people contributing to the Birthday Cause from all over the globe.  I was always excited to get an email from Causes and could never even guess who it would be from each time.

It’s designed to WORK

I really like when things just work.  Like I said, I wasn’t sure how much time I would have with the holidays and our planned travels.  It didn’t matter though, because the application did everything I would have needed it to do. Of course, everything could always work a little better, right?  Here are some of my suggestions to Causes to improve the Birthday Cause application:

• #1.  I was always unsure whether it would send a request/invite to people who had already donated and that made me less inclined to send out messages repeatedly
• #2.  I wish that I could have personalized the groups more specifically – if I said I wanted the application to automatically alert my friends at certain intervals, I wanted to also say which friends at which intervals instead of the option being the same for all of it
• #3.  I know that the Birthday Cause is supposed to help you raise money for a cause of your choice, but I wish I could have had other options beyond giving money – Free Geek is a dynamic organization and I would have liked to encourage people to donate money, but also to pledge to volunteer, register their donated computer parts towards the Birthday Cause, and so on with all of it counting towards my goal
• #4.  If people donated close together chronologically, the application would only alert me to the most recent donation, so some times I didn’t realize people had donated  to thank them in a timely way
• #5.  I would have preferred it if my Thank You messages to my donors could have shown up on the Birthday Cause page as well as on their profiles, the same way the application creates posts to my profile when they donate and leave a message

I think it’s a great way to celebrate your birthday and support your favorite organization at the same time.  Learn more about Causes here and how you can use the Birthday Cause application for your special day!

Happy Birthday, Beth!

My good friend Beth Kanter’s birthday is coming up quickly and guess what, she is using Birthday Causes to raise funds!  If you want to wish Beth a happy birthday, you can donate to her Birthday Cause to help support The Sharing Foundation.  Learn more and support Beth here.

Free Geek!

I nominate Free Geek to anyone and everyone as your new favorite nonprofit, your new organization to donate to, and the organization to talk about when you need to look informed and passionate

Why Free Geek?

My great friend Marie compiled reasons why we love Free Geek:

• Free Geek is one of the few organizations in the U.S. that can accurately say it recycles materials it can’t reuse in an environmentally and socially responsible way. None of its materials end up poisoning children on other continents. (Did you see the recent 60 Minutes coverage of this shameful subject?) Do you know where the ewaste you produce ends up? Watch what happens when you ask for documentation about its disposition (and watch the 60 Minutes piece!).  Free Geek has applied for BAN certification and we expect it to come shortly.
• Free Geek is where the poorest people in the Portland area earn free computers and learn how to use them, gaining valuable job skills that can change their lives.
• Free Geek is where you find immigrants and refugees building their own computers and taking classes in free software, helping them find a way in their new land.
• Free Geek is a place where brilliant young geeks get recognized and encouraged.  I just met a 13-year-old boy there who already can program as well as any of the veterans in this magnet for brilliant geeks.  Free Geek is nurturing his talent in a way that wouldn’t happen otherwise.
• Free Geek is where a man in his mid-80s finds a community that appreciates his talents and where he stays in touch with people.  He’s built more than 500 computers to help the needy get nerdy.  A very smart 5-year-old is now building computers there with his mom!
• Free Geek truly means what it pays.  Staff members who are paid all get the same hourly rate. Yes, from the person answering the phone to the person dealing with big picture policy.
• It’s the most grassroots and hands-on organization I’ve ever seen, helping the neediest people in our community.
• I’ve never met a kinder or more giving group of people in my life.
• It serves the most diverse group of people of any organization I’ve ever seen, in nearly every measurement: age, gender, background, abilities, disabilities, ethnic & racial, world views, etc. etc.

And…

Free Geek is a place where Marie‘s son, and my friend, and many people’s teacher, friend, and hero works.

Meet Blaine:

Blaine is an amazing person: he is calming and passionate and helpful and caring and supportive, and, well, amazing. He is one of those rare people in life that you feel honored to know, to hug and to call a friend.  Knowing what he gives to Free Geek and what the community gives back to him only furthers the proof that he is truly a hero! (super hero even?)

Here’s how Marie captured it:

As many of you know, Blaine was born with spina bifida and is paralyzed and lacks sensation below his armpits.  This past summer, Blaine received an award for “Volunteer Extraordinaire” at Free Geek in recognition that for the past five years, every day Free Geek is open and he is not really really sick, Blaine has been getting himself up and ready to go in and help that amazing nonprofit organization.  I get to see what it takes for Blaine to make his important contribution. What can I say?  He’s my hero.

I’ve always know what Free Geek does for Blaine, but I was stunned to hear what he means to Free Geek.  Recently some of his co-workers there shared some thoughts about what Blaine provides Free Geek.  When I heard these things, my heart soared like a hawk.  I wish every mother had the opportunity to hear people appreciate their son or daughter like this:

• “Recently my niece signed up to volunteer at Free Geek, opting to work her way through the Computer Build program to earn a free computer.  My advice to her was, ‘Prepare to work independently, overcome great frustration, and when in doubt, stay close to Blaine.’”
• “Blaine’s tutelage was instrumental in my making it through the Build program at Free Geek (launching me into other areas of contribution), and I know he has provided similar assistance to hundreds, if not thousands of other volunteers there.”
• “Blaine is an amazingly knowledgable and patient instructor and coordinator of other volunteers. Despite his limited mobility, Blaine is able to help direct and answer questions of our volunteers, which in turn keep our organization running.”
• “Blaine is among the most valued members of the Free Geek community and of its volunteer labor force.”
• “Blaine helps teach others good work skills and reinforces the importance of showing up on time and doing your job with all you have, and he is always willing to learn more from others to share with his students.”
• “I have been very impressed with Blaine’s patient and consistently upbeat contributions as a volunteer with the Free Geek build program.  He was extremely supportive and helpful to a young man from a Haitian refugee family who learned a lot from a series of afternoons with Blaine: about computers, people, tolerance and empathy from his supportive manner and patient instruction.”
• “He is a beloved member of our community. It’s impossible to work with Blaine without appreciating his cheer and warmth. I’ve never seen him get irritated, even in the most difficult times; His equanimity helps us all to maintain our own sanity. He’s an inspiring presence.”

How to Support the Free Geek team & community:

It’s rough times, for everyone.  But Free Geek needs your support however you can give it.

• If you are in Portland, OR: Take your no-longer-needed computer and other electronic items to Free Geek at 1731 SE 10th Ave., just a couple blocks south of Hawthorne.
• If you aren’t in Portland, OR:  Make a charitable donation to this wonderful organization (tax deductible of course!). You can give through PayPal directly on the Free Geek site or through the Willamette Week Give Guide (and get some schwag for your trouble!).
• Mail or deliver a check to Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Ave., Portland OR  97214.  (Tell them Marie sent you!)

If none of those options speak to you, why not try one of these options:

• Connect with Free Geek on Change.org where you can help spread the word and recruit others to donate
• If you prefer Facebook, join the Free Geek group or become a Free Geek fan
• Blog about what impresses you, excites you, or what you like most about Free Geek!
• Share your support and ideas with Marie!
• Check out the movie Marie (the rising documentary star in residence) made!

The Short Version about 5 minutes long (viewed more than 50,000 times so far!):