Inspiring Personal Video Thank You Notes for Non-Profit Organizations

Creative Video Production Inspires Generosity and Continued Support

Charity:Water Sends Personal Video Thank Yous to Their Supporters

Four years ago,  charity:water launched its September birthday fundraiser where it asked its supporters and friends to give up their birthdays and ask for donations instead of gifts.

Every year, the fundraising campaign involved more people andsuccessfully raised more money using social fundraising tactics and channels.   charity:water has helped over a million people get clean water.   This September they are celebrating their 5th birthday andasking people to give up their birthdays for clean water.

charity:water uses creative techniques,  beautiful visuals, and engaging storytelling to power its fundraising.   Just take a glance at their September Birthday Campaign home page.    I also liked how they have effectively used an infographic to explain the campaign.

Even though charity:water has over 200,000 supporters, they have not lost sight of the critical  importance of saying thank you in a personal way to continue to build their network.     These thank yous are not just for big donors.    In conjunction with the campaign, they are sharing personal thank you videos every day to their donors through a special YouTube channel.   The videos feature staff and you can just feel the love they have for people who share the organization’s passion for its mission of getting clean water to people around the world.

I love this video – it is a personal thank you for Semenesh to thank her for giving up her 2nd birthday to join their September Campaign 2011.    If you look at the videos, they don’t have many views and that isn’t the point.   charity:water is successful because they know it is about building relationships over time.    I’m sure that Semenesh might grow up to be a life-long charity:water donor.

Happy Birthday charity:water and thank you for modeling best practices in social fundraising!

**For more great ideas on "How Networked Nonprofits Are Using Social Media to Power Change" visit Beth's Blog at   http://www.bethkanter.org/say-thanks/

Arts Are Essential to Improving the Economy

Bank On It

Ken Ferguson believes the arts are essential to Oklahoma's economy.

AS TOLD TO JAMI MATTOX

KenFergeson is chairman of National Bank of Commerce. He bought the bank from then-owner John Gover in 1985, and has since overseen the expansion of the bank to nine locations statewide. He is a past chairman of the American Bankers Association and is active with the Oklahoma Bankers Association. Fergeson is also a well-known advocate of the arts and creativity in Oklahoma.

When I was in college, I determined agriculture wasn’t getting enough money, and I was thinking about ways to steer more money toward agriculture. I decided to go to work at a bank after graduate school. Liberty Bank in Oklahoma City hired me straight out of college. Being a native of Texas, I always say I was their token Texan.

I worked at Liberty Bank for eight years, then moved to Enid to run a loan portfolio. An old customer of mine, John Gover, was looking to sell his bank, which was started by his father. He asked if anyone wanted to buy it, and I said, “I do.” I didn’t have any money, but I used to loan money to people to buy banks, so I used every trick I ever learned. I issued preferred stock, ventures, sold my house, got a loan from another bank, even borrowed all the money in my children’s college funds.

National Bank of Commerce’s original location was in Altus. We first expanded into Enid, then to Kingfisher, Oklahoma City and into Tulsa. As chairman of NBC, I review all loans that are made in the bank along with lending activity, statements, how much money we have, how much we have to loan and invest. I spend time talking to the bank presidents, to CFOs who do the investments and to accounting.

My passion for arts came after I moved to Altus and began serving on lots of local boards, like the Shortgrass Arts and Humanities Council. My involvement in statewide and national organizations was more about economic development. I used to go on recruiting trips to California with Congressmen. I would ask these companies to build facilities in southwest Oklahoma, but they would ask me, “Do you have symphony? Theater? Higher education?” They never asked about taxes or other financial factors. It was always about how their people would feel living there.

The arts and humanities really matter. Americans For the Arts now has economic data to support these theories. We can prove that the arts pay. I have gotten involved in the arts from an economic standpoint, but I learn more from them than they get from me.

This article appears in the December 2011 issue of Oklahoma Magazine
Did you like what you read here? Subscribe to Oklahoma Magazine »

To  learn more about American for the Arts, please visit www.artsusa.org 

Free Art Daily! Art Moves!

JANUARY 2012 Schedule

Click on the links to find out more about each artist!

2       New Year’s Day (Holiday) - No Art Moves today!
3       OKC MUSEUM OF ART – Chihuly “Illuminations” curator discussion
4       DOWNTOWN LIBRARY ATRIUM – Larry Pierce Combo, jazz piano & vocals
5       CHASE TOWER LOBBY – OKC Philharmonic’s Thomasz Zieba & Sam Formicola, classical violin & cello
6       ROBINSON RENAISSANCE – Local Honey, folk duo

9       CHASE TOWER LOBBY – Larry Pierce Combo, jazz piano & vocals
10     LEADERSHIP SQUARE – Regina Murphy, bookbinding demonstration
11     LIBRARY ATRIUM – Collin Rosebrook, pottery wheel demonstration
12     IAO GALLERY – Eyakem Gulilat, photographer talk + exhibit preview
13     THE UNDERGROUND – David Bruster, saxophone

16     Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Holiday) - No Art Moves today!
17     OKC MUSEUM OF ART – Wayne McEvilly - Serimages, a piano improvisation with projection
18     ROBINSON RENAISSANCE – The Crescent Trio, pre-1940 jazz trio
19     LEADERSHIP SQUARE – Kristen Vails, painting demonstration
20     LEADERSHIP SQUARE – Perpetual Motion, modern dance company

23     ROBINSON RENAISSANCE – Aaron Newman, acoustic alternative guitar
24     CITY RESCUE MISSION – Patrick Riley, mask-making demonstration
25     LIBRARY ATRIUM – Timothy Bradford, poet
26     CHASE TOWER LOBBY – Red Earth’s Gordon Yellowman, storyteller + artist
27     THE UNDERGROUND – The Flyin’ Fiddler, traditional Celtic music

30     CHASE TOWER LOBBY – Wayne McEvilly, classical piano “Mostly Shubert"
31     OKC MUSEUM OF ART – “Chihuly: Northwest” curator discussion + Native American performance

Click HERE for a map that includes each Art Moves location!

Click HERE to print your own Art Moves schedule!

Featured Artist - Christopher Martin Exhibition

American Artist
Texas based artist, Christopher H Martin, has achieved regional, national, and international recognition for creating abstract expressions on acrylic and canvas. Inspired by the pursuit of intricate patterns and rhythms of nature and weather, Chris manipulates his paint to mimic the effects of heat, wind, water, and pressure to harness a natural vision. The vibrant acrylic on acrylic pieces, which have become his signature, glow with iridescence and metallic highlights while his digital photography freezes and captures tiny microcosms within nature –

Antillian

90x48

Acrylic on Glass 

Artist Statement

"My motive is to assemble a vibration of color, movement and depth that transforms a clear surface into a powerful sensation that leaves a profound feeling of energy and clarity. If that becomes apparent, consistent, and experiential, then my statement as an artist is on the wall."