Lance Armstong said "It's not about the bike" .  Buttons of Hope says "It is not about the button".  How true!!!

The button is the vehicle the that transforms just a NAME into a FACE and a face into a  STORY and a story in a FEELING and a feeling into an AWARENESS for a great cause...your cause.   

 This was my experience: Decide to wear a button and watch your experience transform into a story that sticks. Just calling my Aunt for a photo of my cousin, started a new type of relationship with my Aunt and family. Wearing the button started different types of conversations that would have never transpired if it had not been for the button. Displaying my button on the memory stick on my deck keeps my cousin, my cause and my drive to cure cancer alive.

Your buttons are a powerful way to build support for a cause, by putting a face to it. That you're making a profit this early in your project is the market's way of telling you what you already know - you've got a good thing going. I'd give you the hot pink dress shirt off of my back, but I regret to say that I don't own one.

One thing I'd like to see: more stories on your Community page, and bigger blurbs.

All the best; Leo

I was skeptical.

It started with an email from a board member.  Would I please check out what Michael Gibbons was doing with Buttons of Hope and talk to him.   “Oh, brother,” I thought.  “Do I really have to hear this guy’s sales’ pitch?”  AND “Buttons, for crying out-loud!  How original is that!” 

So I stalled.  And dragged my feet.  And made excuses.  But at some point, because a board member had asked, I returned the guy’s phone call and agreed on a meeting date to hear about what he was doing.  Without enthusiasm.  The whole way to the meeting that day, I kept thinking “and why am I doing this?” 

My attitude shifted immediately. First, of all, in meeting with Michael, it is clear that he cares deeply about social change and that he embraces a genuine concern for the causes he works with.  His sincerity and kindness comes through in every interaction.  He’s not a slick salesperson trying to prey on my donors.  He honestly wants to help.  He has been good to me and every single one of the people in my organization that I have referred to him.  We’ve all been won-over in-part by his generous spirit and big heart. 

But there are several other reasons why we’ve decided to work with Buttons for Hope in our 2007 Memory Walk campaign.  One simple, practical reason is that it is no-risk for us.  We didn’t have to plunk down any of our limited resources.  We didn’t have to redirect funds away from programs and services to work with him.  There are no up-front fees or costs to non-profits.  How great is that?!? 

The costs to participate are voluntarily paid by participants in Memory Walk.  Our Memory Walkers aren’t under any obligation to pay for a button.  Each participant can choose whether or not they’d like to create a button.  If they do choose to create one, we receive $1 of each button sale.  This is $1 earned with no attached expenses except for the very minimal investment of us simply letting our participants know this is an option. 

I also love that this is something that is accessible to all of our participants.  Because the cost is only $5, it isn’t an elitist item that only a few are able to purchase.  It’s pretty universally affordable.  The technology to order isn’t a hurdle either, because Michael offers to help people who don’t have digital pictures or access to computers to order online.  It’s something that’s available to all the people who participate in our events. 

The two reasons I am most excited about working with Buttons for Hope, though, are (1) that Michael is offering a product that I know our Memory Walk participants want; and (2) that I believe that this product will help our Memory Walk participants raise funds! 

At one of our Memory Walks last fall, a middle-aged woman came to the Walk wearing a framed 8 x 10 picture of her mother who had had Alzheimer’s disease.  The picture frame she wore around her neck was bulky and heavy.  She had fastened an elaborate fabric cord around her to carry the weight of the frame.  She showed me the picture of her mother with enormous pride.  She wanted everyone at the event to know about her mother and what she had meant to her.  She beamed as she showed off that picture.   

At different Memory Walk events through the years, I’ve seen similar things.  The people who come to our events, like this loving daughter, want to honor and remember their loved ones by displaying their photos at these events. How nice it will be to offer them a simple, affordable way to display their loved one’s pictures (arguably, they’re not displaying the pictures but their love). 

As all professional fundraisers know, the most common reason people don’t give is that they’re not asked.  Yet, for the majority of people who participate in events like Memory Walk, asking is the hard part.  The thing about wearing a button is that helps people initiate the conversation and makes the asking part easier.  As our Memory Walkers go around town before the event wearing their buttons, no doubt, people will ask them about the person on their button.  This gives our walkers an opening to tell their story (which is our story) and to let people know about the event.   

I’m confident that as our participants wear buttons around town before the event, it will help the Alzheimer’s Association to raise awareness and to get the word out about Memory Walk.   

After that initial meeting that I had so dreaded a few months ago, I made up my mind that I would introduce the product to our participants this year.  I invited Michael to come to all 3 of the volunteer trainings we held in our state last month.  He drove hours to come to each of the events (which says something about his commitment in and of itself).  He shared information about Buttons for Hope with our volunteers. They immediately loved the product as much as I do.  I won’t be alone in encouraging our participants to help raise funds and awareness by wearing a button and telling the stories of the loved ones in their lives that have brought them to our cause. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said “In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”  Michael’s idea is simple:  make a button, spread the word, help a cause.  It’s perhaps not a new or original idea.  People have, afterall, been wearing buttons for political campaigns for more than a hundred years.  But what is new and simple and wonderful is that Michael has empowered each of us to put a unique face on it, has made it easy, and has made it readily accessible for all. He's made it easy for each participant to tell his or her own story on their own terms in their own way.  I’d encourage other Alzheimer’s Association chapters and others leading pledge-based, mass events to consider this no-cost, no-risk way of spreading the word and raising funds.

It is amazing to me to see the face of someone I love on a button - it is such a gift to share stories of their lives while at the same time raising money to make a difference in the lives of those suffering from the same disease. Thanks, Mike.

In my blog post Transparency is the new black...

...buttons of hope "putting a face on fundraising" I wish I could have another shot at my elevator pitch -- my idea is so much more profound, deeper than a simple photo button -- it is about helping charities energize grassroots fundraising by bringing out and attaching emotion to a cause, personalizing it!

"My husband and I do not leave the house without our (photo)buttons. I tried not wearing it because it is still very painful, but then I feel like I am denying her life if I don't wear it." This what a Mom said one year after first wearing a button in a MADD charity walk to honor her daughter Janine killed by a drunk driver.

Mr. Gibbons: I felt compelled to write a brief comment after reviewing your idea of fundraising via buttons. If a "picture is worth a thousand words," then I truly believe that a handful of buttons at one fundraiser can become a symphony of voices for those who might not be able to speak on their own behalf. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor, and I truly hope that BOH becomes the "latest and greates" tool for non-profits when trying to find new fundraising techniques.

michael gibbons

buttons of hope project

Thank you Gareth, there is something exhilirating and concrete about...posting my project -- a little like giving birth (although so far much less painful) -- amazing when you recognize how powerful your passion can be and how intertwined you become with your idea!

Michael's vision statement is a complete reflection of his fabulous website and wonderfully simple but effective proposal - 'to put a face on fundraising'.

As editor of  www.countmeincalendar.info I review hundreds of charity and awareness campaigns for posting on my site - organisers of those events should sit up and take notice of Buttons of Hope (and then get on the phone to Michael).

These events are full of personal stories, as any wandering journalist will discover at the beginning of a charity event such as Relay for Life or our own UK based, Run for Life - the sister lost to cancer, the father to Parkinson's, the daughter to leukaemia...

Buttons for Hope provides a simple, tasteful and sincere means to highlight those connections to raise awareness, funds and create hope that, despite personal tragedy, good can come.

I wish Buttons of Hope every success with their proposal - it is wonderful vision that will have a huge impact given the support it is so deservedly due.

michael gibbons

buttons of hope project

If you made it this far there's a pretty good chance you read my proposal, thank you! If you like the idea please vote for me -- as importantly -- please tell a friend about buttons of hope! Whatever you do, in the words of that beautiful man Elie Wiesel, Choose one. Help cure apathy!