Squidblog

Over the past eight days, eight of our charity partners met the challenge to build ten new lenses for a chance to win $3,000 from Squidoo. This weekend, they’re working hard to tell all their staff and friends and family and volunteers, so bright and early Monday morning the voting can commence!

Take a peek at which charities are in the running for $3,000, and plan to vote Monday: Which Charity Deserves $3,000?

Congratulations to all our nominees! They’ve done some fine work, and are all deserving of a helping hand for their cause. You can make a contribution today; it won’t cost you a dime, just a few minutes of your time. It involves making a lens, of course! Just set your royalties to go to the charity of your choice, and we’ll do the rest.

Miss this contest? Keep an eye on the Charity Network Newsletter (you’re reading it), Charity Central, or the SquidU Forum for future details.

Good luck

Over the holidays last year, we ran a red ribbon on all lenses that donated royalties to charity. Go figure, it was a wildly popular little feature.

This time, we’ve released a new charity tagline customized to your lens that will show up in place of the Glam banner ad — if you’ve set your lens 100% to charity and opted out of Glam ads. As well as a chance for your readers to make their own lenses (and give you the recruitment credit).

So your lens would look like this instead of this.

Of course, if you’d rather get the cash, or earn more money for your charity, keep the Glam ad there!

Either way, thanks for the good work.

As you know, in 2008 Squidoo gave away over $100,000 to charities from our Squidoo Charity Fund. This month, we’re giving away $3,000 to a charity that really, really wants it.

If you’re the spokesperson for a charity sponsored on Squidoo, and you want to know how to win $3,000, send a note to charitycash@squidoo.com. Include your name, the charity you work for, and a short blurb about what you would do with $3,000. Don’t delay! …or this opportunity might pass you by.

And if you’re not a charity official but want your favorite charity to participate, call them up and let them know. Have them send us a note ASAP to find out how they can be entered to win. Voting is less than 10 days away!

* Must be a currently, officially sponsored Squidoo charity to participate. If you’re not, find out how you can apply.

When grandmas know that by buying a box of Girl Scout cookies, they’re sending a girl to camp, it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. When a phone donor knows their donation is keeping public radio on the air, or providing medical treatments to a boy in Memphis, they’re likely to give more. But if a reader comes across your lens, will they know what their money is helping achieve, and want to go out of their way to donate?

I formerly served as the director of a county-wide non-profit, and part of my job was to get employees in larger businesses to commit to donating by having money automatically deducted to their paychecks. One thing we did that helped tremendously was to show donors, with pictures and stories, exactly what their money was doing for their community.

Some of the props we used were:

- a group scout photo holding a bill for camp
- a soldier care package with items laid out and price tags attached
- colored pictures of a swing set the daycare kids wanted
- stacks of books for advanced reading goals
- a boxed and canned food “castle” representing food for a family for a week

By seeing what items each charity was buying, donors could tell their donations were going to legitimate projects. And since they knew their neighbors were benefiting, they could easily put faces to each need.

Use your Squidoo lens (or create a shiny new one) to show off all the little things your donations are helping purchase. Show your readers the money, or at least what it’s being used for. When donors trust you, they’re more likely to give more, give more often, and help spread the word.

1. Matt has never heard of your organization.
2. Matt has no idea what you do.
3. Matt visits your lens.
4. Matt still has no idea what you do.
5. Matt leaves.

This sounds weird but it’s very common! Since you work for/started/run/love your organization, you know what you do. You know the day-to-day operations of your office. You know where monetary and in-kind donations are going. You know how needed your services are, and how many people depend on you each day.

But your readers don’t.

After visiting your lens, any prospect donor should be able to summarize who you are, what you do, stats about your organization, and at least one name of a real live person who works there. Try having a distant relative or friend view your lens. (Honest friends are best.) They should easily be able to tell you what’s missing.

In June, Squidoo welcomed seven new charities that successfully completed the application process and have made a promise to work hard to promote themselves on Squidoo!

BuckHawk Center Animal Rescue
The BuckHawk Center is a nonprofit organization providing rescue, rehabilitation and adoption where possible for animals in need, located in Southern Missouri.
 

Paws Animal Kingdom
Giving a voice to animals all over the world.
 
 

Michael’s Way
Michael’s Way is to help the families of children with cancer to cope with the extraordinary non-medical expenses that come about as a direct result of the child’s illness.
 
 

Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength is the leading national organization working to end childhood hunger in America. We weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch every at-risk child and make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.
 

CAER Food Shelf
Community Aid Elk River (CAER) is a non-profit, community-based Christian organization, whose mission is to provide emergency food, clothing, furniture/household items, and limited financial assistance to needy families in and around Elk River, MN.
 

Athletes for a Cure
Athletes for a Cure is the sports fundraising initiative of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. We provide athletes in all sports a fundraising platform for any event they choose, anytime, anywhere.
 

Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
Empowering people to achieve success since 1985, REC helps a diversity of present and potential small business owners in the Bay Area through business training, consulting, incubator services, support, network-building and more.

Starting right away, you can set your lenses to donate their earnings to one of these worthwhile causes, or create a new lens to show your support for them! In a month or so, check the Donations Module to help them earn even more.

Congratulations, and welcome!
~Kimberly
YOUR Charity Organizer on Squidoo

PS - not yet a sponsored charity? Learn about our criteria and apply here.

Charity Central is your one-stop-shop for all of Squidoo’s best resources for charities.

Stop by to find:
- links to helpful lenses
- tips on building a better lens
- short stories and photos from our charities
- a complete list of the charities we sponsor
- notes and news about upcoming events on Squidoo

If you have a short story or photo to share, we’d love to spotlight you on Charity Central. Just send your image and blurb to charity(at)squidoo.com. You could be our next famous charity!

PS - knowing how to make lenses can come in handy. SUPER handy. Spend just 15 minutes every day getting to know how Squidoo works. Soon you’ll be a lens building expert. Trust us, this is a skill you want to have!

Non-profits and I go way back. My first above minimum-wage job was as the executive director of a county-wide United Way. One thing that’s always on the mind of charities is money. How much we have, how much we need, and who to ask for a donation next.

Charities spend a lot of money asking people for more money. It’s traditional. It’s necessary. It’s in our blood. But what if you turned the tables a bit?

Just for a day or a week or a month, instead of spending money on tools to ask for more money, what if you put all your money into promoting all the good stuff you do? Instead of working only in order to generate more income, what if you put 110% of your energy into making sure everyone knew about the amazing things you’ve done? No strings, no requests. Just pure, unadulterated bragging.

Which do you think would attract more attention? One lens on why donors should send money, or 100 lenses that show off your last ten years of events and staff?

In fact, it wouldn’t really cost that much, since Squidoo is free. And you can earn money. Which means you’re really just getting paid to shamelessly promote yourself. It’s good clean fun that every charity can profit from.

Out of all the charities on Squidoo, only a few will become Giants. What does that mean? There is a program on Squidoo called the Giant Squids. Membership is elite; members are hand-picked, and the first qualification is to have 50 really great lenses. Most of the Giant Squids on Squidoo have been here for years, and many since the early beta days. A few lensmasters building lenses for charity have achieved this status, and as a result, their lenses get more eyeballs and donors than most others.

Today we’re interviewing lensmaster, Giant Squid Mentor, and Giant Squid Organizer RMS for more details on how a charity like you can become a Giant.

Squidoo: Robin, what are three things charities can do to improve their lenses and visibility as charities?

RMS: Although it might not be a quick thing to do, creating 50 lenses and becoming a Giant Squid lensmaster will help to increase lensrank and visibility of the charity’s lenses. All Giant Squid lenses automatically receive a gold star and have the chance to earn a purple star, which will give the lens an additional boost in ranking and a better chance to be seen.

If becoming a Giant isn’t feasible for the charity organization, it would be a good idea to create at least one “Giant quality” lens, which means a lens that uses many different types of modules, lots of interesting pictures, contains no generic titles, makes good use of sub-titles, and generally contains enough interesting content to hold a readers attention.

Squidoo: Do you have any favorite charity lenses that do this well?

RMS: Epic Farms is a small non-profit striving to share the BIG picture. They make good use of humor to keep a reader interested, and also make excellent use of many different Squidoo modules to interest to the lens. All in all, I think it is a very well done charity lens.

Squidoo: What’s one very cool thing you’d love to see on a Charity lens?

RMS: I think it would be cool to see a video representing the charity in action.

There you have it, the short and sweet on creating a great charity lens. Just as RMS said, becoming a Giant Squid lensmaster isn’t always quick, but the perks are priceless. Not only will you have a whopping 50 quality lenses pushing traffic and potential donors towards your organization, you’ll enjoy new lensmaking tools, ranking benefits, and the camaraderie of a group of lensbuilding experts.

If you’re interested in making this a goal for your charity, contact RMS at her Giant Squid Mentor lens. It all starts with a single lens, and since you already have an “about us” lens, that leaves only 49 to go!

Make it a great day for charities on Squidoo!

When you live in a small town or close neighborhood you get to see first hand how non-profits help your friends and family. Online, it’s a bit different. That’s why photos are so important for telling your story.

LindaJM, our Image and Video Mentor, is here to help you use visual aids to connect with users and become real to them.

Squidoo: Linda, charities are often new to Squidoo, but what are three quick things they can do to improve their lenses?

LindaJM: Here are my suggestions for making a charity lens more attractive and effective using images and videos:

a) Include large, colorful photographs of people (or animals) being helped by your organization. The photos in the Intro Modules on most charity lenses need to be replaced or enlarged. Most of them were uploaded before the Intro Module was changed so that it would accept larger images. A large Intro Module photo makes the lens look much better! You can make them 250px by 375px, and at that size they would attract a lot of positive attention.

b) Create a video about your organization, upload it to YouTube, and place it on your Squidoo lens using the Video Module.

c) Create a Power Point presentation about your organization’s goals, upload it to SlideShare.Com, and put it on your lens using the SlideShare module.

Squidoo: Do you have any favorite charity lenses that do something well?

LindaJM: Global Youth Village is one of my favorite charity lenses because there are some great photographs of the young people who have attended the camp. There’s also a very well-produced short video showing how much fun teenagers are having at this wonderful camp.

I also like how First Book used their logo as the image in the Intro Module. For a charity lens, this seems most appropriate. First Book also has a slide show on the lens, and a video. You can really see how much the children love getting those books! That encourages me to want to donate.

Squidoo: What’s one very cool thing you’d love to see on a Charity lens?

LindaJM: I’d like to see more personal stories on charity lenses. These could be short human-interest articles written by donors to tell why they chose to give to your organization, or by recipients of aid. People love to read personal stories. They stimulate human emotions and cause people to want to participate. Combine those personal stories with compelling photos, and your charity lens is sure to be memorable.

These are tips we can ALL agree on! LindaJM is spot-on when she says photos, action shots, and human interest stories are powerful catalysts for donors. Be sure to get that camera out for your next event, and snap a few shots to add to your lens. Need help? Our Image and Video Mentor has you covered!