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List of ME/CFS charities as potential Chase nominees?

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Please help come up with a list of eligible ME/CFS charities that nominators can look for in the Chase database starting 12 June.

Check the eligibility rules in the earlier thread about the Chase Giving contest.

Does someone have a list from previous contests and organization contact info?

Thank you.
 

frenchtulip

Senior Member
Messages
760
My eyes are working a bit better now, and I see in the rules that previous winners are not eligible. Yes, I do have a list. Let's see if I can pull it up.
 

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
My eyes are working a bit better now, and I see in the rules that previous winners are not eligible. Yes, I do have a list. Let's see if I can pull it up.

Good, thanks.

If I remember correctly what I read earlier, the nominators can nominate as many charities as they like. So if the charities in your list are in the Chase database, then I will nominate them. Then if Chase accepts the nominations, the charities have to accept the nomination to continue in the contest. I'll read the rules again. And again.
 

frenchtulip

Senior Member
Messages
760
This is a list from last year's contest. (Some were listed but did not actively participate.) I am trying to think where I can easily find contact info. I'm pretty sure I have it in my email account. I will work on that. But here is a list of orgs. If I remember correctly, the top four fell off the leaderboard and out of winning position right at the last minute:

Rocky Mountain CFS/ME and FM Association Denver, CO
Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association, Inc. Sun Prairie, WI
New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Association, Inc. Florham Park, NJ
Enterovirus Foundation, Inc. San Francisco, CA
Connecticut Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association, Inc. Milford, CT
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Fibromyalgia Org. of Georgia, Inc. Kennesaw, GA
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia & Chemical Sensitivity Wilmette, IL
Neuro Immune Disease Alliance, Inc. Agoura Hills, CA (Fund-raises for Dr. Daniel Peterson's Simmaron Research) (Last year didn't qualify because they don't do any of their own research; we could check this year to see if that has changed)
Simmaron Research, Reno, NV (We could check on their status--if 501(c)(3) and also listed at www.guidestar.org as of 12/31/2011)
Blackhills Chronic Fatigue CFS and Fibromyalgia Syndrome FMS Support Group Rapid City, SD (Unable to contact by email)
Central Virginia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia Association, Inc. Charlottesville, VA
Dr. A. Martin Lerner Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Foundation Beverly Hills, CA (status had changed; he seemed interested, but his org didn't seem to qualify; we could recheck)
American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association, Inc. Tucson, AZ (Promotes research, education, and advocacy for Fibromyalgia and CFS)
Fibromyalgia Coalition International Mission, KS (Provides support for persons with Fibromyalgia and CFS)
National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Association Kansas City, MO
CFIDS Emergency Relief Services, Inc. Northport, AL (Unable to contact)
Tacoma Gig Harbor CFIDS and Fibromyalgia Support Group Gig Harbor, WA (Unable to contact by email)
Helping Our Pain and Exhaustion, Inc. Novi, MI (Promotes knowledge and awareness of Fibromyalgia and CFS)
CFIDS and Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program Palo Alto, CA
National CFIDS Foundation was eligible but did not wish to participate.

Phoenix Rising and O.F.F.E.R. are probably eligible this year. Last year they had not been listed at guidestar.org as of 12/31/2010.
Other possibilities for this year:
CFS Solutions of West Michigan
Vermont CFIDS Association
 

frenchtulip

Senior Member
Messages
760
Marly Silverman sent out an email to members of the Coalition 4 ME and others about the Chase Contest. So they should know about it. We could easily post on Facebook pages for some of the others. I do have email addresses for the leaders in most cases. I will send the info to Dr. Bateman at O.F.F.E.R. (I think she's too busy to check FB pages often.) The CT Assn. which got quite a few votes last year (a bad start as power was out in some parts of the state for many weeks). CT is not on Facebook, but I have an email address for the leader. I will go ahead and post a link to the Chase Contest on non-profit FB pages and send to CT, OFFER, Dr. Bruce Campbell's CFIDS and Self-Help Program in Palo Alto, CA (last year I heard back from him, but he opted not to participate because of the short notice.) I hope this sounds okay. If not, please let me know. I think our goal at this point is to get word out to every org that might be interested in participating. Right? Then we may need to develop some sort of voting strategy as the voting is more complicated this year.

I am slightly crashed today because of yesterday's yard work and am also hoping to get a letter ready for the CFSAC meeting which is due in tomorrow. I will do as much posting on FB as possible today. If someone would like to send a message about the Chase Contest to co-cure.org, that reaches a lot of leaders.
 

Aileen

Senior Member
Messages
615
Location
Canada
The best voting strategy as far as the dreaded "bonus votes" goes is for everyone to pick a partner. You both vote and then link back to each others' pages to give the other person their bonus vote. This way each person gets the all-important bonus vote with no wasted ones due to more than one person linking back to the same person's page.

Make sure you stress to each person that you get to vote to do the same. Help them find someone to link back to if you have to as we cannot afford to waste votes. There were A LOT of wasted votes last time with "gift votes". :(
 

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Marly Silverman sent out an email to members of the Coalition 4 ME and others about the Chase Contest. So they should know about it. We could easily post on Facebook pages for some of the others. I do have email addresses for the leaders in most cases. I will send the info to Dr. Bateman at O.F.F.E.R. (I think she's too busy to check FB pages often.) The CT Assn. which got quite a few votes last year (a bad start as power was out in some parts of the state for many weeks). CT is not on Facebook, but I have an email address for the leader. I will go ahead and post a link to the Chase Contest on non-profit FB pages and send to CT, OFFER, Dr. Bruce Campbell's CFIDS and Self-Help Program in Palo Alto, CA (last year I heard back from him, but he opted not to participate because of the short notice.) I hope this sounds okay. If not, please let me know. I think our goal at this point is to get word out to every org that might be interested in participating. Right? Then we may need to develop some sort of voting strategy as the voting is more complicated this year.

I am slightly crashed today because of yesterday's yard work and am also hoping to get a letter ready for the CFSAC meeting which is due in tomorrow. I will do as much posting on FB as possible today. If someone would like to send a message about the Chase Contest to co-cure.org, that reaches a lot of leaders.

Very good, frenchtulip. Thanks so much. The sooner the organizations know about the contest and what they will need to do to accept nominations, the better. People can pace themselves.

Please take care, frenchtulip.
 

Aileen

Senior Member
Messages
615
Location
Canada
Ok, thanks for the advice, Aileen. Right before the voting starts in September, could you please remind us?
Absolutely, Merry. You'll be hearing from me. :) Rocky Mountain worked really hard last time. I can't remember if they won or not. If they didn't, they are one we should really get behind I think.
 

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
This is a list of the organizations that are not eligible this year because they have already won Chase grants:

PANDORA
CFIDS Association of America
WPI
CFS Knowledge Center
Massachusetts CFIDS Association
IACFS/ME

I compiled the list from the thread about contest wins. The thread is called "Trophy Board" or something like that in the Fundraising subforum.
 

frenchtulip

Senior Member
Messages
760
I have emailed or posted contest link on these Facebook pages: CFIDS Assn., Simmaron Research, CT CFIDS, O.F.F.E.R., Dr. Campbell at CFIDS and Fibro SELF-HELP, NJCFSA, Hunter-Hopkins, Rocky Mountain CFMA, VT CFIDS, Wisconsin assn., CFS Solutions of West MI, and Enterovirus Foundation. Also, posted on May 12th International ME/CFS Awareness Day and Planners for International Awareness Day FB pages. We probably should send to all the previous winners in case they would like to nominate. PANDORA and CFIDS Assn. already have the info. (prob. also cfsknowledgecenter as that org is in the Coalition 4 ME/CFS and Marly sent a letter with contest info to them). I should post info on CFOG (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibro of Georgia) on the website contact site. Also, need to send to founder of Neuro Immune Disease Alliance (rules may have changed so they now qualify or they may be doing some of their own research and now qualify). The status of Dr. Martin Lerner's Foundation had changed last year and it seemed it probably wouldn't qualify. Maybe we should check back with him. He was good to respond.) Info is also on the ME/CFS Fundraising Group page on Facebook.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
I'd love to see people get behind the four orgs who only just missed out last year. It really wonldnt have taken those orgs much more votes at all to have won.

"Rocky Mountain CFS/ME and FM Association Denver, CO
Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association, Inc. Sun Prairie, WI
New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Association, Inc. Florham Park, NJ
Enterovirus Foundation, Inc. San Francisco, CA "

Maybe we need to work out a better plan then last year as other then the 6-8 orgs people were tending to vote for.. I myself didnt know which other few to vote for as well.

Maybe the ME/CFS communities could make a pact to vote for a certain set 10 (the 10 which seem most likely to probably have a chance) .. that would leave us with whatever ones who miss out, to vote for next year and benefit the ME/CFS communities the most.
It would also be good to know before the competition starts, which orgs will be actively participating and encouraging their members to do so (as some orgs last year.. only a few voted for).
 

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Sounds good, tania. Some such strategy will have to be developed for the vote in September. But for the nomination process, I am willing to look in the database for all of the organizations mentioned in the thread and nominate them.

·Nomination Period: From June 12, 2012 to July 9, 2012, Chase Customers with a Chase online account, and Chase employees (“Eligible Nominators”) can nominate any charity that is listed on www.ChaseGiving.com (“Potential Charities”) for the Programs. In order to nominate a charity, Eligible Nominators will be required to complete a nomination form. On or about August 6, 2012, any Potential Charities that were nominated and fulfilled the eligibility requirements (“Eligible Nominated Charities”) will move on to the Charity Acceptance Period. At least 2,500 charities will be invited to move onto the Charity Acceptance Period and the Voting Period.

·Charity Acceptance Periods:

·Early Charity Acceptance Period: From August 6, 2012 through August 30, 2012 (“Early Charity Acceptance Period”), all Eligible Nominated Charities will have the opportunity to accept the nomination for the Programs. All Eligible Nominated Charities who accept the nomination for the Programs as described below by August 30, 2012 will equally share a $2.5 million grant. The $2.5 million grant will be equally divided between all of the Eligible Nominated Charities who accept the nomination by the August 30, 2012 deadline.
 

Aileen

Senior Member
Messages
615
Location
Canada
I'd love to see people get behind the four orgs who only just missed out last year. It really wonldnt have taken those orgs much more votes at all to have won.

"Rocky Mountain CFS/ME and FM Association Denver, CO
Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association, Inc. Sun Prairie, WI
New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Association, Inc. Florham Park, NJ
Enterovirus Foundation, Inc. San Francisco, CA "

Maybe we need to work out a better plan then last year as other then the 6-8 orgs people were tending to vote for.. I myself didnt know which other few to vote for as well.

Maybe the ME/CFS communities could make a pact to vote for a certain set 10 (the 10 which seem most likely to probably have a chance) .. that would leave us with whatever ones who miss out, to vote for next year and benefit the ME/CFS communities the most.
It would also be good to know before the competition starts, which orgs will be actively participating and encouraging their members to do so (as some orgs last year.. only a few voted for).
If I recall correctly, last time we each got 10 votes. This time around, if I am reading the rules correctly, we only get 3 (assuming we manage to get our "bonus vote"). That means many people will only get 2 votes each. So I think we are going to have to focus on a smaller number of groups this time around if we want anyone to get anything.

It is important that those groups be really interested in participating and working hard to get votes. I think we should try to only nominate groups who have confirmed that they really, really want this so that votes aren't wasted on groups that aren't trying and won't have a chance. We have seen how quickly we can fall in the standings in just a short time, especially near the end.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
If I recall correctly, last time we each got 10 votes. This time around, if I am reading the rules correctly, we only get 3 (assuming we manage to get our "bonus vote"). That means many people will only get 2 votes each. So I think we are going to have to focus on a smaller number of groups this time around if we want anyone to get anything.

It is important that those groups be really interested in participating and working hard to get votes. I think we should try to only nominate groups who have confirmed that they really, really want this so that votes aren't wasted on groups that aren't trying and won't have a chance. We have seen how quickly we can fall in the standings in just a short time, especially near the end.

ahh.. if we have far less votes this time it certainly really changes things.

I remember the Rocky Mountain one really tried hard last time to get people to vote for them. (were they the ones who missed out by only about 100-120 votes?)

I suggest to do an online poll eg it could be set up here on the various orgs and which people would vote for in the comp.. before the next competition .... .. that way we could also see which orgs are going to have a good chance before we all get voting and can focus on what the top groups would be from the start.

(only issue would be PR would show up higher on this site then a poll set up elsewhere.. so we'd need to be aware that may be not a true representation of how people from other sites may vote as far as PR goes...but it would give us a good awareness for the rest of the orgs and how they'd probably rank in votes in the ME/CFS communities).
 

Merry

Senior Member
Messages
1,378
Location
Columbus, Ohio, USA
I think we should try to only nominate groups who have confirmed that they really, really want this so that votes aren't wasted on groups that aren't trying and won't have a chance.

Hi, Aileen. As I said in the other thread, could you explain why only a few groups should be nominated? I understand why it will be important in September to focus on a few, but do you mean also for the nomination process that starts 12 June? Thanks.
 

Aileen

Senior Member
Messages
615
Location
Canada
Hi, Aileen. As I said in the other thread, could you explain why only a few groups should be nominated? I understand why it will be important in September to focus on a few, but do you mean also for the nomination process that starts 12 June? Thanks.
I think the problem is this. Let's say you have 10 groups who are interested and agree to do the stuff Chase wants done. So we nominate 10 groups. Now it is time to vote. But ... we only have 2 or 3 (if we're lucky) votes. Most of our community won't vote for various reasons. Many who do vote won't ask anyone else to. That is a small voting pool.

If you have 10 groups, people from each group will vote for their group. That splits a lot of the core support 10 ways right off the bat. Then we put notices on forums. We may tell people who to vote for but they may go to Facebook and forget who they are supposed to be voting for. They then vote for the first of our groups they come across or can think of that is on the list. They may be the ones in 9th and 10th place of our 10 charities. Not good. Someone else will do the same thing but vote for 2 different charities. More vote splitting. And heaven knows we are not good with either remembering things or instructions, no matter how simple. See the potential problem?

The smaller the number of our charities to choose from the better. Because Chase customers can earn up to 5 votes, I really think we should try to limit the number to 5 maximum. This is not entirely within our control of course. The charities will make sure they are entered if they want to be. But let's not do it for them. Let's make sure that we get 5 in that really want that money badly and are willing to work hard to get it. I hope that makes sense.
 

frenchtulip

Senior Member
Messages
760
I heard back from Dr. Bateman. She will ask the O.F.F.E.R. board members if any of them are Chase customers so they can do the nomination.

I do believe we will have to focus on very few in the end to try and get some winners. I do think all org's should know about the contest and have the opportunity to get a nomination in. The international vote was crucial last year. IACFS/ME got the most votes among ME/CFS charities. cfsknowledgecenter (probably had a lot of international members) got the second greatest number followed by Massachusetts (I believe they managed to get some votes in from Japan). I suspect that international voters will be looking to vote for org's that can help people worldwide--like those that support research efforts. If Dr. Daniel Peterson's Simmaron Research is eligible this year, it could do well (I think it's too new and was not listed at guidestar as of 12/31/2012). NIDA supports research being done by Simmaron, but last year did not qualify because they do not do their own research. O.F.F.E.R. does some research and has Dr. Bateman's international reputation to help. Phoenix Rising probably has many international users and could have a great chance. Our state org's are excellent. But it's going to be tough competing with org's that have operating budgets of up to ten million. And votes are more limited for most of us this year.

If I'm not mistaken, we got 10 votes two years ago, and then Chase gave us only five last year (maybe we also got an extra vote).