The Achuar traveled to Canada last month to confront energy company, Talisman.
Cause leader Paul Paz y Miño is an indigenous rights advocate with expertise working in the Andean region of Latin America. As a Causes.com campaign leader, Paul uses the platform to inform communities about unethical exploratory energy drilling affecting indigeous communities. Through his organization Amazon Watch, Paul is spearheading a movement to create dialogue between the Achuar people of Peru and Ecuador and the energy companies wanting to drill in their communities.
Last month, Paul created a fundraiser on Causes to send delegates from the Achuar indigenous community of the Peruvian Amazon to confront Talisman Energy in Ottowa, Canada. ”The Achuar’s ethnic neighbors can see what other energy companies — like Occidental Energy — have done to the region and they don’t like what they are seeing.” For members of the Achuar community, this would be their first time traveling out of their 11,000-person village. Serious coordination was necessary and it meant lots of help from Paul’s 5,000 member community on Causes. “We had to get visas, plane tickets, hotels, and ensure that the delegates would get face time during the shareholders meeting. It was a big production.”
The Achuar region spans around 4 million acres on the Ecuadorian and Peruvian border and since 2004, drilling has become common practice there. The drilling is affecting the livelihood of the Achuar community in tangible ways. “They are essentially drilling exploratory drills in the heart of [Achuar] ancestral territory and it’s affecting their hunting grounds. [Talisman Energy] brings in equipment, and once the wells are set up, the waste is dumped into their territory,” said Paul. Over 75% of the Peruvian Amazon has been leased out to corporations for exploratory energy drilling by the Peruvian government, but the area’s inhabitants want them out.
Paul Paz y Miño has been an active Causes user since 2010.
In Paul’s eyes, the most powerful way to engage energy companies in serious debate is to have a face-to-face discussion about the needs and values of the people with those most affected. It’s an effective strategy that produces real results. “What we want to do is accompany delegates to confront the company directly at the shareholders’ meetings, which is the most opportune time to tell them and the world how their actions are going to affect the communities on the ground where they are operating. The board of directors and the CEO get to hear firsthand from the people living there about what is going on; they don’t have their approval to drill there. It’s very difficult to face the international media and say, ‘We have the support of the Achuar’ when there are five people from the Achuar telling Talisman to stay out.”
Paul’s last campaign raised over $5,000; this helped five delegates travel to Canada to confront the energy company, Talisman Energy. The delegates expressed concerns and spoke directly to Talisman’s CEO. It was a moving experience for the Achuar community and one that Paul hopes to replicate again and again. “The challenge with a lot of our work is that these are longterm campaigns…you don’t just get a victory one month and then the next month you’re on to the next challenge. The idea of a delegation is great because cause members can see what they are supporting; they can follow the campaign for a brief time period and see what happens, and then see what the after affect was and hold this concretely in their hands.”
Paul plans to create more campaigns regarding the Achuar people’s plight and will challenge members to participate. He’ll be producing new petition campaigns to get the Canadian parliament’s attention about drilling in Latin America. Recently, he launched a fundraiser to get two delegates to meet with Chevron shareholders and directors. “For us, it’s not only an important time of year for our work…but there is a story to tell about individuals who are being affected. We tell the story of the delegates from beginning to end and we share them with people on Causes. With your support, you’ll cover the basic needs to help people speak their truth to power.”
Caine Monroy is the star of "Caine's Arcade."
There are many ways to make a grassroots campaign shine. Storytelling is a powerful tool that can help emotionally connect people to a campaign. Filmmaker Nirvan Mullick knows this firsthand. He is the director of Caine’s Arcade, the mini-documentary-gone-viral that chronicles the day a community rallied together for child entrepreneur Caine Monroy, who built his own arcade out of cardboard boxes.
Nirvan spoke to us last week and discussed the value of storytelling, having a clear and transparent message, and the conscious decision to move deliberately and patiently. Below are a few of the lessons Nirvan learned at the beginning of Caine’s Arcade.
1) Make sure the heart of the story is clear.
Nirvan said people need to make sure they are clear about what story is portrayed. When watching the video, we noticed Caine’s introduction after 12 seconds. “I think it’s extremely important to find the heart of the story in any campaign. Whether it’s a corporate campaign or a nonprofit cause-related campaign, it’s all about personal storytelling and connecting with people on a personal level.”
2) People need to relate to your story.
One of the reasons for the film’s rapid success is Caine’s easily digestible story. “[Caine's Arcade] is a simple story that everyone can relate to. As an adult, it kind of brings you back to what it’s like to be a kid, and it reminds you of that pure imagination and creativity. It also inspires young kids to make stuff and indulge in their play,” Nirvan said.
3) Get your social media game going early.
Caine’s Arcade is an outlier, but Nirvan knew it was crucial to have a social media strategy in place before launching the film. Nirvan made a simple move: he informed communities on websites like Facebook and Reddit prior to the film’s release. “Caine already had 500 likes on Facebook when we released the video, and users on Reddit were waiting for it.”
That community jumpstarted the spread of the film and, soon, a larger community sprang up. “In the first days, I started seeing photo posts that were responses from parents; there were kids watching [Caine's Arcade] over and over and, then, started building things. I started to ask them to send me posts of the things their kids were making.” Nirvan curated these photos on Caine’s Facebook page and kept updating his community. Soon, he had a network of 100,000 Facebook followers, 5 million video viewers, and 7,000 Twitter followers.
Nirvin Mullock and Caine Monroy before the "Caine's Day" flashmob.
4) Be clear about your message and embrace patience.
One of the most astonishing factors of this story is the pace at which it found success. Nirvan says the scholarship fund he created for Caine reached $110,000 in two days, and discussions about creating a Caine’s Arcade Foundation began after three days. It’s a mind-blowing pace illustrating the power of crowdsourced online campaigns.
It’s been four weeks and Caine’s Arcade has raised over $200,000 from over thousands of contributors. The positive response from viewers and audiences worldwide was overwhelming and it lead to large growth. (Nirvan mentioned that Yahoo! informed his team the film was the most positively commented post ever.) After five days, The Goldhirsh Foundation provided a matching seed grant of up to $250,000, catapulting this local story into a global sensation and success. Nirvan recognized a valuable lesson. “There were a few important decisions that we did along the way that helped keep things moving in the right direction, and allowed us to grow. Had we made other choices and done things differently, we might not be here. One big [decision] was [the fundraising goal.] The initial goal was to raise $25,000 total. We raised over $60,000 in 24 hours.” Naturally, Nirvan raised the goal to $100,000 and surpassed that goal in 48 hours.
Most of us would have continued to raise the amount in response to the rapid growth, the enthusiasm that comes with it, and for fear of stalling. Yet, Nirvan and his team assessed the situation carefully. “We had to pause. A lot of people were saying, ‘raise it higher.’ But we had to think carefully because we had already raised the goal once. People had helped us [surpass this goal] by investing time and money and we decided not to raise the goal [again] until we had a real clear communication strategy and next step set up.” Donations continued to mount, but a plateu was hit. Nirvan didn’t panic because he realized having a transparent message to Caine’s supporters was far more important. “We didn’t want people to feel that we were opportunistic.” This is feedback we hear from Causes users as well, that the most important thing for an action campaign, particularly a fundraiser, is to be transparent.
Caine has inspired a new generation of young inventors and entrepreneurs.
So, what’s next?
Nirvan has really big plans for Caine’s Arcade. He’s in the process of submitting the necessary paperwork to launch Caine’s Arcade Foundation, which will work to find, foster, and fund creative entrepreneurship in other kids. “This was a kid I met in my neighborhood. There are millions of kids like Caine out there and we want to help them.” There are also discussions about a television show pairing young entrepreneurs and inventors with established mentors, lesson plans for teachers to use in their classrooms, and possibly a feature film. For good measure, the Caine’s Arcade team has just translated the film in 20 languages.
What does Caine think about all of this? “Caine is fired up. He is growing so much. You know, he’s a business man. He’s really focused when it comes to running his arcade. But, as soon as he’s done at the end of the day, he’s running around and playing like every other kid.” Lots of work and lots of play. Sounds like a great formula for success!
All photos accredited to Caine’s Arcade.
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Traci Nagy created a petition to raise awareness around feeding tube dieting.
There is no such thing as a small cause on Causes.com. Whenever we see a call to action from a passionate organizer, it’s hard to contain our excitement.
Meet Traci Nagy. She didn’t really know what to do when she found out her son, Lucas, had a chromosome abnormality. When he was 20-months-old, Lucas was diagnosed with a form of stomach paralysis that kept him from properly digesting food. Now 4-years-old, the only way to keep Lucas alive is to administer a feeding tube until his muscles develop, which could take many years. “I knew nothing about feeding tubes prior to him needing one. I had done general searches and found really technical information. I didn’t really have a lot of resources, but I was lucky to have good doctors. However, there is only so much that a doctor can tell you about life with a child who is being tube fed for 24 hours a day.”
"Super Tubie" Lucas, 4-years-old, is tube fed.
Traci knew there were other parents like her, so she had an idea: provide parents and families with clear and practical language to manage their children’s needs. “You have to figure out things like sleeping with a feeding tube. My child learned to walk, climb, run, everything while being tube fed. I wanted to share these stories.” In 2010, Traci founded a feeding tube awareness foundation to sponsor an awareness week about tube feeding; Traci believed that creating an organization would propel parents to share their stories, tips, and advice. That same year, Traci started a cause community on Causes.com to inspire Sesame Street to feature a feeding tube child. Thousands of members joined her cause and she gained momentum.
Then last month, the New York Times published a story about a Florida physician providing feeding tubes to women trying to lose weight before their weddings. It gained considerable press, but Traci was at a loss for words. “It felt like a slap in the face to see someone use [feeding tubes] so frivolously. I think a lot of people were questioning the ethics.” Traci, empowered by her previous organizing experience, created a petition on Causes directed at the doctor — Dr. Oliver DiPietro — to stop the practice of tube feeding for weight loss. “What hurt me most is that we try to get our children to gain weight, and these doctor’s are using tubes for people to lose weight.” Hundreds of people rallied behind her and, eventually, the petition was linked in a CNN article about tube feeding and young adults.
Traci Nagy's petition was featured on a CNN story about tube feeding.
Traci’s action inspired people to question the ethics involved in dietary tube feeding, and her community grew even more. “The biggest thing that we hear is ‘I’m so glad I found you.’ The biggest success is actually being able to find a community of people that know exactly what you are going through and being able to have people who you can ask questions to from a moments notice.”
What’s next for Traci? “Our goal is to raise awareness, so we will be back at Causes.com for sure. We hope that our next actions can be positive. I still would love to see a tube-fed child on Sesame Street.”
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Mayor Ed Lee & Causes CEO Matt Mahan talk about The Bay Lights
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, along with tech heavyweights from throughout the Bay area, dropped by the Causes.com’s office last week to talk about The Bay Lights project, a fine arts installation spearheaded by Illuminate the Arts and the City of San Francisco. The artwork — envisioned by Ben Davis and executed by world renowned light artist Leo Villareal — would feature over 25,000 energy-efficient LED lights used to illuminate the Bay Bridge’s West Span. The lights would be up for two years, including throughout 2013 when San Francisco hosts “The Year of the Bay,” which includes events like the 150th anniversary of San Francisco, the America’s Cup, and the opening of a new Exploratorium location.
The Bay Lights Tech Challenge will run from May 14 to June 20, 2012.
Mr. Davis and social entrepreneur Dorka Keehn were also on hand to unveil details for the next steps in fundraising: The Bay Lights Tech Challenge. Eight million dollars is necessary for the creation, implementation, and removal of the project and five million has already been raised by The Bay Lights’ team with three million left to go; it’s an investment toward creativity that TBL explains will return 50 to 100 million dollars in revenue for local San Francisco businesses.
The challenge is open to individual and group donors, and will launch May 14. One way to participate is by starting your own fundraising campaign and inviting your network. Top individual fundraisers will be given access to walk the highest point of the Bay Bridge (a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience) and the top fundraising team will participate in a night out with TBL artist Leo Villareal, and VIP access to the “Grand Lighting” ceremony in late 2012!
Mayor Lee described the project as the unity between technical innovation and artistic vision that blossoms abundantly throughout the region. With your help, The Bay Lights could eventually become a permanent work of fine art in San Francisco. As Ms. Keehn noted, “The lights currently atop the Bay Bridge were installed temporarily for the 50 year anniversary, so you never know.”
Causes has helped The Bay Lights create a successful fundraising campaign. Right now, your donation will be doubled by The Bay Lights Matching Grant, which will match every penny you give!
For more information, watch the video below and tell us what you think.
Causes coworkers biking to work in San Francisco
Causes.com is very fortunate to be located in one of the greatest cities in the world: San Francisco! Today, our friends at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition sponsored a “Bike to Work Day,” inspiring thousands of commuters in the city to hit the pavement on their hybrids, cruisers, road bikes, and fixies.
Dozens of volunteers managed bicycle stations to provide valuable insights to newer bicyclists, while also handing out fun maps and tote bags, and equipping cyclists with service stations to guarantee a safe and fun ride. A few Causes employees, comprised of veteran bicyclists and some newbies (me!), took to the streets to support the event. The team met at the great Panhandle and rode to the Financial District, hanging out with bicyclists, making stops, and taking pictures along the way.
If you took to the streets today and want to share a story, head over to our action story page and let us know what your commute was like! Below are some photos from our ride.
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- Bike to Work Day: Shannon
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- Bike to Work Day: Rocky
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- Bike to Work Day: Josh
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- Bike to Work Day: Phil
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- Bike to Work Day: Susan
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- Rock Lobster bicycle!
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- Phil really excited about his new trick.
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- Bike to Work Day pit stop.
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- Phil & Rocky ready for Bike to Work Day
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