Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Supporting the children of Rocinha - update

Last call for donations to support the after school homework and art activities of Tio Lino in the Rocinha favela in Rio.

On November 19th I’m going to take down the donation link and move on to the buying and delivery stage of the effort. You can read the original post about this effort here.

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped spread the word and who have donated. Five bloggers have posted our donation link and or made a post personally endorsing the campaign. We have been trying to harness the power of the blogosphere to alert as many people as possible to this opportunity to support the kids of Rocinha.

As of this post we have raised R$374.00 to help us buy art supplies. (Plus I heard from Zezinho that he has raised R$80.)

Truth be told I am a bit underwhelmed. Not that every cent isn’t a beautiful gift that will help immensely. But let me disclose to you that with the exception of the R$50 given by fellow blogger Peggy while we enjoyed lunch on the beach in Itaipú, we have received just 6 donations and each one came from a long time personal friend of mine.


According to Blogger stats, to date the post has been viewed 127 times. Referrals have come from all over – every blogger who posted the link has contributed to the campaign's visibility. (Again – thank you!) But it did not translate into contributions.

Let’s not forget how good it is to get the word out about the needs of the Rocinha community. That in itself is a big positive. We have all contributed to that positive effort.

But I am curious – why so few contributors? Why no online contributions beyond my personal friends? Is it a lack of trust? Enthusiasm? Endorsement? Encouragement?

As a 20+ year fundraising professional I have my theories, but I also have my questions. Asking for financial support for worthy causes via blogs may be a whole new universe with its own dynamics. I would be interested in any feedback people have about our results.

In the mean time – we have 10 more days to encourage our friends, family and readers to consider making a contribution. It takes less than 5 minutes via the PayPal link. If you are so moved – make another shout out from your email list, Facebook, Orkut, blog, whatever.  And make a contribution yourself.

Also – if PayPal puts you off, go shopping for art supplies and mail them to me. Or if you prefer the Brazilian approach of making a bank-to-bank transfer, let me know. We can work that out as well. Whatever you decide – let’s do it!

At the end of November 19th I will remove the PayPal link and cash out the account. (I will replenish the small fees taken by PayPal so all contributions are 100% spent on supplies.) Then Luiz and I will go shopping for the children who frequent Tio Lino’s drop-in art center.  We'll keep you posted.
Feel the love. Remind your friends and family. Encourage a donation.

On behalf of Tio Lino and the children he supports and encourages, thanks again for however you may contribute to our success.

15 comments:

Nina said...

Hey Jim, I posted the link on my blog and facebook. I am going to make a donation from my paypal. It's not much but money is kinda tight for me right now.

Nina said...

eee! My paypal is not verified so I can't. Options? Sending something might be pretty costly to me.

Jim said...

Thanks Nina. Since you are here in Brazil it would be easy to make a bank transfer. You can do it from your bank or a Loteria storfront. If this works for you, send me an email and I''ll give you the details.

Thanks again!!

Jim said...

Thanks folks for your extra efforts. I see that the link is up at more blogs and there have been repeated appeals on Facebook.

Fingers crossed.

If you give another push, don't forget to voice your personal endorsement.

Nina said...

I posted on facebook and then sent a message to my friends to repost. And many did! So we will see. Email me details, could I make a deposit into the account? I don't have a bank account yet (sob). Deposit would be easier. nav2@uwmalumni.com

taotechuck said...

Jim, I'm an MBA student at Johns Hopkins and I found your blog while researching a school project on RJ. I wish I could donate more, but I applaud your efforts and I hope this $15 will help. Cheers!

Jim said...

Nina - thanks! I see our post views are back on the go. I sent you an email with details.

taodechuck - THANKS. I've received the donation. We appreciate it a lot.

Rachel said...

Hey Jim, any donations come in?

Jim said...

Rachel - since the re-boot we have gotten one donation (noted above) and one blogger intending to give.

It's been like pulling teeth! Luiz is considering doing a rifa (raffle). He has some collectable dolls and would raffle off one. $R5 a chance. This is the kind of 'giving'Brazilians will consider.

In any case - we have raised a lot for a small project

Jim said...

THANK YOU Nina.

THANK YOU Wendy P.

Luiz and I scouted out some discount stores in Centro yesterday -- our pot of donations will go a long way, for sure.

Thanks again everyone for helping.

Jim said...

THANK YOU Olivia A.

Feel the love.

Fiona said...

Jim-- I have been procrastinating on it. I am going to make a payment right now. Can you post one more post today to remind people? Can you wait another week? maybe people are procrastinating like me. I just noticed it's the last day for it!!!

Jim said...

Thank you Jasmik S.

Thank you Rick R.

Fiona - I'm ready to close this out. I did post again on my Facebook and got a couple new donors, but the pace is really slow - excepting the rare procrastinator, I think people have done what they are going to do.

I'll leave it up until late tonight, but then I think it is time to move to the neext stage in this project.

Thanks for considering a donation.

Jim said...

THANKS Fiona! Fantastic.

With yopur donation and the R$80 Zezinho has collected, we are now over the R$750 mark!

Wonderful.

Jim said...

THANKS Mark C. You rock!