Insights
1 min Read
August 28, 2012

Can the Black Keys and Ed Helms eradicate malaria and global poverty?

Meghan Teich

Malaria is no laughing matter. Except when Hollywood’s funniest link up with CollegeHumor.com to bring awareness in innovative (and risky) ways.

The people at Malaria No More came up with a new twist on an old trick. They have a great free trailer for the campaign, but to see Ed Helms swallow a sword, or to visit a kissing booth with Brooklyn Decker or to see Reggie Watts rail against mosquitoes, you have to pay at least $1 each time. And those dollars go straight to eradicating malaria.

They did some heavy lifting, with a total of 24 videos that will keep you chuckling and make you hate malaria more than ever. I guess laughter really is the best medicine. Or can at least help get the right supplies and resources to get malaria the eff out of here.

But they’re not the only new campaign betting big on star power to tackle a massive problem.

The Global Poverty Project recently launched a new “learning and action dashboard” called Global Citizen with one audacious goal: end extreme poverty. Period. And they’re hosting a concert at the end of September in Central Park featuring some pretty big names (big like Neil Young, the Foo Fighters, the Black Keys). It’s free, but there’s a catch.

To be eligible for tickets, you need to complete a set number of actions on the site: think watching videos, signing petitions, and spreading the word – basically, all of the usual actions nonprofits try to get you to do. Each action you take gives you a number of points, and the more points you accrue, the more times your name is put into the drawing for tickets. The organizers say this is a more sustainable and engaging way of building a base of support.

You might not be able to pull together such star-studded projects for your nonprofit, but what do you say? Do these campaigns inspire you to create new incentives for supporters at your org?