BlogHer - Burkina Faso - Comments

Done :)

snigdhasen — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:08:18 -0500

Donated.

I wonder, though, how on earth will they get all this into the country? Junta is not letting them :(

I do hope the U.N intervenes...If not now, then when?

Snigdhasen

Thank you Karoli and Michelle! I agree, we have to step up...

Lisa Stone — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:56:10 -0500

I've posted and donated.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Moms who read blogs and ruin surprises

Denise — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:02:31 -0500

I thought I might get away with the blog post I made about giving my mom the gift of maternal health for Mother's Day. Hah. I should have known better. She read the post, which she loved (it made her cry.)

I sent the actual card yesterday, thinking she might not see it til much closer to Mother's Day because she has a new Dell laptop that wasn't playing nice with her modem and router. And, we all know how long it can take someone to resolve a Dell problem... hah.

But again, I was foiled.

My sister spent five hours working on her system and got her back up and running last night - so she got the actual card....which she also loved.

It was a huge hit for Mother's Day - the blog post first, then the card and donation. I highly recommend both particularly if you have a mom who reads your blog posts. :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Thanks KK

Denise — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:20:59 -0500

Michelle asked me a couple of days ago what I wanted for Mother's Day and I told her the same thing you did.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Donated and posted

Karoli — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:12:12 -0500

Myanmar is a horrible tragedy. I've asked the kids and husband to forego any mother's day fun/gifts/cards for me and donate it instead. We're so lucky to live as we do...I really hope we can step up and help the victims of these horrible tragedies.

My post is here.

karoli (odd time signatures)

It took me a while...

smtwngrl5 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:48:42 -0500

But I'm finally up-to-date on all my blog reading. Which means I've gotten on track for the Mother's Day challenge. In fact, I've asked my readers to get involved and I'm looking forward to spreading the word about these great causes.

Thanks for the motivation to do something positive for the women of the world.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens up. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are

One of the best. Headlines. Ever

Lisa Stone — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:04:24 -0500

"Give a girl a sandwich, give a girl a future."

Um, BRILLIANT! And may I just say, I passed a number of self-starved waifs in NY this week to whom I coulda said such a thing. Instead, I think I'll donate again to this initiative, since I can make such a difference with just $10 in Burkina Faso.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Fantastic!

valiens — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:00:06 -0500

This is exactly the information I was hoping for! Thanks so much for being so thoughtful in your response, and for linking to my post. I feel utterly confident now that anyone who wants to donate can do so with not only clear conscience but downright joy.

It's a great concept, a great suite of causes, a great program in general. I plan to plug it. Building upon what Vered said, see if you can get people to donate the catch-phrases they come up with in their blogs for your promotions. It might cut to the chase faster by having more brains working on it. It's also got market testing built in.

Also, I think it's good to take advantage of the tax-time burn by reminding people donations are deductible, and though they might not be able to fix last year's return, they can and should start thinking about next year's now by donating early and often!

Thanks again. I'm excited to see how this moves forward!

Pro-you

mama2bna — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:45:10 -0500

Thanks for creating another opportunity to join in something that allows my voice and efforts to have a greater impact.

I just posted this widget on our company blog - Hibernate.

http://hibernate.sarabearco.com

Amanda

http://lifewithbriar.blogspot.com

http://toddlywinks.blogspot.com

Pretty amazing and inspiring

Nordette — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:57:47 -0500

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't been active with this BlogHer campaign, but even in my peripheral vision I can see that good work's getting done.

Thank you for giving women this opportunity. Hope I can get back into the groove soon.

I like your provocative title here, Lisa.

Nordette

Is New Orleans the Vagina of America?, V-Day coverage

Nordette Adams is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.org.

Did I come across as too harsh/ critical?

Vered — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:21:15 -0500

It wasn't my intention to say that the editors are doing anything other then a fabulous job promoting these important causes.

And yes, it is important to provide details to people who want to learn more.

But you asked for input, and I needed to point out that a different marketing strategy - or perhaps combining both in-depth coverage of the causes with short, catchy, frequent posts, might get more people to pay attention and make a donation.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Great point Vered - that $15 buys lunch for 50 girls

Lisa Stone — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:00:44 -0500

...so they can focus on their chance to the education they need to participate in Burkina Faso's developing economy is an essential point.

You're right: Blogging the initiative every day in as catchy and attention-getting a way as possible makes a difference. I think the editors on this site are doing a terrific job, as are bloggers like you who are spreading the word: See the growing list at the bottom of this post.

Then, once we get peoples' attention, I think many do want extensive detail, as Valians did, so hopefully this post will end up as a helpful link...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Marketing-wise, the message should be more catchy

Vered — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:38:20 -0500

My only input, which I already gave elsewhere, is that you need to make this campaign more catchy, or as Denise defined it, have more of a "wow" factor.

It is easier for people to donate when their reaction is "wow, this is such a small amount to give, and it will make such a huge difference". So, $10 to cover the costs of medical care, or $15 to buy lunch for 50 girls - that's a "wow". But $50 to provide counseling - yes, it's very important - but the wow factor is missing and so it will generate less donations.

So it's fine to stick with some of the less "wow-generating" causes, but you need to realize that people won't give as much.

Also, and this is true for all five causes, and as part of the catchy theme, I think that detailed posts or articles that explain the value of each cause are less helpful than short, catchy posts that tell people - like Denise did and I copied - "give up one visit to Starbucks and you can save a life". The message needs to be as clear and short and catchy as you can possibly make it, and you probably need to repeat this short message every single day until Mother's Day. And while you will run the risk of turning people off if you write about it every day, I think it's worth the daily exposure to new audience.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Better Than Nothing

SocalMom — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:21:26 -0500

OK, I'm a day late AND I lifted a lot of my post from here -- but I've got the widget and am doing my part to spread the word. Thank you for reminding me that my little corner of the world isn't so bad, and giving us an easy opportunity to improve the lives of others.

Donna Schwartz Mills

Just got the widget up

debra roby — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:42:04 -0500

What can I say? It's been a week. But I've got the widget up and will blog something about this week.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions