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Current News

In Cold Blood - A Nasty Public Service Announcement from the American Red Cross

If you already envy the Red Cross a bit for the ease with which they raise money in the wake of any disaster, you're probably a little embarrassed by that envy. But now you have good reason to be upset. In a nasty new ad campaign, the Red Cross is promoting blood donations by ridiculing activism. Seth Stevenson's critique of the ad is sharp and to the point. He calls the ad both insidious and unfair. I call it a disgustingly poor display of nonprofit citizenship. Furthermore, as Stevenson points out, sometimes giving to an organization that changes the world is far more effective than another bandaid, especially with an organization like the Red Cross, whose handling of the massive funds they raised after Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina have come under legitimate criticism. Ultimately, of course, we all know that social service and social change are not incompatible and that most of us support both. I hope you'll consider contacting the Red Cross about this, especially if you work on child labor or other issues ridiculed by their ad. Posted: 1/24/06; 1:20:28 PM #

South African NGO Web Awards 2006

There will be a new event at this year's ICTs and Civil Society Conference for Southern Africa: An award for NGO web sites. Once upon a time, such awards would have been based upon visual design, with the frequent result of rewarding ineffectiveness. The field has matured enough that such awards can now be firmly grounded in communication goals, with content, technology, and even visual design playing an appropriate supporting role. I've been invited to contribute my perspective to these awards and I'm excited about SANGONeT's opportunity to learn from the mistakes we've made here in the northern hemisphere. Posted: 1/24/06; 1:01:46 PM #