Archive for category Uncategorized

MobileGive client stars in new JJ Abrams TV series

May 20

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, clients, text2give, video | No Comments

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Boris Kudjoe and wife Nicole Ari Parker at their fundraiser event

Maybe you’re a fan of Lost, or Alias or Fringe. Or perhaps ridiculously good-looking actors. Chances are, you’ll soon be hooked on the latest JJ Abrams prime time drama, Undercovers. NBC is proud as a peacock for this new show slated for Fall and we at MobileGive are equally proud of star Boris Kodjoe and wife Nicole Ari Parker for using their influence and their love for their daughter, Sophie, to do something wonderful.

Their nonprofit organization (Sophie’s Voice Foundation) was founded in 2008 in honor of their daughter who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida at birth.

Says Boris, “The news hit hard, but through consulting with various specialists and by educating ourselves we found a way to address our daughter’s needs and provide her with the best care and treatment available today.

Please give what you can and help us help our kids.”

Here’s a sneak peak of the trailer for the new NBC show Undercovers. Below is a MobileGive widget that allows you to donate $10 to Sophie’s Voice Foundation. The tax-deductible gift shows up on you cell phone bill and much needed funds go to research and education for treatment and cure of children suffering with Spina Bifida.

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Childrens Hunger Fund gets boost from Conan O’Brien

Mar 25

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, text2give | No Comments

MobileGive client, Children’s Hunger Fund got an unexpected spike in traffic thanks to Conan O’Brien, the newly unemployed late night TV host.

In an ironic twist on celebrity-focused media, O’Brien tweeted out the name of a regular girl from Michigan as the only person he would be following on Twitter. Sarah Killen, 19, became an instant internet celebrity when Conan wrote, “Sarah Killen, your life is about to change”, on his Twitter page. Since then her following of 3 rose to over 17,000 and is still growing. She is giving interviews to newspapers, weblogs, radio and TV. Gifts from companies hoping to catch a slice of the attention are pouring in, and rumors of reality TV and talk show appearances seem to be coming from all sides. All of that is pretty amazing for a small town girl, but it is what she chose to do with the attention that caught nearly everyone off guard. Sarah showed her compassionate heart and told all of her followers to help Children’s Hunger Fund® and Susan G. Komen For The Cure®.

Sarah’s choice to highlight Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF) came with a fun and timely perk. Kelima K, a small bridal design firm in New York, heard that Sarah is getting married soon and offered to design her wedding dress for free. In exchange, they only asked that she mention Children’s Hunger Fund, the company’s favorite charity. So that’s what she did. Because of Conan’s huge following and Sarah’s desire to help needy children, two simple postings from Sarah sent a massive wave of visitors to CHF’s website www.chfus.org.

“This was so unexpected”, said CHF’s Communications Director, Fred Martin, “The day after Sarah mentioned our name, our web traffic jumped 1,200 percent.” For CHF, a boost like this is a big deal. “We try to keep our operating costs low,” Martin said, “so advertising for us is rare and localized. To have a sudden nationwide audience like this is amazing.”

The last time CHF’s website saw this much traffic was in the days following the devastating earthquake in Haiti where the charity is working. “In times of tragedy, many people will come to us to see how they can help,” Martin continued. “The response from our supporters was immense, giving us incredible opportunities to serve the needs of Haiti’s suffering children.”

Martin said that the web traffic generated by Conan’s stunt was only 200 visitors short of the site’s biggest day following the quake. “I am blown away by the power of celebrity. To see so many people wanting to help because of what Sarah said is simply astounding. We are really grateful. My only hope is that they will see the value of what we do and continue to give generously, with or without a tweet.”

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LA Marathon: Shia LaBeouf and Vets run for U.S. Vets

Mar 22

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, charities, fundraising | No Comments

[View with PicLens]

Shia LaBoeuf runs the LA Marathon for U.S. Vets

As a featured charity of the LA Marathon, U.S. Vets picked a great event to share their cause with a community and a nation.

Nearly 25,000 runners hit the pavement early Sunday morning for the 25th annual Los Angeles Marathon. Among the celebs participating in the 26.2-mile trek from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier were Shia LaBeouf, Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin, Hell’s Kitchen overlord Gordon Ramsay, The Bachelor’s Andy Baldwin and Hills star Audrina Patridge. Shia, who ran his first marathon Sunday in a respectable time of 4:35, selected U.S. Vets as his charity of choice and told race organizers he was “running for his father and his uncle.”

U.S. Vets went way beyond the call of duty for their first first marathon. Jerlene Tatum, development director, said the LA-based charity sponsored a stage for the USO to “entertain the troops” as they trekked from Stadium to the Sea. Although there was quite an expense for the event (please consider contributing $10 by phone in the widget below!), Tatum said participating in this marathon was a huge boost for U.S. Vets and inspired them to help other vets get involved in future races across the U.S. Credit for the production of the USO event goes to John Brown of the Show Pros and Harushi Tetsuka of Laguna Creative.

U.S. Vets is America’s largest non-profit to provide housing, employment preparation and counseling services specifically for US veterans. They operate 11 centers in 5 states.

Each year:

3,000 veterans receive housing and comprehensive support services
1,100 veterans return to full time employment
250 disabled and senior veterans receive permanent housing
Serve 700,000 meals
Provide 4500 therapeutic and self-help groups

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U.S. Vets is featured Charity for the LA Marathon

Mar 19

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, charities, non-profit organizations, text2give | No Comments

U.S. VETS is an official charity of the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon on March 21, 2010. United States Veterans Initiative – U.S. VETS – is America’s largest non-profit organization that provides housing, employment preparation, and comprehensive counseling services specifically for US veterans.

1,500 individual homeless veterans served annually by the Los Angeles Outreach Team
85% success rate in getting homeless veterans back to work within 35 days through the Veterans In Progress program
25,000 meals produced each month for homeless veterans in Los Angeles County
11 U.S. Vets centers nationwide serving 3,000 homeless veterans annually.

The iTouch Contest Closed.

You can donate to US Vets by entering your phone number in the widget below. Thank you!

A one‐time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Messaging & Data Rates May Apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of U.S. VETS by the Mobile Giving Foundation in partnership with URM and subject to the terms found at www.hmgf.org/t. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP to short code 85944; Reply HELP to 85944 for help.

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77% of people surveyed are familiar with Text Donations

Mar 16

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2give | 1 Comment

Charities Must Focus on Multiple Ways to Reach Young Donors, Generation Study Finds

Excerpted from article by Caroline Preston

Conducted by Edge Research, the study polled more than 1,500 people who contributed to nonprofit groups in the past year.

The survey found that members of Generation Y, who were born from 1981 to 1991, and the group that preceded it—Generation X (those born from 1965 to 1980)—now make up more than half of the pool of potential donors.

The survey also signaled that text-message giving is gaining acceptance. Seventy-seven percent of people in the survey said they had heard about the opportunity to make a donation via their cellphones after the Haiti earthquake, and 36 percent said they would be willing to contribute via text after an emergency occurs.

Thirty-one percent of all donors in the survey said they would be willing to contribute via text to help a friend raise money, and 28 percent they would be willing to do so as part of a charity fund raiser.

Thirty-five percent of people born in 1945 or before said they had first learned about their favorite nonprofit group through the mail; 19 percent of boomers and 16 percent of members of Generation X said the same.
Younger donors were more likely to say they would increase their giving this year than older people, the majority of whom said their giving would remain the same.
Members of Generation Y were less likely than older people to say the economy had affected their giving, in large part because they had less money before the recession.
People born before 1965 were most likely to keep up-to-date on charities from mailings, while younger people said Web sites were a more important source of information.

Read full article on the Chronicle for Philanthropy

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Conan’s surprise boost for Children’s Hunger Fund

Mar 15

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, fundraising, text2give | 1 Comment

MobileGive client, Children’s Hunger Fund got an unexpected spike in traffic thanks to Conan O’Brien, the newly unemployed late night TV host.

“This was so unexpected”, said CHF’s Communications Director, Fred Martin, “The day after Sarah mentioned our name, our web traffic jumped 1,200 percent.” For CHF, a boost like this is a big deal. “We try to keep our operating costs low,” Martin said, “so advertising for us is rare and localized. To have a sudden nationwide audience like this is amazing.”

The last time CHF’s website saw this much traffic was in the days following the devastating earthquake in Haiti where the charity is working. “In times of tragedy, many people will come to us to see how they can help,” Martin continued. “The response from our supporters was immense, giving us incredible opportunities to serve the needs of Haiti’s suffering children.”

Martin said that the web traffic generated by Conan’s stunt was only 200 visitors short of the site’s biggest day following the quake. “I am blown away by the power of celebrity. To see so many people wanting to help because of what Sarah said is simply astounding. We are really grateful. My only hope is that they will see the value of what we do and continue to give generously, with or without a tweet.”

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Danny Gokey’s Foundation: Sophia’s Heart

Mar 5

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, fundraising, text2give | 2 Comments

Sophia L. Gokey (the late wife of Danny) was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). Throughout her life, she faced multiple surgeries and difficulties. Her outlook in the midst of these incredible challenges would never lead you to believe that she faced such obstacles. Her heart for people always outshined every hardship she faced along the way.

At SHF, they know firsthand the struggles associated with CHD. The strain this can cause emotionally and financially can at times be hard to bear. It is for this reason that Sophia’s Heart Foundation is committed to helping bring awareness to and help the community that is daily affected by CHD.

CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defect (also referred to as Congenital Heart Disease). These are structural problems with the heart that are present at birth. About 35,000 babies are born in the United States each year with a CHD. Congenital Heart Defects claim almost twice as many children’s lives in the U.S. as those that die from all forms of childhood cancers combined.

By joining our voices and resources, we can help further advance this cause and bring a renewed sense of hope to all that are affected by CHD.

Follow Danny on Twitter: @dannygokey

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Milla Jovovich performs benefit concert for MobileGive client

Jan 9

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, celebrities, charities, fundraising, text2give | No Comments

Milla Jovovich streaming concert for Sophies Voice Foundation

Milla Jovovich — supermodel, actress, musician, singer and fashion designer would like to invite everyone to her second Twitterbration to celebrate her 200,000th Twitter follower (@MillaJovovich)! Milla will be interacting with fans and playing a live concert online at Vokle.com with friends Chris Brenner, Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), and Danny Lohner on January 15, 2010 at 5pm PST. Milla would also like to encourage everyone to support Sophie’s Voice Foundation before and during the show. Sophie’s Voice Foundation was founded in 2008 by actors Boris Kodjoe (from Resident Evil: Afterlife) and Nicole Ari Parker in honor of their daughter Sophie who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida at birth. [ Donate to Sophie's Voice Foundation ]

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Mobile phone adoption is growing in spite of the economy

Jan 15

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized | No Comments

There were more than 267 million mobile phone users in the US for the third quarter of 2008 − a 6% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007, which saw 251 million users, according to the Mobile Advertising Report published by Limbo and GFK/NOP Research.

As a result, mobile broadband is transitioning into a mainstream service, according to a new report from international research firm Parks Associates.

Mobile Broadband: Beyond the Cell Phone predicts that the number of US mobile broadband users will increase by more than 200% by 2013. The report also expects more than 60 million smartphones to be sold in 2013. read more

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Boomers and Kids on Mobile

Dec 10

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized | No Comments

Yes, once again I’m posting a bunch of stats, but bear with me. Things are changing so quickly in this industry it’s critical that you and your clients have the latest research on demographics and usage.
We know kids are using their phones for texting and entertainment, but what about their parents and grandparents? Is there a market for the Boomers (ages 45-64) or does the mobile industry simply sidestep an entire generation with the largest disposable income in history?
These stats from Nielsen Mobile (and eMarketer) show that texting has now surpassed voice calls for everybody age 44 and younger and the boomers are not far behind.

Although Boomers still prefer their PC over a mobile phone for overall usage (51% to 21%) there is some significant growth in this area. Soccer moms and grandparents are smart enough to know they need to connect with their kids and grandkids and although they may have trouble seeing that hopelessly teeny screen, when it comes to mobile phones and texting, they’re all thumbs.