The Chase Community Giving (CCG) Contest is underway, and we are excited! This is an opportunity for us all to band together and help some of our small nonprofits to possibly win between $25,000 and $250,000 each! $3,000,000 will be distributed among 100 charities. In previous Chase CCG Contests, The CFIDS Association of America, the WPI, and P.A.N.D.O.R.A. have all been winners.
Just to quickly introduce ourselves, we are part of the ME (ME/CFS) Fundraising Group. This is an international group which was formed to look for opportunities to help ME/CFS/CFIDS nonprofits raise money and to support them during fund-raising efforts, as well as networking ME advocates, group leaders, and organizations to coordinate our efforts. The current focus is online contests sponsored by large corporations. We have a facebook group (
http://on.fb.me/twyeN3).
As you may have noticed, there was no poll to help decide a recommended list for the CCG Contest. Cort Johnson, at Phoenix Rising, produced a preliminary list based on the most active organizations, and the fundraising group has been gathering and processing information (not all the orgs were prompt to respond and some of them need help with various issues).
Faith, from the fundraising group, sent out letters to the eligible nonprofits asking certain questions to help the community understand the orgs and decide how to vote. Cort is kindly posting these responses under his article (
http://bit.ly/vwfsFU).
One of the advisors to the fundraising group recommended not using a poll to help form the recommendations, citing various concerns such as that the broader community might not appreciate a subsection suggesting how they should vote, and that Chase might not like it. The CCG Task Force ultimately voted not to use a poll in this way. (If any group wants to vote as a block, the members of that group could organize a poll for that purpose.)
The fundraising group is composing a list of organizations thought to be more engaged with the contest, based on the following:
they have (or are working on producing) a profile at the CCG application,
we think they are eligible to compete,
they have (or are producing) a Facebook page (less important),
they responded to us.
Other than the obvious (eligibility), we are using these criteria as an indicator that the organization is ready and able to take an active part in promoting itself to voters and able to complete the considerable paperwork requirements for CCG (they must do grant-writing twice).
The ME charities that have expressed interest and submitted the necessary info to Chase are listed here:
American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Inc. (=IACFS/ME) Chicago, IL
http://bit.ly/s48mcK http://www.iacfsme.org/
Rocky Mountain CFS/ME and FM Association Denver, CO
http://bit.ly/s5fAJh http://www.rmcfa.org/index.html FB
http://on.fb.me/uqyE5r
Cfsknowledgecenter, Inc. Wellington, FL
http://bit.ly/lkvWpU http://www.me-cfscommunity.com/ http://www.facebook.com/CFSKnowledgeCenter
Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association, Inc. Sun Prairie, W
http://bit.ly/mlmr0c http://www.wicfs-me.org/
New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Association, Inc. Florham Park, NJ
http://bit.ly/tXpa46 http://www.njcfsa.org/ FB
http://on.fb.me/sZfzJb
These two groups have expressed interest, but don't yet have their profiles up on the Chase site:
Massachusetts CFIDS Association, Inc. Quincy, MA
http://bit.ly/sJXeQ9 http://www.masscfids.org/
Enterovirus Foundation, Inc. San Francisco, CA
http://bit.ly/lzhRfi http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/ FB
http://www.facebook.com/EVForg
Additional groups listed at Chase:
CFIDS and Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program Palo Alto, CA
http://bit.ly/kfjQuZ http://www.facebook.com/pages/CFIDS-Fibromyalgia-Self-Help-Program/363603026473?ref=ts
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Fibromyalgia Org. of Georgia, Inc. Kennesaw, GA
http://bit.ly/kdavB3 http://www.cfog.us/
Connecticut Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association, Inc. Milford, CT
http://bit.ly/uqIqF7 http://www.ct-cfids-fm.org/
American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association, Inc. Tucson, AZ (Promotes research, education, and advocacy for Fibromyalgia and CFS)
http://bit.ly/rXNspc http://www.afsafund.org/
CFIDS Emergency Relief Services, Inc. Northport, AL
http://bit.ly/t5CPEn http://www.cfidsers.net/hx.html
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia & Chemical Sensitivity Wilmette, IL
http://bit.ly/jAPq2Z http://www.cfccc.net/
Fibromyalgia Coalition International Mission, KS (Provides support for persons with Fibromyalgia and CFS)
http://bit.ly/sDuISF http://www.fibrocoalition.org/pages/aboutus.html
National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Association Kansas City, MO
http://bit.ly/kkIlau
Smaller, less supported groups listed at Chase:
Black Hills Chronic Fatigue CFS and Fibromyalgia Syndrome FMS Support Group Rapid City, SD
http://bit.ly/miotT9
Tacoma Gig Harbor CFIDS and Fibromyalgia Support Group Gig Harbor, WA
http://bit.ly/l09xKa
Central Virginia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia Association, Inc. Charlottesville, VA
http://bit.ly/t7QVtl
CFSFM Support Group of DFW, Inc. (Dallas Fort Worth) Euless, TX
http://www.bit.ly/sohrk7
Doesn't want or can't take part this year (but listed at Chase):
RESCIND, Inc. Boca Raton, FL
http://bit.ly/u75QB2
National CFIDS Foundation, Needham, MA
http://bit.ly/sdn7BL
Neuro Immune Disease Alliance, Inc. Agoura Hills, CA (Fund-raises for Dr. Daniel Peterson's Simmaron Research)
http://bit.ly/kd5qCx
Dr. A. Martin Lerner Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Foundation Beverly Hills, CA
http://bit.ly/w0HfV4
As we get status updates on these or any other orgs, we will post them at the ME (ME/CFS) Fundraising Group (
http://on.fb.me/tV26Cw) and at Phoenix Rising (
http://bit.ly/tBoIOW ).
Voters should, of course, do their own due diligence to ensure organizations are eligible (again, there seems to be some confusion about this in some cases), are behaving in a sportsmanlike manner, and are organizations the voters want to support. The application is here:
https://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving?sk=app_162065369655 and the rules are here:
https://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/rules.
We would like to ask your help in supporting ME/CFS organizations in the contest. Could you please inform your members about the contest and ask them and their family members to vote for the best positioned ME/CFS organizations? We would genuinely appreciate it.
To vote, you must have a Facebook account, which is easy to set up if you don't already have one (
www.facebook.com). Then go to:
https://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving. You must "Like" and "Allow Access" to Chase Community Giving. That means you will go unsecure to Chase Community Giving site, so they will know you are an actual person. (You may need to click the "Like" button several times throughout the program.) Click on "Chase Giving" at the left side of the Chase Community Giving page.
To find the charities you wish to vote for, you can do a search for each charity in the Search Box at the Chase contest site or simply use the URLs provided above, which will take you to their voting pages. Each person gets 10 voteswhich must each be used for a different nonprofit.
Votes can be cast at any time November 8th-22nd, so this is easier than a daily vote. When you vote, you can make a comment about the organization, and you can also "Share" with your friends on Facebook and/or Twitter that you have voted. These are great ways to spread the word about your support for an organization.
We hope you will be interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to support ME/CFS nonprofits in the Chase contest. Thank you very much for any help you and the members of your organization can provide.
Sincerely,
Helen Watkinson
Janelle Wiley
Faith Wong
Members, Board of Administrators
ME (ME/CFS) Fundraising Group
. I for sure wanted to get CFSKnowledgeCenter/RMCFSA/Wisconsin/New Jersey and uh oh........brain fog territory oh yes and the AACFS (IACFS/ME) off to a great start.
