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Marc A. Pitman

SPARK – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · May 14, 2013

While doing some fundraising training in Philadelphia last week, I was introduced to an incredibly cool program called Spark.

Spark was founded by a 7th grade science teacher who wanted his students to see why school mattered. The premise is really simple: place 7th and 8th grade students in apprenticeships with people in their community. They’ve placed students in apprenticeships with all sorts of professionals: fire fighters, chefs, pilots, artists, and tech folks.

The results speak for themselves

Spark Program Logo for Social Media Examiner's #GivingTuesday featured charitySpark has grown to serve in students in at-risk neighborhoods in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. And the results have been phenomenal. Despite very high high-school drop out rates with their peers, 98% of Spark alumni stay in school.

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Amirah – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · April 30, 2013

Ask someone about slavery, and they’ll typically think about the trade of African natives to Europe and North America a couple hundred years ago.

Tell them that slavery still exists today, and most will scoff. But the reality is pretty ugly. More slaves exist today then were trafficked in the trans-Atlantic slavery that was outlawed in the 1800s.

The UN estimates that there are 27 million people trapped in slavery around the world. The CIA estimates there are 1 million in the USA alone. And the city of Boston is one of the major ports of trafficking in the US. Many organizations of modern day abolitionists exist to rescue people out of trafficking. But when they’re out, the USA has woefully lacking resources for helping them rebuild their lives.

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Twestival – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · April 9, 2013

Twestival is back!

Twestival combines social media and in-person events to raise money for charity. And it works! The first global Twestival was in 2009. Since then, Twestival has raised $1.75 million for over 285 charities around the world!

Now, in 2013, with the help of global sponsors PayPal, StayClassy, and Project 7, Twestival is poised to expand its impact. Since it started, all the local Twestival events were hosted on the same day around the globe. This year, Twestival is opening up the ability for local organizers to choose the date that’s best for them. It’s like a year round Twestival!

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beremedy – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · April 2, 2013

I recently took to Twitter to ask what nonprofit I should write about. Kate Atwood suggested we feature beremedy.

Never having heard of it, I went to their Indiegogo page to learn more. This group started with a simple idea:

We have the resources in every community to meet the needs of that community.

It’s really that simple

beremedy logo for write up by Fundraising Coach Marc A. Pitman for Social Media Exlporer's #GivingTuesday seriesIn his TEDx talk, founder Blake Canterbury wanted to help other people. They just didn’t know how. So he started using the power of social networking to get it done.

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Community Foundations – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · March 19, 2013

As we’ve gone through these weekly #GivingTuesday posts, we’ve highlighted one organization a week. This week I want to focus on a “type” of organization: community foundations.

Community foundations are generally established by donors to benefit a specific geographical region be it a city, a county, or even a state. Wikipedia lists six hallmarks of a community foundation as:

  1. Act as grant-making foundations – e.g. give grants to support development projects
  2. Their mission broadly defined (e.g. to improve quality of life in a community)
  3. Serve geographically defined communities – a city, state, region, district or province
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DonorsChoose.org – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · March 5, 2013

As a fundraising coach, I help nonprofits raise unrestricted dollars–gifts that they can use as needed. But there are times that, as a donor, it’s nice to know exactly exactly what your dollars are doing.

If you’re feeling that way today, check out DonorsChoose.org. Any of you who’ve been in public school, or have had kids in public school, know how ridiculously frustrating lack of funding can be. With all we pay for public education, it seems that teachers should be able to have things like books for their students.

But they don’t.

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The Boston Project – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · February 19, 2013

Every once in a while, you get to meet people of genuine greatness. Not the flashy greatness that tends to get noticed at awards ceremonies like the Grammys or Oscars. The kind of quiet greatness that leads a young couple to move to a rough neighborhood to help be the change they want to see in the world.

In the mid-1990s, Paul and Glenna Malkemes did just that. Inspired by their faith, they moved into Dorchester, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Boston and one of the worst reputations, and founded The Boston Project. 18 years later, they’re still there with their family.

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Alabama Spay Neuter – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · February 5, 2013

Animal welfare isn’t normally on the top of my giving priorities. I’ve always had a pet in the house, and I grew up around livestock, so I know how to respect animals and treat them well.

But not everyone does. I learned a bit about that working with the Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic.

Each year in Alabama, 150,000 dogs and cats are euthanized because no one will adopt them. Many thousands more suffered as strays. Despite the great work of shelters, many of these strays and non-adopted pets went through untold suffering. Back in 2007, some people got together to help stop that. They discovered that spaying or neutering pets was often too expensive for the people around Birmingham. So the veteranarians and business leaders decided to start a low-cost, nonprofit clinic.

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MEDLIFE: Partnering with, not doing to – #GivingTuesday

by Marc A. Pitman · January 22, 2013

Last week, C.C. Chapman mentioned the importance of water. Another need the world over is medical care.

One of the coolest nonprofits I’ve come across is MEDLIFE. MEDLIFE started when a medical student, Nick Ellis, was on a medical missions trip to Peru. As with other medical trips, the medical team took care of the needs that were presented to them. But something bugged Nick.

One woman came to him with a serious medical issue. As he listened to her story, he realized her condition was largely do to a the path she used to walk up the mountain. What would really improve her health and the health of her community would be to build stairs up the mountain. But the team was there to provide medical care, not build things.

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About Marc A. Pitman

Marc A. Pitman

Marc A. Pitman is the author of Ask Without Fear! and Google+ for Nonprofits. As a public speaker, his expertise and enthusiasm engages audiences around the world and has caught the attention of media organizations as diverse as Al Jazeera and Fox News. He’s also a homebrewer, coffee snob, and loves singing 80’s tunes loud enough to embarrass his family.

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