Editor’s note: This blog post is written by Craig Newmark.
craigconnects teamed up with the American Red Cross on the #perfectgift campaign this past December. The idea of the campaign was for people to tell me, and the American Red Cross, what their #perfectgift would be. This gift could be for themselves or someone else, and for each mention across the web, until December 31, 2011, I donated up to $10k to the American Red Cross. The money was used to support the purchase of military comfort kits for our troops.
The American Red Cross shared that, “We think a perfect gift would be the opportunity to show all of you the very real impact that your donations have on the people helped by Red Cross every year!” I explained that, “my #perfectgift is when I’m able to give to those who do such good stuff.”
Eileen Unger posted on my Facebook page, that her #perfectgift would be:
To take advantage of every opportunity to ‘make a difference’ and to have the voice and ability to encourage others to do the same.
Kathleen Dean wrote on the Red Cross’ Facebook page to share her story:
Many years ago, my husband asked, ‘So what do you want for Christmas?’ My reply, ‘That you donate blood on a regular basis next year.’ Adding, ‘It is the gift of life that keeps on giving.’ He did that too.
We also reached out to the community to ask who made a charitable donation on someone’s behalf as a gift this year? We received a large variety of answers.
On Twitter…
@annekbradley said,
This year , I donated to Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence, my dad’s favoriote charity, in his honor. #perfectgift
@benmangan
donated to #PolarisProject, which fights modern day slavery, in memory of [his] grandmother, Florence Mangan.
People shared photos of their #perfectgift, too.
@LaurenJJohnson shared a picture of her giving blood:
the gift that saves the day through @RedCross!
@jerryjamesstone even tweeted at Craig,
Hey @craignewmark I’d like to match your @redcross donation as the #perfectgift for the first 100 tweeps who respond to you.
Jason Wilhoite told the Red Cross that
The perfect gift would be to see 10,000 donated even if you don’t get 10,000 comments. Now that would be a great gift.
I’m happy to announce that I was able to give the full $10k.
I hope folks will keep giving now that the holidays are over. As the American Red Cross tweeted recently,
…join us in 2012 and give hope to people who need it year-round.