Beth is guest-blogging at Katya's place about raising funds using the ChipIn! widget and is going to be sharing the results of her experiment as she goes along. As you can see, she's raising money for a project near and dear to her heart:
When we adopted our beautiful children, we also adopted their birth country. We have embraced Khmer culture and we also feel a responsibility to give something back to the country, particularly to seriously disadvantaged children in Cambodia. Soon after coming home with our first child nearly seven years ago, I volunteered for the Sharing Foundation, an ngo that works directly with local officials, orphanages, and NGOs in Cambodia to identify and carry out projects which improve the lives of children. I now serve on the board.
There’s lots of could tell you about TSF and I encourage you to visit the web site so you can get an sense of the scope of the good work this organization does. One of its focus areas is education. Over 1,300 children in Cambodia receive educational support every day as a result of The Sharing Foundation initiatives. The Foundation has increasingly focused its efforts on ways to create and improve educational opportunities for Cambodian children of all ages, including public school projects, pre-school, Khmer literacy, English language instruction, high school and college sponsorships, and vocational training. These projects present what might be the only means for the most disadvantaged children to life themselves, as well as their families, out of poverty conditions, become self-reliant and lead more productive, hopeful lives.
The Foundation is now its second year of college sponsorships. Last year, our family stepped forward to sponsor Leng Soparath, an orphan from Kampong Speu orphanage. For a gift of $750 annually, TSF is able to cover her college fees and living expenses. (It is a stretch for us ... we’re not rich but this could make such a difference in the life of one young person) In addition to money, we provide emotional support and encouragement through regular letters and photographs that we exchange. Our letters are hand-carried to Cambodia by Sharing Foundation’s 76-year old founder, Dr. Nancy Hendrie. Watch the video for more information.
As part of the project, Beth is also asking for ideas on how she can get the word out and make her fundraising efforts successful. Several people have already shared some great thoughts in the comments section of the post and I encourage you to head over and offer your own ideas. Some things off the top of my head:
- The most obvious thing--I'm chipping in. Definitely have to put my money where my mouth is.
- As you can see, The Bamboo Project is adding Beth's widget to our page for the duration of the campaign. You can add the widget to your site by going here. Also be sure to check out Beth's video here.
- Since it's around the holidays, chipping in on someone's behalf seems like an easy idea and something that other bloggers can spread through their blogs, in addition to posting the widget. Could also be a great project for a Girl Scout Troup, book club or church group to sponsor Leng Soparath.
- I do a lot of work with Job Corps and one of the programs I've set up with my clients is a social entrepreneurship project where students are raising money for a good cause. I've found that even though Job Corps students are often the object of "charity" because they come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they love the idea of being able to give something back to someone else in need, so I'll be suggesting this to my clients as a possible project. Maybe other bloggers have some of the same things going on and could spread the word that way.
- Seth had a good idea about using social networking and college students to get them to embrace the cause. To build on that I wonder if there wouldn't be a way to get a graphic artist to put together some quick digital art that could be downloaded from Beth's site as MySpace or FaceBook badges, t-shirt decals, etc. like The Bridge has done.
Just a few thoughts. . . I'll add more if they come to me. In the meantime, why don't you head on over to ChipIn!
Michele
Michelle ... thank you thank you thank you for your advice support as well as your very generous donation! I truly appreciate it. I'm writing up a summary for myself as this morning and was stopping by to say thanks and grab the link to this post
Posted by: Beth | November 16, 2006 at 06:53 AM