Now that summer is in full swing, we hope that you have some compelling awareness or fundraising campaigns that are gearing up as well. This month, we wanted to give you some background on our largest cause, remind you about the petitions feature on Causes and update you on one of our current campaigns.
Feature Update: Petitions
Congratulations to Committed to a Cure, whose petition “MEDICAL COVERAGE FOR BREAST CANCER GENETIC MARKERS TESTING FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF BREAST CANCER PATIENTS” has gathered over 2.4 million signatures in less than 5 months. Does your nonprofit do advocacy work? Do you care about what’s happening in Iran or Honduras? Want to send a message to Obama about energy, education, or health care? The petitions tool allows your nonprofit to tap into the incredible potential of rapid distribution and peer-to-peer invitations that Facebook facilitates. The Save Darfur Coalition gathered over 100,000 signatures on their petition “Be a Voice for Darfur,” telling President Obama to lead the way in finding peace in Sudan. If your organization doesn’t do advocacy work, take a cue from the American Red Cross. They created their first ever advocacy campaign around their new petition “Teach the Geneva Conventions in Our Nation’s Schools!” To get started, go to your partner dashboard at www.causes.com/partners and click on the “Petitions” tab.
Cause Spotlight: The Race to End Cancer
Earlier this year, The Race to End Cancer emerged as the largest cause on Facebook. What’s special about the cause is not only its large numbers, but also the fact that the cause grew to that size through the work of a volunteer. Michelle Miles, the cause administrator, was looking for a way to get involved with the Arkansas Childrens Hospital, but didn’t have time to balance school, work and volunteer. Instead, she started a cause to try to raise awareness and maybe eventually donations. The cause has become a community of people exchanging stories of their experiences with cancer, as well as sharing pertinent information and news articles. To date, this community has raised over $56,000 for Michelle’s local children’s hospital. With the help of activists like Michelle, nonprofits can utilize the social networking skills of their volunteers and have a valuable partner to help mobilize supporters around an issue. To learn more about The Race to End Cancer, check out this recent write-up in the NonProfit Times: http://www.nptimes.com/09Jun/npt-090615-1.html UNHCR-MICROSOFT CAMPAIGN: Stage Two Kicks Off Today (www.causes.com/refugee)
Last month, Microsoft sponsored “Gimme Shelter,” which is a cause created and administered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugee’s office. The $50,000 matching grant, which was timed to coincide with World Refugee Day, mobilized cause members to share information about the world refugee crisis with their friends and then recruit them to join the cause. Cause members responded enthusiastically, growing the cause from 5,000 to 100,000 members in just one month! Today, Microsoft is announcing a second grant, for $10,000, which will exclusively match cause members’ donations to UNHCR. According to Jeremy Bogen of UNHCR, if the matching grant is completed, the $20,000 raised would allow UNHCR to supply 100 additional all-season tents that each shelter a family of five. Check out the cause, give UNHCR a hand, and if you’d like to create a matching campaign for your cause, please email partner@causes.com
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Congratulations to 
Earlier this year, 
Last month, Microsoft sponsored “