Risley Ranch

Jaydoc Rock

So here's a cause I knew nothing about until my colleague, Erica Wren, told me about it: Jaydoc.  It sounds very impressive:

"Jaydoc is a free clinic supported by The University of Kansas Medical School.  Its dual mission is to provide free healthcare to the medically underserved and to provide opportunities for KUMC medical students to broaden and enrich their clinical skills under the supervision of volunteer physicians."

This Friday, May 2, at The Mission Theater, they are hosting the 2nd Annual JayRock, a benefit concert for Jaydoc.  Some cool bands are on the bill: The New Amsterdams, Broken Stools, Dead Girls Ruin Everything and Fourth of July.

The concert is open to everyone, so get your tickets online.

March for Babies

The March of Dimes is a Barkley client.  We helped them re-launch their brand in 2008.  It's been a wonderful success and a great partnership.  One of the changes we made for them was to re-brand their signature fund-raising event -- Walk America -- to "March for Babies."  The new name aligns better with their brand promise and is more identifiable with the March of Dimes. 

The Kansas City March for Babies is Sunday, May 4.  Amy, Joe and I will be walking in it.  If you're in Kansas City, I encourage you to join us.  Or you can donate on my personal page.

And I think this e-card is just a hoot!

Click here to help me reach my goal!

Technorati Tags: March of Dimes, March for Babies, Barkley, Cause, PR

Social media and philanthropy

I've been consulting with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation (GKCCF) on social media issues this year.  It's fun.  They're a group that does fantastic work in the Kansas City area and also sees the value social media can bring to not only their efforts, but the efforts of the community as well.

Laura McKnight, their President and CEO, is a personal friend and an outstanding leader.  Her team has propelled the organization into a leadership position in the community-foundation category.

What I love about working with them is how open-minded they are to exploring new ways to communicate not only with their current donors, but prospective donors and the community at large.  They are willing to take risks, to prototype, and to experiment.  And that's the best way to approach social media, in my opinion.

Here's some examples of what they've done:

Laura maintains a blog.

They've developed a MySpace profile.

They are tracking philanthropy on the web via a del.icio.us profile.

You can chat with one of their staff via Yahoo IM.

And they're working on a Facebook profile.

They are also actively monitoring the blogosphere to look for opportunities to engage with bloggers who are interested in philanthropy, especially in Kansas City.

These activities will create a solid foundation in the social media space for them and attract them to the next generation of donors -- Gen Y.  Look for the GKCCF to be leaders in this area too.

Technorati Tags: GKCCF, Philanthropy, Community Foundations, Kansas City

You're the problem (and so am I)

David Roberts hit the nail on the head in his recent Fast Company article, "Another Inconvenient Truth." He said:

"The uncomfortable fact for many green marketers--and targets of that marketing--is that genuinely going green would mean giving up most of the products and services that clutter our consumer culture. It would mean simplifying, valuing time and people over stuff. How can most products avoid the sin of the hidden trade-off? With a simple label: "You don't really need this."

Greenwashing isn't merely a result of poor labeling standards and consumer protection. It's part and parcel of an economy built on trade in material and energy waste. Until we are collectively ready to really go green, greenwashing will be with us. Naturally."

We consume.  That's what we do.  It may not be right, and it may not be sustainable, but at this point in our history as a species, it just is.  I want to help companies with their sustainability practices, but I know they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. 

So the next time you curse a company for allegedly greewashing, take a look at all the food packaging you threw away this week.  Ask yourself if you left your computer on overnight.  Check the gas mileage on the car you're driving.  Count the number of flat-screen TVs in your house.  And time yourself in the shower.  All the energy you use everyday to drive your appetite for consumables, comfort and convenience is the root cause of environmental problems today.  Don't blame corporate America for not doing enough until you're doing enough yourself.

Lee National Denim Day 2007

We have the privilege of managing the largest single-day fund raiser for breast cancer in the world: Lee National Denim Day.  We started the program, along with our client, Lee Jeans, 11 years ago.

Last year we experimented with some social media communication to help spread the word about this campaign.  This year, we've expanded those tactics significantly:

Team pages on the Denim Day site allow groups of people to manage their own mini-campaigns and socialize their experience.  I joined Mariska Hargitay's team (she's our lead ambassador this year).  We've also created a YouTube channel, a cause/group on Facebook, and a MySpace profile.

Denim Day is October 5th, so we'll be rolling out more efforts as we get into the last month of the campaign.

technorati tags: denimday, lee, leejeans

This is LA, baby

I'm in the land of smog and stars today for a meeting with our Breast Cancer 3-Day marketing partners, RadarWorks and Event 360.  I'm staying in this cute boutique hotel in West Hollywood called Farmer's Daughter.  They've taken the whole farm-thing and farmer's-daughter thing to the nth-degree, from their website to the room decor to the logo.  It's nice to see the naughty farm-girl fantasy is still alive and well in a place were reality is optional.

But what is really on my mind is water.  I read a very disturbing article about bottled water in this month's Fast Company.  And as I brushed my teeth this morning and watched the water run down the drain -- water that came from somewhere in Northern California because LA doesn't have enough here -- I was reminded of the issue of water conservation again.

Having grown up living over the largest underground aquifer in the United States, but one of the most arid regions as well, water was always on our minds.  We've never irrigated on our farm, so our farming practices were always about conserving water.  And now my family, like other Western-Kansas farmers, has taken that practice to a new level with "chemical farming."  Because ground moisture is so important and so limited (they're in their 5th or 6th year of a drought out there), you can't even disturb the ground by plowing it.  Instead, to kill weeds (which suck up water), they use chemical.

I don't know if that's good or bad.  Right now, for them to survive, it's just necessary.  And farmers are nothing if not adaptable.  And at the decreasing rate of rainfall out there, the Ogallala Aquifer isn't replenishing the millions of gallons of water taken from it for farm irrigation.  So I'd rather they chemical farm than irrigate.

So the world seemed pretty connected this morning from my little farm-themed hotel room with bottled water in the mini-bar in a water-starved city.

I joined GreenDimes to stop junk mail

I read about GreenDimes in GOOD magazine recently, and it sounded great.  Even though we're already on the do-not-call registry, I'm always looking for ways to reduce unwanted mail.  For $15, they'll get you off junk mail lists AND plant 10 trees on your behalf.  Wonderful.

If you're interested in the service (they're a for-profit company), you can join via this link, and you'll be noted as one of my friends (I don't get anything for it...just nice to know who joined because they read about it on my blog).

And P.S., if you're into cause work, GOOD magazine is outstanding.

technorati tags: GreenDimes, Goodmagazine, cause, junkmail

This Father's Day, Give Something Back: Respect

It's Father's Day this Sunday, and like usual, I'm late getting something for my Dad.  So this year, instead of the same-old, same-old, I decided to get him something with more meaning.

Our client, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, has a group of supporters called Founding Fathers.  They're a group of men that got together a few years ago to say, "Hey, we care about ending violence against women and children, and men need to step up to prevent it."  I've met many of them, and they're wonderful people.  And their ranks are growing (more than 1800 now have signed the declaration).

Each year, FVPF honors these men by running a full-page ad in the New York Times on Father's Day with the larger donors listed in the ad.  Here's our release about it.  Family violence is a costly issue to this country (financially and morally).  If you had a Dad like mine that taught me to respect all people, then try something different this year for Father's Day -- honor your Dad, like I did, at the Founding Father's site by signing the declaration and/or making a donation.

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Walk America

This Sunday is the March of Dimes Walk America event in Kansas City.  MOD is a Barkley client.  Thanks to my infrequent posts, I don't know if anyone is still reading this blog; however, if you are and you're interesting in helping the MOD in its mission "to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality, please donate at my personal walk page. 

technorati tags: marchofdimes, walkamerica, prematurity

Sheryl Crow suggests wiping our arses with one square...

to help save trees and reduce global warming.  Or you can use two or three "on those pesky occasions" when more is needed, she said on her blog (which, unfortunately, has closed comments).  Global Warming is a serious issue, I agree.  And it requires action.  But come on...this little earth-saver simply won't work for me.  And if you think it will work for you, just pull off one square the next time your sitting on the throne and ask yourself if you can do a good job with that!  I don't think so.

Crow was in Washington, DC yesterday on the last stop of her "Stop Global Warming College Tour."  If the media coverage is any indication, it looks like the tour was successful in raising awareness about the issue.  Or maybe it was her little run-in with Karl Rove that generated the news. 

So were the Rove and one-square things just publicity stunts?  If so, I guess they worked, but at what expense?  Sheryl, I love you and own all your albums, but please don't do this to your reputation.  Don't become an environmental wacko.  You've got great credibility, star power, and you really could do important things to help stop global warming.  Don't sacrifice credibility for publicity.