CARE Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

Soulful Songwriters, Citizens Storming Capitol Hill for Change and a Twitter Celebrity Auction Highlight CARE's Celebration of the Accomplishments of Women and Girls Around the World

The Empire State Building will glow orange for one night. Concertgoers will gather to hear Grammy winner India.Arie, hitmaker Michael Franti and others perform a tribute. Twitter users will participate in a TwitChange celebrity auction. More than a thousand people will descend on Capitol Hill to demand a better world for millions of marginalized women and girls around the globe.

And that's just a taste of what's planned in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day through CARE, a leading humanitarian organization that fights poverty by empowering girls and women.

International Women's Day (March 8) is a time to recognize the political, economic and social achievements of women past, present and future. It also serves as a reminder of inequities that remain. And it is the growing movement to close that gap that will take center stage this March as people across the United States recognize this historic occasion.

"We are so excited about CARE's International Women's Day celebration this year," said CARE President and CEO Dr. Helene Gayle. "Not only will we honor the accomplishments of girls and women during the past century, but everything we do will be designed to inspire others to act on their behalf."

On March 8, CARE will kick off its annual conference in Washington D.C. with a tribute concert by recording artists India.Arie, Michael Franti, American idol alum Crystal Bowersox and, in an exclusive U.S. premier performance, Idan Raichel. Here CARE also will unveil a first-of-its-kind report entitled, "The Top 10 Myths About Women & the Heroes Who Bust Them," which identifies some of the most prominent myths about girls and women and sets the record straight through facts, figures and remarkable stories of mythbusters.

On March 9-10, the conference will unite more than a thousand advocates at the Washington Hilton to discuss pressing global poverty issues, such as the importance of foreign assistance, quality education for girls and economic opportunities for women. Conference participants will hear from notables such as: CARE's Dr. Gayle; Melinda Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Former First Lady Laura Bush; and Judy Woodruff of PBS' NewsHour. Advocates will then head to Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress and take an active role in influencing U.S. policy to improve the lives of millions of vulnerable women and girls around the world.

CARE's partners also are using the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day to inspire others to improve the lives of women globally. CARE is joining forces with TwitChange in an online auction to generate interest – and dollars – for CARE. Fans will bid on the chance to be followed, mentioned or retweeted on Twitter by their favorite celebrities. The auction will run from March 2-12, 2011.

CARE is working with Vivanista, a charitable fundraising resource, and Sprinkles Cupcakes to spark a movement during the month of March, encouraging people everywhere to host Parties For A Purpose™ that raise awareness and funds for CARE. Party hosts can download a simple digital toolkit, containing fun party ideas; trivia and discussion questions, a social media guide and Sprinkles Cupcakes signature recipes. In addition to contributing a portion of cupcake and mix sales to CARE, the first 50 people to sign-up to organize a party using Meetup will receive a free gift from Sprinkles Cupcakes.

There will be gifts too. Packages, actually. CARE is planning a special announcement: A modern twist on the original CARE Packages that defined CARE's early years and grew into a symbol of American generosity.

And shining like a giant candle amid the celebration will be the Empire State Building. The evening of March 8, New Yorkers will see it lit in orange — CARE's signature color — in honor of International Women's Day.

To join CARE's International Women's Day activities, visit www.care.org.

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity. To learn more, visit www.care.org.

Party with a Purpose: Matchmaker Matchmaker!

Post by Vivanista

Matchmaker, matchmaker! Make me a match! Find me a find! Catch me a catch!

All the single ladies out there, are you tired of the bar scene, weary of the club atmosphere, and sick of being set up on blind dates in order to meet someone new?

Why not shake things up a bit with our Matchmaker Party with a Purpose and play matchmaker with your closest gal pals? You can let your hair down with your friends, potentially find your next date, and raise money for your favorite charity all at the same time. Now, that’s what I call multi-tasking!

The Event:

Just like any other party, first start by inviting all of your best single girlfriends over for dinner or cocktails. Before your gals get too excited, let them know that there’s a catch. This party has an entrance fee: an eligible bachelor! Each one of your guests has to bring the hottest, coolest, smartest (unattached) man that she knows. He could be a good friend, a co-worker, a classmate, a cousin, or even a brother! The only requirement is that he’s single and ready to mingle. To keep the party drama-free, you should HIGHLY suggest “dates” with whom you and your girlfriends have no prior relationship. In layman’s terms: No ex-boyfriends allowed!

The Matchmaker Party with a Purpose is an easy way to meet new people and add a little spice to the traditional dinner party. The Matchmaker Party also has a perfect guy-to-girl ratio and is guaranteed to provide some fresh meat for you and your single ladies! Not to mention, all the eligible bachelors are already friend-approved. At this unique get-together, each guest is expected to come with her own date, but leave with someone else’s. Cheers to that!

The Set-Up:

The Matchmaker Party could easily be pulled off in your own home or a friend’s home. As long as there is a large enough space for your friends and the bachelors to meet, greet, and mingle, the party should go off without a hitch! If you’re not comfortable hosting a dinner party, you could also make a reservation a family-style restaurant or rent a space in hotel or bar. It all depends on how big or small you would like your party to be. Your Matchmaker Party could also have a theme complete with decorations and complementary edibles. However you choose to deck out your space, just make sure it is inviting and alluring for your new guests.

Activities:

The activities at this event can be as simple or intricate as you would like. With some light music, finger food, and cocktails, guests are bound to have a great time chatting and hanging out. Since many of the people at this party will be new faces, you could also have your guests place icebreaker or compatibility games to lighten the mood and to get to know one another better. You could create randomly selected girl-guy pairs to go head-to-head in games of Pictionary, Cranium, or Charades. After a couple rounds, you can switch up the teams so that your lady friends can get to know more of the bachelors. You can also use these games as another way to fundraise.

Food and Drink:

Food and drinks at the Matchmaker Party should be tasty and filling, but not too messy or difficult to eat while standing and chatting. Also, avoid foods that are too pungent (nobody wants garlic breath at an event where they are supposed to flirt). Easy finger food and hors d’oeuvres are your best bet for an event like this. If you have a theme, you could also have corresponding dishes. For example, a holiday theme could include green cocktails and red treats or a Tropical Island themed Matchmaker Party could feature grilled pineapple and ham pizza and pina coladas.

Attire:

For this event, it is probably best to keep the attire cute and casual. Guests can be cute and stylish enough to impress their fellow guests, but casual and comfortable enough that girls won’t be worrying about tight dresses and guys won’t be fidgeting with constricting collars. If you choose to incorporate a theme, you could turn your Matchmaker Party into a costumed event. A costume contest is also another great fundraising opportunity and certainly a great conversation starter.

How To Fundraise:

The easiest way to fundraise for this event is by having each couple make a donation at the door. This donation could be anywhere from $5 to $50. And of course, the more single girlfriends you invite, the more money that you can raise for charity. Many people pay good money to go to singles events, but the added incentive for your guests to attend this Party with a Purpose is that all the money is going to charity. During the party itself, you can raise even more money for charity using the icebreaker games or a costume competition. You and friends could even take bets on which bachelor each girl will like the best. The girl at the end of the night with the most correct matches will win and can decide which charity the money will be given to.

About the Author:
Vivanista is a member-based, lifestyle community for fundraising volunteers. Sharing of unique insights, expert tips and a spirit of giving empowers members to improve their own lives and the lives of others.

Online Cause Marketing: Do Well by Doing Good

Post by Vivanista

Bruce Burtch, an entrepreneur in the world of cause marketing, summed up his work in five words: “Do well by doing good.” Cause marketing is a mutually beneficial, cooperative effort between a business and a nonprofit organization. In this way, nonprofits receive exposure and support while corporations simultaneously promote their business. In 1976, the Marriot Corporation partnered with March of Dimes for one of the first true cause marketing campaigns. Marriot sought to promote the opening of their theme park, Great America, while March of Dimes hoped to greatly increase fundraising by the program’s deadline. The end result? The most successful promotion in the history of Chapters West of the March of Dimes and a record-breaking opening for Great America.

But cause marketing isn’t just a thing of the past. In 2009 alone, $1.57 billion was spent on cause marketing. And as marketing, communication, fundraising, and shopping transition to an entirely online world, applications like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have become the new tools of the trade. Thinking about starting your own experiment in online cause marketing? Examine it from the perspective of both nonprofits and corporations and learn from the experiences of previous partnerships. Finish off with some general tips for online cause marketing and you’ll be doing well by doing good in no time!

For Nonprofits:
First, nonprofit organizations must understand that both parties are equally important in a cause marketing relationship. In the same way that nonprofit organizations couldn’t accomplish many goals without a corporate partner, businesses need nonprofits to succeed. For example, nonprofit organizations have expertise in areas that corporations find crucial. Who better to decide where money should be spent than the workers who are on the ground facing the issues everyday? Therefore, nonprofits should feel empowered. However, in fulfilling their obligations to a corporate partner, an organization must critically assess what they can offer and potentially shift their approach in order to maximize results. And in a corporate world where all that matters is the bottom line, nonprofits must discover ways to measure and report their impact in order to prove that cause marketing is a worthwhile strategy for both parties.

When it comes to online cause marketing in particular, the success of a partnership depends mainly on the nonprofit’s activity in the social media world. Businesses look for nonprofits with a strong base of followers and support, but more than that, they need a partner who can mobilize support to actually create change.

For Corporations:
Businesses are now realizing is that social good motivates consumer change. A recent study found that 89% of Americans (ages 13 to 25) would switch brands of a similar quality and price if one was associated with a good cause. However, with the increasing prevalence of cause marketing, consumers have become adept at detecting PR schemes versus sincere philanthropic efforts. Therefore, it is important for corporations to find a delicate balance between a cause that is relevant to their company but is also meaningful to consumers. Above all, corporations must care about the cause everyday, not just at the time of a transaction. In an article from the Good Works section of Advertising Age, the author summed up the formula for a successful cause marketing partnership from a corporation’s side: “Engage, don’t just sell. Educate, don’t just market. Find a nonprofit partner that makes sense. And if consumer donations are involved, be open and specific about what they are accomplishing.”

Online Cause Marketing in Action
To see how others have put online cause marketing to work in the real world, look for resources like Mashable’s list of “5 Winning Corporate Social Good Campaigns.” They include examples like Crate and Barrel’s DonorsChoose gift certificates, in which customers chose among education initiatives to invest in online using gift certificates provided by the store. Next, check out Target’s “Bullseye Gives” Facebook campaign, which combined crowd sourcing, social media, philanthropy, and a contest. Over a two-week period, Target encouraged its Facebook fans to choose among 10 nonprofits to receive a $3 million prize. And don’t forget one of the most prominent examples of online cause marketing today: the Pepsi Refresh Project. If you don’t know how it works, Pepsi accepts 1,000 new ideas every month to benefit charity. Next, anyone can vote for up to 10 ideas every day. Every month, Pepsi awards grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 (totaling $1.3 million every month) to winners in categories like health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education.

Tips and Tricks
Before you launch your own online cause marketing campaign, remember a few crucial tips. First, be aware of your different audiences across different social media outlets. Your Facebook fans may not be the same as your Twitter followers, so treat them as separate entities. Don’t just collect supporters for mere appearances; mobilize them by asking them to vote, join other platforms, donate money, or share content. When it comes to timing, run campaigns for as long as you can without causing supporter fatigue. Sometimes short and sweet is best, as evidenced by one-day Twitter campaigns.

When getting into the nitty-gritty of what social media outlet is the best, it depends on your campaign’s goals. If you simply want to connect with other like-minded individuals and groups to share and learn, Twitter might be best for you. For the ability to send detailed information to supporters and allow supporters to connect more easily, Facebook or Causes on Facebook is the way to go. For filmmakers in the cause marketing world, YouTube can also be an effective tool to motivate followers. And the next big thing in social media? Location-based marketing tools like FourSquare and Gowalla. Since these applications are not as common as Facebook or Twitter, the key is enlisting them, not just waiting for them to join. And since it is projected that in people will use the Internet on their phones as much as on their computers within five years, you can be ahead of the game by learning these tools now.

What tips can you give to Non-profits or Corporations interested in Cause Marketing Online?

About the Author:
Vivanista is a member-based, lifestyle community for fundraising volunteers. Sharing of unique insights, expert tips and a spirit of giving empowers members to improve their own lives and the lives of others.