Like you, I’m all torn up about Haiti.
But I haven’t said a word about it. To anyone.
There’s a reason why.
Talking Gets In The Way of Action
I think complaining and venting can be enervating. You’ve got this uncomfortably hot issue simmering and boiling and producing steam…and then you vent. All that energy dissipates into the atmosphere. You’re comfortable again. And so you carry on.
And nothing changes.
So complaining – letting off steam – is an escape valve, and the escape is inertia. Complacency. A democracy of noisy theory and a prison of inaction.
I wore this skeptical hat during the Iran elections. We tinted our avatars green and changed our locations to Tehran while journalists and pundits and the US State Department discovered social media. OH YE GODS OF DEMOCRACY, the revolution will be Twitterized!
And yet. I’m an idealist, a believer in Democracy, and a lover of all things people. Your people are my people. My people are yours.
In this online, virtual world of ours, our people are everywhere. Our people is Haiti. And Haiti – our people – needs and deserves help right now.
I feel pretty helpless about that. What can I do? What can I really do? The magnitude of need is vast and my wallet is small.
So I’ve stewed and brewed and steamed about it – and refrained from saying a word about it, so that the pressure to do something would get so intolerable that I’d get an idea and be driven into action.
Here’s that idea, the action, and call to action.
The Help Haiti Now Blog Challenge
In the blog-o-sphere, we talk a lot about making money: how we’re not making money, how we are, how we want to, how to, and please buy this because it will help you make money.
And we’re talking and blogging and social networking and creating products and selling services and talking and blogging and social networking and creating and you get the idea.
So, even those of us who don’t have a lot of money have something to contribute.
Ideas. Services. Products. A network of people who like you and listen to you. Influence.
Yesterday, Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth tweeted:
That’s smart and heartfelt. There’s a very big truth in that small tweet.
What have you got to give? YOURSELF.
That’s my challenge to myself, and to bloggers and readers and internet marketers and crafters and entrepreneurs and you.
You’ve got something to offer: whether it is an e-book, a course, a consultation, a mowed lawn, knitted booties, a tweet or an e-mailed plea to your closest friends. You have something to contribute.
Do what Danielle did, and offer a trade: your thing for cash, to donate to charity doing relief work in Haiti.
(The Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and Partners in Health are all great candidates for your donations.)
The ability to contribute is power and power is a gift. That’s a gift that you have and one you can share. Please do.
How To Join the Help Haiti Blog Challenge. What You Can DO.
Remember Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge? It brought a LOT (700+) of people together. Which got me thinking…a blog challenge is a way to rally together and have a big impact through a lot of little actions.
Hence: The Help Haiti Blog Challenge. Let’s do it.
Here’s how we can share, together, so we can give, together, to our people who need and deserve help in Haiti.
- Sign up for the Help Haiti Blog Challenge (below). Write about it on your blog and tag it “Help Haiti Blog Challenge“. Ask your people to join you and do the same.
- Add the Help Haiti Blog Challenge badge to your blog.
- Make your offer: I will donate ________ dollars to _________ on behalf of the next person who buys _________ from me.
- Make your donation and tell us how much you donated.
- Tweet about it using the hashtag #haitiblogchallenge. Update your facebook status with a request to pass on the message and the call to action. Send e-mails. Everywhere you are, online, talk about the Help Haiti Blog Challenge, tag it, and call your friends, family, colleagues – your people – to action.
Let’s gather our online people to help our real-life people.
You can do this. We can do this. And it will be bigger than anything we could have done alone.
Pass it on.
____________
Kelly Diels is a writer and will donate $200 to the Red Cross on behalf of the next person who books and pays for a page of website copy. You can e-mail her at kelly@kellydiels.com.
Amanda Farough designed the badge and the did the code thing and set up the list function. For free. Just because she cares.
Please feel free to copy and share this essay and call-to-action as widely as possible.
To join The Help Haiti Blog Challenge, please sign up on the list below so we can all keep track of the good work we’re going to do. Thank you so much.
____________
Here are a couple of badges for you to wear on your site. And some code to use it. Just copy+paste it. It’s good to go.
Large Badge
<p>
<a href="http://www.kellydiels.com/2010/01/14/the-help-haiti-blog-challenge-you-can-do-it-we-can-do-it-together" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.kellydiels.com/images/help-haiti-blog-challenge.png" />
</a>
</p>
Small Badge
<p>
<a href="http://www.kellydiels.com/2010/01/14/the-help-haiti-blog-challenge-you-can-do-it-we-can-do-it-together" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.kellydiels.com/images/help-haiti-blog-challenge-small.png" />
</a>
</p>
I think this is so inspired. Thank you! (and to Danielle La P)…I am going to have to truly mobilise myself to offer my tribe something of value in such a short time, but that is truly a GOOD THING. What better way to get into action than this?
My plan…to put together a CD of one of my performances and then offer to donate the proceeds of the first 50 CDs purchased. I have no idea exactly how much this will raise but I suspect it will be around 250-300…I will link again once I have written the post on my blog and I will arrange for the CD to be drop shipped…juiced is an understatement.
I look forward to seeing what others emerge with!
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spreading the word far and wide. thank you for this.
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I’m in. At my certification site for real estate professionals who want to market to women, wrelda.com, we’ll offer $75 off the certification and a $25 donation to UNICEF’s Haiti relief efforts for every certification sold.
At rethinkrealestate.com, my site for smart women real estate consumers, we’ll donate the entire purchase price of any real estate decision-making guide bought for the next week.
Amazing vision, from amazing visionaries. Thank you for creating a space for us all to participate in community and churn up this beautiful, powerful energy.
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I will donate the value of my Bad-Ass Design Package ($300 value) to the Red Cross on behalf of the next person who talks to me about it.
In case you guys were wondering.
I’m also spreading the word. Way to rock this, Kelly.
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I’m in. I’ll donate my Discovery Session fee ($150 value) to the Red Cross on behalf of the next person who books and pays for their session.
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Thank you for this.
I will donate my fee ($250) to the next person who books 5 hours worth of copy writing work. I am also spreading the word.
Excellent idea. Excited to see this movement grow.
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Great idea, Kelly. I already contributed my monthly fees from the 3 new clients I took on this month and I just don’t have room for anymore clients right now, but I will definitely help spread the word!!!
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Great idea, and I’m proud to be involved. I was already blogging and tweeting about giving 100% of my CD and download sales to Haiti relief, but I have written a whole new blog post to spotlight the Help Haiti Blog Challenge.
My dear friend David, who runs the coolest jazz club in Seattle, couldn’t get ahold of his mother, who lives in Haiti, so he got on a plane this morning to the Dominican Republic without even knowing how he’d get to Port-au-Prince from there. He has landed and through the good graces of other aid workers has found a ride. This hit real close to home and I knew I had to do something.
We’re also planning a fundraising multi-club multi-band show for Wednesday night. If you know anyone in Seattle please send them to my blog for details.
Thanks for spearheading this and I hope many other pick up on it.
Jason
http://oneworkingmusician.com
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Thank you for being a real thought leader Kelly.
I just posted my pledge and a few extra thoughts at:
http://wordpost.org/2010/01/help-haiti-blog-challenge/
My best to anyone who participates in this.
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……or………
You could check your bank balance right now. Work out what you need to last until the end of the month, then send whatever is spare to The Red Cross, RIGHT NOW.
And you could do it without publicity or a link to your product, and without posting a badge on your blog to tell the world about it.
It would be giving without receiving, and it will feel good.
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I will spread the word, and donate money to Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in the amount of a site page and fire starter session.
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I have been sitting on my hands, sipping tea and feeling like crap. Thank you, Kelly, for firing me up.
No new clients magically appeared overnight, but I am making a donation to Habitat for Humanity for the rebuild for a month’s worth of coaching ($300).
I will also love the hell out of my people and be so very painfully grateful for the ability to do so.
Blog to come…still finding the words.
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Tanya Geisler
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 9:44 am
@Tanya Geisler,
PS – found some words:
http://tanyageisler.com/powerlessness/
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I’m so excited to get involved here with you Kelly. I think you’re awesome and I want to help.
I will donate 5 hours of design serves to the first person who gives $169.50 for the Haiti Project.
http://www.forty2fifty.com/help-haiti-help-yourself
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i am so srry to hear about the things that happen in haiti. my heart goes to the people there.
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Thank you for this Kelly. You’re giving a massive amount of people a way to help out.
Writing, tweeting, and spreading it as far as I can.
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Giving to my friend and pastor who is leaving for Haiti on Monday to help the efforts and spreading the word …
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I actually don’t like this idea at all. If you have the money to donate to Haiti, then just donate. Don’t sell/publicize your product and your brand to do it.
Anyone who buys your Haiti package to get you to donate to Haiti relief efforts is someone who could have been donating THAT money to Haiti relief efforts instead of to BUYING YOUR PRODUCT.
Sounds nice, but when you look more closely:
* The blogger who’s making the ‘donation’ is actually getting subsidized or reimbursed by the client who buys the special package.
* The person who buys the special package could have been sending that $ directly to Haiti.
If you’ve got money, donate right to Haiti efforts. It’s that simple.
(And, hell yeah, spread the word by blogging and tweeting to your heart’s content!)
PS: An alternative idea that would both help Haiti AND promote your brand –
* choose an organization that you’d like to donate to.
* put a donate button on your site (that you can track donations to).
* issue a challenge/offer to your readers – get total donations to $___ [goal amount, like $5K, depending on your level of readership] and then everyone who donates through that link gets put in a drawing to win a free ____ [your product/service]
* this way ALL of the money goes to Haiti – none in your pocket – but you are promoting your brand and your services.
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Dave Doolin
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
@Melissa, I don’t think you get it.
I’m donating the ENTIRE amount, on top of my personal donations. In fact, I don’t even want people to pay me at all. Take the challenge, make a donation, I’m yours for a weekend.
Or maybe I’m missing something?
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Tom Hitchcock
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
@Melissa, I totally agree. This is just exploiting a horrible situation to advertise people’s blogs, books and consultancy.
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Coniqua
replied:
on January 16th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
@Melissa,
I think that Dave & Lianne are correct.
#1 Kelly has done a great job by helping to mobilize people who may feel helpless, it gives bloggers something tangible to do and expand the efforts that they may have taken alone by drawing their own readers into the conversation/action
#2 Many of the bloggers who are participating (like Dave) are donating their FULL fee
#3 Some folks need an incentive to give. It is very true that people can donate directly, which is GREAT, but there are some folks who need a bit more coaxing. If someone is offering a product/service that you want/need it creates a win/win situation for you b/c you get what you want and still feel like you are making a difference
#4 big companies do it all of the time, just look at the (RED) movement, I don’t think that people at the grassroots level should be seen as opportunistic for doing the same thing
Re: Tom’s comment though exposure to a larger audience is a likely result of participating in this challenge. I think it is cynical to assume that is the only reason people are choosing to participate
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Melissa
replied:
on January 16th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
@Coniqua,
Yes, I think it makes a bit more sense to me now – esp. as one of the commenters compared it to a benefit concert. The fact that so many are donating their full fees makes a big difference.
At first it seemed like a lot of back-patting for not much action – and perhaps not as much donation as possible, but a lot of branding. But I see how people are doing it and it seems better than I first thought.
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“let the beauty you love, be what you do. there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi
Or as the kids these days like to say – It’s all good.
Making a connection with another human being in the process of giving together of the gifts you both have (one has money and a need, one has a talent that the other could use) – nothing wrong with that. Creating a community of people doing the same that recognizes the social aspect of the human animal that responds to feeling part of something bigger – nothing wrong with that.
Pete Seeger is giving a benefit concert – why not just donate the money and skip the concert? Because people want to gather and tap into that piece of the soul that says “we are all together in this, we are all part of the human family”
This is Kelly’s way of doing that with her online human family.
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Dave Doolin
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
@Lianne, you get it. We can’t make that vital connection with people in Haiti, but our connection with the people we know inspires us to action.
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Beautiful idea! I will put something on my blog this weekend (hopefully tonight)
Grateful butterflies to you, Kelly, for thinking this up and spreading the word!
~T~
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I found this by fluke but I will back later to do my bit. Awesome idea (or development of an idea)
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Why does the US have to save the day every time?
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Kirsten Alicia
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 10:53 am
@Ugh,
Perhaps you don’t follow international news, but the first plane loaded with emergency supplies & aidworkers left Gatwick Airport in the UK THREE ago days & many more have left since then. Countries throughout the world have been & are mobilising to get help to the people of Haiti as soon as possible. They are OUR people, ie, the WORLD’S people.
I don’t have anything to offer, but I have made a donation & I will spread the word as much as possible.
Love & light to all.
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Amanda
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
@Ugh, Also, Kelly, Danielle, and I are Canadian.
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Dave Doolin
replied:
on January 15th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
@Amanda, we won’t hold that against you.
I have a passel of cousins all over BC… it’s not their fault. =)
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Nice!! It is great to see bloggers helping Haiti. I myslef and a couple of other bloggers here in NYC, are doing something different, we are donating several barrels of used/unused items of major need in Haiti right now, such as shoes, clothes, nutrition bars, candles, flahlights etc… We have planned several events throughout the city. I am actually hosting an event tomorrow afternoon to help collect more items to ship. The items are set to ship on Monday (NYC time). We are very excited. Every lil bit helps! And I wish more people felt more hopeful and helpful, than helpless and saying they wish they could help.
I hope our Lil bit goes a long way!!
Thanks!
Arie Rich
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I think this is absolutely wonderful to offer. I was trying to think of a way to help with my blog! Great idea. I am working on it as we speak and will tweeting about it till I get funds. Thank you for the inspiration.
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Awesome idea! I’m giving 25 cents for every person who subscribes to my blog’s RSS feed or newsletter. Thanks so much for thinking of this, Kelly!
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Oops! Sorry, that should say “25 cents for each of the first 400 people who subscribe …”
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Very inspiring idea, Kelly! Thank you. It was because you wrote this blog, that I started spreading a little awareness to my Twitter network. I will donate 2 dollars to UNICEF on behalf of each person who buys The Road South ebook from me during this month of January 2010.
http://birdify.blogspot.com/
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Fantastic idea. Copying Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s idea of donating $2 for each comment on my blog to the cause (Red Cross in my case). Thanks Kelly for starting something big and lovely.
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yeah i think this is a great idea, but if you don’t have a product or service to offer, and you don’t have much cash either, just find ways to donate however you can. although emergency money and supplies are needed right now, Haiti will still need help throughout the coming year (and beyond), so instead of selling your old wares on ebay, donate them to charities working there (red cross, for example) and join in with community group aid giving (like Arie Rich talks about)
way to go everyone! xx
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Great idea! Thanks for making it easy to participate!
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I’m donating $1-$2 to Haiti relief for every comment on my blog! http://alyssaschroeder.net/crystal-clinton-wedding-comments-haiti/
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I’m in!
50% of all proceeds from technology coaching sales during the month of January will go to Doctors Without Borders, who just flew an entire mobile hospital to Haiti.
Thanks for starting this!
http://www.inspir-it.com/meta/coaching-for-haiti/
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Done! I am participating in American Express program, which allows members to donate their points to Doctors Without Borders, etc. For every comment on my blog, I will donate 1,000 points, but the commenter must mention something they are grateful for. I’m calling it gratitude donations.
Post is here: http://www.thejcconline.com/the-help-haiti-blog-challenge-gratitude-donations/
Thanks Kelly!
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I joined. Here’s my post on my personal site. I’ll be adding this to my blog tomorrow as well. http://jenmccoy.com/2010/01/18/help-haiti-blog-challenge-lets-do-this/
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Thanks for the great idea and general awesomeness of this community! I’m participating even though I don’t have a blog, by sending word through facebook and email.
I’ll donate the entire fee for a 2-hour interior redesign session for someone’s home or business in my neck of the woods.
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Thank you for the great idea. I’ve given food bloggers the opportunity to link a healthy breakfast recipe to my site and for every link/comment, I’ll donate money ($50 or $100 depending on how many comments/links it turns out to be) to Haiti. If you don’t have a recipe blog, you can leave a comment about your favorite healthy breakfast and I’ll donate $.
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I’m glad to join in. I have posted on my blog, One Golden Apple http://onegoldenapple.blogspot.com and have written about it on Facebook now too. Now I just need to stock my Etsy site and I will hopefully have something to contribute. Thanks for organizing this!
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I’m in action!
Putting the word out now to all my various peeps even though what I’m offering won’t be good-to-go until Tues. the 26th:
Everyone who comes to http://RealizeWhatMatters.org and views the debut chapter of “The Ruby Books” (colorfully illustrated and so perfectly aligned with this wonderful Challenge) will have $1 donated on their behalf to Partners in Health.
I adore this community!!
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I moved the blog post to my website because it’s more relevant there…
http://www.bevanbird.com/road_south/
I will donate 2 dollars to UNICEF on behalf of each person who buys The Road South ebook from me during this month of January 2010.
Thank you Kelly!
Best of luck to everyone!
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I am on board…just posted on Snickerdoodles
http://www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com
Sorry it took me so long…I was at a bit of a loss for a while on what to do/how to do it.
best!
kerry
p.s. LOVE the new page.
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You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. Winnie the Pooh
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