UP | uncultured project

A few months back, I was contacted by the brilliant Dr. Michael Wesch. If you don’t know who he is – he’s basically writing the book (literally & figuratively) on what it means to form and be a community on the internet. This video with over a million views is one of Dr. Wesch’s most well known online works.

Dr. Wesch had contacted me because one his students is doing a term-long research project on me and the uncultured project! It’s a very surreal experience. It just seemed like yesterday I was the one doing term papers and calling up people to interview as part of my research. Now I’m the one being interviewed.

But this project isn’t about me – it’s about you guys. And I need your help.

Danielle Vaughn (the student doing the research project) has asked people to let her know why it is you support the uncultured project. Part of her report will have a video component to it, so she’s asking for people to submit video responses on YouTube to this video that she made.

I’m hoping you can help Danielle out – not just because I know how hard it is to research these things, but also because this helps me as well. For much of the time I’ve been doing this project, I’ve been guessing, assuming, or piecing together why you guys support this project.

This is a perfect opportunity for me to learn from you guys and learn what you like about UP. Not just that, but it’s also an excellent opportunity for me to have concrete feedback on certain things I should keep in mind as I move forward with this project.

For example, in this above response, I learned that the fact that I’m not selling anything and that I’m not asking for huge amounts of cash is important. I now have something I can cite the next time someone insists I should start selling t-shirts or that I should “take my work to the next level” and focus on big fundraising campaigns.

I won’t lie: the landscape of charities, non-profits, and people wanting to make a difference are changing. When I first uploaded my first video on YouTube, most charities & orgs were still only using YouTube digitize and store their TV spots. There wasn’t anything by which to compare my efforts to.

Now major charities are vlogging, creating creative online content, and interacting with their supporters. And, more often than makes sense to me, I’m told (in private) that my work is cited as the “one to beat” or the “one to copy” in boardrooms and briefings of some of the biggest (and smallest) charities.

This little project is getting less unique by the day – and maybe that’s for the better. And so this research project is a great way to put together what made this project unique in the first place – and what I can continue to build on.

[And, sidenote to charities reading this, what's with the competition? Why hire someone to copy me when I'll team up with you for free. I work for food, shelter, and enough logistical support to get the job done. Charity work doesn't need to be as competitive as many of you make it to be.]

I wrote “Is it really supposed to be this hard?” mostly for myself. I had written it in stream of conscious in a text file (offline) but decided to post it as a blog post partly because I was sleep deprived and partly because it didn’t seem too terribly written

But it must be said: I love what I do.

When you’re in college or school, you can sometimes find yourself pulling all-nighters. Why? Because you need the good grade, you don’t want to fail, and want your degree. At an office, you can sometimes find yourself working late into the night. Why? Because your boss wants something done and you don’t want to lose your job.

With this project, there is no one grading me, I get no degree, and I have no boss. And, unless you count the few pennies I earn from AdSense, I don’t earn any money from the work I do. I do this not for a degree, a deadline, a title, or employment. I do it because I fraking love what I do – and I love it enough to do it for free in the face of a gazillion frustrations.

But there is a reward in this. When I come up with some new way to connect you guys in the fight against global poverty, when I’m able to tell a story that’s never been told, and when I’m able to make a difference in the life of someone, some family, or some village that’s never been done before – all the frustrations, facepalms, and headdesk moments become insignificant.

When those moments happen, it feels like I could endure each and every roadblock & hurdle a hundred times over.

Is it really supposed to be this hard? That’s the question I find myself asking this morning. And by “morning” I mean that the sun is starting to come up. I didn’t sleep at all last night. Or the night before. In fact, I spend almost every waking hour of every day working on this project – and I keep at it until my eyes can’t stay open anymore.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

I wish I could say there’s a gazillion videos that I’ve been able to upload to YouTube to show for all this time I’ve spent working – but there isn’t. The fact is I have the daunting task of editing over 100+ hours of high definition footage, spanning 3 years, and 5 continents and turning them all into nicely edited and captivating videos of 3 to 5 minutes in length. And I’ve just scratched the surface.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

Part of the problem is that, especially with the kinds of stories I want to tell, I find it best if my videos are timed to music. In fact some of the most popular stories I’ve told are ones which have strong musical pieces to them. But the problem is that, finding such music is nearly impossible. When I do find a song that would tell a good story – 9 times out of 10 it’s something copyrighted.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

In between searching the multitudes of copyright-free music for that one song that might fit the video I’m trying to make at the moment, I’m trying to get my foot in the doors with various charities. Having proved the value and interest of what I’m doing, I would have hoped that it would be easier to team up with international NGOs and charities. But, even with charities I’ve worked with, every new project is like starting from square one.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

In between, trying to network with charities and trying to edit videos and trying to find copyright free music that I can use, I’m keeping track of your donations.  After all, it’s one thing to make a mistake when it’s my just Xbox 360 savings – it’s another thing when it’s your donation. On top of that, I have to make sure I log how I spend each donation, make sure I get as many receipts as possible, and make sure I do both well to keep any potential tax man at bay.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

Making the donations aspect even more complicated is the fact that I’ve started to accept donations for operations & equipment. To be honest, such donations have left me in a frozen panic. I desperately need new equipment – but there just isn’t enough money for everything (even with a new generous sponsor that I tweeted about back in December). I’m faced with a daunting prospect – do I spend the money on what I need now (like equipment) or do I save it for what I need later (like operational costs in the field)?

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

On top of this, I have the crazy idea of growing this project – not just keeping it afloat. One of the ways I’ve been trying to do this is by getting friends involved. Whether it’s a friend whose spent some of your donations while on a service trip (like Matt in Uganda) or a friend who offered to help me find (or make) some music to use in my videos. What should be helping me take a load off and make things easier – actually does the opposite as I now have to make sure my friends stick to (but often slip on) various deadlines.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

The same question keeps ringing in my head because, at least from what I can see, it sometimes feels like I’ve somehow miraculously found the hardest possible path with the greatest possible hurdles. It would have been so much easier if all I did was fund raise for things from home, didn’t care to film things, didn’t care to edit, or didn’t care to ensure your donations were not going into my pocket. But it’s more than that.

I follow a lot of charities, founders of charities, aid workers, and celebrities on Twitter. Maybe it’s a case of the grass is greener on the other side – but it seems like they have a hell of an easier time than me. Celebs, as I’ve talked about before, need only pick up a phone and a charity will be at their beck & call. Whereas I spend weeks writing proposals and ask favors from every contact I have for such opportunities. Especially in Canada, even many charity founders are mini-celebs in and of themselves – so they travel the world and a TV crew follows them. That sure must make things easy.

And, a lot of the time, it just feels like my work is pulling me in so many different directions that I’m not sure what to tackle first. If I try and find music to use – my video editing falls behind. If I try and network with a charity – than everything else falls behind (and there are tons of false leads too). It just seems like… there aren’t any big breaks coming. And I’m not sure if this is just a hump or if it’s an endless downward spiral.

Is it really supposed to be this hard?

Sometimes I wish I was a celebrity. Not for the fame. Not for the fans. Not even for the money. But rather, if I was a celebrity and wanted to help people in any country, all I’d have to do is pick-up a phone and a charity would be at my beck and call.

The Front Door for Many Charities

The sad reality is that, even when I’m on location, it can be an uphill battle to team up with large reputable charities. This is regardless of how many times I get my foot in the door, regardless of how many views I can help them get on YouTube, or how many of your donations I can send their way.

I’m not going to bad-mouth any particular charity. But, needless to say, in the hours, days, and weeks since an earthquake struck Haiti, I’ve been working to contact every reptuable international charity out there. If you can think of them – I’ve probably called, emailed, tweeted, or talked to them.

All of them, with maybe one (or two) exceptions, are not interested in teaming up.

Continue reading ‘Do Charities Need Celebrities?’

Hi! If you just found this website because of this CNN.com article let me give you a quick introduction. I’m Shawn and “The Uncultured Project” isn’t a charity, organization, or anything formal. Think of it as “citizen journalism” meets “citizen philanthropy”.

I raise funds online (as an individual – alas, not tax deductible) and I give 100% of what I raise away to charitable causes. And I mean 100% – I even have a friend who covers the PayPal fees of your donation (for now at least). I then show you were the money goes via YouTube and/or Twitter. Sometimes both as you can see in this video.

Most of my work focuses primarily on Bangladesh because I have an ancestry there and still have a few aunts & uncles who live there (although they’ve kinda shunned me for pursuing a project like this – but that’s another story). But, poverty exists everywhere – even around your street corner. That’s why I decided to focus on the LA Regional Food Bank – you don’t need to go overseas to help people.

If you have a few minutes to spare, you can watch my food bank video by clicking here (it’s 3 minutes long). If you want to know more about “The Uncultured Project” you can watch this (it’s also 3 minutes). And if you have a bit more time, please do check out this video of a water project I did in Bangladesh that took over a year to complete (it’s a 4 minute video).

If you are wondering how to support my work – well, donating isn’t the biggest way. The biggest way is by helping me build a bigger voice on YouTube. Please consider signing up for a YouTube account (it’s free) and subscribing to my channel on YouTube. The bigger the voice this project can get, the better the chances that sustainability and more opportunities can come around the corner.

I also want to give a shout-out to my friends Hank & John Green (who were also quoted in that article). Without Hank & John, I wouldn’t have started to accept online donations from the public (they also get automatically notified every time you make a project donation). Also a huge thanks to my friends working at YouTube (many of whom I got to meet IRL) who made this interview with CNN possible.

Stick around. There are lots of hurdles – but I’m positive the best is yet to come.

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how sites like FirstGiving (and JustGiving, Facebook Causes, etc) are a great way for web savvy people to raise money for their favorite charities and non-profits. What most people might not know, is that such sites charge a service fee for every dollar donated. I’m not at all against people earning a living from innovative services – even if those services are meant for charitable uses.

Rather, I was hoping to start a discussion on what is a reasonable service fee for being a middle man. In my original article, I pointed out charities like Save the Children (a vast international charity with staff in thousands and offices around the world) takes only 8% for their overhead costs. Sites which act like a fundraising middle man, like FirstGiving for example, can sometimes charge service fees as high as 7.5%.

Many of you left great comments – both on the original blog post and in the version of this that is attached to my facebook profile. I’m honored that FirstGiving also decided to make an official comment, which I’m including here:

On January 20th, Henry Green was born to John & Sarah Green. Henry’s parents, the generous spirits that they are, asked their friends, family, and well-wishers to forgo the standard deluge of baby presents. Instead, they asked people to make a donation to help fight malaria through Malaria No More.

Malaria No More is one of the world’s leading charities fighting malaria in Africa. For exactly $10, they can protect an entire sleeping site from malaria for up to five years. As of the writing of this post, donations on behalf of Henry Green are now enough to protect over 250 sleeping sites (or an estimated 1,000 people).

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, of the 250 sleeping sites that Malaria No More could be helping with this donation, only 231 sleeping sites will be served. That’s an estimated 75 people (most likely much more) that won’t be (but should be) sleeping under a mosquito net.

Find out more after the jump…

Continue reading ‘The Rise of the Middle Man in Fundraising’