Update: The donation day was a huge success with over 85 donors contributing just over $3,000 US toward our local e-democracy efforts including participant and volunteers support for our Issues Forum programming. Thank you. The actual match will be determined based on GiveMN and how they split up the $500,000 match they made available for what turned out to be an astounding $13.2 million dollars contributed to over 3,100 Minnesota-based non-profits in 24 hours.
If you had planned to donate but missed the match deadline, you can donate at anytime.
Donate Here. Join Over 80 Donors.
Donate Here. Over $3000US Raised So Far.
Get ready for November 17 – A great day to contribute to democracy and building your community online!
Starting at 8 a.m. Central US on Nov. 17, 2009 for 24 hours ALL donations via the new GiveMN.org site will be matched**. (World times below)
Donations via credit card from anywhere in the world are accepted.
Any amount, even very small amounts are encouraged. We’d love to win the bonus prize for the largest number of donors.
Why donate if you are an …
Issues Forum Participant
- You value your local forum and want it to be strong and independent
- You believe in the value of reading diverse opinions. You’ve used the forum to reach people with your announcements, ideas, and opinions.
- You support increasing outreach to new voices across your community.
- You want to thank your local volunteers who receive shared support from E-Democracy.org, which makes their role possible.You want to continue the 24 x 7 participant technical support that we must pay for through all of 2010.
- Donations are tax deductible in the U.S. and potential other countries depending upon your tax laws.
Supporter of E-Democracy.org
- You’ve watched us for years and benefited from our open sharing of lessons around the world.
- You want to help us gain additional major funder support for new progams by demonstrating your support. (If those who think we matter do not contribute, why would a major donor invest in efforts to support more communities and pursue next generation online civic engagement activities?)
- Governments simply are NOT investing in online participation models that actually give people a real voice based on the issues that matter to them. We do.
- The media is NOT investing in two-way models of public engagement that promote agenda-setting, civility, and accountability. We do. They seem intent on empowering the loudest and most abusive voices through anonymous online news comments that divide local communities.
- You are excited about what is next (announcement coming soon!
If you can’t afford to donate (or can), help us reach more people by …
- Becoming a “Follower” of E-Democracy on the GiveMN site to show your support (you may login easily with Facebook Connect)
- Becoming an E-Democracy.org Fan on Facebook – Check our our videos too
- Following E-Democracy.org on Twitter @edemo and our Executive Director, Steven Clift @democracy
- Pass this message on and encourage others to sign up for our free e-mail newsletter
Mark your calendar now.
Donation Period – 24 Hours
- US – Tue Nov 17 – 9am Eastern/8 Central/7 Mountain/6 Pacific – For 24 Hours
- Europe – Tue Nov 17 – 2pm UK/3 W. Europe/4 C. Europe – Until Wed Nov 18 same time
- Pacific – Wed Nov 18 – Daytime/Evening in New Zealand/Australia/Japan/Korea until at least 11pm
** Asking for donations is new for E-Democracy.org. Only Minnesota-based non-profits – which we are – receive the match so now is the time for us to finally ask. For years our volunteers and expansion projects subsidized our ongoing costs, but now that we are suddenly five times bigger than three years ago, the time for people to contribute is now. We estimate that 90% of our “costs” are covered by volunteers, but 10% of the cost requires real money.
Ideally, through donations, sponsorship, advertising, government fees (UK) and other means we’d raise $10 US/year per participant or currently about $60,000 a year to fully support our exciting and dynamic Issues Forum network. This will make it viable for us to support new communities. While foundations are interested in supporting our “next generation” projects and helping us reach lower income/diverse communities with Issues Forums, the time for greater community self-reliance is here.
The established effective Issues Forum model must generate income to covers it relatively low, but actual costs. The alternative is to freeze service newly interested communities and reduce technical support for existing forums. With some savings from earned revenue projects, we have time to transition the network away from its current full subsidy, so let’s get started. By the end of 2009, simply raising $1 per participant would be a great start.
November 17 is Give to the Max Day
A day intended to inspire unprecedented levels of charitable giving in the state of Minnesota!
Give to the Max Day will feature:
* Zero transaction costs. Transaction costs for gifts made on Give to the Max Day at GiveMN will be covered, so 100 percent of gifts will go straight to nonprofits.
* The perfect match. Every donation made on Give to the Max Day at GiveMN will receive a portion of a $500,000 match*.
* A little friendly competition. Grants will be awarded to the three nonprofits that have the largest number of individuals who make donations during Give to the Max Day at GiveMN.
Maximize your contribution.
Maximize your impact.
Maximize the power of online giving.
Give to the Max Day begins at 8 a.m. Central on November 17 and ends at 8 a.m. Central on November 18. To be eligible for Give to the Max Day incentives, all donations must be made to Minnesota nonprofits through GiveMN.
To review the full guidelines for Give to the Max Day, please visit http://GiveMN.org
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*The exact amount matched per dollar donated will be determined after Give to the Max Day concludes, and the $500,000 in matching funds will be divided by the total donation amount raised over the 24-hour period.