10/2/09: Disaster Accountability Project wins $1000 in Social Media Competition
October 2, 2009
Contact: Ben Smilowitz, 314-761-7631
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Disaster Accountability Project wins $1000 in Social Media Competition
Watchdog received hundreds of comments about importance of Disaster Accountability
The Disaster Accountability Project won 3rd Place and $1000 in the 3Banana Inc., “Share To Win Challenge,” a competition for nonprofit organizations to use social media to rally supporters to their cause. The Disaster Accountability Project was successful in recruiting hundreds of supporters to comment about the importance of disaster accountability.
The challenge, launched this September, was sponsored by 3banana as a philanthropic crowdsourcing contest helping health, environment and education-focused non-profit organizations raise money and exposure for their respective causes while testing the sharing features of the company’s online and mobile note-taking software.
Over 50 non-profit organizations were nominated to the challenge. Each cause created a note on 3banana describing why people should care about their mission and then shared a link to their note through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and email. 3banana selected the winners based on the number of unique users who wrote an online comment endorsing the cause.
“This competition offered an incredible opportunity to engage our base and raise greatly needed resources in a tough economic climate,” said Ben Smilowitz, Executive Director of the Disaster Accountability Project. Smilowitz founded the organization after managing high-volume Red Cross sites in Mississippi in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and witnessing firsthand the bungled relief effort. “These dollars will help us improve our nation’s disaster management systems by providing stronger policy and real-time oversight, ensuring critical gaps are quickly addressed and post-Katrina policy recommendations are not ignored.”
“As our climate changes, the number of climate-related disasters is bound to rise,” said Steve Brown, CEO of 3banana. “The grass roots monitoring and information sharing advocated by Disaster Accountability Project will be essential to improving our ability to respond to disasters. It’s also close to our hearts as a mobile information capture company, and we were really pleased to see DAP among the winners.”
Selected comments from the competition are available on our blog (and below):
http://blog.disasteraccountability.com/2009/09/30/disaster-accountability-project-takes-3rd-place-wins-1000/
– “What a great concept. I am part of my county’s emergency response team, and know how crucial the coordinating and accountability work you’re doing is!”
– “I work in disaster response, and I know that the Disaster Accountability Project has brought attention to important issues and problems that need addressing. It is unique in performing this vital role.”
– “I have seen first hand how accountability can bring about public awareness regarding local governments’ preparation for disaster. DAP seeks to make more information available, digestible, and honest, which is incredibly important. This kind of awareness and transparency are crucial to prevent avoidable tragedies.”
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The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement of the United States disaster management systems through public accountability, citizen oversight and empowerment, whistle-blower engagement, and policy research and advocacy. The Disaster Accountability Project’s website is https://disasteraccountability.org .
The Disaster Accountability Project was founded after Hurricane Katrina to improve FEMA, American Red Cross, and the other government agencies and nonprofit organizations responsible for disaster preparedness, response, relief, and recovery. In two years, the Disaster Accountability Project has become the leading, independent nonprofit providing citizen oversight to the U.S. disaster management system. One year ago, the Disaster Accountability Project received the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship, awarded to social entrepreneurs tackling critical, high-impact social issues.
A toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is available as a public service for disaster survivors, workers and volunteers to report critical gaps in disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery services or planning. The group is recruiting a national network of Disaster Accountability Monitors and Bloggers to help report, verify, and publicize gaps in disaster services or planning.
Disaster Accountability Project is a 2008 Echoing Green Fellowship Organization.
For more information: http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/ben-smilowitz
Idealist.org Interview from August 2008: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/h/blog/-questions-with-ben-smilowitz-of-disaster-accountability-project
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