I don't run adverts on this blog. The most I do is the occasional Amazon Affiliate link when I'm reviewing some tech. I'm happy with that. The site doesn't cost me much to run, and I'm lucky enough that it increases my reputation and online goodwill. But I've been thinking recently about ways to make a more material gain from my blogging, tweeting, StackOverflowing, and GitHubbing. So, here are your options! Giving To Charity I've started a fundraising page with the Charities Trust to…
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Walking back from work yesterday, I noticed an unusual set of chuggers - those faux-cheerful folk who try to stop you in the street asking for money. They were fundraising for Unicef. Rather than handing out flyers they were carrying high-tech VR headsets! Using the headset, I was able to take a virtual tour of a Unicef aid drop. As with all 360 experiences, it takes a little getting used to - but then it is fully immersive. A minute-long video clip is more persuasive than a bit of patter …
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Give As You Earn is a wonderful system; I can donate to charity directly from my monthly pay cheque. I don't have set up any Direct Debits, or standing orders, I get a tidy tax break, and the charity gets a chunk of change. For every tenner I donate, it costs me £6 - and the Government chips in the rest. I used PayrollGiving.co.uk to set up my donations - but your workplace may have specific arrangements with someone else. These are the charities I support. Amnesty I believe in Human …
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QR codes are an awesome free resource for charities. Sadly, they are often misused. Charities can use them to drive SMS donations - here's a quick example of how this works. Sightsavers Sightsavers is an incredible charity, working hard to combat blindness in developing countries. I'm picking on them only because their poster caught my eye this morning. It's an effective poster with a strong call-to-action; "Text now". They've even included a QR code with it. Due to the proximity of the …
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Last year I gave a presentation at PayPal to show how charities could harness QR codes. I'm not sure if Oxfam were in the audience that day. But if they were, they missed the point. QR codes are a solution for quick interactions with mobile phones. Let's investigate the Oxfam QR code seen in Metro. The Advert So, can donate by scanning the code? Well, it's not really made clear what the QR code is for. There's no text associated with it. The Code Let's take a closer look at the code. …
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This is the presentation I gave for Charity Hack 2010. Charity hack qr codes from Terence Eden If you're on mobile, you can view the mobile friendly version of the slides. Audio and video coming later. The gist of the talk is - use QR codes to drive mobile donations. Use return SMS to encourage people to share with their friends. …
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America and Canada both celebrate a holiday called "Thanksgiving". Although, for complex reasons, the celebrate it at different times of the year. Outside of North America the holiday simply doesn't exist. Much like the US doesn't celebrate Guy Fawkes night - the British don't celebrate Thanksgiving. So, I was a little surprised to see this advert for #tweetsgiving on my mobile. What is tweetsgiving? For now, let's ignore the perils of assuming that your country is the entire market…
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Directly inspired by Scott Smith's excellent brainstorming game at #M4ChangeUK. A team consisting of myself, Luke Razzell, Improbulus, Karina Brisby, Priya Prakash, and a few other lovely people whose names have slipped my mind were tasked with finding a way to raise money for clean water. Specifically targeting families and using mobile payments. Me describing our team's idea The Proposition The ability to donate your unused minutes to charity. Text "10" to NNNNN to donate 10 m…
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