I received news at the end of January that UnLtd and 4iP, an initiative of Channel Four Television Corporation, have awarded me free funding of £5000 to help promote the concept of micro volunteering. I am indebted to their kindness, as I’ve been funding HFH from my own back pocket up til now. I think this calls for a WOOHOO!, don;t you?
During the last month or so, I’ve added several gizmos and gadgets to Help From Home, these being:
1. a Widget, which you can embed onto your website and provides a slideshow of the various opportunities featured in Help From Home.
2. a Toolbar, which you can install into your favourites browser and has all of the main web links to each micro action featured in Help From Home available to you a click away without having to visit Help From Home.
3. a Video which gives a brief introduction into the concept of micro volunteering. The special effects in the video were provided by Animoto who give who gave me a free ‘Animoto for a Cause’ account, which enabled me to have all the pizzazz that goes with a paid up pro account for free. I am indebted to their kindness.
With all this new additional technical, digital media, wizardry added to Help From Home, I entered Help From Home into Media Trust’s ‘Inspiring Voices’ awards. The award is designed for projects that are helping disadvantaged communities though the use of digital media. There will be a winner drawn every week up to the end of March. Fingers crossed with this one, but I’m hopeful of getting anywhere as I think I’m pushing the limit of their definition of the type of project they are looking for.
Life takes on funny twists and turns sometimes. Take for instance a chance remark I made in response to an article featured on i-volunteer.org.uk. The remark I made was nothing in particular, but it did bring Help From Home to the attention of the owners of the site. One thing leads to another and I’ve now been given the task of producing a fortnightly-ish mini article highlighting a different micro volunteer opportunity. It’s an experiment, so we’ll see how it goes, but this is something that as part of my vision for Help From Home, I wanted to approach newspapers/magazines with, ie a regular Micro Volunteer spot feature.
Taking about vision, I added a new webpage to Help From Home focusing on the vision that I wish Help From Home to become. This all came about from my meeting with UnLtd, a few months back, where I laid down my vision for Help From Home in an effort to obtain some free funding from them. You can now see where I intend to go with Help From Home and if you feel you can help out in anyway, then just contact me.
I have also now implemented an idea that arose from an open discussion format during a presentation I attended as part of my Runner Up prize in the ‘How to Make a Difference’ competition I entered late last year. The idea was to encourage people to send in photos of what they do in their pyjamas to change the world. This idea has been added to Help From Home’s Facebook account and once again it’s just an experiment. I don’t see it taking off just yet, but you never know.
Til next time.
