http://www.citizeneffect.org/blogs/1/feed en-us http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/bring-citizen-effect-your-hometown <p><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; "><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2498/Blog_Header_4.23.12.jpg" width="580" height="157" vspace="6" alt="" /><br /> Oakland</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">fans are true die-hards, silver &amp; black!</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">Austin</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">crushes any music scene! All hotdogs pale in comparison to the</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">Chicago</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">original!</span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">Newark!</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">Atlanta!</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">Cleveland!</strong></p> <div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; "><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Hometown pride is a big part of who we all are. Our food, sports, music, art and everything in between. Well, we want to give you something to be even more proud of by bringing&nbsp;<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CitizenEffect/b0fea50335/138be45db2/12ee749acd/utm_content=bwb%40citizeneffect.org&amp;utm_source=VerticalResponse&amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;utm_term=Citizen%20Effect%20to%20your%20hometown&amp;utm_campaign=The%20Monthly%20Effect%20%E2%80%94%20April%202012" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); ">Citizen&nbsp;<span class="il">Effect</span>&nbsp;to your hometown</a>&nbsp;to have a big impact where it matters most to you!</font></div> <div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; ">&nbsp;</div> <div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; "><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">We've had an incredible 2012 with Detroit4Detroit doing just that, nearly 100 passionate citizens are actively working on community projects in Detroit. Now's your chance to do the same.</font><br /> <div style="text-align: center; "><br /> <strong><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Think your city is perfect for Citizen&nbsp;<span class="il">Effect</span>?</font></strong><br /> <span style="font-size: 12pt; "><strong><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CitizenEffect/b0fea50335/138be45db2/cf87e8c934/utm_content=bwb%40citizeneffect.org&amp;utm_source=VerticalResponse&amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;utm_term=Tell%20us%20why%20and%20let%26%2339%3Bs%20make%20it%20happen%21&amp;utm_campaign=The%20Monthly%20Effect%20%E2%80%94%20April%202012" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); ">Tell us why and let's make it happen!</a></font></strong></span></div> </div><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/bring-citizen-effect-your-hometown">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/bring-citizen-effect-your-hometown#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1932">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1932 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/japan-relief-fund-update-architecture-for-humanity-april-2012 <p style="text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2493/Blog_JapanUpdate_4.16.12.jpg" vspace="6" width="560" height="152" alt="" /><br /> Just over a year has passed since the Earthquake &amp;</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Tsunami in Japan. While the devastation was widespread, <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-satellite-imagery-of-japans.html">these images</a> compiled by Google reveal how far&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; ">the Japanese people have been able to rebound in that time.</span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">The progress exhibited in these photos is a testament to the effort of the people of Japan and the NGOs and nonprofits that facilitated the recovery. Citizen Effect is proud to be a part of this effort with our field partners Architecture for Humanity and The Red Cross.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size:8.0pt; font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color:#222222"><o:p></o:p></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/japan-relief-fund-update-architecture-for-humanity-april-2012">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/japan-relief-fund-update-architecture-for-humanity-april-2012#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1916">leave a comment</a> Austin M. 1916 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/philly4philly <p><a style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(238, 236, 233); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(242, 117, 73); " href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2487/philly_blog_banner.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2487/philly_blog_banner.jpg" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">Over the last 6 months, Citizen Effect has been working on our first large domestic initiative &ndash; Detroit4Detroit. Since late January, we have connected over 65 passionate Detroiters to critical community projects in Detroit - well ahead of schedule to hit our goal of 150 by end of June. We are having so much fun, we thought, &ldquo;why not another city?&quot;</span></span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/philly4philly">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/philly4philly#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1890">leave a comment</a> Austin M. 1890 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/prophet-children-of-vietnam-kindergarten-update <p style="text-align: center; "><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vTDulegk5s4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">&quot;It's rare for a rural school to have a well-constructed roof like this, let alone the bathroom inside the main building. The quality construction of the building keeps the children cool &amp; safe and they're very lucky to have it&quot;. Walking up to the kindergarten on a warm Monday morning, Children of Vietnam Executive Director Nancy Letteri tells me about the recent one-year anniversary and what the new building has meant to the local children &amp; their families.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">We've just made the half-hour ride outside of Da Nang, Vietnam through the hustle and bustle of the city, past the rice paddies and down a long dirt road. As we stroll up to the front steps we're greeted by the principle and 40 smiling kindergarteners in their brightly colored pink uniforms. They welcome us with a well-practiced english &quot;thank you&quot; to the employees of Prophet for making their school a reality.</span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/prophet-children-of-vietnam-kindergarten-update">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/prophet-children-of-vietnam-kindergarten-update#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1864">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1864 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/fundraising-tips-from-citizen-philanthropist-austin <p style="text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><img width="579" height="157" vspace="6" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2411/Blog_FA_Austin_3.12.12_02.jpg" /><br /> At Citizen Effect we give a lot of advice on fundraising. This week we&rsquo;ve gone one better and are sharing some tips directly from an active Citizen Philanthropist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/projects/rwanda-face-aids-nyamirama-san-diego-marathon"><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Austin</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">&nbsp;is currently fundraising for FACE AIDS and hoping to raise $1,000. He started his fundraising last week. Within 24 hours he had raised over $350 from 11 donors. Most donations were $10 or $25.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">Even by our standards that was fast, so we asked Austin if he&rsquo;d mind sharing his top tips. He also shared his first fundraising email. We suggest you shamelessly copy!</span></span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/fundraising-tips-from-citizen-philanthropist-austin">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/fundraising-tips-from-citizen-philanthropist-austin#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1830">leave a comment</a> Fiona C. 1830 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/rocking-facebook-for-fundraising <p><img alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2389/Blog_SocialMedia_Banner_2.7.12.png" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">At Citizen Effect, we love social media. We use it to market&nbsp;</span></span></span><a target="_blank" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; " href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-p-morrison/getting-social-in-detroit_b_1313133.html"><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">ourselves</span></span></a><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">!</span></span></span><font face="Verdana"><br /> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">So let's talk Facebook. It&rsquo;s a great tool for prmoting your project and fundraising. Here are our recommendations for not only announcing your project, but directly engaging people to drive donations. We&rsquo;re assuming you already have a Facebook account. If not, feel free to set one up. You won't get a big response at first because you don't have a an engaged network yet, but we all have to start somewhere.</span></span></span></p> <div class="im" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">There are three keys to effectivly using Facebook:</span></span></span></p> </div> <ol start="1" type="1" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Write compelling posts about your project</span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Make sure people see your posts</span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Recognize your donors&nbsp;</span></span></li> </ol><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/rocking-facebook-for-fundraising">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/rocking-facebook-for-fundraising#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1820">leave a comment</a> Dan M. 1820 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/matt-bailey-chief-technology-officer <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><br /> </font><em><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><img width="580" height="157" vspace="5" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2367/tech_banner1.jpg" />&ldquo;Over the next year we are pushing to integrate the best in-class services directly into our Citizen Philanthropist&rsquo;s experience. Citizen Effect should feel natural so you can easily show photos or videos from the project and talk with friends, relatives, and others in your fundraising network.&rdquo;</span></span></em><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Meet Matt Bailey, Citizen Effect&rsquo;s Chief Technology Officer. You probably didn&rsquo;t even know that he&rsquo;s the newest member of our team, but chances are you&rsquo;ve had a great experience on CitizenEffect.org thanks to his programming knowledge and prowess for user experience.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/matt-bailey-chief-technology-officer">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/matt-bailey-chief-technology-officer#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1801">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1801 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/children-of-vietnam-clara-bev-wach-columbia-south-carolina <p style="text-align: left; "><img width="580" height="157" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2363/Bev_Clara_2.20.12.jpg" /></p> <p style="text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">The following is a story produced by <a href="http://www.midlandsconnect.com/">WACH Columbia, SC</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center; "><iframe width="450" height="253" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SEV7RzKspZE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: left; "><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="font-size: small; "><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Eight year old raises money to help rebuild school</span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">COLUMBIA,SC (WACH) -- After years of watching her grandfather help people in Vietnam,&nbsp;Clara Wilson&nbsp;decided to take on a fundraising project of her own.&nbsp;The eight year old, managed to raise 12,000 dollars to help rebuild a school in Vietnam.&nbsp;The school was&nbsp;destroyed by a typhoon in 2009.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Clara&nbsp;raised the funds with the help and organization of a website called</span>&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/projects/trung-chanh-kindergarten">Citizen Effect</a></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">.<br /> <br /> </span></span><a href="http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=721476#.T0JovnJWpRF"><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Full Article</span></span></a>&nbsp;</p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/children-of-vietnam-clara-bev-wach-columbia-south-carolina">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/children-of-vietnam-clara-bev-wach-columbia-south-carolina#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1793">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1793 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-week-washington-dc-philanthropy-development <p>&nbsp;<img width="580" height="157" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2361/CE_Blog_SMWeek_2.17.12.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p><b style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; " id="internal-source-marker_0.17139310017228127"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In a dozen cities around the world, <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/washingtondc/">Social Media Week</a> is being celebrated. Washington, DC, our hometown, is one of the lucky cities to host this event and foster the discussion. All week, we have been going to panels and checking out the advances and ideas entering this space. DC as a city tends to be focused on government, nonprofits &amp; the developing world, and those qualities shined through in a number of the events.</span></b></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-week-washington-dc-philanthropy-development">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-week-washington-dc-philanthropy-development#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1779">leave a comment</a> Anthony A. 1779 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-citizen-philanthropy-fundraising <p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); text-indent: 0.5in; "><font color="#222222" face="Verdana" size="2"><img width="580" height="157" vspace="6" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2345/Blog_SocialMedia_Banner_2.7.12.png" /><br /> One of the first places our Citizen Philanthropists look to engage others in their projects is the work place. </font><a style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; " href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a><font color="#222222" face="Verdana" size="2">,&nbsp;the social network for professionals, is the perfect tool to connect you with past and present coworkers, bosses, and professional contacts. Connections on Linkedin tend to be stronger and more receptive, than on any other social network. So utilizing your connections on LinkedIn can lend your project some untapped leverage.<font size="2" color="#222222" face="Verdana"><br /> </font></font></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-citizen-philanthropy-fundraising">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/social-media-citizen-philanthropy-fundraising#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1764">leave a comment</a> Anthony A. 1764 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/detroit4detroit-npr-wdet-craig-fahle-show <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">&nbsp;<img width="579" height="157" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2321/D4D-Blog-Header_B.jpg" /></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Yesterday our very own Nicole Schneidman and Eric Moss were featured on WDET's&nbsp;<a href="http://wdetfm.org/shows/craig-fahle-show/episode/detroit4detroit-citizens-having-impact/">The Craig Fahle Show</a> to mark the launch of <a href="http://detroit4detroit.org">Detroit4Detroit!</a> This past week&rsquo;s launch saw an incredible amount of enthusiasm and support with over 50 people signing up for a project.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://wdetfm.org/shows/craig-fahle-show/episode/detroit4detroit-citizens-having-impact/">Listen to the show</a> and if you are the next member of #the150, <a href="http://detroit4detroit.org">sign up here</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">&nbsp;</span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/detroit4detroit-npr-wdet-craig-fahle-show">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/detroit4detroit-npr-wdet-craig-fahle-show#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1757">leave a comment</a> Austin M. 1757 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/citizen-philanthropist-webinar-answers-fundraising-questions <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><img width="579" height="157" vspace="7" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2319/Blog_Header_Webinar.jpg" /><br /> Philanthropy is hard work. However, hard work yields great results and even greater rewards. Citizen Effect is constantly working to increase our Citizen Philanthropist&rsquo;s impact while also helping ease their workload. We&rsquo;ve provided a <a href="http://resources.citizeneffect.org/">Fundraising Resource Kit</a>, put our experienced fundraising staff at your disposal and now Citizen Effect is producing webinars to show you best practices and answer all your questions. In the coming weeks we'll be debuting three new webinars to help make your experience as a Citizen Philanthropist as successful as possible.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /> </span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/citizen-philanthropist-webinar-answers-fundraising-questions">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/citizen-philanthropist-webinar-answers-fundraising-questions#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1754">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1754 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/national-blood-donor-month <p><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><img width="570" height="153" vspace="7" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2317/blooddrive_1.jpg" />In 1970, January was declared National Blood Donor Month in an effort to raise awareness and honor blood donors. Today, blood donor services such as the <a href="http://www.redcrossblood.org/">Red Cross</a> and <a href="http://www.americasblood.org/">America&rsquo;s Blood Centers</a> continue to work to meet the needs of the estimated 4.5 million Americans who will need a blood transfusion in 2012. Relying completely on volunteers who donate their time and blood, these groups support cancer patients, accident victims, transplant recipients and others in need of lifesaving transfusions across America. Everyone knows someone who has needed a blood transfusion &ndash; someday, you may need one too.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><br /> </span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/national-blood-donor-month">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/national-blood-donor-month#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1752">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1752 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/modeld-detroit4detroit-passionate-detroiters-citizen-philanthropy <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img height="157" width="580" vspace="6" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2293/D4D-Blog-Header_B.jpg" alt="" />Since Citizen Effect announced </span></span><a href="http://www.detroit4detroit.org/"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Detroit4Detroit</span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">, the number one question people ask is, &quot;Why Detroit? Why is a D.C.-based nonprofit setting up its second office in the Motor City?&quot; &nbsp;<br /> <br /> The answer is simple -- it&rsquo;s the people. In Detroit, you can&rsquo;t walk down the street without hearing passersby talking about the work they&rsquo;re doing in their community. Citizens are collaborating with larger institutions like their government and foundations, while at the same time leveraging their most valuable asset, their fellow Detroiters. This idea that the power lies directly with the people, and not just a few with deep pockets, is what made us so excited about bringing our model of Citizen Philanthropy into the equation.<br /> </span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/modeld-detroit4detroit-passionate-detroiters-citizen-philanthropy">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/modeld-detroit4detroit-passionate-detroiters-citizen-philanthropy#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1746">leave a comment</a> Brett W. 1746 at http://citizeneffect.org http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/martin-luther-king-jr-mlk-day-volunteer <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img height="151" width="560" vspace="6" alt="" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/citizeneffect_production/blog_assets/2195/blogpic2.jpg" /><br /> Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most influential public figures in American history and an icon of peace and human rights around the world. Affectionately called MLK, his impact can still be felt in America to this day. In honor of this great man&rsquo;s work and legacy the third Monday of every January is a declared a federal holiday to mark his January 15^th birthday. Many take advantage of this day off to <a href="http://www.volunteermatch.org/seasonsofservice/mlkday/">serve in honor</a> of King&rsquo;s mission and message.</span></span></p><a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/martin-luther-king-jr-mlk-day-volunteer">read more</a> | <a href="http://citizeneffect.org/blog/main/martin-luther-king-jr-mlk-day-volunteer#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="1719">leave a comment</a> Austin M. 1719 at http://citizeneffect.org