Don't Almost Give. Give.

How many times have you seen someone who needed help -- passed a homeless person on the street, read about a family who lost everything, intended to bring an elderly neighbor a hot meal?  But then you got busy or forgot.  If you're like me, lots and lots of times.

That's the insight behind the Ad Council's Generous Nation campaign that launched this morning.  America is the most generous society in the world.  And when our hearts are touched -- as they were by the images we saw after the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina -- we give and volunteer even more.  How, we pondered, after the hurricane images faded from the news could we continue to turn people's best intentions into action day in, day out?

The answer came (pro bono of course) from a legendary advertising team lead by Phil Dusenberry who headed creative at BBDO for over 25 years.  He went to his longtime colleagues Ted Sann and Charlie Meismer.  When they read our brief, they created a poignant campaign to turn "Almost Givers" into "Givers".  The TV spots show people in need and the voice over talks about the people who almost helped.  But they didn't.  The spots end with the line "Don't Almost Give. Give." and feature the website www.DontAlmostGive.org.  The website was designed pro bono by Tribal DDB.  Go to the website and view the ads -- and find out about giving while you're at it!

The website is a portal that allows visitors to select issues they are passionate about and find non profit organizations that address these issues.  It also allows people to search by zip code tens of thousands of non profits to donate or volunteer in their community utilizing links to three major web aggregators.

While the Ad Council has been around for over six decades, this is the first time we know of that it has funded all the "out of pocket" costs associated with a campaign.  Usually the non profit whose logo is on the PSA pays for them.  But we felt that this was bigger than one organization and wanted to benefit the entire non profit community.  Our hope is that by stimulating giving, all boats will rise.

The Generous Nation campaign reminds me that our founding fathers called the Ad Council "Advertising Gift to America."  So true.

Comments

[Matthew Blumberg]

Hi Peggy. I wonder how our organization, GridRepublic ( www.gridrepublic.org ), can become a participant in the Generous Nation campaign, and become listed on the www.dontalmostgive.org website.

GridRepublic is an example of a new form of philanthropy-- we don't primarily seek money or volunteer labor (though of course these things are much appreciated); we ask volunteers to run a program much like a screensaver, which enables them to lend the power of their computers to research projects they wish to support, when these machines are not otherwise in use.

By aggregating unused computing time from participants around the world, we create a massive supercomputer and so facilitate groundbreaking research in biology, medicine, climate study, physics, and many other scientific areas.

It's so easy to participate, it takes so little effort, and yet so much good can be done. It's a great example of the the power of small deeds, of how little things add up: the projects available through GridRepublic, taken together, are already providing more processing power than the largest computer in the world.

Most people I know of who hear of the possibility are glad to contribute; we just need to get the word out. Hence my interest in joining the Generous Nation campaign.

Thanks and Best Wishes,

...Matt Blumberg

[Anthony Sansone]

Your article claims that America is the most generous society in the world. What do you mean by "generous"? And toward whom is this generosity directed towards? Here is an interesting fact. Norway allocates 1.0% of its GDP to foreign aid. This is the highest percentage among the fully developed nations, bar none. Again, not being sure of what you mean by "generous", in terms of foreign aid (as a percentage of GDP) it is Norway, and not the USA, that provides the most aid to other nations. In fact, the USA ranks dead last among the developed nations in % of GDP allocated for foreign aid. The USA gives away 0.13% of GDP (a little more than one tenth of one percent),the bulk of which goes, in order,to Israel, Egypt, Columbia and Turkey in the form of military assistance. Most of this "foreign aid" provided by US taxpayers going to these countries is used to buy military hardware produced by US corporations. Surely this is not what you mean by "generosity"?

[Nina Flower]

Just a historicla note: the Council sponsoreda campaign in l950 to promote the American Economic System abd distributed millions of copies of a booklet entitled the Miracle of America to schools, etc. Tried it again in the 80's with a Prodcutivity campaign which never got off the ground.

[Frank Porter]

I want to reply to Anthony Sansone's post. In response to the Tsunami, the US goverment provided $900 million dollars in aid and individual Americans gave more than $2 billion. That is what they mean when they say Americans are generous.

[Paul Connell]

In response to Frank Porter's comment: On a per-person basis, America ranks in 20th place in terms of generosity.

Re the article itself: I love America, but please brush up on your arithmetic before proclaiming nonsense such as America being the most generous in the world. If a group of 10 people donates $4, and another group of 5 people donates $3, which group is more generous?