Friday, April 4, 2008

Getting to Know Sokunthea Sa

We love keeping in touch with our PNP alums.

Below, you will find an update from Sokunthea Sa, '05, about her work at the Case Foundation and a new project called
Make It Your Own Awards,
the first online grants program that invited the public to submit their ideas for creating citizen-centered programs in their communities.

Since graduating in ‘05, I have worked at Deloitte, AOL, and am now at The Case Foundation, the private foundation of Steve Case (co-founder of AOL) and his wife, Jean. I started here in November ‘07 as a Project Manager for the Interactive Strategies team and have been working on the most amazing projects. This position is a great marriage of my tech marketing/interactive media background and passion for philanthropy.

The Foundation invests in individuals, nonprofits and social enterprises aiming to connect people, increase giving, and catalyze civic action. We are focused on expanding the definition of “Giving” and showing the impact that technology can have in amplifying the way individuals give of their time, talent and treasure.

A key project that I have been managing and just launched is online voting for the Make It Your Own Awards, the first online grants program that invited the public to submit their ideas for creating citizen-centered programs in their communities. 5,000 people submitted applications; 100 were selected to go onto the next round and receive exciting online tools from us, such as fundraising widgets and personal homepages, to help them spread the word about their causes; the pool was narrowed to 20 finalists who received $10k grants. Now we are calling on the public again to help us decide which final four will each get an additional $25k to make their dreams come true, by voting at: http://miyo.casefoundation.org/vote. I encourage everyone to go online, learn more about these deserving projects, and VOTE! Voting ends on April 22nd.

During the holiday season, we launched our first America’s Giving Challenge – partnering with Parade Magazine and Causes on Facebook – designed to demonstrate opportunities for using “technology for good” and accelerate consumer awareness and adoption of easy to use Web 2.0 tools via social networks and online charity badges. In addition to the $750k we awarded out to winners, this program encouraged more than 80,000 people to donate, while raising more than $1.7 million for thousands of causes in a mere six-weeks.

For more information about The Case Foundation, go to: http://www.casefoundation.org/.

To submit similar updates to the PNP alumni community, please email Katie at mcpadden@bu.edu.

1 comment:

Michael Wood-Lewis said...

Glad to read your piece about the Case Foundation's Make It Your Own Awards.

To your many and brilliant readers... please vote today for Front Porch Forum, a New England neighbor of yours. Cheers! -Michael

P.S. And if you're one of the first ten voters to pick the Final Four correctly, you'll win a $2,500 grant directed the charity of your choice.