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Since I started talking about “Changing the Conversation about Global Poverty”, a lot has changed.

People, organizations, and charities are starting to realize you can’t guilt your way into getting people to support your cause. Many charities are also starting to use the internet in a way that’s just more than uploading their TV spots.

I’ve talked about a lot of charities that are taking the lead in this. But today I’d like to talk about an unlikely source in helping to change this conversation – CollegeHumor.com.

CollegeHumor is one of my favorite sites. They’ve helped create amazingly funny videos like the Powerthirst 2 commercial, Where the Hell is Matt spoof (NSFW.. kinda), Jack Bauer in 1994, and much more.

Their recent spoof is a stab at what I consider the most annoying, guilt-inducing, charity commercial in the history of the world. First, take a look at the original (the charity has disabled YouTube embedding so that their video cannot be used in blog posts like this):

[Please Click this Link to See the Original Video]

It’s got all the hallmarks of what I hate about charity commercials. CollegeHumor’s spoof takes this on – almost phrase by phrase. They also make fun of grad students which – as a former grad student – I can especially appreciate the humor.

Sometimes criticizing something doesn’t work as well as spoofing it. Hopefully, the only time we’ll be seeing Mr. White Beard of Guilt from now on is when he’s trying to help grad students.

In January of 2008, a few months after Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, I approached a (then) relatively new and unknown charity that specialized in providing clean water to the developing world. I wanted to team up with them and repair a tube well – or perhaps build a new one.

Unfortunately, it was too late. After extensively corresponding with their volunteer coordinator, I learned that they had already left Bangladesh and were currently focusing on the water crisis in the African continent. Although they haven’t come back yet, they told me “Bangladesh is an area dear to us”. The charity? You know them as charity: water.

Even though I wasn’t able to team up with these guys, over the four months I corresponded with that organization (and even their founder Scott Harrison later that year), I was able explain a lot about my project and my philosophy and desire to change the conversation about global poverty – a theme many of you following my work may know quite well. This is an approach charity: water seems to have wholeheartedly embraced.

A few short months after I corresponded with Scott Harrison over Facebook, I noticed that charity: water posted a new video on their YouTube channel. Their new video wasn’t a TV spot or mini-documentary. Instead, it was just Scott.. standing on a roof… vlogging! What impressed me even more was what he was talking about. Taking a page out John Green’s “Nerdfighting in Bangladesh” video, Scott was vlogging about “showing exactly where the money goes”.

Top: charity: water founder Scott Harrison does his first rooftop vlog (2009), Below: I do one of my rooftop vlogs from Bangladesh (2007). This cheap, simple, and no BS approach can really be a great way to connect to people to the fight against global poverty.

That all looks and sounds familiar doesn’t it? In fact, in a recent interview Viktoria Alexeeva (the Director of Design & Branding of charity: water), basically took the words right out of my mouth by touching on the same themes I’ve been talking about for a while now:

I think one of the worst things a non-profit can do is have the poverty mentality. When it comes to asking people for donations, there are two ways to present the interests of your beneficiaries: the traditional way has been the charity case. We’ve all seen the kids with flies on their faces in bad infomercials at 2 a.m. This approach is just not effective anymore. I think one of the things a non-profit can do to get ahead of the game is present their cause as an opportunity. Which is what it really is! Every day we have the chance to buy a consumer product to satisfy ourselves in some way. It’s not every day that we have the chance to actually help another human being. The non-profit that recognizes its value in such a way will be able to blow their competition out of the water (no pun intended). Who says that charity has to be boring or a chore? I think we’re proof that it can as trendy, cool and satisfying as buying a new iPod. (source)

A good friend of mine once told me that a good idea (like my idea of changing the conversation about global poverty) can spread like a mustard seed caught in the wind. I brushed it off as flattery – but maybe that’s what is happening? Using this personal, interactive, and non-guilt inducing approach, charity: water has been able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through social media like Twitter, Facebook, & YouTube, increase it’s profile and name recognition around the world, and help hundreds of villages around the world (including Bangladesh).

Hopefully this is just the first of many charities to follow this approach.

[edit: Also congratulations to charity: water for their nomination by The Webby Awards. Both The Uncultured Project & charity: water were honored with this year's Webby Awards - with charity: water getting nominated for best charity website and Uncultured Project becoming an Official Honoree in the area of Experimental Online Film].

YouTube is more than a website to host your videos. The problem is that, especially when it comes to non-profit organizations and charities, most don’t realize that. When I first started this project, most of what I could find on YouTube on the issue of global poverty (coming from charities and non-profits) were generic TV spots, fundraising videos, and mini-documentaries that were uploaded to YouTube as an afterthought.

That’s not how you build interest in your cause….

I’ve been trying my best to change the conversation about global poverty – that is making things less guilt-inducing, less donation-obsessed, more personal, and trying to use the power of the internet in a way formal organizations aren’t. Thanks to you guys, you’ve turned this informal project (with no next to no budget) into the most popular anti-poverty related channel on YouTube. It’s good to see that a lot of formal organizations are now following suit. Since starting this project, The ONE Campaign has started a vlog (of sorts), charities like Save the Children are really stepping up, and I’m now there are gems from organizations I never knew even existed.

But that’s just the start. There is so much more to convey about what charities and orgs should be doing that just following this blog or my YouTube channel isn’t going to convey it all. Fortunately, a good friend of mine has recently come out with a book which I hope will become the definitive guide for every charity, organization, and non-profit out there seeking to advance their cause on YouTube. It’s called “YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts” and it’s available from Amazon right now.

The book devotes a chapter to charitable causes on YouTube, talks about the Project for Awesome, and talks about the importance of the YouTube community. It also includes an exclusive interview with me If you see my approach as something your organization or charity should be emulating – I highly recommend you check this book out.

[Full Disclosure: I wasn't paid for my interview in this book, I don't make a dime off of any of the sales of this book, and even the Amazon referral link I'm using isn't mine but gives referral money to one of the authors]

It’s no secret that I’ve been lucky to work closely with the great organization that is Save the Children USA. They seem to be making leaps and bounds in their attempt to change the conversation about global poverty. I absolutely love this video:

It’s a great balance of the harsh reality but also combined with a really positive and hopeful message. If you were on the fence about how great Save the Children is – hopefully this video has erased any doubt

[UPDATE: The Project 1010 guys took the video down but I'm told the a new version will be up soon. I'll fix the video link in this post when that happens.]

I recently stumbled upon this charity in Kenya called The 1010 Project. I just had to share this with you. Why? Just look at the video:

You aren’t left feeling pity or like you’ve been taken on a guilt-trip. This is how you change the conversation about global poverty.

I also want to get in touch with these guys because I want to know how they were able to get permission to use Sigur Ros’s music. A while back I tried to get permission but I never heard back from those guys…

Changing the Conversation is more than a slogan or rhetoric.

I know poverty alleviation will never take center stage on the internet. I know that on YouTube watching dramatic chipmunks, listening to chocolate rain (which I love), or hearing a (guy? girl?) cry about Britney Spears will always be more popular than watching videos about global poverty.

Heck, there are videos about Paris Hilton that are more viewed than every single poverty-related video on YouTube combined. That imbalance may never change – but that’s not the point.

I started this project because I believe people would be willing to be more involved, more concerned, and more interested in ending global poverty if we change how we talk about global poverty. For too long this message has been (mostly) dominated by those that make us feel pity for the poor, guilty about ourselves, and hopeless about solving this problem.

This project is my way of changing that.

In the coming months, the total number of video views of this project will cross one million. That will put this small project (run on a shoe-string budget, helped only by the kindness and generosity of others, and assisted along only by a meager handful of family members with big hearts) in the same league as some of the biggest and most powerful global advocacy organizations.

In fact, if this project crosses 1.5 million views, it will – as far as I can tell – be the most viewed global poverty related channel on all of YouTube – and possibly all of the internet.

Let’s change the conversation – the count to one million begins.

This project was never about fund raising – and it never will be. But I’ve talked to a lot of friends and they have all asked for the same thing: they want to be able to see where their money goes in the same way that my relatives get to see how I spend their family donations.

This kind of begs the question – why aren’t charities doing this? Even back in the 1980s (or earlier) you could sponsor a child and they would send you a picture along with some letters written by them. But come on, it’s 2008 – why can’t they send a vlog instead of a picture?

Heck, I can donate my money to my old alma mater and have a plaque on a chair in some auditorium – so I can see exactly where my money went. But if I were to donate the same amount to a charity to help build a school in the third world – I’m really left with nothing more but generic promo videos.

I believe that this is an important step in changing the conversation about global poverty. It’s in that spirit I’ve setup a PayPal account to accept donations. But please keep in mind that I’m just a private citizen and not a charity or NGO – donations to me aren’t tax-deductible.

Also, I am just one guy, your money will definitely go farther with a registered charity than with me. If you are having a hard time choosing which registered charity to give to – I have a recommended list of registered tax-deductible charities you can donate to. I’d be just as happy – if not happier – if you donated to them instead of me.

But, please, don’t take all this talk about charity and donations to mean that they are the single solution to ending extreme poverty. Political action, debt relief, and fairer trade agreements can do more than all the individual fund raising in the world.

[Full Disclosure: I should have pointed this out earlier, a few people are assuming I will be using these donations to help cover my day-to-day expenses (food, internet connection, DV tapes for filming, etc). I really - ethically - do not feel I can spend money donated to me for those purposes. It also doesn't make sense to ask others to subsidize such living expenses. At most, I may need to spend this money on travel costs if my work takes me outside of Dhaka City. I realize that most charities and NGOs use donation money to cover their food and living expenses - but like I said, I'm neither a charity or NGO.]