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<< June 2, 2006
Hello everyone,
Three smiles and a bow. For the last twelve straight weeks, Quote-A-Day has averaged a hundred new subscribers every single day. For the fourth straight month, Smile Cards fulfilled more than 200 orders -- more than double last year's average. ProPoor just posted a banner month with highest traffic in its history and a whopping 39 new NGOs added to its database. PledgePage once again topped its record numbers from last month, and Inspiring Messages silently posted daily impressions of wisdom on over 500 sites! To top it off, 148 new volunteers signed up last month, highest in the last twelve months.
CharityFocus is growing. But what does it mean to grow? It means that the smile-card team now hand-writes the envelope labels instead of mass-printing them. It means that Yaniv is working on a "best of" Quote-A-Day book to reach non-email audiences. It means that Yoo-mi, Vandana and Hemanta send personalized responses to 240 real ProPoor emails they get every month! It means that Brinda and Heena are assigned to just sign guestbooks of random PledgePagers to make their day. It means that Rahul and Archana can take five-bucks club to corners of the world we can't even spell. It means that inside of each smile order is now Maxine's cool, new smile-postcard.
That's what growth is for us. More authenticity, more smiles, more bows, more service and less of our ego.
As a result, inspiration around CharityFocus continues to rock the house. Yesterday, a teenager in Connecticut writes a long note titled, "Stuck in a kindness slump -- can you help me?" That's one of dozens of such emails. What a privilege! Eric Conlon, webmaster for Lemelson Foundation, noticed a huge spike in their daily hits; he looked deeper and wrote to us: "I've been a quote-a-day subscriber for a while, and your stories really make my day. But now I'm wondering, how many subscribers do you guys have?" 31,337 Trishna informed him. Someone delivered 28 smile t-shirts(!) to our doors anonymously. A homeless man decided to contribute to the five-bucks clubs while another friend decided to match everyone's 5 bucks so they can do acts of kindness in their own communities. And we got yet another $1 dollar donation for smile cards!
And the beat goes on.
CharityFocus's evolution has gone from web sites to web solutions to web services. This year, we are leafing into our next chapter -- web communities. Take a look at some numbers from last month: ProPoor posted 51 blog entries and got 75 comments, HelpOthers.org chimed in with 41 stories and 61 comments, QAD's 31 stories received a remarkable 149 comments, PledgePage users logged in 132 entries with 98 comments, not to mention the couple dozen individual bloggers on just this Tiger Team. Across the board, we're looking at about 10 new stories everyday with over 12 comments from readers. That's a *lot* of fresh, inspiring content even before we jump off the starting block. So, stay tuned for this emerging chapter called web communities.
Last month, the CEO of Google.org ($1.2 billion fund) replies to the weekly thought and asks for a paragraph describing CharityFocus. I opened with, "Three pillars of our guiding principles are: (a) we are all volunteers, (b) we don't fundraise, (c) we believe in doing small things." Later, he tells that he needed to explain CharityFocus to the Google.org Board! Why? "Just because," he says with a wry smile. :)
Just because. That could be the new CharityFocus slogan. No ifs, ands, buts, whys. Just because.
Sometimes I look at the massive scope of CF's work and wonder. What will happen in another five years, if a service story has more impact with QAD's half a million daily subscribers than through a page 3d listing in the NY Times, if PledgePage is hosting 10,000 users who are raising millions of bucks, if CFSites is empowering a thousand nonprofits, if CharityFocus has 100,000 registered volunteers, if Smile Cards make it to Oprah's show. :) What then? I don't have the faintest clue!
Then, I remember a quote by Mother Teresa: "A saint is someone who takes what is given and gives what is taken." Forget about security. Just serve with what you got and let the outcomes take care of themselves. That's what CharityFocus is good at. And when those "just because" decisions land on our side of the net, I see it as nature's pat on our back.
Keep serving. Just because. :)
Nipun [??]
CharityFocus is an incubator of compassionate action. The collection of our coordinators forms the Tigers Team with 127 members. To jump on this list or to get off, email Nipun anytime. Thank you for your partnership in "Helping Others Help Others."
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