Special thanks goes to Adrian Meissner from Boundless, who drove TWO HOURS to come and talk to all of us about the incredible work they do.

Also many, many thanks to Allan and Yvonne Isfan for providing their beautiful home for the show, to Cheryl Gain of Ottawa Tonite for organizing everything, to Bob LeDrew for providing Ottawa’s most comfortable House Concert chairs and for his ongoing support, to Jamie Calder for providing a big long ethernet cable for the live stream, to 12for12k’ers Jon Aston and Richard Marti for spreading the word.

And, between yesterday afternoon and today,  we raised about $200 for Boundless and introduced a bunch of new people to the good work of Boundless and 12for12k. Yay!

It takes an army of people to make events like this happen, and I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to listen and share.

Here’s the recording of the show….sorry, the first part got cut off due to UStream issues….

© SuzeMuse for 12for12k, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, boundless, house concert, ken voita, lindsay ferguson, ottawa tonite

So we feel it’s only right to recognize that, and this regular snapshot will do just that.

First up is J A Heinlein, who describes himself as a “Publishing & Marketing Professional. Proud Father. Mid-life Adventurist. Social Media Enthusiast“. J A (or Jay) is the Principal of Heinlein Publishing Services, a publication group that aims to provide expertise and resources to help produce and market published material.

If you look at Jay’s Blogger profile, you’ll see he’s a prolific reader of both printed and web media across many categories – always the sign of a great publisher. He’s also a classic rock fan and that’s never a bad thing!

A loving family man, Jay has been a 12for12k supporter for a while now and always shares with his other connections, as well as on his blog. We’re more than happy to have Jay as our first featured supporter, and hope you’ll check him out too.

• Jay on Twitter:
• Jay on Facebook:
• Jay on LinkedIn:
• Jay on YouTube:
• Jay’s blog:
• Jay’s company:

Thanks Jay – and here’s to our next featured supporter soon!

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Post tags: 12for12k, featured supporter, j a heinlein

Established in 1984, Boundless is dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized youth, adults and children at risk through a unique combination of counselling, social rehabilitation, alternative education and outdoor adventure.

Working in partnership with Ontario-based community agencies, mostly from Toronto, their program strives to prevent crime, promote alternatives to drug abuse and strengthen the bonds of families and communities ravaged by poverty, violence and mental illness across the Canadian province.

As well as their outdoor programs, Boundless also run community leadership initiatives, the issuance of high school credits, counselling/tutoring and social rehabilitation training. Their mission is to employ a non-traditional approach to education that is sensitive and motivating, and which builds the focus, vision and independence of participants.

Boundless works in close collaboration with roughly 50 agencies that represent health care providers, children’s mental health agencies, community centres in at-risk neighbourhoods, drop-in and recreation programs.

Their programs include:

• Youth. Supporting at-risk youth to complete their high school education and integrate into the community.
• Family. Supporting parents and children with social skill development and decreased aggressive behaviour.
• Mental Health. Using social rehabilitation to help those suffering mental health issues to feel less isolated and become more independent and healthy.
• Aboriginal. To help native youth in foster homes and receiving treatment for substance abuse to re-acquaint with their culture and nature, in collaboration with Native Elders.
• Acquired Brain Injury. A dedicated program centre to help sufferers of acquired brain injury to rehabilitate into everyday life through work, fitness, education and friendships.

As you can see, Boundless isn’t tied to one cause, but helps across a huge amount of need. 12for12k is delighted to be supporting them for April, and extremely grateful for any support you can offer for this wonderful organization.

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Post tags: 12for12k april charity, boundless, youth and mental health programs

There are fears that there could be more than 100,000 fatalities and countless more injured and missing. This is the immediate impact. Long-term there is the threat of disease, illness, malnutrition, and much, much more. 12for12k is asking for your support to help the people of Haiti.

We are partnering with Hope for Haiti to raise much-needed donations to send to this humanitarian emergency. The immediate funds will go to helping the survivors with aid, shelter, food, medication and other essentials. Then there is the long-term need from there.

I know this is just after the holiday season. I know this is coming off the back of a year when people suffered financial strain. Yet we showed last year how much the 12for12k community cares, and the change we can make in whatever way we can. Please help us help Hope for Haiti and show our continued caring. You can use the donation widget below, which uses Paypal and goes directly to Hope for Haiti itself. 100% of your donations go to Hope for Haiti (12for12k is a fully volunteer-based call-to-action with no admin costs), and $0.95 of every dollar goes to the humanitarian program needs.

Thank you, and let’s make whatever difference we can. And please, we’d love you to tweet this on Twitter, share on Facebook/display as your status, email folks to come here – we can really help together. You can also copy the embed code and display the widget on your own blog/site to spread awareness.

• Suggested tweet: We all share the same planet – here’s how to show our brothers and sisters in Haiti we care http://bit.ly/8XelzH #12for12k

• Suggested Facebook status: 12for12k is supporting Hope for Haiti – please help however you can http://12for12k.org/2010/01/13/12for12k-supports-hope-for-haiti-please-help/

You can read Hope for Haiti’s press release about their aid program here. Additionally, you can follow their progress in Haiti via the Hope For Haiti Twitter account.

• Hope for Haiti is a registered 501-c charity and has 4-star approval of Charity Navigator.

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2010. | Permalink | 46 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, haiti earthquake, hope for haiti

This is how much we raised for charity in 2009. You all freakin’ rock and should be incredibly proud of yourselves.

Thank you!

Danny Brown
Founder, 12for12k

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2010. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, amazing people, donations

As 12for12k evolves, our community will help you enable change in your neighbourhood. To this end, we’re delighted to introduce the new 12for12k community built on the Ning platform, which you can connect to from right here on the 12for12k website by clicking the Community tab on the navigation bar.

Please feel free to sign up today and join others like you who really want to make a change today. By joining our community, you’ll be kept up-to-date with:

• Live events
• Upcoming charities
• Resources
• Community collaborations
• And much more!

You’ll also be able to connect with others in your neighbourhood and arrange events and help for those who need it where you live.

The world is a big place, but with small steps together we can all leave an indelible footprint for social good forever.

Thank you for being part of the dream!

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, 12for12k community, social change

Social media continues to affect change at an ever increasing rate. Schools are built, water wells are dug, children are fed, and medicine saves lives – all because someone used social media to get the word out, raise money, and ultimately make a difference.

2010 South by Southwest Panel Proposed

The Interactive side of the South by Southwest Conference, held each March in Austin, continues to grow in both size and influence.  If you’re into social media, the Interactive Track is the place to be.

The 2009 conference was a non-stop educational experience, and while every session provided value, the panels that influenced me most were those associated with nonprofit organizations.

Numerous discussions, both during the sessions and afterward in the bars, nightclubs and lounges, drilled deeper into the topic of how nonprofits were utilizing social media tools (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) to build their community and raise funds.

Social Media for Social Good was a phrase I heard many times, even serving as the title of a lunch panel co-hosted by Jeff Pulver and Porter Novelli with panelists Beth Kanter, David Armano, Scott Goodstein, Stacey Monk, James Young & Randi Zuckerberg.

I was impressed by that fact that social media was being used to help millions of people around the world.

But in the ensuing months I kept wondering if it was simply a matter of treating the symptom, instead of finding the cure. Was social media actually changing the way people think and act?

When the email arrived, soliciting panel ideas for SXSW 2010, I knew it was time to seek an answer to the question that had been haunting me: Can Social Media Change Global Consciousness?

The Moderator

It would be nice to say that I wanted to moderate this panel because I’m the leader, or most talented, or the smartest. But the fact is, everyone on this panel can run social media circles around me, so it only made sense that I would ask the questions, then get out of the way and let the experts answer.

• Mark Lovett – Global Patriot – @GlobalPatriot

The Panel

There is no requirement to choose panel members at the time of proposal, but in this case the following names came to me instantly. I’ve seen their work, know their reputation, and felt they would provide a magical mix of opinions, thoughts and insights.

To be honest, when I contacted this esteemed list I figured I’d be lucky to get half of them to sign on. (I’m still in shock that they all said yes and I’m now quite certain they think I’m someone else.)

• Amy Sample Ward - NetSquared – @AmyRSWard
• Danielle Brigida – National Wildlife Federation – @StarFocus
• Danny Brown – 12for12k Challenge – @DannyBrown
• John Haydon – John Haydon – @JohnHaydon
• Rob Reed – Max Gladwell – @MaxGladwell
• Stacey Monk – Epic Change – @StaceyMonk

Your Vote

This is where you come in. One of the factors in determining which panels are chosen involves how many votes each proposal gets from the public at large. So head over to the Panel Picker to find out more about this proposal, and if you agree that this is a worthy question to bring up at SXSW 2010, give us a Thumbs Up! (Please note, as in real life, you do have to register to vote).

Voting is open till September 4th – we’d love to see you in Austin, and your vote would mean a lot!

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: social change, social media for good, south by southwest panels, sxswi

As you might notice, the site has undergone a little bit of a revamp. Gone is the old blog design, in is the new, more visual look. I  deliberately wanted to go with a more pictorial approach – after all, what tells a story better than a picture?

So, when you first visit the site, you’ll now see a (hopefully)  more aesthetic look and feel (and my sincere thanks to Darin Berntson for the visual help).

This continues with the different pages and sub-page links. On the homepage, for instance, you can go directly to our blog for the latest news; find out more about the charities we’re supporting; and find out how you can get involved with 12for12k, all via tabs underneath our homepage main images.

Speaking of the main images, you’ll notice each has a powerful message attached to each one. The mantra, if you like, behind 12for12k has always been to effect long-term change for as many causes and people as possible. Our images, and the tagline to the top right of the home page – “Hope, Change, Belief – changing the world through social media” – is our reason for being here in the first place.

I’ve also updated the Newsroom, which is co-sponsored by Marketwire and Rachel Kay Public Relations (RKPR). Again, this is tied into the more visual approach, and will let you see the latest news, media features, events and more.

Our Blogger Resource Center has also been updated with an FAQ section, courtesy of 12for12k’s blogger outreach partner, Sarah Robinson. Sarah will be looking after all of 12for12k’s blogging support as well as helping with any queries from either bloggers wishing to partner us, or existing blog partners.

On the charity front, since August was a regrouping month, if you like, I’m looking at different ideas to involve the 12th charity. Due to a special collaboration with the awesome Epic Change team for November, it may be that we support two charities that month. However, this is just tentative and if you have any suggestions, I’m always open to hear – after all, this is as much your project as it is 12for12k’s.

Next month sees us supporting the incredible Doctors Without Borders in partnership with the Global Patriot project, and the next couple of days will see more information released. This includes multinational live events, with San Diego enjoying a great live concert on September 3, details of which can be found on our events page.

So, some new stuff, some old stuff, some planned stuff – but still the same ideals that together, we can all make a difference. Feel free to look around, check out the changes, and let me know what you think.

Thank you so much for being with us so far – this really is just the beginning, and on behalf of the whole 12for12k team, here’s to an amazing end to 2009 and into 2010 and beyond.

Danny Brown
Founder, 12for12k.

photo credit: johnscotthaydon

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, 12for12k website redesign, 12for12k winter charities

Taking place at the uber-cool 49 Grove venue, Masquertweet is a fun costume-and-mask party that brings together Twitter users from New York and the surrounding areas.(...)
Read the rest of Masquertweet Comes to New York for 12for12k (100 words)

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, aerocles, burrelles luce, eye care for kids, masquertweet, prcog, prdude

My sincere thanks to the kind prize donors for donating some incredibly awesome prizes and to you guys for your support throughout the event.

I’d also like to offer huge thanks to everyone who appeared live yesterday – you helped make the event and there will be a full write-up in the next couple of days with a recap of your events.

So, here we go!(...)
Read the rest of The 12for12k Video Tweetathon Prize Winners (433 words)

© 12for12k for 12for12k, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 12for12k, 12for12k charity, 12for12k video tweetathon, 12for12k video tweetathon prize winners