NEW

S

Less than one month to go before the first Twestival Local kicks off!

A few Lessons learned for selecting your local causeLet’s be clear. What we are creating with Twestival Local has never been done before. This means there is no perfect process for selecting a cause for your Twestival Local, especially as time is of the essence. However, with over 50 cities’ causes now officially approved by Causecast, we have identified a few best practices to consider.

The basic guidelines are listed on the website, but it remains somewhat flexible as we recognize that each city is different. The cause must be a registered not-for-profit and operate efficiently. We also do not permit causes itself to lead Twestival events. They can participate as volunteers, but decisions should be independent and as an external team.

One of the requirements for selecting your cause is to reach out to your community for input on the decision. This does not mean you have to do a ‘vote’. In fact, we advise that you utilize your free UserVoice account or other online polls to get ‘nominations’ only. These online services are a fantastic way to shortlist causes your community supports, but they can be easily manipulated and you may not end up with an accurate total. You definitely want to get your community behind the cause and a request for submissions will create awareness for these causes. You may also come across a great not-for-profit that you otherwise might have overlooked.

Once you have a shortlist of causes, it is suggested to sit down with your core organizing team and make a decision on the final recipient after asking yourself and causes the following questions:

1) If we gave you $5000 (replace with your fundraising goal) what would you do specifically with the money? Is there a project or purchase that can be promoted to communicate the fundraising goal clearly?

2) What are other ways we can impact your organization? Does the cause need social media training or a website for example.

It has been impressive to watch as all of you take steps to ensure your Twestival Local is selecting a great cause in your community. It is a difficult time for not-for-profits, so please be considerate and communicate your process clearly. Consider offering volunteer support to the runners-up as consolation. Once you have selected your cause please ensure you submit it for official approval on the website via ‘submit cause selection’ link.

16 a

ugus

t 09

Twestival WashingtonCause: Miriam’s Kitchen

Fundraising Goal: $10,000

The fundraising efforts will lead

directly to the launch of an evening

food program. $20 = 12 meals for

the homeless.

The team also plans to work with the

cause on their social media strategy

and introduce them to community

leaders by inviting them to the event.

Twestival BogotaCause: Fundación Nuestros Chiquis

Fundraising Goal: $2,500

Aim to make needed repairs to a

house for abandoned children whose

parents are drug addicts. Girls house:

improve the condition of the kitchen

and patio. Boys house: change the

floor of the second level of the house

from wood to tiles. They are also

involving the children in the event.

Twestival Hong KongCause: The Foreign Correspondents’

Club Charity Fund

Fundraising Goal: $3,000

This cause was selected to bridge the

gap between English and Mandarin

and reflect their bilingual event. The

money will be used to finance the

Language Training Program, which

provides opportunities for Hong

Kong's underprivileged children.

Organizer

Checklist

A few important things to get done first.

1. Put your city on the mapTwestival recently integrated a more dynamic map, so you may have noticed that your city no longer has a pink dot. We have not added all of the cities manually because we need it to be accurate. You can look under the‘organizer tools’ section on the website for instructions, or email support@twestival.com for help.

2. Write your first blog postIt is crucial that you update your Twestival.com blog with a post as this is how sponsors, volunteers and potential donors or attendees will find your event.

3. Set up a Twitter accountEach city must establish a Twitter account for their city and follow @twestivalteam for updates.

4. Reach out for volunteersPlease open your arms to additional volunteers that come through the website or Twitter. There is a role for everyone.

5. Select your cause recipientThis is the most important element of your event, so give it some careful thought. Please ask for guidance.

Put the spotlight on your cityA few cities, including Stockholm and Seattle have already started to tell their stories with video posts. In addition to vetting, we are also working with Causecast to take your video footage and create an official mashup for Twestival Local which will be played on

various media sites. This video is going to be pretty powerful, so we hope we can find a way to get video clips from everyone. Full instructions can

be found on the website in the ‘organizer tools’ section. Take a few minutes to capture some footage of what your city is doing in the next two weeks and submit them or tag them Twestival Local for us to find. If you have any creative ideas for the video, please let us know! We will also be announcing a competition later in the week for the city with the best produced video from their event.

We are here to helpThere are teams of experts in the areas of fundraising, PR, event management and regional coordinators in place to help you with any questions or issues you may have. It is important to us that you get the most of your experience with Twestival Local. Wherever possible, we will be leveraging global and regional partnerships to assist your event with sponsorship opportunities.

Please read through and keep updated with the information on the Twestival website; FAQ, Fundraising and Organizer Tools.

Fundraising & SponsorshipOne big question is how best to process donations and sponsorships. The answer varies from country to country, so it is important to have a conversation with your selected not-for-profit about this . As the cause is the recipient of the event fundraising and not the organizer, there are restrictions on what they are able to issue. Twestival is not a registered business or not-for-profit; it is a global initiative run by volunteers and therefore not in a position to issue tax receipts. Please contact your Regional Coordinator if you have additional questions. Sponsorship can go to pay for things directly rather than changing hands. It is important to keep a transparent record of all transactions.

Twestival has partnered again with Live Earth for Twestival Local. The team at Live Earth will be collecting your videos and images that you post online and tag #twestival or #twestivallocal. They will also be working closely with the cities who selected environment-related causes.

Regional Coordinators@TwestivalAfrica@TwestivalAsia@TwestivalCanada @TwestivalIndia@TwestivalLatin@TwestivalME@TwestivalUK@TwestivalUS

Support Teams@TwestivalTeam Global Fundraising Event management Public Relations

Twestival.com/organizer-tools/

Personalize your city logo.

Download the media pack

and inspire a local designer

to get creative.

twestival.com/media

Twestival DefinitionWe are excited to announce that Twitter Inc. has approved for Twestival to receive its own ‘definition’ on the official Twitter website. Definitions are located below the number of followers on individual pages. It’s a great opportunity to reach out to the Twitter community and let them know about your events!They will also be working closely with the cities who selected environmental causes.

Change your AvatarWe have partnered with Twibbon.com to feature Official Twestival Local avatars. Show your support by downloading a standard or city version.

Event Live Blogging10-13 September are going to be an exciting few days of live events.

We are partnering with ScribbleLive.com to offer you something special for your Twestival Local. Organizers will be able to project a live blogging and tweeting platform onto event walls, and it will be available for online viewing.

Publishing a BookWe are thrilled to announce a partnership with Blurb.com to produce the first Official Twestival book! What this means is that your city and local cause will be profiled in print and images on a page in the book. Each organzing team will be sent one free copy of the 240 page, 7x7” book and it is up to them to give this to their cause, a sponsor, or keep within the team. Books will be on sale from the end of September and Blurb is kindly donating $1 from every book. 100% of the profits will be going to charity: water (our 2009 global cause recipient).

We are currently putting together a global editorial team to work with your team to share those fantastic stories of how you worked with your cause.

Design CompetitionIt wouldn’t be Twestival without a friendly competition, and we have partnered again with GeniusRocket to launch a Book Cover Design Competition starting Thursday. The winning design will be chosen by public vote and announced before Sep 10th. If you know anyone interested, tell them to follow @twestival for further details.

Event TicketsAmiando.com is the official event registration and ticket sales Partner for Twestival Local. Amiando is waiving all fees to ensure that 100% of ticket sales go direct to your cause. You can link to your city page on Twestival.com with the ‘tickets’ button in the header. It is a great way to reach out to your community and capture information like @names.

Collaborate Better with GoToMeetingWe are very lucky to be partnering with Citrix Online and particularly their fantastic GoToMeeting online tools for Twestival Local. Citrix Online has made a generous contribution to charity: water and Twestival Local to ensure the vision continues through to 2010 for our Twestival Global.

The best news of all is that Citrix Online is providing one free licence of its GoToMeeting to each Twestival Local lead organizer (value $600) !!! You will be able to work collaboratively from any remote location. We will be rolling this out on Monday to the first batch of cities, so expect to hear from us very soon.

Please tweet @GoToMeeting to thank them for their support to organizers.