Chicago Cause winner: Inspiration Corporation – #GivingTuesday

My friend Andy Crestodina recently told me about a great way some businesses in Chicago are helping nonprofits in their city. About four years ago, Orbit Media, Lightspan Digital, and Flanigan Communications created a philanthropic partnership called “Chicago Cause .” Through Chicago Cause they wanted to strengthen and serve the Chicago nonprofits that do great things in the city they love.

These firms run a contest at http://orbitmedia.com/cause and give a winning nonprofit a huge upgrade in web, video, and media.. The dust is still settling for the 2012 contest but the winner for 2011 was Inspiration Corporation.

Inspiration Corporation helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency through the provision of social services, housing, employment training and placement through their Employment program, and food service training through their Inspiration Kitchens program.

Each year, Inspiration Corporation works with more than 3,000 Chicagoans who are characterized by chronic homelessness, unemployment or underemployment, mental illness or substance abuse, and social isolation. These individuals all share the strength to move forward out of their current situation and toward self-sufficiency.

As winners of the Chicago Cause contest, they received:

• New website from Orbit valued at $20K


• Marketing video from Orbit (we offered video production as a service at the time) valued at $5K


• Social Media (training + tools) from Lightspan Digital valued at $1K


• PR Consulting from Flanigan Communications valued at $5K
  
  TOTAL: $31K

Make a donation today

Here are three ways you can make a donation today:

1. 
   

   Give to Inspiration Corporation

   
   

   The Chicago Cause gifts clearly helped Inspiration Corporation but the needs of fighting homelessness goes on to this day. You can learn more about Inspiration Corporation on their website. They are pretty incredible. You can donate to them at their donation page .

   
   


2. 
   

   Support Chicago Cause

   
   

   Chicago Cause has had such an overwhelming response from both the for-profit and the nonprofit community that they were able to add new partners and increase their donations. If you’re in the Chicago area, they’ll be kicking off 2013 in July so there may still be time to get involved. You can learn more with this video About Chicago Cause.

   
   


3. 
   

   Create a “Chicago Cause” for your city

   
   

   One of the best ways for small businesses to give back to nonprofits is giving of their expertise. Nonprofits in every community need help clarifying their story, improving their web and social media presence, and effectively interacting with media. What would it look like if you partnered with a couple of overlapping businesses and created a type of “Chicago Cause” for your city? Think of the lives that could be transformed!

   
   

Whatever you do, please take action!

You can learn more about Chicago Cause with the video below:

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Rebooting With Mitch Joel

There are few authors I’d recommend buying their books based solely on who they are and what they know. But Mitch Joel is one of them. With his first book, Six Pixels of Separation (Business Plus, 2010) he solidified his reputation as one of the leading minds in digital marketing. His new book, CTR ALT DEL: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends On It (XXXX, 2013) Joel is at it again, telling us what we need to know to be successful tomorrow, not just today.

The book goes beyond “be social” and “think mobile first” and makes the media landscape of the future appear very real. It’s honest, well written and fun. I sat down with Mitch last week to chat about CTL ALT DEL and why it’s not just another digital marketing book.

You can find CTL ALT DEL at your local bookstore and on Amazon. You can find Mitch on Twitter or at his awesome blog at Twist Image, the name of his agency. The links here are the affiliate kind.

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West, Texas – #GivingTuesday

We human beings are pretty amazing. We love “new” and “sensational.” And we love to help. In the USA, that pursuit leads to raising over $39 million for the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon and millions more for the horrific disasters caused by the tornadoes in Oklahoma and elsewhere.

But it also means that we often “miss” disasters once the news cycle rolls on. Disasters like the one in West, a town in Texas. On April 17, a fertilizer plant explosion damaged a 37-block area of the town, leaving 15 dead, over 200 injured, and destroying hundreds of homes.

So far, about $1.3 million has been raised. The estimated damage costs top $200 million.

In a recent newspaper article, Karen Bernsen, the interim executive director of the West Long-Term Recovery Committee said:

“They want to come back to what they know. They want to come back to church on Sunday, lunch at the community center, coffee at the bakery. It’s just going to take some time to get back to what they know.”

Will you help them get back to what they know?

Make a donation today

Donations for West’s Long-Term Recovery are being handled through the Waco Foundation at their donation page here: Donate to West’s Recovery .

To learn more about the recovery and what you can do to help, visit the West Long-Term Recovery Committee website or check out their page on Facebook.

Here’s a slideshow of images related to the explosion shared by a local news station:

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Tell Social Media Explorer about My Donation for Aggregated Reporting Purposes Here

Read more about Social Media Explorer’s #GivingTuesday program.

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