GiveBackMail Launches First Email Service that Donates to Charity

GiveBackMail Donates to the causes users care about every time they use email

Los Angeles, CA – May 23, 2011 – Over the last decade, we have seen a dramatic change in philanthropy and today, with the launch of GiveBackMail, another significant milestone has been reached.

Let’s face it, almost everyone uses email. But that is all they are doing – sending, receiving and in turn creating a huge profit for services like AOL, Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. Instead, what if you could use your email to providemeals for the hungry, clothes for the poor, shelter for the homeless or even funding for cancer research?

Philanthropy is no longer just for the super wealthy. While billionaires such as Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett along with Michael Bloomberg, Vinod Khosla and Mark Zuckerberg have brought philanthropy to the limelight recently with movements like The Giving Pledge, where close to 70 billionaires have committed to give away at least half oftheir wealth to charity, GiveBackMail has made it possible for us all, regardless of how much time or money we have, to get involved and give back.

Because billionaires represent less than .00000018% of the world population, GiveBackMail took a technology that the majority of us already use everyday and created a way for ordinary people to make a positive impact on the causes that matter most tothem.

“People are looking to make a difference and we have provided email users with a way to give back even if they don’t have the resources available. GiveBackMail empowers its users to make the world a better place by doing something they already do – using email,” Rambod Yadegar, Co-Founder of GiveBackMail said. “Email is the most active area of Internet usage and in 2010 alone there were over 2.96 billion active email accounts, so we knew that going in this was an area we could make thebiggest impact. What really separates us from other email service providers is allowing our users to give back to the causes they care about most. Together, we can absolutely make a measurable, positive impact on the world."

GiveBackMail is secure, easy-to-use and donates a quarter of its profits directly to the selected causes its users care about. Additionally, GiveBackMail is compatible with all major POP3/IMAP email providers and offers users advanced features not often found in free email platforms, such as:

Keep your current email address
Large file attachments up to 100MB
Unsend button
Social network and music feeds
Manage multiple accounts – works with AOL, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Gmail and all other POP3/IMAP accounts
Preview attachments without downloading

Join the GiveBackMail movement by May 31, 2011 to nominate your favorite cause to be a recipient of GiveBackMail donations. Register at https://www.givebackmail.com/Register


About GiveBackMail
GiveBackMail is a free email service that creates positive change around the world by donating to the causes users care about every time they use their email. You can keep your current email address and still take advantage of impressive features including sharing large files – up to 100MB, managing multiple accounts, previewing attachments and viewing all your social media feeds within your email platform. GiveBackMail was developed to empower people who want to help charities, but don’t have enough time or money to do so. GiveBackMail launched in May 2011 and is compatible with all existing email platforms. For a superior, simple, secure and socially conscious email system, visit www.givebackmail.com.

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/givebackmail

Vodacom Superstar: Fusing Entertainment With Global Social Good

Can entertainment be a vehicle for social good? I've written often on this blog about the emerging fourth sector of the economy, comprised of companies who allocate their capabilities and profits toward the benefit of their community and the world. Could such a model take root in the world of media as well?

Consider this intriguing philanthropic effort spearheaded by R&B superstar Akon and his partner Nickie Shapira, entrepreneur and CEO of Akonic Entertainment, their full-service entertainment company with a global focus. Together Akon, of Senegalese descent, and Shapira have created Vodacom Superstar, a sort of African answer to American Idol, all designed to support emerging singers and potential recording artists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, traditionally a center for musical talent on the continent.

As Shapira told me, "The genesis of Vodacom Superstar was born out of our desire to develop and highlight the talented youth in DR Congo. We saw the attention that DRC was getting from the USA community. However, all of it was focused on showing the horrible effects of war, and we wanted to show another face of the country."

An energetic, youth-driven talent competition in the popular vein, Vodacom Superstar began its second season in March after a wildly popular first season during which episodes ran on five of the top television channels in the country, re-airing night after night until the next episode's premiere, captivating the nation all the while.

The winner of season one, Innocent, claimed a $25,000 prize, plus the chance to record a single with Akon. The track is expected to drop in Congo on June 11th when a second season champion is crowned. You can check out Innocent's finale performance right over here.

Ultimately, though, the show is about exposure, not just for the winner but for all of the contestants, and even the judges and vocal coaches, several of whom have landed their own recording opportunities.

As you might imagine, the rigors of such a production are many. The show is shot entirely on location in DR Congo, a country with little television production infrastructure, where the American crew must cope with electrical outages, transportation problems and a host of other logistical challenges.

But the presence of the show in that nation has been a boon not just for the artists beamed onto television screens around the country, but also for a whole host of ancillary retailers and local businesses, makeup artists, hair stylists getting a chance to develop their skills and grow their own ventures.

Most striking, the venture is solely focused on its agenda of social good. Says Shapira, "In its entirety, the show is a philanthropic endeavor. Akon doesn't make money on the show. We don't turn a profit from the show as a production company. The idea is to develop the musical talent in Congo. Just as philanthropists in our country's history thought it important to foster the arts, it is important for us to help this country that had its first democratic election in 2006 and is emerging after years of war. We are cultivating a new generation of stars."

Subway Restaurants Take a Bite Out of Hunger

The Subway restaurants chain's community project has taken on the cause of two social issues: hunger and obesity, with  a unique marketing campaign Fit to Fight Hunger. Nearly 1600 restaurants in California, Hawaii and Utah will be participating in this piggyback type campaign, hoping to raise awareness for the rising needs of local food banks, while also promoting their low fat Subway Fresh Fit sandwiches and encouraging customers to make healthier eating choices.

This marketing campaign will be run in these three states with advertising in broadcast and print media and on their website, You Tube and Facebook. Fit to Fight Hunger provides information with some of the harsh statistics of hunger in the communities along with a listing of the food banks that they are supporting with their donation of over $100,000.00. There is an invitation to customers to join Subway in fighting hunger by supporting any of the 20 local food banks listed with donations of food, money, and time.

Here's what I liked about this campaign-

Subway does not tie-in buying their sandwiches with their donations to the cause. This makes their donation to the food banks philanthropic and not based on any surge of customer spending.

While their intentions are to market their healthy line of sandwiches, they are piggybacking their advertising dollars to spread the word about the cause and to create awareness for the food banks.

There purpose seems truly to be to educate and inspire customers to join them in helping the
cause by providing information about locations of local food banks.

There is no mention of which Subways are participating and which are not, so there is no perceived self interest of tying-in sales to their giving.

On the other hand- I have been to several of the restaurants this last week and have seen no mention of the Fit to Fight Hunger campaign, which means they are not directly reaching the customers. I wonder whether Subway could do more to help to promote this cause within their restaurants. While on the website they invite others to join them in fighting hunger, they do not provide any additional support for the customer to become involved other than their invitation. Finally, there is no way to assess the impact of the campaign on increasing donations to food banks. Ads are great but often forgotten.

Subway seems to be trying to makes this as clean cut a cause marketing program as possible
without mingling motives, an often problematic issue in cause marketing.

Besides, just the fight against obesity by providing low fat, yet delicious fast food is to be applauded.












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