1 becomes tons.

Magic.

A few things about donating blood you may not know:

Did you know that as many as 3 people benefit from each individual blood donation?

COOL, right?

Every 2 seconds, someone in a hospital needs blood.

Yeah, it’s URGENT.

There is no substitute for human blood.

It’s not only urgent, it’s IMPORTANT too.

The #1 reason people donate blood is because they want to help others.

That makes it cool, urgent, important and FUN.

Let me add one more to that list¹.

Donate blood and Where’s Your Heart? Foundation will send cash to any cause² you wish.

It’s quite simple.

1. Donate blood anywhere in the world.
2. Head over to http://bleedforyourcause.org to tell us.
3. We validate that your cause is a registered non-profit, and send them a check for $15 at no cost to you.

Why do we do this?

We want to connect people around positive activities and generate goodness. In this case, we raise money from people who don’t want to (or can’t) give blood. That money is used to give some extra motivation to people to donate regularly and to help other charitable orgs fund their own causes. (Sponsor a donation here)

A few important facts:

1. This event, Bleed for Your Cause, is run by an organization I’ve founded called Where’s Your Heart? Foundation. WYH? is a registered US 501c3 charitable organization. We’ve also run a successful event called Cleanse for Your Cause in December 2010 just after we received our IRS approval.
2. US tax rules governing 501c3 organizations prevent us from sending money to foreign charities. So instead we ask that foreign donors select a cause to support, and pick a US organization that supports your cause. We even have a map/list of US based charities that work in every country, so you can find a US charity that will impact your local community around a cause that’s important to you. Some people’s feedback has been that we’re too US focused. And, that’s a real shame. Our “other event” (Cleanse for Your Cause) had participants in 16 countries, raising almost $10,000 for 13 different causes globally. Bleed for Your Cause has had participation in 2 countries so far — US and Australia. Read more on my opinion about cause vs charity in an earlier post.
3. If you sponsor a donation, your donation is tax deductible in the US.
4. Sponsoring a donation costs $20, but we only give $15 to the cause… what happens to the other $5? That goes towards the costs of running the event, expanding our capabilities, etc. It’s a way for us to be sustainable so we can do good things for a long time to come. It’s how all non-profits work — a portion (often much larger than 25%) goes to keeping the lights on.
5. Since WYH? is a small charity, and even though the government regulates our activities, you might wish to know more about me. The best place to do this is my professional bio page, where you can connect to facebook, linkedin, and so on to find out all about me.

1. The Red Cross has a list of 56 facts about donating blood that I’ve borrowed from for this post.
2. They must be a registered US 501c3 charitable organization.

The feedback I’ve gotten on the event was very positive, and as I close this event out and start to plan our next, I’d like to share some of the things I learned, and some of our ideas.

This post will cover the word choice of “Cause” vs “Charity” and I’ll explain why this subtle difference is very important.

At Where’s Your Heart? we want to connect people. Connect them around participatory events, to create “good energy” that can then be shared through our community in a persistent way to improve our lives. To keep that good feeling we create in our lives as long as possible.

When I first had this idea, I knew it had to be global. My background is global — both professionally, having worked in over 25 countries, and personally, being a member of the US Karate Team and competing internationally from a young age.

However, the IRS (for good reason) doesn’t allow us to send money to foreign charities. And while there are ways to work within the set of IRS rules to do so, it doesn’t work with our event model or requires (very expensive) incorporation and non-profit determination in each country we’d want to do business. Neither are practical solutions right now.

Though at first this was (very) disappointing, I’ve come to see how this presents us with a great opportunity to enhance our mission. We’re bringing people together in new ways… and in part, that means breaking the old relationships we use to define ourselves.

We identify pretty strongly with our nationalities… a reasonable behavior. But, when extended to our altruism… maybe not so much. If you support the fight against cancer, do you really mean to eradicate cancer only in South Africa? Do you care if we stomp out hunger… in Boston, but not Botswana?

And that’s why it’s the cause that’s important, not the particular charity. In fact, there are even many ways to support a cause… for example, if you’re passionate about fighting breast cancer you might support medical research, or an organization like Vanity 4 Humanity. Vanity 4 Humanity provides reconstructive surgery to cancer survivors so they don’t get thrown into the street by their husbands after having their breasts removed. (They’ve got a better spin on this mission statement on their web site!)

Over time, we hope participants will identify with a cause over a long term and build a relationship similar to the one which they have with work (for example) today.

Our objective is to bring people around the world together, and to give participants something positive to relate around. So, think about what cause matters to you… and then bring it to our next event. In fact, you can start today by donating blood and earning a $15 donation for your cause.

By the way, if you’re looking to find a US charity that operates in a particular country, Charity Navigator will do just that.

Your $215 donation to Bleed for Your Cause™ has really jump-started this event. With one other sponsor, your gift puts us over our goal of raising 10 sponsorships. The money you have donated will be used to motivate blood donors to get out and give; after donating, the first 10 blood donors to come to our site can pick a non-profit cause and we will send that cause a contribution.

People spend a lot of time on auto-pilot, even when we’re doing good stuff. I wanted to hit pause, and  make you aware of the impact of your gracious donation.

Part of it is used to fund Where’s Your Heart?‘s mission — improving people’s lives through altruistic living. We’re sponsoring events like Bleed for Your Cause and Cleanse for Your Cause™, and so you’ve helped with that. [Latest update: Cleanse for Your Cause is raising about $6,600/€5,000, for 12 Causes with over 85 participants in 13 countries.]

Let’s say, since I’m Where’s Your Heart? that’s one person impacted.

You’ve also sponsored 9 of the first 10 blood donations. Those 9 people get out and do something good. Something they feel good about doing. Kudos to them, and kudos to you for helping those 9 people feel good about what they’re up to.

That’s 9 more people impacted, for a total of 10 people. (Wait, let me check that math… I loved that line in The Social Network.)

Each pint of blood collected can be used for 3 patients; people who could not get blood except from a human blood donor.

That’s 27 more people your donation has helped. Total, in case you’ve lost track: 37 people.

Each of those 9 donors gets to choose what cause gets a donation. Let’s make the assumption they choose distinct causes…

9 more people/causes impacted.

Your donation will have impacted 46 people once we’ve gotten our 10 blood donors on board!

I wanted to say thanks again, and make sure everyone is mindful of the impact we can have have downstream.

I’ll post an update to share the causes impacted once we’re done with this 10-pack of blood donors. We’re always looking for more blood sponsors (it’s $20 per sponsorship), but really need some blood donors! Maybe some of the Progress employees reading this can take a one hour break from your holiday shopping now that your quarter is over and donate a pint?

More than blood, what represents how we are really all the same and connected in our humanity?

Wow! That was fast. Thanks in part to a gracious donation from my former employer Progress Software, we’ve achieved our first 10 blood donation sponsorships. Those sponsorships have been set free, and the blood donation form is open! Go donate blood (blood donation must be dated after today, and we’ll accept submissions until the 10 sponsorships have been claimed), fill in our blood donation form, and we’ll send $15 to a cause of your choice.

Don’t know where to give blood? Find a nearby blood drive on the Red Cross’ web site.

We’d love international blood donors to participate, but you’ve got to pick a US based charity in support of your cause. You can find US charities that operate in your county at Charity Navigator, a fantastic site highlighting the global work of US charity organizations.

Can’t donate blood? How about sponsoring a donation or two for our next round?

And in case you missed what this is all about, check out our last post where we launched Bleed for Your Cause™.

First a little fund-raiser though. We’re asking for a $20 tax-deductible (in the US) donation per blood donation sponsored. Our goal is to raise money for 10 donations ($200). Once we’ve hit our goal, we’ll “set those donations free” and call for people to donate blood and pick their causes.

Once we raise those 10 pints (of blood), we’ll do it again and raise some more money.

Some of you might wonder why? Why are we doing this?

WYH?‘s mission is to “improve people’s lives through altruistic living”. Running events that are in some way “participatory”, we’ll connect people to create a global community around altruistic activities to generate that good feeling, amp it up by making it personal, and then share that feeling using social media so all participants benefit from our collective contributions and realize the impact we’re having as a community.

1. Participatory. Well… someone’s getting a needle stuck in their arm for a cause. That’s a good level of participation! In fact, we were going back-and-forth about “Bleed for Your Cause” or “Blood for Your Cause”. We chose “bleed” because it’s the act of participation… the verb if you will, not the result (the noun) that we are most interested in.
2. Connecting people. Raise money from one person, use that to motivate another. The connection is decoupled, but we hope people will connect to WYH? online to see what we achieve together (how many pints of blood, how many causes supported, etc). Over time, we’ll have more social integration on bleedforyourcause.org.
3. Global. Anyone can donate either money or blood. No boundaries. In the future, we’ll upgrade the Paypal integration to make this easier, but certainly it’s much easier (though not cheaper) to send money internationally than ever before.
4. Personal. We’re not raising money for “a cause” we’re raising it for “your cause” (if you’re the one donating blood). This make it more relevant to the blood-donor, and therefore feels better than it would if WYH? were determining which cause gets the donation.

This is truly a grass-roots effort, and there’s more to come along these lines over time.

I believe our biggest challenge will be raising money and getting started. Consider this an ask for a $20 donation and for a Facebook or Twitter share.

Head over to bleedforyourcause.org and click recommend at the very top (that’s for Facebook… for Twitter please head over to your favorite Twitter client and tweet away). Please make sure to add a comment, since Facebook ranks those higher than simple “recommend” clicks. Maybe something like “Please consider sponsoring a blood donation for http://bleedforyourcause.org, an innovative new project from @wyheart. Our goal is just 10 donations to start.”

Next time, we’ll talk about why a blood drive. Stay tuned!

Pledging is easy, and even “small” amounts matter. Why? Because we’re not really focused on raising money… we’re focused on doing good and feeling good about it. By pledging, you support those of us cleansing and together we feel good about the things we’re accomplishing.

What things? Well, for starters, we have 37 participants in 9 countries raising money for 10 different causes. Not bad for a very grass-roots event by non-profit newbies. We’re supporting causes of all types. Environmental causes. Causes in support of fighting hunger. Causes dedicated to eradicating poverty, feeding and caring for children, and for bringing us all together around something positive (see the full list here).

People (Cleansers) will cleanse for different durations. We do this so that anyone can cleanse, not just experienced cleansers. Each cleanser has picked a charity meaningful to them to make it more personal. We ask that you pledge per day the person cleanses. For example, my goal is to cleanse for 8 days. If you pledge $2/day, that’s just a $16 commitment. Built on commitments of that amount, we’re already raising over $3,300! Of course, we’d love it if you could pledge more… but our mission is to make you a part of what we’re doing so that together we feel like we can make a difference. The amount pledged is irrelevant.

Here’s what I’d like to ask you to do:

1. Head over to our Facebook Page and read about Cleanse for Your Cause.
2. Select the Causes! tab, check out the list of causes we’re raising money for and pick one that’s meaningful to YOU, and click on one of the cleansers’ names to make a pledge (it will open your email program).
3. Like us on Facebook, so that you can get status updates on our progress (you should be able to do that by clicking on the like button in the sidebar on the top-right of this post if you’re reading it on davidbressler.com).
4. Tweet this blog, share it on Facebook, or email it to your friends, asking them to consider pledging (Here’s a short-link you can use: http://bit.ly/cfyc-pledge).

By the way, people can pledge in any currency, though donations are only tax-deductible (as far as I can tell) in the US. We’re a US 501©(3) — meaning we’re an IRS recognized non-profit organization.

PS The use of “small” above bothered me a little, but I wrote it to address a common comment I’ve heard that people felt they couldn’t participate if their donation wasn’t large. That’s just silly. There are quite a few things we need to change about people’s expectations, and that’s just the first.

Each cleanser has picked a charity, and we’re raising money for 10 different charities so far. Check out the charities tab on our Facebook page, and please support the cleansers by pledging a donation to their cleanse. We’ve gotten our first donation so we’re off and running. Raising $30 for Lovin’ Spoonfuls, an organization in Massachusetts that helps feed the homeless.

Each of the cleansers has chosen a cause that has some meaning to them. Look closely. One person is raising money for their neighbor who needs an organ transplant. Another is supporting Livestrong and cancer research because cancer has taken some loved ones from his family way too soon. Two others, joining us from Indonesia are raising money for CERDAS, a US organization that raises money for education and medical aid for children in Indonesia. And, there’s more.

We’d really appreciate your help in making our first event a success and proving this social model of altruism. I’d like to ask for 3 things:

1. Cleanse with us, or pledge to one of our cleansers — head over to http://facebook.com/wyheart, find the “Charities” tab, and click one of the pledge links.

2. “Like” us on Facebook and stay in touch with what we’re doing.

3. Retweet this post; if you’re on davidbressler.com, simply click the “tweet” button next to the post. If not, click here to get to the post, then click the button!

More soon.

Peace.

Oh, and I’m grateful for my employer, Barclays Wealth, for pledging to match the donations I raise up to 750 quid. (We’re a British bank.)

In any case, I followed an older man using a walker into the elevator. He was accompanied by his wife who still moved gracefully, if slowly.

As we hit the ground floor, he immediately shooed me through the door, as if to say “you’re faster than we are, go.” But there was more too. I could “see”.

I patiently waited for the lady to leave the elevator first, as is appropriate. Stubbornly ignoring his “shooing me” with my body language.

Once she was out, and without saying a word he shooed me again. I saw the same thing in his eyes as before. So, I deliberately turned and pushed the “hold door” button, and without a word told him “you’re not in the way because your old or slow”.

Got that awesome smile in return that you only get from babies and old people. You know which one I’m talking about? The one that is pure delight.

Now, I’m better equipped for today.

Unfortunately, I ran at the mouth about why I created Where’s Your Heart? as a non-profit, so never really shared my thoughts about Sandra’s article.

Let’s just take a look at Sandra’s 7 points in order:

1. There is already an organization filling that need.

Yeah. I’d tell Steve Jobs the same thing. There were already other companies making MP3 players. Or smartphones. No need for another one. Go do something no-one else is doing. Sorry about the sarcasm, but no one organization will fill every market’s needs… whether for-profit or not. Do you have the passion and energy to run your own company? Want to have that excitement and feel good about what you’re doing? Think you might even (gasp!) be able to do it better than the establishment? Go for it! Competition is good. And, you’ll feel great.

2. You do not have other people “on board” yet.

Uh, so get them on board? It takes one person to start. Ideas, they’re easy. Execution. Making something happen. That’s hard. And, one person alone can make a huge difference. Show some results, and you’ll have all the people “on board” (what’s with those quotes?) that you want.

There’s even a nonprofit who helps other nonprofits that can’t afford help and don’t have people “on board”. It’s called Grassroots.org. Check them out.

3. Your idea is better suited for a for-profit enterprise.

This is definitely one to think about, but take a look at what I’m doing. There’s a business model (and that includes things I’ve not shared, because I believe in competition and don’t want to give it all away just yet) for my organization. I made an explicit choice, perhaps against the advice of others, to make Where’s Your Heart? nonprofit to emphasis my focus.

Maybe you should do the same? What is your organization’s purpose? Will it be charitable first, then it deserves a nonprofit heading… otherwise it’ll be commercial. There’s nothing wrong with that, but either one can suit your purposes equally well. Remember, it’s your company!

4. Starting up takes time.

You bet. Almost a year for me, and I’ve not yet run an event.

No one said it’d be easy.

If you want to do something quick and easy, read a book. Watch TV.

Want to do something fulfilling? Something that will make a difference? That takes commitment. Be decided and do it. If you believe in your cause, it’s worth your time.

Of course, as Sandra points out, if you want to react to an immediate need (like disaster response) you’re much better off working through an existing organization… Maybe you’ll find your wish to help transcends a single disaster, and you want to start your own organization to help provide rapid response to disaster relief around the world? (Actually, that’s not a bad idea! I can see building infrastructure and using modern technology to enable grassroots rapid-response efforts around disaster relief. Of course, it could be commercial, but possible to be nonprofit.)

5. OK — Sandra accidentally missed this one. I do that all the time.

6. You’d like to plan a one-time fundraiser.

With all my nonprofit experience (tongue in cheek there, I’m a newbie) I agree with Sandra on this one. For a one-time thing, no reason to start up a company and go through the expense and effort. Better to work within another organization. Even if you want to have a yearly event, you could always do it through one (or more) existing nonprofits. And, you’d probably get some help working with another organization as well. Much easier not to have to figure it out on your own (though, that’s not a reason not to start!).

7. Your type of cause makes it difficult to secure long term funding.

Sure. I can re-write this one as “don’t start your business before you figure out how it’s not going to fail.” It might be difficult or impossible to do certain things under the nonprofit umbrella or IRS restrictions. I’ve run into some real serious limitations myself. In my case, I’ve just shelved certain plans/ideas until I get more experience and funding to handle the challenges.

Another suggestion is to rethink your approach, to see if taking a different perspective might make it less difficult to secure funding. In my case, I’m funding it myself, and my approach includes staying at my “real job” so that I can keep doing so. It means my work at Where’s Your Heart? sometimes is slower than I’d like, but the tradeoff is that I can keep at it.

And, with that, I’ll just add that I don’t know Sandra, but I’ve been enjoying her thoughts on twitter and her blog, because she offers good advice on fundraising and other topics of interest to the non-profit community.

Then, this evening I saw a post titled “7 Reasons Not to Start a NEW Non Profit Organization” posted by Step-by-Step Fundraising and I new I had to write this post. Now.

I disagree with their post. In fact, I disagree strongly.

Now, perhaps I don’t know enough about non-profits or philanthropy to be deterred. You see, a year ago I knew nothing about non-profits. I had no idea that by April 15th 2009 I’d have this business plan busting from my brain and that a compulsion like my heart was going to explode would compel me to create Where’s Your Heart? Foundation. Alone.

That’s right. I’ve the help of my friends. But, it’s my vision, my heart, and to date, my effort. I’m grateful for the support of some very wonderful people who’ve provided me advice, and contacts. I’ve paid lawyers and accountants and artists. But, I’m a team of one.

Wait a minute… I think I lost you. Let me back up.

That’s right. I said “business plan” and non-profit in the same paragraph. Of course. If we want to be a going concern (and we do), we need a plan. And so we have one.

I’m impressed by all the companies who are getting on the socially conscious bandwagon. There are many and they’re making a difference. I visited a customer (in my day job) and they no longer used paper cups for coffee or water (and thankfully, no individual bottles for drinking water!).

Look at what Starbucks is doing and you start to get the idea that being socially conscious is good business.

But, what happens when it’s not?

These companies, noble as their efforts are, have a mission. Their mission is to make money. Believe me, I support their efforts. And, I’m grateful they’re trying to be responsible about it. But in the end, their purpose is to make money. When being socially conscious is no longer good for business, many will regress (hopefully not fully revert) to old behaviors.

Where’s Your Heart?‘s purpose is to improve people’s lives through altruistic living. The only way to protect that purpose was to incorporate as a non-profit organization. Any other way would risk the slide towards a shared purpose of “making money”.

By the laws of the United States of America, nothing can ever deter us from that mission. Being a non-profit company means I can never raise money by selling shares in the company. It limits how I can exit “the business”. These laws protect people who donate money and time to make sure the time and money go to our charitable purpose. It means my books are a matter of public record; and anyone reading this is meant to be allowed to see them (not much to them right now, but in the future, I plan to post our financial results on our website).

Our charitable mission comes first, and the only way to make sure it stays that way is to form the company as a non-profit organization. Period.

That said, we need to survive. And, to do so, we’ll need to raise money. We’ll raise money through our events, and over time hope to have a variety of events. We’re starting with Cleanse for Your Cause™, but stay tuned.

When I first approached lawyers to get incorporated and file for non-profit status I heard the same thing over and over… Sounds like a good idea, but… so many people have a good idea but forget that they need money to keep a company going. You need to make sure you think past your ideas to change the world, and make sure you have a plan to keep the company funded.

In general, I let these lawyers know that I’ve got an MBA in International Business & Technology (very appropriate for our mission), but that I’ve also worked for startups most of my career. I know the importance of cash flow. It doesn’t matter how good  your product, or your mission, is. Fact is, you’ve gotta survive first.

Then I approached some of my friends in the technology world. To an individual, they gave me suggestions on how to meet my charitable goals, but keep the technology separate and for-profit. I get it, they think about how to make money. I see that. But, in my own brand of bull-headedness I wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose focus. Two companies would require that I split my time. Frankly, I also felt that doing it that way would appear like the Foundation would be a front for the commercial enterprise.

That’s not what we’re about. Laser focus baby… on our charitable mission. My dream is to create a community where people value and relate to altruistic activities. Where those activities create this positive energy in our lives, which then gets nurtured through our online community (integrated with Facebook), and then shared with others to set that energy free. Sounds wacky, I know. But, I’m going to live that dream, and not risk failure by living two dreams at the same time.

That said, we’re an internet company. No question. We’re about the online-social community. We have unique-differentiators from others out there, and just like many technology companies, we’re incorporated in Delaware because they have a lot of legal prior-art that will protect our “business”.

I like to think I’m setting an example of a new type of socially conscious organization. Perhaps, I’m a little extreme. I’m doing so to make a point. I think things need to change, and I’m putting my skills & professional experience behind Where’s Your Heart? to make the change I wish to happen. By creating the company as a non-profit, we get some benefits and have some restrictions. I think they’ll balance in our favor in the end; and we’ll also protect our charitable purpose and set an example for others.

This post is already long enough, so I’m going to save my rebuttal of the post mentioned above for my next post. In the meantime, if you are intrigued by my passion, or the way I’m setting this company up to set an example, I’d love it if you became our fan on Facebook, tell us what you think (by commenting below, or writing on our wall), and share us with your friends!