Edward Norton is one of my favorite green celebrities. He raised $1.2 million for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust when he ran in the New York Marathon last fall. He has now set up a web site where you can raise money for your favorite charity as well.
Crowdrise is the web site that helps you create your own fundraising page. Crowdrise promises it will take less than a minute – unless you are a slow typer of course. It is actually three simple steps to get started. You enter your personal info, such as name and email, upload a photo (only if you wish), then go to your profile. You even get to choose your own URL (www.crowdrise.com/whateveryouchoose) so it is easy for your family, friends, and others to find you.
Once you get registered, you add a project. You get to name the project, create a URL specifically for this project, enter information about the project, and the projected amount of money you would like to raise. There are over a million charities from which you can choose, so there should be something for everyone. But, if you can’t think of anything, you can choose one of Crowdrise’s featured charities. Choosing one of the featured charities gives you double points for every $1 you raise. You can even create a team of friends to help you raise money.
How do you raise money? Well, you can ask family and friends to sponsor you, just like you might if you were doing a walkathon. Once you’ve created your page, post the link on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you can to get the word out there. It’s important to post pictures of your project and keep your fans informed of its progress.
You can also advertise your project on the Crowdrise Community forum. You get 100 points for every vote you get from there.
Points, points, points – what are the points for? With your points, you can purchase prizes, so you not only get the good feeling that comes with helping others, you also get cool prizes. One of the prizes I saw on the page was a North Face Denali jacket, but there are also Crowdrise hats and even Apple laptops.
So what are you waiting for? Create your own Crowdrise page and start raising money for your favorite charity!