[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. This is the second from Scott Beale; you can also read his first post.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

A lot has happened since my last blog entry on NTEN so let me bring you up to speed. My name is Scott and I am the founder of Atlas Corps, a new international organization that brings nonprofit leaders from the global south to volunteer in the U.S. for one year (some call it a "Reverse Peace Corps"). We have decided to enter America's Giving Challenge in an effort to motivate a large number of people to give us $10 (or more) donations in order to win $50,000. We have entered in the GlobalGiving category, because we are a very international organization, despite our U.S. 501(c)3 status.

I am excited to share that we've gotten off to a great start: we are in first place with 171 people. This is what we've been able to do so far:

A Great Start!

We met our goal of 100 donors before Christmas and 150 donors before New Year's Eve; these donors have given $40, on average. Not only does this put us in the number one spot in the GlobalGiving race, but it also means over $6,200 donated.

Some of this is old donors giving online, but many of the donors are new. The contest gives people a reason to mail their friends and family, asking them to donate to Atlas Corps, which they might not otherwise have done. This raises more money, spreads the word, and expands our base.

Last year we had about 400 individual donors -- not too bad for a pilot year -- and I'll bet with this contest and our growing organization, we may be able to double that number this year. I was even interviewed by BBC last week (another positive spinoff of the competition) and filmed a short youtube video about the competition.

Motivate the Motivated

The strategy that has worked best for us is the distributed ask: asking people to ask their friends to donate. Ruth Taylor Kidd, our Chief Financial Officer, has asked a number of people to donate and both of her parents gave! Kimi Wetterauer, the U.S. Program Director, asked her 93-year-old grandparents to donate and they both gladly obliged. One of our volunteers in Bogota, Colombia (Juana Perea) asked her friends and family to donate on the occasion of her birthday. A friend in Seattle, Tegan Tigani, included information about Atlas Corps at her holiday party.

All of these people, and more, have given us a very strong start.

Challenges Faced

We've faced two big challenges so far. First, the site does not let you know the last names of the people who donate (or the amount), so we cannot keep track of exactly who contributes. I am certain we will eventually get the full list with contact information, but I hate asking the same person twice to give (which has happened) and I hate not sending "Thank You" notes within a week, especially for large donations. Furthermore, if people give a large check, or any check, they probably want to be recognized online, otherwise they would have clicked the box to remain anonymous.

The second challenge has been that due to the holidays, people are either not focused on these types of things or perhaps they already did their end of year donation. But that is changing.

Off to the Races

Our theory all along has been that January will be the race and December is just an opportunity to get a head start. With just four weeks to go, we are ready for the run and excited about the opportunity. Atlas Corps has an ultimately sustainable financial model -- the U.S. Host Organizations pay a cost-share for each overseas volunteer that will eventually cover the program expenses -- but since we are still in our pilot year and working hard to overcome early-year fundraising challenges, this contest will help a lot.

I am hopeful we have a chance to stay in the top position (with your help!) and think this is a wonderful Holiday challenge from the Case Foundation, PARADE Magazine, GlobalGiving and all of the partners involved!

Stay tuned for more updates from Scott Beale.