Thursday, June 16, 2011

money money money

Well, this has been an interesting week of fundraisers.

First, Julia Nunes launched her KickStarter page to raise money for her album before she produces it, so she isn't making up the debt she incurred just through album sales. She is offering pre-releases, signed merchandise, concerts via skype for pledging varied amounts of money.

Her goal was to raise $15,000 in 29 days. She raised $15,000 in 15 hours. It's now been three days, and she has over $35,000. Now, I don't know how this works exactly, because it is in pledges and the money won't be collected until the end of the 29 days. I also have no idea what she is going to do with all the money. I mean, are there rules with how the money should be spent? She said she will use it to hire a publicist (?) At this rate she is going to have...what? $340,000 by the end? rough estimate, and she probably won't average $12,000 a day. We'll see.

Yesterday my assignment at my internship was to "e-mail everyone I know" because Global Giving [an online fundraising hub for international non-profits] was having a bonus day where they were matching 30% of what was raised for the projects on their website, on which God's Child is posted. They also had a $1,000 bonus to the organization who raised the most, and $1,000 to the organization that had the most first-time donors. In 24 hours, the project raised $6,500 plus 30% so $8,450. Which is great! but, it was very frustrating to watch Julia Nunes' numbers quickly roll up while patiently watching the God's Child numbers creep up. The Institute for Trafficked, Exploited and Missing Persons (ITEMP) is God's Child program that combats human trafficking and supports the survivors. The different dollar amounts provide school supplies, tuition, shelter, medical examinations and attorneys.

Julia Nunes is going to give her funders an album, t-shirts, posters, decorated ukuleles, and ITEMP is asking for funds to empower an abused population with basic resources that they wouldn't otherwise have. Except the impoverished children aren't making quirky and entertaining youtube videos, so I suppose its harder to see the value in giving them money.

I think this should be the realization of the material world in which we live, that we prefer the immediate and tangible rewards, and it is harder to fund something that you may not reap benefits from. This is a call to all philanthropists (meaning all those who love humanity) that you can give your time, talent and treasure in so many ways, and even though you may not get the personalized Julia Nunes voicemail, it still has it's rewards. Philanthropy is on the rise (especially the youth variety) I've witnessed it. I am very impressed that so many supported Julia Nunes, but I want to help increase awareness about non-profit organizations, and all the many ways to be a philanthropist.

I am going to include the link to Global Giving, and not just to the God's Child Project, and just take a look at all the beneficent programs that are happening in our world.

No comments:

Post a Comment