Nov 20, 2009

Vote for 3for5 to win $1 Million from Chase!

3for5 is participating in the Chase Community contest on Facebook. The top 100 vote-getting charities will each receive $25k. After that, a 2nd round will be held with the top 5 vote-getting charities winning $100k each.

Will you vote for us?

Just click the link above, below or click here.

Nov 17, 2009

Going Public...

We're excited to announce two great improvements to the 3for5 Network Browser.

First, you can now navigate and browse the 3for5 Movement without signing into your 3for5 account. This is especially important if you want to show your friends the 3for5 Movement but don't want to go through the hassle of sign-in to do it. To see it in action, click here.

Second, with this new enhancement comes the ability for anyone to "direct-link" to your 3for5 Movement card. That means you can send your friends a link that will take them directly to your 3for5 Movement page. To find your 3for5 page URL, just search for yourself in the public browser, and then copy/paste the URL from your browser's address bar. For an example of how 3for5 direct-linking works, have a look at my page.

Enjoy!

p.s. - as before, you can still navigate to your private 3for5 Movement page if you want to invite friends, donate, or update your profile. Just click the "My Network" button at the top of any 3for5.org page, sign-in, and you'll be there.

Nov 3, 2009

Matt Damon Wants Your Help to Move Mountains!

In the October issue of Parade magazine (inserted in Sunday newspapers across the country), Matt Damon wrote an essay about something he really cares about:

People.
"Here’s something that matters to me right now. Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation. I should probably repeat that: Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation".
Matt's story is incredible, and not because he's a superstar or famous Oscar-winning screenplay writer.

No, his story is amazing because at heart, Matt Damon is actually a regular person just like you and me.

First, he truly does care about his work for children:

"I went to Tanzania a couple of years ago...I visited a clinic where a young woman came in with her horribly sick 5-month-old son. His eyes were rolling in his head, and I thought he would die in front of me. I was shocked. I asked the doctor, 'Is he going to be okay?' And the doctor said, 'Yes, we gave him the medication to reduce his fever.' Relief ran through my body, and I got this adrenaline rush. That’s a very cool feeling: hope".


Second, Matt Damon acknowledges that helping people in need...saving people from literal death by providing them clean water when they can't otherwise get it...these are things that even superstars can't do on their own. Matt Damon recognizes that helping millions of children and billions of adults get something as simple as clean water will require the attention and efforts of millions of people who can do something to help: that's me and you (and Matt Damon, too!).

At the end of his article, Matt summarizes a vision of the future like this:

"If you give $5 and talk to your neighbor about giving $5, that's a big deal. If that conversation goes on across the country, we'll really start moving some mountains."

This is the essence of the 3for5 Movement...a united community of people who are willing to contribute a small amount of money ($5 is all it takes) and then engage friends, family, and community in a broader conversation to move mountains!

Together, we can make a difference in the lives of people without clean water, but we need to work together to get there. 3for5 is a start, and there are countless other incredible initiatives with the same goal.

Let the conversations begin!

To read Matt Damon's entire essay in Parade Magazine, click here. You can also read about Matt's trip to India with water.org CEO Gary White here. This story follows the July trip that Matt and Gary took to India to visit project sites and assess the progress of water.org's WaterCredit programs there.