Twestival

On Thursday, March 25, 2010, Twittizens around the globe will be coming together offline in their respective cities to raise both money and awareness for Concern, a charity dedicated to bringing education to the world’s poorest children. Founded  by Amanda Rose three years ago, Twestival (or Twitter Festival) was designed to harness social media for social good. Last year, Twestival raised $250K+ dollars for charity: water, which resulted in more than 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India having a direct impact for over 17,000 people. Already, Twestival has raised $180K+ dollars and is well on its way to helping 72 million children in the world who don’t have the opportunity to go to school.

Invoke will be attending Twestival in New York and is helping organize Twestival in Vancouver. Here are the details:

Twestival Vancouver 2010
When: March 25th, 2010 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Where: CBC Vancouver – the new Audience Lounge (700 Hamilton at Georgia)
What: A fundraiser to support Concern Worldwide
Who: Everyone in Vancouver, Twittizen or not!

Tickets
Your $20 admission ticket goes directly to Concern Worldwide. With this admission we will supply you with a wine ticket, a swag bag, entertainment, wine, food, and hopefully a really great time. Tickets are currently on sale. All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.

Digital DUMBO NYC – SOLD OUT

What can we say? We love Brooklyn. Since expanding to NYC last year, Invoke continues to be inspired by the burgeoning tech community and we were thrilled when invited to host Digital DUMBO. We’d like to thank all attendees for securing their tickets early. When you arrive, grab a drink. We’re looking forward to showing you what Invoke is all about and sharing our inspiration.

Come early, stay late, the drinks are on us.

Digital DUMBO NYC
When: March 25, 7-10pm
Where: The Dumbo Loft 155 Water Street (corner of Pearl and Water)
What: Digital DUMBO was created to bring together the digital minds of DUMBO and the greater NYC area to network, showcase local talent, educate, and facilitate idea exchange.
Who: Every awesome person in digital.

Each year, Invoke donates up to $100K in pro bono work. This year, we’ll devote much of this to Chip’s Not Dead Yet, a wonderful Vancouver-based event which supports the BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH).

Yesterday evening, we were lucky enough to spend some time at the Hospital, learning about our cause firsthand. Our tour at the BC Children’s Hospital and ensuing Q & A period with BCCH President Larry Gold opened our eyes to the staggering range of essential services and the complexity of running a cutting edge facility.

During the evening, we learned that BC Children’s provides care for approximately 72,000 children per year and supplies services for children in all of BC and the Northwest Territories. It’s a massive area to cover, both geographically and in terms of the sheer number of children in the area. (By contrast, both Calgary and Edmonton have their own Children’s hospitals; they’re by and large closer to their patients with a smaller population to cover.)

Children make up around 25% of North America’s population. From tiny newborns, to 3-year-old rugrats, to apathetic teens, there is no ‘one size fits all’ with kids. Everything from hospital beds, to monitoring tools, to the arm bands of blood pressure gauges must fit just right, especially when it comes to life-saving equipment that must fit into the tiny lungs and hearts of the patients born with malfunctions or disorders. (They make up around 50% of all patients at any given time.) Only 1% of all hospitals in North America are equipped to help those of us who are not tall enough to get on the rollercoaster.

Size is but one element of what makes children’s hospitals unique. Think about the difference between an infant and an adult in terms of their ability to communicate, and cope with stress. Ever tried to ask a distraught two-year-old to describe what’s ailing them? The extra time and attention that kids need, along with the specialized equipment, dramatically raises the cost for children’s hospitals, worldwide. This is not to mention the funding required for pediatrics training, doctor recruitment and retention, and research. Children’s hospitals cost typically 30% more to run than an average hospital.

That’s why the need for donations is so critical. Luckily, events like Chips Not Dead Yet can help raise funds. Today, try to notice all those little people under 4 feet tall; those crying, laughing, gurgling little rugrats who can’t get on the rollercoaster. And then, for those of you in Vancouver, consider joining us on June 20, 2009, to raise money for BC Children’s Hospital. You can register here.

* This blog post is part of Invoke’s participation in the 2008 Vancouver Blogathon for Charity

For the blogathon Invoke chose to work with a global partner, Plan Canada, to receive the fruits of our fundraising efforts. This is primarily due to the fact that i can largely control where the money actually goes and get the opportunity to see first hand the impact it has because, as a Trustee of Lochmaddy Foundation, we work closely with Plan.

Here is a profile of this excellent organization:

- Plan was founded in 1937 in the UK as Foster Parents Plan.
- Plan is one of the world’s largest international, child-centered development organizations.
- They work in more than 45 developing countries worldwide.
- Their long-term community programs benefit 1.5 million children and impact the lives of 15 million people.
- Plan has no religious, political or government affiliations.

Please make sure you hit our partner page and contribute to making a difference.

Posted by Dario Meli

* This blog post is part of Invoke’s participation in the 2008 Vancouver Blogathon for Charity

Given that this blogathon is in the spirit of charity I would like to take a minute to profile some of the other work we’ve done. We absolutely love making these kinds of contributions and are extremely proud of what we’ve been able to do. Here are some details on who we work with and what we’ve done with them:

Kiva.org – Facebook application
Invoke and Lochmaddy Foundation, both huge fans of Kiva, approached them about creating an application on Facebook to allow users to aggregate and manage funds thereby increasing the volume of money to be spent on the site. The application will launch at towards the end of the summer and we expect it to generate a massive influx of funds and exposure for the microfinance organization.

Gap Foundation – Memelabs Video Contest
Gap Inc.’s foundation is responsible for a mountain of community work around the world. Invoke teamed with them to help spread the word on these initiatives with a memelabs video contest and branded facebook application.

NRDC – Green Paws
Invoke and Truf teamed up with the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) to help raise awareness to the overwhelming use of harmful chemicals in pet products. These chemicals are toxic to the animals we love, to the environment, and to us as well. Check out the campaign at greenpaws.org

Apathy is Boring – Memelabs Video Contest
Apathy is Boring is a national organization that utilizes art, music, media, and technology to engage youth to participate in the democratic process in their communities. Invoke donated the use of our memelabs video delivery and contest platform.

Lochmaddy Foundation
The Lochmaddy Foundation is something I am very proud to be associated with and if you’ve read my other blog posts you’ll see it has been extremely rewarding. David and I are both Trustees of this foundation and in addition to helping make decisions on where to spend the money Invoke also is working on its web presence. The full site should be live within a couple weeks. Sign up for updates at the existing site if you are interested in what we are all about.

Agents for Change – Memelabs Video Contest
At Invoke we love this group and really enjoy working with them. To help support Global Agents for Change on this years Ride to Break the Cycle we put up a video contest so they could shoot videos in all the towns they rode through and help raise awareness for next years rides.

explorASIAN – Branding
Canada has a month-long celebration of the Pan-Asian cultures and Invoke is proud to have created their logo. Not an easy challenge when confronted with the extreme range of diversity in the region.

Rick Hansen Foundation – Participation Committee
A few years ago I sat on the Participation Committee for Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion even which has raised more than $2 million for people with spinal cord injuries.

Posted by Jenn Lowther

* This blog post is part of Invoke’s participation in the 2008 Vancouver Blogathon for Charity

As I’m sure you are aware if you follow our blog, this is Invoke’s first entry into the first Annual Vancouver Blogathon.? A group of Vancouver’s top bloggers have gotten together to use our blogging skills and blog reach to do some good – as a group, we are supporting charities that help people from downtown Vancouver to families in small communities in Africa.? We will be publishing a blog post every 30 minutes for the next 24 hours.? Yes that is right, you will be treated to 48 wonderful posts from Invoke.

When I signed Invoke up for this blogathon, I put a call out to fellow staff members for help with writing all of these blog posts.? And did they ever deliver, you will get to read posts from – Nadia Nascimento, Dario Meli, David Tedman, Ryan Holmes, Murat Ayfer, Andre Liem, Saleem Barnard, James Wilson, Paul Donnelly, Zuri Scrivens, and even our office dogs:)? This assortment means that you will be getting a wide range of perspectives and topics that are generally not covered in the blog.

Invoke has chosen a charity that is very close to our hearts. Through the Lochmaddy Foundation, all donations will be directed to a community in Mali, West Africa. We are collecting donations through Plan Canada and would like to thank them and specifically Heather for all of their hard work in helping Invoke bring this all together.

Families in N’Gouraba are working hard to improve their lives and the lives of their children through a special agricultural project. Your donation will empower and enable them to realize increased crops, more family income with new opportunities and a brighter future.

Invoke has set a fund raising goal of $3000 for the blogathon. If you would like to support our efforts – which we would greatly appreciate – you can make a donation to the cause here.

At the time of posting this blog, we have raised and amazing $X,XXX dollars to help support the families of N’Gouraba.? I would like to take a second and thank each and every person who has donated to this cause and remind you that we still have 24 hours left to raise money for the charity.