2013-05-24T00:27:35-04:00 Calandra Cruickshank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=calandra-cruickshank Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Calandra Cruickshank Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.830514 2011-03-07T00:23:53-05:00 2011-05-25T18:35:25-04:00

Calandra Cruickshank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/calandra-cruickshank/
DonateGames.org gives kids the opportunity to help other kids struggling with rare diseases by donating their used video games and gear. The organization repurposes the games and equipment to raise funds for research at leading research foundations, including the groundbreaking Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation. The organization also donates games and game systems to hospitalized children, grants Make-A-Wishes and helps provide support for sick children and their families.

The organization's newly launched online games store gives kids the opportunity to buy video games at a significant discount, enjoy playing them, then donate them back again to help raise funds for kids who are sick. Families can even earn a tax deduction DonateGames' innovative approach and sustainable philanthropic business model empowers kids to generate significant funds to help ease the burden of kids with rare diseases, and to fund research that can help eradicate these diseases.

DonateGames began when Taylor Carol, at age 11, was diagnosed terminally ill with a rare form of Leukemia. Taylor and his family refused to give up hope, and after extensively researching their options, relocated to Seattle to situate Taylor at the Seattle Children's Hospital. Taylor and his family struggled with his disease, including a year in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, before a life-saving bone marrow transplant from a stranger helped saved Taylor's life. Taylor and the other kids at the hospital were terribly sick, scared and isolated, but passing time playing their video games played a big part in helping them get better. After three years of an intense battle with cancer and subsequent rare diseases, his family acknowledged that it was both the kindness of strangers and Taylor's video games that sustained him with joy and hope during his darkest days, and they decided they wanted to pass that hope on to other kids struggling with rare diseases.

Taylor's father, award-winning software entrepreneur Jim Carol, recognized that a powerful opportunity to give back existed in tapping into the $18.6 billion U.S. video game market. His research revealed that used video game reseller Gamestop earned over $1 billion in profit in 2009 -- without a strong charitable component. Carol combined his entrepreneurial business spirit with his passion around his son's triumphant recovery to conceive DonateGames. The company has achieved astonishing growth in its first 12 months, moving from a small "mom and pop" operation out of the Carol's garage to attracting partnerships with major brands like video game behemoth EA, The UPS Store and national nonprofits like Make-A-Wish and children's hospitals.

"Jim's passionate and contagious persona... attracts help from some of [the] strongest talent pools," says Nicole Provensal, head of corporate sponsorship for Angels Baseball in Anaheim, CA. Provensal volunteers with DonateGames, helping out with marketing and social media. She recently nominated Carol for Orange County Business Journal's Excellence in Entrepreneurship award for his efforts in founding DonateGames, along with Eve Kopp, director of development, corporate annual giving for the Seattle Children's Hospital, and several others.

Kids are also responding strongly to DonateGames' innovative model; as word spreads about the organization, they are sending in more and more games and game systems from collections they've set up at their local schools and around the world. Parents appreciate DonateGames, too, feeling it connects them with their children, bridging the gap through philanthropy. X Games three-time Gold Medal winner Ryan Sheckler's mom and newly appointed DonateGames board member, Gretchen Sheckler, believes that today's generation is "benevolent at heart", and appreciates that DonateGames enables children to give back in their own community. The power is in the model's simplicity. "As the mother of three teenaged boys... video games [are] a part of my life," Sheckler says. "When I mentioned DonateGames' business model to my sons, they immediately understood their ability to help sick children without changing their existing lifestyle."

A rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 people. However, if you aggregate the number of people in the U.S. who are affected by one of the more than 6,000 rare diseases, the number totals about 25 million Americans, according to the National Organization for Rare Diseases, Inc. (NORD) The largest population afflicted with these genetic life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases are children. However, because the population is so fragmented, support for medical research and clinical trials are difficult to come by. Organizations like DonateGames, NORD, Lybba, the Global Genes Project and others are helping to raise public awareness and to get the attention of lawmakers to get support for research, clinical drug trials and more. International Rare Disease Day is February 28th.

Last year, major video game publishing companies donated vast quantities of games and game systems to DonateGames to help raise funds for children with rare diseases. DonateGames has also partnered with The UPS Store locations in Western Washington on a video game donation drive, where residents are able to drop off video games and gear at any of the 87 participating The UPS Store locations in the Seattle area through April 30, 2011. All proceeds from this donation drive will benefit Seattle Children's Hospital.

DonateGames is run by a largely volunteer staff, and approximately $.79 of every dollar generated goes to fund rare disease research or to support children struggling with the diseases. To help manage its explosive growth, DonateGames has moved into a new office facility after filling up donated warehouse spaces. In its first year, DonateGames was able to donate more than $26,000 to Seattle Children's Hospital for research, to donate more than 3,000 new video games to hospitalized children and to grant many Make-A-Wishes. With the launch of its new online store, and it's strong support from kids and other consumers, and its partnerships with corporations, children's hospitals and others, DonateGames expects to be able to generate more than seven figures this year to help combat children's rare diseases. DonateGames is truly a social enterprise with an innovative and sustainable model that is "gaming the system" for the good of others.
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.477966 2010-02-26T09:11:59-05:00 2011-05-25T15:40:24-04:00

Calandra Cruickshank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/calandra-cruickshank/
Recently, I've developed a whole new appreciation for my jeans -- and for my genes.

In the U.S. alone, through no fault of their own, more than 30 million Americans suffer from rare diseases with often unpronounceable names, including Ataxia Telangiectasia, Qazi Markouizos Syndrome and Faciocardiomelic Dysplasia. More than 22 million of those are infants and children and the number of people afflicted by rare diseases is dramatically increasing in our country. The physical and emotional challenges they face are often compounded by the isolation and confusion that stems from too little information about their conditions and what resources may be available to them. Some of these diseases have been brought to public attention through the efforts of celebrities like Julia Roberts, who advocates for research and solutions for Rhett Syndrome, and Tom Hanks, who acts as spokesman for Neuroblastoma, a rare cancerous tumor that affects the nervous system of children and infants. But while their efforts certainly do help, it is difficult to generate the medical and financial attention needed to productively address rare diseases on a national scale when such a small number of people are afflicted by each individual disease.

Several noble nonprofits are working to change this by creating national umbrella organizations that offer funding, community and awareness for individuals and families suffering from rare diseases. By joining forces and encouraging nonprofits working in the rare disease space to collaborate, they are becoming much more effective in increasing awareness and the corresponding large-scale fundraising needed to create real change in the medical field. New Web sites are springing up, providing a central location where families can find a community and learn about the resources available to help them cope and help ease suffering.

This is Global Rare Disease week. Visit the Children's Rare Disease Network's Web site to learn more about the diseases that now afflict 10 percent of the U.S. population. And wear your favorite jeans to show your support on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, Global Rare Disease Day. Visit CRDN's Global Genes Project Web site to learn more.

You can also help by donating your used video games and game systems to Donate Games. One hundred percent of revenues raised are donated to help support research and families suffering from the more 7,000 rare diseases.

And of course, every time you save money with CommonKindness by using our online coupons and discount codes you can help support these and other great nonprofit organizations. You save and CommonKindness donates to your favorite charities and causes -- at no cost to you.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2009:/theblog//3.268532 2009-08-25T14:56:54-04:00 2011-11-17T09:02:45-05:00

Calandra Cruickshank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/calandra-cruickshank/
What is sustainable funding? Sustainable funding is a holistic approach to fundraising that moves beyond traditional tactics such as securing grants or tapping a few wealthy corporate or personal patrons. It focuses instead on developing new and creative funding mechanisms to help nonprofit organizations become more sustainable in the long term, allowing them to focus more of their resources on the important programs and services they offer.

Today's bleak economy can serve as a pro-active stimulus for developing creative, sustainable funding mechanisms to reinvigorate nonprofit institutions. Creative brainstorming is important to find transformative ways to enhance traditional nonprofit funding techniques with more sustainable methods. Online fundraising methods, such as contests or blog posts accompanied by a "donate now" button can help generate substantial visibility for an organization.

One sustainable funding initiative that I am supporting leverages the bold new world of online coupons to benefit nonprofit organizations. As President of CommonKindness.com, I'm working to help nonprofit organizations nationwide benefit when consumers clip coupons. Our new website, www.CommonKindness.com, creatively leverages online coupons and discounts, allowing people to support the nonprofits they are passionate about while they save money.

Each time a coupon or discount is used on CommonKindness, the brand that posted it pays an advertising fee. Consumers receive the full value of their coupons, while CommonKindness shares 60% of the advertising fees with the nonprofits consumers support. This model truly creates a win/win/win whereby people save money, nonprofits generate much-needed funds and businesses increase traffic and sales.

For example, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens is letting its constituents know about the valuable, money saving coupons on CommonKindness. Each time one of their supporters prints a coupon, funds are generated to help support the numerous community programs Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens offers to its neighbors, including programs for older adults, children, people who are developmentally disabled, formerly homeless or isolated.

To localize its "socially responsible local economic stimulus plan", CommonKindness encourages local merchants to also post coupons for their products and services on the site to support nonprofits in their community. Local coupons provide added reasons for people to regularly visit the site. Supporting local nonprofits helps to create customer loyalty for local businesses, all of which helps to increase the "sustainability" of the model.

Historically, a stimulus done as a cash payment or tax rebate will only result in about 17% being spent on consumer goods or services, according to NFO WorldGroup, Inc. When incentives are offered in the form of redeemable coupons or discounts, about 57% of consumers are likely to respond and sales increase accordingly.

As a committed nonprofit activist, I believe the future of the nonprofit sector depends on the development and use of creative and new sustainable funding methods with strong business and practical value. Let's support the life- and community-enhancing work that our nonprofit organizations deliver to Americans in need with sustainable funding ingenuity. ]]>