Aggregated External News

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson is raising his voice in support of a new UNICEF initiative to prevent violence against children.

Video: Liam Neeson says help us make violence against children disappear

Violence against children is all too often unseen, unheard and underreported, said UNICEF today, announcing an initiative that urges ordinary citizens, lawmakers and governments to speak out more forcefully to fight violence against children.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10571-liam-neeson-supports-unicef-in-preventing-violence-against-children

Office Depot today revealed the next phase of its multi-faceted anti-bullying partnership with One Direction by announcing sponsorship of the band’s summer movie premiere.

The One Direction: This is Us premiere event will take place in New York City and will help benefit the anti-bullying educational component of the strategic partnership.

The private after-party will include a Charitybuzz silent auction featuring exclusive celebrity items and experiences. Each band member will donate a personal item, and never-before-seen, life-size signed prints will be among the available items. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Office Depot Foundation’s anti-bullying education efforts, launching in schools this fall.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10570-one-direction-partners-with-office-depot-to-fight-bullying

A unique collaboration between soccer star Thierry Henry, international nonprofit Grassroot Soccer and donor-advised fund Goldman Sachs Gives will translate Henry’s actions on the pitch this season into positive change in the lives of young people in Africa.

International soccer star Thierry Henry supports Grassroot Soccer's work to empower youth to stop HIV

Through the Thierry Henry Challenge, Goldman Sachs Gives will contribute $5,000 to Grassroot Soccer each time Henry, a striker for the New York Red Bulls, scores a goal and $2,500 each time he makes an assist during the 2013 Major League Soccer season, up to an amount of $150,000.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10569-thierry-henry-uses-soccer-to-make-a-positive-difference

Candice Accola, star of the hit television show The Vampire Diaries, is helping the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance (TBDA), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness, supporting initiatives and promoting advocacy to find a cure for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, launch Bite Back for a Cure, a national grassroots campaign to build support for the fight against the devastating impact of tick-borne diseases.

Video: Candice Accola PSA for the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10568-vampire-diaries-star-records-psa-for-tick-borne-disease-alliance

Two-time NBA Champion Mario Chalmers (Miami Heat) recently partnered with BidSpot Cares, a crowdfunding platform that raises money for charities using online games and social media.

Mario Chalmers Gives Back

Look to the Stars caught up with Chalmers to chat about his MC15 Miracle Shot Basketball Camp; the Mario Chalmers Foundation and what sparked his interest in charity.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10567-exclusive-nba-star-mario-chalmers-talks-charity

On Sunday, July 28, The American Cancer Society hosted its 29th Annual California Spirit Gala at the Pacific Design Center. Guests joined Barbara Lazaroff and Sherry Lansing, co-founders and co-hosts of the gala, in honoring thyroid cancer survivor Brooke Burke-Charvet.

The California Spirit Gala is an annual philanthropic food and wine celebration founded in 1984 by chef Wolfgang Puck along with Lazaroff and Lansing as a benefit event for the American Cancer Society. The event features unique fare from premier Los Angeles restaurants, wines from renowned California vintners, live entertainment and spectacular silent and live auctions.

Sunday’s gala included guests Heather Locklear, Adrienne Maloof and Project Runway designer Nick Verreos, in addition to honoree Brooke Burke-Charvet and her husband David Charvet. The evening culminated with Verreos presenting the Inspiration Award to Brooke. During her touching acceptance speech, Brooke spoke about her personal fight against the disease while David watched proudly from the audience.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10566-brooke-burke-charvet-honored-by-american-cancer-society

This weekend in Los Angeles, Magic Johnson hosted an event honoring high achieving minority youth throughout the United States who have earned the Magic Johnson Foundation's (MJF) Taylor Michaels Scholarship.

This marks the 15th anniversary of the program, which is named after MJF’s late COO and works to develop future leaders by supporting socioeconomically challenged promising youth through the completion of their college degree with financial aid and year-round, life-long mentorship.

Johnson took the stage to talk about his own personal barriers to reaching success before surprising student Makiah Green, who attended USC and is the 2nd in her family to graduate from a 4 year anniversary, with a brand new FIAT car.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10565-magic-johnson-honors-students-at-scholarship-event

Make Your Presentations Zoom: The Prezi Way to Giving Awesome Presentations
Chris Connick (Author)
Publication Date: 30 Nov 2013

Buy new: £20.99 £13.64

(Visit the Hot Future Releases in Web Marketing list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Actor/Producer/Director/Humanitarian Scott L. Schwartz will return to Coast Anabelle Hotel to host the 2nd Annual Celebrity Cupcakes benefit and help celebrate the launch of Cupcakes Magazine while raising awareness and collecting food for LA Food Bank.

Cupcakes Magazine Launch Party (updated)
Credit/Copyright: Misty Schwartz PR

Event sponsors include: AB Weddings & Special Events, Coast Anabelle Hotel, Mary’s Cake Shop, O.N.E. Coconut Water, A La Carte Crafts, Savory Saltine Seasoning, Lisa Kline, Camille Wood, Arie Bella Beauty, Monster Energy Drinks, Nekter Juice Bar, Autumns Vibrant Art, 165 Designs, My Delight Cupcakery and Cupcake Wars Winner: Bubba Sweets. The event will also include a special performance by Gavyn Bailey.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10564-cupcakes-magazine-launch-party-to-benefit-la-food-bank

Carefully selected images on your charity website will help to increase your organisation's impact

Images engage readers, support your written points, present information differently or break up the monotony of text. They can affect what a user thinks, feels or does and make your website more attractive. This matters because more attractive websites make the user want to stay and engage with you.

Having a unique style and professional approach to images on your charity website can set you apart. However, with web page space at a premium, what tricks are there to ensure that your images have the most impact?

Keep it real

Photos of the people your charity reaches – service users, fundraisers and donors, will increase the user's emotional engagement with you. Show real people in real situations to demonstrate the impact your work has. Christian Aid's recent TV advert featured a real community to show the possibilities their work could have.

It's easier to take photos of real-life situations than to set up photo shoots. Plus, you'll build up an archive of fantastic photojournalism that records your work and achievements. Don't be afraid of action shots - they capture the moment, and convey energy that feels genuine and trustworthy. Stock images and posed photos can feel fake, which threatens your credibility and can reduce support.

Be specific

Generic pictures that don't make a user think, feel or do something waste valuable space. Remember that it's not the case of using more images, but using the right images.

Being too arbitrary can be counterproductive – it creates visual noise that confuses your users. Don't encourage people to cut down on sugar in their diet by using a picture of scales. Use an image that shows them how, or why, to cut down. For campaigning pages think about how you can use images to back up your written points and actually inspire action.

It's been suggested that people donate more when they receive information about a specific individual they can relate to, rather than a group.. For example, it's easier for the public to empathise with an image that explains how a person became homeless, rather than a stereotypical image of a homeless person.

Images of children that evoke negative emotions produce more and greater potential donations than those that evoke positive emotions. Plus studies have found that people tend to give more money when presented with images of children rather than adults, so if your charity works with or for children in any way this is worth bearing in mind.

Evoke emotion

Research has suggested that the emotional intensity of images stimulates donations. If you need more funds to mentor children then positive imagery means viewers are inclined to support or encourage your future activities. However, if you need funds to prevent poverty, then negative imagery will prompt the viewer to respond with an action that reduces poverty.

Imagery that elicits pity can work for one-off donations but not long term giving. An emergency appeal can show a worried girl in a refugee camp, but a long term giving strategy could show the same girl safe and well thanks to the charity.

Test it

You can test what works and what doesn't by using trial and error. Multivariate testing can be a great way to see if different images have an impact on what your users think or do, while Emotional Response Testing can provide great insight into how different images change the way your user feels. Use the insight to make small incremental changes to your charity images to have a big impact.

Summary

A picture captures a moment in time. Once the moment has gone, so has your photo opportunity. So understand how you will plan, capture and share visual records of your charity activity, establish photography guidelines to ensure your images reflect your brand personality and vision, check your images work well on different devices, and use them for maximum impact to tell a story.

Vicky Reeves is managing director and founder of Chameleon.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network, click here.

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Research by nfpSynergy found that public would have more confidence if staff did not travel in first class

Almost three in four people have said that London-based offices and rebranding are a waste of money for charities, an nfpSynergy poll of 1,002 adults has shown.

The poll was carried out as part of nfpSynergy's Charity Awareness Monitor, which surveys a representative sample of adults in Britain. Of those surveyed, 74% felt that London-based offices for charities were a "somewhat" or "very" wasteful expenditure, with just 4% saying they were "fairly" worthwhile, and the rest saying they were unsure.

Rebranding recieved a similar response, with 72% of people saying it was wasteful for charities to spend money on changing their name, logo or look, and just 9% saying they felt it was worthwhile.

Joe Saxton, founder of nfpSynergy, said: "London offices make complete sense for many charities, so they need to be honest and proactive about the benefits. Being in London provides a much better pool of staff to recruit from and the small savings outside London would be a false economy."

More than half (62%) of those surveyed said they would feel confident that a charity spends donations well if staff did not travel in first class and 55% of respondents said they would feel confident if the organisation was mostly ran by volunteers. Of those surveyed, 51% said that if nobody in the organisation was paid more than £50,000 a year that would increasse their confidence in the charity.

In addition, close to one in five (23%) said that they would have more confidence in a charity if staff paid for their own Christmas party, while 9% felt that staff would need to work for free one day a month for them to feel confident in a charity's spending.

"Paying someone more than £50,000 and £100,000 [makes sense for charities]," Joe Saxton said. "If that person brings a skillset, a breadth of experience and other benefits, be proactive and tell the world about it. I think every major charity can justify paying their chief executive over £100,000.

"What charities need to remember is that if London offices or £100,000 salaries are worthwhile, they need to scream and shout about why. The sector needs to talk about these issues now, not hope that nobody notices what they are doing."

Online tools and lobbying recieved a more positive response, with 70% of respondents saying they felt that spending money on a website was worthwhile and over half of those surveyed saying that lobbying government and other organisations (58%), as well as advertising (67%), were worthwhile.

In addition, 48% believed that producing a magazine to update supporters on work that had been done was a worthwhile expenditure for charities.

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Abby Young-Powell
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Nice short item from Seth Godin the other day. He says there are only six ‘buttons’ to press — or, “keys on the keyboard” — if you’re trying to spread an idea or sell something … Anger, disgust, fear, sadness, happiness and surprise. Four negatives, one positive, and one that could go either way (probably triggering one of the other five!). Godin says: “…all of these words are merely costumes for the six emotions built deep in our primordial soup.” You’ve probably seen other lists like this. Here’s one I’ve kept on hand for years, from direct marketing

I'm the proud host of July's nonprofit blog carnival and this month we are looking at regular giving.

Monthly giving is the backbone of many individual giving programmes, but it can be hard to get right, especially in small charities . This month we'll be looking at how to acquire monthly givers, how to welcome them to your nonprofit and then how to look after them so they keep giving for many years.

Acquiring monthly givers and general advice

The main sources of recruiting monthly givers include:

• Street fundraising
• Door to door fundraising
• Direct response television
• Direct mail
• Panels on trains and in washrooms
• Asking your current supporters to sign up

The effectiveness and popularity of each method depends on where you are in the world and the budget you have available.

As acquisition becomes increasingly expensive it is important that fundraisers think creatively about recruiting new donors.

Pamela Grow shares advice on how to start up a monthly giving programme.

A Small Change on setting expectations for your programmes.

The Fundraising Authority with seven steps to launching a monthly giving program at your nonprofit.

Joanne Fritz at About.com posts eight tips for keeping monthly giving simple.

Kunye Consulting with a view on regular giving from South Africa.

SOFII has a wealth of examples of great monthly giving campaigns and products. Here are a few of my favourites:

• Dogs Trust sponsor a puppy product.
• The story of the origins of street fundraising by Greenpeace.
• Save the Children's Gaza campaign - used SMS and then telephone to convert to monthly giving.

Welcome and thank you

Depending on the type of recruitment you use for regular givers, attrition can be up to 65 per cent in year one. That's why it is so important that you do everything you can to welcome your new donors and make them feel appreciated.

Read how WRVS reduced their first gift attrition by 40% by sending a simple, heartfelt and personalised postcard.

101 Fundraising on calculating retention and building a retention and development strategy.

mGive share how you can use mobile and text giving to build a regular giving community.

Stewardship

Once you've welcomed and thanked your donors, you need to think how you are going to build your communications programme to inspire your donors and make them glad they gave.

Stuart Glen shares a lovely story about how he received a personal thank you for his monthly gift to Child's i.

Over at Pamela Grow's blog, Lisa Sargent shares some thoughts on the importance of on-going communication with your regular donors and getting your back end systems working correctly.

The Clarification blog share seven ways to build rapport with your donors using creative thank you's.

The Nonprofit Consultant blog on how your regular givers are changing.

August's nonprofit blog carnival

Kivi Leroux Miller at Nonprofit Marketing Guide is hosting next month's carnival and the topic is "playing nice with others" so you can get more work done, and done effectively, in a nonprofit environment.

Thanks for reading July's carnival - do get in touch if you have any questions or comments.

P.S. If you want to become a “Friend of the Carnival” and receive emails twice a month with reminders about the Carnival from Joanne Fritz, the nonprofit guide at About.com and manager of the carnival, you can sign up for the mailing list here. - See more at: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2013/07/30/need-your-posts-on-getting-along-with-others/#sthash.dHO3feKb.dpuf P.S. If you want to become a “Friend of the Carnival” and receive emails twice a month with reminders about the Carnival from Joanne Fritz, the nonprofit guide at About.com and manager of the carnival, you can sign up for the mailing list here. - See more at: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2013/07/30/need-your-posts-on-getting-along-with-others/#sthash.dHO3feKb.dpuf

P.S. You can become a "Friend of the Carnival" and sign up for regular updates from Joanne Fritz, the nonprofit guide at About.com and manager of the carnival.

P.S. If you want to become a “Friend of the Carnival” and receive emails twice a month with reminders about the Carnival from Joanne Fritz, the nonprofit guide at About.com and manager of the carnival, you can sign up for the mailing list here. - See more at: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2013/07/30/need-your-posts-on-getting-along-with-others/#sthash.dHO3feKb.dpuf

Pau Gasol, two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and UNICEF Spanish Committee Ambassador since 2003, has returned today from visiting Syrian refugees in Iraq.

Pau Gasol visits children at the Domiz refugee camp in Iraq.
Credit/Copyright: UNICEF Spain/2013

“I met children who have fled from a tragic situation in Syria and now depend on urgent humanitarian aid to save their lives and give them an opportunity to build a new life,” stated Gasol.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10563-pau-gasol-returns-from-unicef-visit-to-iraq

The 20th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's epic film Schindler’s List (meticulously restored under his personal supervision) will be marked with a series of special screenings to benefit the USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education.

The series will debut with a special benefit screening at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 12. It will be the first major film event to highlight the re-opening of the iconic venue, spearheaded and funded by The Karen & Herb Lotman Foundation. All proceeds will benefit the USC Shoah Foundation. Additional cities will be announced shortly.

“This event provides a unique opportunity to bring together the community to both remember and pay tribute to the survivors and ensure that their stories are heard, preserved and used for education,” says USC Shoah Foundation Board of Councilors Member Steve Cozen, who is chairing the event. “And its significance is greater than ever because of its coincidence with the Yom Kippur holiday on September 13.”

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10562-steven-spielberg-marks-20th-anniversary-of-schindlers-list-with-charity-screenings

We've just run a summer school for 21 of our MSc students doing Management in Civil Society, to help them select their research dissertation topic. It was however in the scorching heat, no aircon; just 24 of us and three fans, cooped up together for three days in two rooms. This was not condusive to creativy! Guest speakers came and went but inspiration was thin on the ground.

The universally agreed best session was on Thursday night when we adjourned to a local byo indean restaurant and indeed brought our own beer, wine and cider. The discussions were far more animated and suggestions for research subjects ranged from the improbable to the obscene.

Never the less what came out of the fun were some fascinating subjects for fundraising research and in the (warm) light of day next morning several of the students made real progress in firming up topic areas and titles ranging from the improved use of social media for crowd fundraising to the extension of "push" questions (see the cabinet office research for the real story)to improve legacy fundraising.

Even the finance and social policy students were have fundraising ideas! You should try it sometime when you want more creativity in your fundraising plans!

We've just run a summer school for 21 of our MSc students doing Management in Civil Society, to help them select their research dissertation topic. It was however in the scorching heat, no aircon; just 24 of us and three fans, cooped up together for three days in two rooms. This was not condusive to creativy! Guest speakers came and went but inspiration was thin on the ground.

The universally agreed best session was on Thursday night when we adjourned to a local byo indean restaurant and indeed brought our own beer, wine and cider. The discussions were far more animated and suggestions for research subjects ranged from the improbable to the obscene.

Never the less what came out of the fun were some fascinating subjects for fundraising research and in the (warm) light of day next morning several of the students made real progress in firming up topic areas and titles ranging from the improved use of social media for crowd fundraising to the extension of "push" questions (see the cabinet office research for the real story)to improve legacy fundraising.

Even the finance and social policy students were have fundraising ideas! You should try it sometime when you want more creativity in your fundraising plans!

Prince Harry last week visited a photographic exhibition in London documenting the work of his Lesotho-based children’s charity Sentebale.

Prince Harry speaks at the private view of the Sentebale - Stories of Hope exhibition of photographs in London

The Prince had spent around half an hour viewing the exhibition Sentebale – Stories of Hope at the Getty Images Gallery in central London.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10561-prince-harry-visits-charity-photo-exhibition

Hope North will hold its first ever gala on September 18 at City Winery in New York City, where it will honor Mary-Louise Parker with an evening of spectacular live music, food, drinks, and a silent auction.

Hosted by Susan Sarandon and Forest Whitaker, the event’s growing host committee includes ELEW, Adrian Grenier, Taraji P. Henson, Eva Amurri Martino and Kyle Martino, James McAvoy, Hunter Parrish, Di Quon, Trudie Styler, Chris Talbott, and Sharon and Michael Zambrelli.

Hope North is educating and healing the young victims of Uganda’s civil war, including orphans and former child soldiers, empowering them to become voices for peace and development.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10560-mary-louise-parker-to-be-honored-by-hope-north

Jamal Edwards, the 22 year-old entrepreneur behind the UK’s leading youth broadcaster SB.TV, kicked off a new Prince's Trust campaign this week to inspire young people making tough decisions about their future this summer.

Jamal took part in a Twitter question and answer session from The Prince’s Trust Chatham Centre in Kent with HRH The Prince of Wales paying a special visit.

The event marked the launch of The Prince’s Trust Summer Sessions, a series of events to inspire young people who are worried about their exam results, struggling to find a job or feeling hopeless about the future.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10559-prince-charles-helps-launch-princes-trust-summer-sessions