Category Archives: Charities

Twitter’s Paul Steele: Blazing a Trail of Greatness

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This is cross-posted in the Huffingtonpost Impact Section.

This is the latest post in our series, Twitter Powerhouses, which focuses on the contributions of people who’ve helped to expand, influence, and redefine how we view social networking.

When Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and 11 others started Twitter in 2006, the plan was simple: create not only a shining star of social media, but a phenomenon that would foster cross-cultural understanding, expand our imagination, and develop a new, fantastic way of communicating. Their dream is now a reality. And by every indication, world traveler Paul Steele is the living, breathing example of Jack Dorsey’s now famous tweet: “One could change the world with one hundred and forty characters.“

From London to Lagos, Lima to Los Angeles, Steele’s impact has been tremendous. His TwitterSingups – one of 2010′s great success stories – are highly anticipated. But he is greatly respected for his adventures that raise much needed funds for charities and nonprofits. In fact, he was profiled some months back about a fundraising climb he did to support the Anthony Nolan Trust.

And since then, he has become an unmistakable force in social media. While his Twitter numbers are impressive, the substance inside of his numbers is even more impressive. What do we mean? Steele is one of the most admired (and retweeted) because he engages others based on their Twitter content, not because of their follower count or “status”. This approach has gained him a loyal and enthusiastic following (including the two writers of this post). Indeed, when Paul Steele tweets, people listen.

Steele’s upcoming climb in the Himalayas with 13 other tweeters promises to be the stuff of legends. He’ll be leading the team to Mera Peak, the highest trekking point in Nepal, with all proceeds going to Charity Water. So let there be no doubt: if people walk with you through a neighborhood, you probably rock the city. But when they climb with you up a mountain in the Himalayas, to raise money for a great cause, you most certainly rock the planet.

Authors’ note: In this 1st anniversary post, we hyper-linked the words TweetUp and Twitterverse to give people unfamiliar with Twitter an understanding of how it operates. Enjoy!

How do you use Twitter to connect with your fans, and promote some of your projects?

I always like to say friends more than fans. One thing I always have in mind on Twitter is that we are all equal. Follower numbers etc fade into insignificance towards the great heart and kindness of the people out there. Giving is more important than taking in my book. There are thousands upon thousands of Twitter users, all with projects of their own. I love to learn and see what other great people are up to all over the world. Throughout my time on Twitter, I have become stronger in my belief that giving more than taking is a strong way to connect in a way that makes a difference. To some that could just be giving a warm genuine smile. To others it could be to help with a project or simply helping to elevate their voice. Friends will care about you if you care for them. You can’t make new friends either just by shouting a message at them.

As you know, Twitter announced the opening of an office in London. The news is so huge that even Jeff Pulver is looking to do a Tweetup there. How exciting is it to see Twitter make a huge expansion into your country, and, Europe as a whole?

I read this news with great interest. Twitter is truly global, and yet English isn’t even the most tweeted language. As with any platform there are ideas to be gained and input to be made from many demographics and user types. I am sure Jeff will know that a Tweetup here would be just as fantastic as one in the US, but will gain a whole new perspective. A move into London/Europe will help Twitter gain and stop an insular feel whilst making the users less isolated and unheard.

Your popular TwitterSingups are just simply amazing. You have participants from every corner of the world. How did that idea come about?

The Singups, innocent fun. Started simply with a tweet I sent out way back. Basically a line from a Queen song. Someone from South Africa tweeted back the next line, then someone retweeted that with the next line, and so on. Fun! I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could hear that? So I threw the idea out in the stream and we had the first basic TwitterSingup. Each one since has been a pleasure to put together. The principle stays the same: Tweeters around the world joining together for fun, smiles and song. Singing quality not a necessity. (Laughs)

You’re always helping charities around the world. Talk a little bit about your upcoming climb in the Himalayas with 13 other Tweeters to support Charity Water. There’s great support around this project.

This challenge has been close to my heart all along. When I went to climb Mt Aconcagua for Leukemia I was grateful for the huge support from every corner of the twitterverse. So many people say to me they wish they could go do something like that. My answer is yes you can, put your mind to it, feel positive and anything can be achieved, another answer was to enable a way to show them. The 13 Tweeters climbing Mera Peak with me come from every corner of planet. They are great people. They have taken to a goal, having never climbed a Mountain near 6,500 meters. What a challenge it is and the way they are coming together and training for this is unbelievable. It will be an absolute pleasure to get together and climb in aid of Charity Water.

What tips do you have for someone who wants to use Twitter to make a difference? Where should they start?

I would always say start by being as positive as you can in a real way. Everybody can make a difference no matter what it is. Help others to make a difference, its amazing what other people around the world are doing and sharing. People generally will not care about you if you do not genuinely care about them. I learn a great deal from people from all walks of life, and I enjoy doing so.

We know you always think ahead. Can you give us a hint at any future challenges you have in the works?

I can never sit still and big challenges need long planning and sponsor support. Throughout the year after Mera Peak, I will be continuing a run of UK Mountain/Distance challenges, but, next November a friend in New Zealand and I plan to start the 600 mile ski trek from the Antartctic coast all the way to the South Pole. It will take 40 to 50 days. A mammoth challenge and goal that will keep me more than motivated.

What do you do when you’re not climbing? In fact, how you get into climbing?

I spend my spare time thinking up or finding new challenges. In fact, if I sit around too much my brain buzzes. When I was a child my father introduced me the wonderful Lake District, its mountains and thousands of pathways. Throughout my teenage life it was just a hobby I enjoyed with family and friends. It also helps living on the edge of the Pennines. I was in the Army for 16 years. I suppose that experience taught me self discipline, realizing goals and teamwork, and of course, many skills in the open fields and hills. Upon leaving the Forces I sat behind a desk putting on weight and found my release back in the mountains. Add great summits and goals to that and my hobby was set. The next goal was to raise as much as possible for charity as I go, differing good charities each time. Whether it be a big foreign mountain/trek or a UK challenge, it is always a pleasure if people want to get involved or join me and have a go. The support is amazing. Wonderful people out there.

How would you describe yourself in 140 characters?

Looking at the positive view in all that I can for ways to stay motivated. And if that spreads to others, all the better. Hit the world with a smile!


For more information on Paul Steele and the international issues that inspire and inform his work, follow him on his Twitter feed and read his great blog entries.

Author’s Note: In case you missed it, here’s Part 15 of the series: Marc Parent and the Art of Twitter Activism.

A Powerful Voice for Nonprofits

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This is cross-posted in the Huffingtonpost Impact Section.

According to nonprofit insiders, the last few years have been quite a financial struggle. The beginning of 2010 brought an unexpected bright spot with the surprising popularity of mobile funding, which was used effectively by the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and others to fundraise for Haitian Relief. Building on that inspiring moment of global citizenry, nonprofits continue their quest for the funding to stay operational, and, for an understanding of the challenges that await them.

As we move deeper into this new decade, Shauna Causey, an immensely creative and strategic thinker, is emerging as one of the most powerful advocates the nonprofit community has in its corner. Beloved as she is respected; and dynamic as she is charitable. She sits on four nonprofit boards, and is the founder of the widely acclaimed Voluntweetup, which helps to train nonprofit entitles on great ways to use social media.

Recently, it was announced that VolunTweetup is going global. This is great news for those of us familiar with Causey’s extraordinary work. From continent to continent, she’ll now be able to show nonprofits how to connect with their target audience, refine their message, and to engage social media sites like Twitter and Facebook in ways that can pay huge dividends.

As my interview with her reveals, this is a woman on a mission. And nonprofit services — advocacy, arts, civic, cultural, education, health and otherwise — will greatly benefit from her expertise.


What are some of the strategies you urge nonprofits to adopt?

I ask non-profits to consider a few thoughts: treat social media primarily as a friend-finder rather than a fundraiser, be incredibly generous, and look for ways to empower the community and create advocates for your cause. In addition, I’ve been spending a lot of time helping non-profits with the three ideas below. Now that many non-profits have accounts already set-up, we’re moving past the basics and digging deeper into strategies:

Make Social Media Work For You. So many non-profits see social media as a chore rather than a strategic way to interact with their community to yield serendipitous results. Whatever goal a non-profit has: finding board members, raising awareness, finding funding opportunities, connecting with lobbyists, or finding keynote speakers for an annual luncheon, using social media channels can be the most important asset in reaching those goals. Twestival is a great example of this. From start to finish, the entire fundraising event was planned and executed using social media channels. And what a great success story! The last Twestival in March raised $460,000 and attracted 14,000 people to raise money for Concern Worldwide.

Make People Smile. Add humor and wit. I encourage non-profits to mix in fun messages with their educational pieces. I saw a very simple example recently from the Humane Society that made me smile. Mixed between tweets raising awareness about puppy mills and tweets interacting with others, was this photo of an adorable dog with a note saying “Happy Friday!”

Diversify The Social Media Tool Box: Livestream a press conference or interview with the Executive Director, share volunteer photos on Flickr, and post an event on Plancast. Meet people in person by going to social media, blogging and tech events. I had a chance to meet Bonin Bough from Pepsi while I was at South by Southwest. Pepsi’s massive project to help non-profits, Pepsi Refresh, is impressive. They are sharing non-profits’ stories through photos, pictures, video and audio and they show up in-person to events. They’re also putting their money where it counts, ditching the Super Bowl ads this year to give more than $20 million to non-profits through social media outreach. Another example is Mark Horvath. He uses a myriad of channels–the most powerful being video–to raise awareness about extreme poverty and homelessness through his InvisiblePeople.tv channel.

What has the response been like so far for your seminars?

I started Voluntweetup but it’s an event owned by the community. We’ve had three Voluntweetup events so far and I’ve been blown away at the talented people who’ve volunteered and the turnout from non-profits. Voluntweetup is a completely free training event for non-profits and a volunteer event for many of the top social media talent. It’s “unconference” style which means the community determines the topics that are discussed. The last Voluntweetup event had 130 non-profit executives and 50 social media volunteers. We had topics covering the basics of livestreaming (taught by popular blogger and lifecaster Chris Pirillo) to a panel of success stories (that featured strategies from Jolkona and BloodCenter. Voluntweetup was also featured at Blogworld last year.

The exciting news that we’re announcing here is that Voluntweetup is going global! We’re opening it up to other cities who are interested in hosting social media trainings and they’ll all be on the same day: August 19. We’ve had other cities request to run events and we want to help them execute events. Anyone interested in leading an event or any non-profit interested in attending Voluntweetup can contact us here.

All of the people who have volunteered their time to help at Voluntweetup are listed here. It’s an all-star group of very generous people.

In fact, you’ve always been helpful and supportive of nonprofits, right?

Yes, aside from Voluntweetup, I also serve on a number of non-profit boards, and regularly volunteer with Social Media Club Seattle, Seattle Works, Reel Grrls, Leadership Tomorrow, and, the United Way. I also run a Twitter account to broadcast Seattle-area non-profit news: WA NonProfits. I’m currently working on two new exciting projects: a book featuring amazing women in tech (including some excellent non-profit stories and strategies), and a flash mob for a cause. Sarah Evans has mobilized leaders across the country to organize flash mobs on June 4 to raise awareness for social services. I’ll be helping to organize the flash mob in Seattle.

I feel so blessed to be able to assist. Though, I had no idea how much demand there is for help. In the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at 20 events across the country and in Canada–all of them about how non-profits can effectively use social media and how companies can align with non-profits to create cause marketing strategies. This is just the beginning. I am committed to producing meaningful partnerships that impact lives all across the world.

To learn more about Shauna Causey’s amazing journey and inspiring vision for nonprofits, you can follow her on her Twitter feed, or fan her on her Facebook page.

Guest Blogger: Yasamin Beitollahi

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Today’s Guest Blogger is Huffington Post blogger and marketing specialist, Yasamin Beitollahi, known in social media for her enthusiasm for technology, and her love of cooking. She graciously allowed me to share her great post with my readers. You can follow her on her Twitter feed and friend her on Facebook page. This is an awesome piece below is about what’s being done to positively impact the island nation of Haiti.

Global Aid Pours into Haiti

by Yasamin Beitollahi

Haiti is a nation plagued by diverse issues. With a population of 8 million, most of whom are living on less than one dollar per day, Haiti is considered to be the most poverty-stricken country in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to its high unemployment rate (80%), the country is also plagued by food shortages, poor drinking water, lack of education, environmental concerns and shifting culture. Adding to Haiti’s misery is the devastation caused by the strongest earthquake in more than two centuries that rocked the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, located just 10 miles northwest of the earthquake’s epicenter.

Despite all advances of science and civilization, humanity remains helpless when the worst forces of nature unleash devastation. Now, the nation’s only defense against starvation and disease consists of relief from generous lands. President Obama commented: “For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible.”

Yet even as the earthquake has shaken us to our core, heroism and humanity strengthen the foundations of our global family. Courageous, exhausted, rescue workers, scramble through crippled neighborhoods, digging with their hands, refusing to give up on life. A worldwide outpouring of compassion and generosity now laps at Haiti’s shores, quietly defying nature’s brutality. UN data reports that at least $567.67 million has been pledged by individuals, countries, companies and international organizations to date.

2010-01-18-haiti.jpg

Soon after the earthquake struck near the nation’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, the Red Cross mobilized fund raising efforts through the social networking site Twitter.

Just before 10:00 pm (PST) on January 12, @RedCross tweeted:

“You can text ‘HAITI’

to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti.”

As of today, donations via text message for the American Red Cross’s Haiti relief efforts reached over $21 million. Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson, commented “These are donors who are typically the hardest to reach: young people. They’re reacting to something that affects them and realizing their few dollars can make a difference. Texting has opened up a whole new world for philanthropy.”

Cycling ace and humanitarian Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation has pledged $250,000 to support relief charities working to rebuild earthquake-devastated Haiti. The former Tour de France champion is giving generously to help those left homeless after the disaster and he’s urging fans and friends to do the same.

In a video message posted on his website, Armstrong says,

“I think what’s on top of everybody’s mind is the earthquake in Haiti and the devastation we all have seen on television or the newspaper or the internet. Some say more than a 100,000 lives (have been) lost. On behalf of Livestrong and everybody at our organization we’d like to pledge $250,000 for the relief efforts down there for two primary organizations: Partners In Health – great friends of ours doing great work in that country – and also Doctors Without Borders.”

Alyssa Milano, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, donated $50,000 to the charity’s Haiti earthquake relief efforts, and has made a “Tweet Challenge” on Twitter asking corporations to match her donation.

The actress and philanthropist writes on Huffington Post:

“I challenge any corporation to match my $50,000 donation to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. 100% of every dollar will go directly to supplies that include tarpaulins, water-purification tablets, oral rehydration salts, family water kits, medical supplies, medical kits, food, shelter, and protection.”

Musician Wyclef Jean, whose homeland is Haiti, is asking people to donate to Yele Haiti to help with disaster relief for earthquake survivors. So far, Wyclef Jean’s nonprofit organization, Yele Haiti, has raised over $1 million for the victims of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake from mobile donations alone. Yele’s goal is to up that figure to $1 million a day as part of the SMS fundraising drive. With a series of urgent tweets, an appearance on CNN and the help of his famous friends the singer has mobilized a massive effort on behalf of his homeland, imploring followers to text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 to the effort.

Virgin Atlantic is flying much-needed aid along with key medical personnel, aid agency workers and rescue teams to the region in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. The aid and personnel will be flown out on a number of Virgin Atlantic flights to Miami, Orlando and Jamaica over the coming days. From there the aid agencies will arrange for the essential supplies to be transferred to Haiti. The airline has already committed to flying a minimum of 55 tons of cargo. Virgin Atlantic is also working with a number of other charities, including Save the Children and Oxfam, to assist them in their efforts to get crucial aid supplies and personnel to the region.

WAT-AAH!, the first functional bottled water marketed to kids donated 40,000 lbs of bottled water for Haiti relief.

Though its own facilities were severely damaged by the massive earthquake, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) field staff have been establishing temporary clinics in order to treat injured men, women, and children in Haiti. MSF was able to respond immediately because international and national staff had already been running several projects in country.

Spurred by actor George Clooney and MTV, 11 broadcast and cable television networks have signed on to air a two-hour telethon Jan. 22 that will benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti. “Hope for Haiti,” presented by MTV Networks, will air commercial-free at 8 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT. The event, which will raise money for five relief organizations working in the ravaged country, will be hosted by Clooney in Los Angeles, singer Wyclef Jean in New York and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in Haiti.

Haiti faces a bleak future. Its people need manpower, medicine, food and clean water. The impact of the earthquake is devastating, but the emotional and physical reverberations will wreak even more havoc if we don’t increase humanitarian aid now. The international outpouring of help displays humanity’s better angels — a global sense of grief and sympathy.

And remember the people of Haiti in your prayers. May God give them strength in the days, hours, and months ahead.

Other ways to join the outpouring of humanity for Haiti: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, UNICEF (1-800-4UNICEF), Direct Relief, Partners in Health, World Food Program, Mercy Corps (1-888-256-1900), Lambi Fund, The International Rescue Committee, Care, William J. Clinton Foundation, Meds & Food For Kids, Feed the Children, Habitat for Humanity

These resources include the highest-rated charities by Charity Navigator, which is an independent, nonprofit organization that evaluates charity groups based on effectiveness and financial stability.