NikeTalk Donates $2,553 to the American Cancer Society

Quote:

---

Meth, as an aside (and we can continue this via PM if needed), how did you get it so that we would get the ad revenues? Do you have to talk with ezboard and google ads directly?

---

to leverage the power of our community to serve a greater goal. NikeTalk has ALWAYS been about giving back - that was part of the conversation from the very beginning. Where we needed to go, I thought, was to make certain that the forum would be used for more than simply driving selfish materialism. Anyone at all familiar with me knows that I'm passionate about social justice and those values are shared by many of our staff members. Although the idea of producing and then giving away all of our revenue caught a few people by surprise, I think it really speaks to the character of our staff that everyone has really embraced the idea. These people didn't have to give their time to our community. We have to recognize that their efforts enable the production of our revenue. It's no small sacrifice that they're making - and I'm truly proud to be associated with them, and with the community as a whole. The way that our members and our community have taken to this concept and really integrated it into OUR identity as a group has been inspiring, and it's really helped to stoke and sustain the passion that I have for NikeTalk.

So, the concept came first. It's something that I'd been thinking about for quite some time, but after conceptualizing a specific plan I first started to reach out to other staff members individually, beginning with Nelson C, in around February of 2006. The timing was right. Ezboard's old CEO, Steve DeMello, stepped down in January. The bi-annual cost of running the site ad-free was about the price of a luxury sedan. Something had to give, and we had to be the ones to anticipate and shape the inevitable transition.

I reached out to and negotiated directly with ezboard's newly appointed CEO. We established a revenue sharing agreement and arranged for ezboard to place ads on the forum and donate our share every month to the charity of our choice. I don't want to make that process sound simpler than it actually was - as anyone on the staff would tell you, it was a drawn out and, often, frustrating process. Even now, I'm dealing with the new management group, from the CEO to the CTO to the ad specialists, to build and improve upon the foundation we've established. This first shaky year was basically a pilot program. If nothing else, we've proven that this is something that can be sustainable for our community, that it's something our members want, and that it's something that our members will support.

Again, this whole program has been enabled by every man and woman on our staff. It is such a special group, one that I feel truly honored to be a part of. I cannot thank them enough for their sacrifices, both for our benefit here on NikeTalk and for the benefit of the causes we care about. You see them in our donations. Ettie Lee Homes was in honor of Ska and how he inspires us. Gawad Kalinga was suggested by kingcrux and driven by the enthusiastic support our community has received from the Philippines. Operation Smile is pure Dirtylicious. VABigPoppa interned for the JDRF. I don't think anyone has rightly acknowledged just how much Holdenmichael has done for this community, so much of it occurs behind the scenes. Steez cares deeply about social justice and you can see his influence on this work. Everyone has contributed. Then there are donations that you guys have prompted, like this donation to the American Cancer Society and one of the donations we'll announce within the next month or so. This whole initiative and every donation we at NikeTalk make is a reflection of our entire community. It is a COMMUNITY achievement and a community effort from top to bottom.

You read stuff from the "AdBusters" of the world, and they have a very snide, superficial preconception of what this community is. They want to look at you guys and see a bunch of shallow, spoiled teenagers - and they don't have to look too far for evidence to support that bias. I may not be proud of every post here or even every person here, but I am proud of the community as a whole. A lot of well-intentioned people in the social justice realm can take a very elitist stance as far delineating the "enlightened," (them, presumably) from the uncouth. I don't know how anyone intends to effect change by preaching to the choir, without reaching out. You have to meet people where they are, and to actually meet the people who are interested in discussing something as seemingly frivolous as collecting sneakers online is entirely different from issuing facile, blanket condemnation from afar. This is a very diverse group of young people and the way you all have responded to the challenge of social responsibility has demonstrated not only our community's complexity but its potential. As a community, we don't only care about sneakers or sports or rappers or airbrushed centerfolds. There's tremendous power within this community and we've SEEN that time and time again by the way our forums have literally transformed the sneaker industry. You did not see, in 1998, shoes created specifically for collectors. Collectors weren't a segment of the market. You guys changed the game. Together, we can harness that to accomplish something greater than bringing back the carbon fiber flightposites or increasing Nike's profit margins - and we're witnessing traces of that today, with efforts like this one.

This is, and must be, only the beginning.

Click to expand...

Quote:

---

I'm just curious.. can we see a list of the past months, how much was donated and to what charity. Maybe you can even include contact info for each charity so the board members can continue to donate if they wish.

---

Yeah, we definitely plan to do that - but I want to make sure we get all the back donations handled first so that we're able to present the list in chronological order. You can find most of the donation announcements in our Archives and we'll have a comprehensive list up once the "big" donation is made official later this year and we're all caught up.

Click to expand...

Quote:

---

To touch on a point you made -- you say you want "to leverage the power of our community." I was thinking about other things we could do, besides ads, to increase our donations. I'm guessing the t-shirts are part of this? Are other ideas being tossed around?

And this is unrelated to the thread, but it's a quick question -- who is responsible for the editing of the html/javascript layout for NT? Is it holdenmichael?

---

Donations produced by merchandising has already been considered and planned. While we do need a "contingency fund" as a buffer in case of a hosting transition, etc., as well as to fund upcoming apparel orders, a major charitable donation will also result from the NT-Shirts.

CSoldia actually created NikeTalk's current layout. Holdenmichael is responsible for incorporating a number of popular features, like the drop down forum selection boxes and the report post feature.

Click to expand...