We are extremely honored and humbled to be selected as a finalist for the American Giving Awards. Twenty five worthy non profits were chosen from a pool of over seven hundred to compete for $2M in grants. Starting Tuesday November 27th the public can start to vote and we hope we have your support.
Voting opens on November 27th and runs until December 4th. Everyone gets one vote to use on Facebook. You can use your vote on any of the 25 charities, in any of the 5 categories. Additionally Chase online customers will have one extra vote. To use your extra vote, just go to Chase.com/ChaseGiving, log in and cast your ballot.
We are not just looking to win, we are looking to implement change in the lives of millions. Here's how.
Designed To Move // Activate America
For us, this is more than an online competition. We believe in tackling systemic issues facing the built environment and right now youth obesity in America is an impending crisis that will have repercussions for generations to come.
The environment we inhabit and what we eat make up 80% of the reasons for youth obesity and giving us the opportunity to have a dedicated team to spend a year focused this issue will go along way to tackle this issue.
Our goal is pretty direct. We want kids to have five more years to live.
To do this we need to change our environment by creating activate spaces. Transform blighted and disused spaces into places of movement and joy. We believe in the power of play and we hope you do to.
American Giving Awards Finalist video
How To Help
1. Vote! Vote on Facebook
2. Vote (again)! Vote on Chase (Chase customers only)
3. Spread the Word
4. Tweet about it (every day if you feel so bold)
5. Update your facebook status saying you voted.
After voting closes, the grant recipients will be announced during the American Giving Awards show on Dec. 8, 2012 on NBC. Charities with the most votes within their categories will receive grants.
What We Will Do (If We Win)
The best way to advocate for change is to build it. If we are fortunate enough to garner enough support we will not sit around writing white papers or using funds to highlight this issue.
Grants will be awarded as follows:
Overall winner: $1 million
We will build active spaces in four American cities.
Second-most votes: $500,000
We will build active spaces in two American cities.
Third-most votes: $250,000
We will build active spaces in one American city.
Fourth and fifth-most votes: $125,000
We will build one active space in one American city.
What We Will Do (If We Don't Win)
Designed to move is not a fleeting idea and is too important to leave to chance. While we'd love to be selected we won't back down if we are not chosen. We will spend next year focused on this issue and try to find other sources of support. We hope that tackling this impending crisis is something that is important enough for a coalition to get involved.
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