I don’t have any media training so you have to forgive my email, for it is definitely not a press release. I was wondering if you could share the info below with your colleagues and followers.
Probably the most beneficial link is from The Florida Citizen.. They did a good job summing up my sentiments… http://www.thefloridacitizen.com/things-to-do See the article about Calendars for a Cause.

This is a link to Ed King’s website. He has agreed to donate 20% of the cost of his 2011 calendar to any charity as designated by the buyer (local, national, or international). The buyer just needs to mention the name of the charity in the note to seller portion of the order form or email Ed King directly with a receipt number.
http://web.mac.com/bahapta/Calendars_Cause/Calendar_Contest.html

He has turned this into a contest. The charity or not for profit with the most mentions will then receive a custom piece of artwork by Ed King that will incorporate the mission, values, or any other components for the organization. It’s an easy fundraiser for organizations to do.

A nurse and I started a not for profit called People In Crisis United. We work to improve the quality of life for kids and their families while they are hospitalized. We have been lucky to work very closely with Mr. King. He has donated his time, skills, and supplies to do art projects with our kids at the hospital. He has been able to uplift the spirit of kids with art… Some of the kids that the staff have been challenging for the staff, really warmed up with Mr. King.

Of course, I would love if all of your followers would mention People In Crisis United when they purchase a calendar. We are completely volunteer and not for profit. We try to meet the non-medical needs of the children and their families. Some of our kids are in the hospital for three years straight. I am sure you can imagine how this might take a toll on their spirit and the quality of life for these kids and their families. With the money raised, we sponsor monthly family dinners, offer art projects, bring in musicians, take the children out of the hospital for field trips, and offer gifts to keep their spirits raised. Our work is very meaningful, and we hope to be able to continue to do good deeds for these kids.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime with any questions. Generally email is the best method of communication, but my cell phone is on 24 hours a day. You can follow our not for profit on Facebook by searching for People In Crisis United.

Cordially,
Rick Morgan, RRT
2630 SW 28th ST
Unit 18
Coconut Grove, Fl 33133
richard.morgan@jhsmiami.org
(786) 543 9286 cell/text

“In my opinion, we need to be careful about throwing the baby of crowdsourced philanthropy out with the bathwater of popularity contest philanthropy. The latter is not synonymous with the former; it is merely a poorly executed version of it. What we need, instead, is a way of broadening out the selection and adjudication process to a greater number of people without sacrificing the qualities and expertise that make professional program officers special. To do this, we’ll still want to access the crowd, but rather than treat everyone the same, we’ll need to differentiate between good members of the crowd – the ones who are generous with their time, consider differing viewpoints thoughtfully, and demonstrate personal integrity – and bad members of the crowd – “one-issue” voters, poorly informed fly-by commenters, and vendetta-carriers. Put another way, we want to give anybody the opportunity to participate meaningfully without having to give that opportunity to everybody.”

This is not such a bad thing if you understand and honor the motivation. Sponsorships that meet your needs and theirs, and build a foundation from with to grow are essential to sustaining large organizations and raise your visibility as well as the sponsor’s.

One-time funding activities such as crowd-sourced philanthropy can be a great activity for your supporters to lead, especially if you have a broad social media base from which to draw votes. In the meantime, professional staff continues to develop the long-term relationships with funders and sponsors that lead to financial sustainability.

And as you say in the blog, this approach favors orgs with a highly motivated, tech-savvy constituency. Orgs serving older adults and/or low-income/at-risk populations, as well as small orgs that don’t have the personnel resources to promote this kind of thing, don’t stand a chance.

So in my mind, these programs are more about PR for the funder than furthering needed services. I would greatly prefer that those millions of dollars be spent on orgs analyzed and evaluated by a funder’s (hopefully) competent staff.