In 1999, Alissa Magrum and Tammy Stanley met while training for a Texas AIDS ride. Both had HIV-positive family and friends and both were avid “ride for the cure” participants.

“The riders are incredible, and their stories are just so moving,” says Magrum. “We all just bond.”

Wanting to tell their story, Magrum and Stanley reached out to Brian Andreas, a writer well-versed at summing up huge emotions and hope at the same time. He came up with this story:

I wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long hard hills.

For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road.

For the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end.

But mainly, I wish you could have been there.

Stanley, a graphic designer, took the story and, with permission from the writer, designed the Wish List Jersey. They’ve sold thousands to riders who want to honor someone they’ve lost. And all proceeds from the sale of the jersey got to AIDS, cancer, and various other disease-fighting nonprofits in Central Texas.

WIN THIS JERSEY: It’s easy to enter: Just comment on this post and tell us why you participate in a ride, run, or walk for the cure – any cause or organization will work, as long as it’s a race that benefits a health-related nonprofit.

We’ll review the entries and pick a winner. Please make sure to leave a valid email address.

Get more information about the Wish List Jersey (valued at $100).

DEADLINE TO ENTER: November 20

This post is for nonprofit boards and the nonprofit staff who love them.

I was reading this blog post from Good magazine, and it made me think of those board meetings, when everyone’s sitting around listing all the to-dos for the annual fundraiser. This is for those of you who, when you start to wonder how you’re going to promote the fundraiser, think, “Do I know anyone who can design the invitation for free?”

Don’t. Cheap. Out.

Here’s why:

1. Cheap shows. When you get an intern or a junior designer or even a design firm on pro-bono (which, by the way, uses the project to keep its interns and junior designers busy) to design your collateral for really cheap or free, it shows.

And please, do not call in your nephew on this one. InDesign and a Mac do not a designer make. Just because you have a hammer, some nails, a measuring tape, and some wood doesn’t mean you should be building your own deck.Get a pro. They’ll make it right.

2. Cheap, in the end, can cost you more. When you get an inexperienced person to create your collateral, they may not know enough about production, printing, mailing, materials, etc to save you money.

So the invitation might look great from the printer, but now you’ve got an odd-size envelope to mail, which means extra postage. Or you’ve got signage for an event that looks exactly like the hotel signage – and you have to start from scratch. A million things can go wrong. An experienced designer knows how to avoid them.

3. Cheap is not what your donors – or prospects – want to see. Think of it this way – if all your donors, volunteers, prospects, and supporters were in a room, would you send the intern or junior member of your staff to talk about your fundraiser? While you might think the professionally designed invitation makes it looks like you blew money on a fancy designer, from the recipient’s perspective, it looks like you’re an organization that’s going places.

If you’re unemployed and broke, you don’t show up to a job interview in tatters. You bust out the good suit, shine the shoes, and try to look like a million dollars.

Besides, the pro is a better value every time. Good design is worth every penny.

Thanks to all of you who signed up to become GivingCity Austin subscribers at the Vivir Unidos event. We’ve finally picked a winner:

Robert Andrada

Robert, please email me at monica@givingcityaustin.com with your mailing address and we’ll send you the $50 Target Gift Card!

Thanks! And please tell a friend about GivingCity Austin.

Monica

It’s hard to write a thoughtful reaction to a film that left me so emotional. And I wasn’t the only one. There were quite a few beefy guys walking out of the theater with puffy, watery eyes last night, too.

But “Happiness Is” by Austin’s Andrew Shapter will do that to you. It’s not that it’s a sad film by any means. In fact, it’s pretty hilarious. Shapter interviewed some characters, for sure. The woman who admitted to thinking that happiness could be found in a solid-surface countertop sticks in my mind. (HINT: It can’t.)

What it is is hopeful because the message is this: Happiness is within your reach. It’s not something to strive for, it’s something you find within yourself. For proof, Shapter talks to happiness historians (they exist), scientists, and anthropologists. They’ve done the research and can pinpoint exactly when most Americans stopped being happy. (HINT: Rampant materialism, duh!)

Then, to further prove his point, he interviewed an incredible mix of people from all over the country – men, children, immigrants, scholars, artists, musicians, comedians, old people…. Though they all get there differently, eventually they all come to the same conclusion.

There are a couple of things you should know about the film:

1. It’s going on a screening tour around the country, and they’re paying for that tour in DVD sales. If a quarter of the population in America saw this film, it could change this country for the better. Seriously. So if you can swing the DVD, buy it here: http://www.happinessisthemovie.com/blog/shop/

2. The film is being used to raise money for the sponsoring nonprofit. In the case of last night’s screening, the nonprofit beneficiary is Mobile Loave & Fishes, the organization that takes food out to the homeless and is run by the incredible Alan Graham. (He’s featured in the film.) You can support that organization here.: http://www.mlfnow.org/site/PageServer

There were hundreds of people at this screening last night. I wonder what they’re thinking today.

A $4000 donation to Heart House via GiveRealty.

This is genius.

We’re obviously fans of GiveRealty’s business model; the real estate broker donates 25 percent of its commission to the charity of the seller/buyer’s choice, in their name. But using the new website RecognizeGood- also born and raised in Austin – GiveRealty was able to double that donation.

A recent home sale through GiveRealty resulted in a $4000 donation to Heart House, a free afterschool program that provides over 200 low-income and at-risk children in Austin with access to caring adult mentors, homework assistance, art enrichment, computer learning, health and safety education, and literacy programs.
 
Because the gift to Heart House was channeled through RecognizeGood, an Austin-based philanthropic website, and doubled through a matching gift program generously supported by RecognizeGood’s corporate sponsors TyRex Group and ABC Home and Commercial Services.
 
“The generosity of TyRex Group and ABC Home and Commercial Services significantly increased the impact of our donation to Heart House”, said Loew. “By providing a forum where Central Texans can recognize and reward acts of kindness, RecognizeGood is encouraging philanthropy in a very innovative way.”

All this from a home sale. Think about how many home sales there are in Austin. Think about a25 percent of all that real estate commission, double it, and picture that going to a local charity.

Have you ever been moved by a public service announcement? Have you watched a video on YouTube that inspired you to reach out to the community and do something?

We’ve all seen those little videos on YouTube, another website, or even television, and usually we’re alone in front of the screen. But there’s something powerful about a shared video experience, especially one in which the video relates to a cause or need in the community. And when a video reaches out to you with hope rather than need, it’s a wonderful thing to share with an audience.

That’s the idea behind Lights.Camera.Help, a new nonprofit film festival that will screen 12 documentaries, videos, and PSAs over two nights, July 31 – August 1. It’s the brainchild and work of David Neff, Aaron Bramley, and Rich Vazquez, Austinites with roots deep in the local film community and the local nonprofit community.

I posted earlier about their launch party in May, and you can read an interview with them and see photos from that event here.

You’ll want to get tickets for this event because it’s not just a screening, it’s a competition. Judges will choose the top video effort from among the 12, and donate the entire two-evening’s ticket sales to the nonprofit that’s the subject of the winning video.

Get tickets and see all the details at Lights.Camera.Help!

July 31 – Aug 1

Tickets $7 – $15

(Don’t forget to go to the wrap-up party on August 2.)

See this video for more information:

Thanks to Starfish Television Network.

Elliot Smith photo from nme.com

The legacy of singer Elliot Smith  lives on, this time in his car, a 1999 Passat GLX, listed on the Austin Craigslist for $4000. Smith’s brother has listed the car, with the entire amount being donated to the Austin-based SIMS Foundation, which provides access to and financial support for mental health and addiction recovery services for Austin-area musicians and their families.

There seems to be a leaning toward charity with Smith’s life. In 2007, a double-album of his recording was released, with proceeds benefiting an organization called Outside In, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to providing diverse services for homeless youth and low-income adults.

This from the austin.craigslist post:

This car means the world to me, and has a very interesting story to tell. Music buffs might get a kick out of knowing who used to own their ‘new’ car. I feel that $4,000 is fair for the vehicle, and I’ll be honest about every issue I’ve known on the car. You would have the knowledge that your $4,000 is helping people struggling with depression, drug abuse, etc., and keeping this world a decent place to live in with good music and healthy musicians. I’ll show you the receipt for the SIMS donation when I make it, within 3 days of the sale. You can even go over there with me when I take ‘em the check if you’d like. Help me help SIMS, feel good about yourself, and get a fun car in the process.

Smith is best known for songs about sadness, like his Emmy-nominated “Miss Misery,” which appeared in the movie “Good Will Hunting” in 1998. Smith reportedly killed himself in 2003.

For three years, Shelley Seale would travel to the orphanages of India, bags loaded with treats and toys to share with the children who had made such an enormous impact on her. After all, these were the same children who inspired the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Each time she got to know the children’s stories a little more, which compelled this Austin writer to compose a new book called, “The Weight of Silence: The Invisible Children of India.”

“I hope that people will see that even though this topic is serious and the stories often heartbreaking, it is not a depressing book or subject!” says Seale. “The kids’ hope and resilience amazed me time and time again; the ability of their spirits to overcome crippling challenges inspired me. The issues are tough, what has happened to a lot of these kids makes you want to cry – but the bottom line of their stories is a very strong, hopeful voice.“

I interviewed Shlley to find out what compelled her to travel, return, and make the children of India such a big part of her life.

What prompted you to travel in India and get to know these children?

In early 2004, I read an article in Tribeza magazine about Caroline Boudreaux, who had visited India three years earlier. She had happened upon an orphanage full of children living in incomprehensible conditions and had returned  home and started The Miracle Foundation, a nonprofit which raises money and recruits sponsors to help support the home. I began volunteering for the organization and sponsored a child, and Caroline invited me to go to India with a volunteer group. My first visit was in March 2005.

Was the situation what you expected?

Yes and no. When I arrived that first time, I assumed all the kids there were orphans in the true sense of the word – their parents had died. Instead I was shocked by how many of them had been “orphaned” by poverty; their parents had left them at the Miracle Foundation home because they were too poor to feed them, which in some ways seemed an even greater tragedy. I wondered when each of them had stopped wanting to go back home, or if they ever had. Afterward, there was simply no way to go on with my life afterwards as if they did not exist.

I had gone expecting it to be a sad place, an emotionally wrenching experience with these parentless young people. But those expectations had been turned on their head. Yes, there were stories behind each one of these children – many of them painful and tragic. Yet the man who ran the orphanage, and the house mothers, had made the kids their own in a community of sharing and acceptance. They were poor in wealth but not in spirit; limited in resources but not in joy and laughter. They gave me a complete unconditional love, for nothing more than showing up.

This kind of journey isn’t for everybody… is it?

Probably not. The specific type of trip I took with The Miracle Foundation, the volunteer trip to the children’s homes, is not the same as a sight-seeing vacation.

India is definitely a complete culture shock for someone who’s never been there, especially if you haven’t traveled in a developing country before. The poverty and hardship is stark and in your face. At times, quite honestly, I just wanted to look away and say I’d had enough. But the suffering remains whether we choose to look or not. They do not go away simply because we decide that to be a witness to them, to say I care about your story, is too difficult for us.

But still, like I said before, the moment you meet these kids, that all goes away. I have been on four different trips with all kinds of different people, some of whom love India and some who barely tolerate it, yet every single one of them fell in love with these kids and had the time of their life.  It’s amazing how this experience hooks you – I sometimes tease Caroline Boudreaux about putting something in the water. But the truth is, we go thinking about giving something back, and in the end it’s us who end up getting something amazing out of it. We are the ones who get rescued.

I guess sometimes it seems hopeless. There are so many children who need help. What do you think?

The truth is, each person can create incredible impact with even small actions. It’s a ripple effect, and I have seen it happen over and over, so many times I can’t even count them. Most of us could never sell all our belongings and go work in the trenches in India, but that doesn’t mean we should think, then, that we can’t do anything at all.

If you can change the course of the life of ONE person – still, that one person’s life is different and better because you impacted it.  I think that’s worth it. Don’t focus on the big picture, just focus on what you are passionate about, what you want to do. For me, I can’t constantly think about the 25 million kids in India who live in orphanages or on the streets – I can only think about the one who is in front of me at that moment.

What do you hope to accomplish with the book?

My sole purpose in writing the book was to give these millions of children a voice that could be heard by others in the world who, I was convinced, would be as moved by their plights as I was. And so, the main thing I hope to accomplish is awareness – followed by action. Some kind of action. I think the key is to discover what you are passionate about, what you have genuine feelings and caring about – and then do something about that issue. But just do something.

To learn more about the book, go to Seale’s website or purchase one from The Miracle Foundation. Note that for all books purchased through The Miracle Foundation, all proceeds are donated to them.

Rich Vasquez, Aaron Bramley, and David Neff

There’s a little more than a week to submit your entries to the nonprofit film festival, Lights.Camera.Help; the deadline is June 30, in fact. I highly encourage you to submit any film, YouTube video, PSA or series, and be a part of this first-ever film fest in Austin.

Austinites who launch these projects-with-a-cause continue to amaze me. Just when you think it’s an empty marketing trend, another social entrepreneur impresses you with their creativity, energy, and ideas. This is definitely the case with Lights.Camera.Help, founded by David Neff, Aaron Bramley, and Rich Vazquez.

I spoke with them at the launch party last month – here’s a quick, behind-the-scenes interview.

Dave Neff: We’re all kind of in the film industry in one way or another. And the whole idea is that we want to give validity to this films-for-a-cause genre.

Rich Vasquez:The great thing about video is it gives you a chance to engage a person with a narrative, but also with facts and figures. I think we can help people demonstrate what makes film different, how nonprofits are using it, and what they are using it for.

Aaron Bramley: So part of our original focus was that the winning film would get all the proceeds of the festival. We’re not actually spending much money, which is encouraging: People are stepping up to make sure this happens.

RV: We really believe in this, and it shows. Plus, I think they believe in it, too.

DN: I think Austin really values altruism. That, plus there are a high number of nonprofits here, and we’re a tech city and so much of this film and video stuff comes out of tech. So it’s a confluence of factors that are making this happen.

RV: We’re trying to catch up to that momentum.

Now all you have to do is submit. Check out these photos from the launch party and read more about Lights.Camera.Film.

Dana Shetto and John Turner

Jennifer Campell, Weatherby Swada, and Buffy

Mando Rayo and Layla Fry

Kim Righter, Ehren Foss, and Laura Maher

David Neff

David Shaw and Jordan Viatar

BTW: Along the lines of this article, consider giving $5 to a charity this month. Every bit helps, or as the badass Pamela Benson-Owens puts it: “Even a donation that jingles is a donation.”

I spent yesterday afternoon with seven volunteer leaders from the Capital Area State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC), learning about how the campaign works and some of their challenges. These are remarkable people who’ve taken on the job – in addition to their full-time job – of inspiring and encouraging their co-workers – tens of thousands of them – to take advantage of the payroll deduction opportunity for charitable donations.

What’s so amazing about their energy is that they wholeheartedly believe, as do we at GivingCity, that all people want to give, and that they just need to be asked or given an easy opportunity to give. The positive vibes in that room made me want to sign up for paycheck deductions, too. And I don’t even work for the state. Or have a paycheck! (My temporary unemployment, though, is a whole ‘nother story.)

One thing they said toward the end, though, has stuck with me. In this sour economy, it’s inevitable that some donors would make smaller or less frequent donations. But there’s a inspiring phenomenon that happens as well.

At a time when everyone is rethinking their spending, more people of less income tend to donate a higher percentage of their income more often.

“People criticize us because we invite state employees who don’t make that much money to participate,” said Tammy Vega, chair of the Capital Area committee.

“Some people assume that they wouldn’t want to give,” said Holly Chacona of Hospice Austin, an active supporter of SECC. “But why would we assume they don’t want to give?

“It’s not about tell people they should, it’s about givine people the opportunity,” says Chacona. ”What we’ve seen at Hospice Austin in the past is that donations from individuals from low incomes homes actually increase. They also tend to give a higher percentage of their income that high-income donors do.

“And I don’t know if it’s because maybe they finally feel secure and now they want to help the people below them feel secure. Or that they’ve been recipients of services in the past, and realize that more people are getting those services and so they should help… we just don’t know.”

Vega, who works at Texas Youth Commission, concurs. “We repeatedly see the correctional officers, who don’t make a lot of money in the first place, give the highest percentage of their wages and give on a more consistent basis than a lot of other TYC employees.”

The other part of this, they say, is that a lot of these people wind up giving more later, when the economy improves.

“People don’t mind being asked when you present it as an opportunity,” says Chacona. “This just gives them a chance to shine.”