In the wake of all the tremendously destructive power of Hurricane season, I think it is really important that we rally around those Greedy or Needy community members that have been unfortunately affected by these forces of nature. The next month will be an extremely difficult time for many and our support is needed. The always amazing product of disastrous events is the community support and care that surrounds it. We are all blessed to be able to connect with others anywhere in the world through the power of the internet, and the community of GoN is one of the best out there for caring for those in need.

So lets all make sure we remember all those struggling through a tough time, no matter where they are on the globe, as they are all part of the same community. Spectacular things happen when passionate people come together, even in the wake of disaster and strife. Lets be thankful that we can reach out and connect, whether through granting a wish, giving a call, posting on a forum, donating to the Red Cross, or saying a prayer. Everything helps, lets each do our part.

-Doug

Is that inbox a little too crowded?

Well if you are struggling under the incredible weight of popularity, then feel free to stem the flow of friend requests with a new feature we just rolled out.

If you go to My Account->Edit Profile->Options you will find a new checkbox that you can check off that makes you non-addable (is that a word?) You asked for it, and here it is!

Enjoy!

Doug

We here at MakeGood and GreedyOrNeedy respect your privacy, and want to give you the most options available to make sure your experience with the community is as positive as possible.

That is why we have introduced a new feature that can allow you to block and unblock members from sending you messages on the most private part of the site- your inbox. If you go into “My Messages” you will notice that the new feature has been added that facilitates this.

Of course, because GoN is such an amazing community, be sure to only use this as a last resort- because as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “Peace cannot be achieved through violence (blocking people), it can only be attained through understanding (sorting things out in the forums!).” Ya I paraphrased that just a tad… but it is true!

We also have rolled out the ability to post wishes for things other than money. So if just want to post for a hug, a prayer, or as Todd said, perogies, them guess what- You can do it!

Enjoy, and keep on gettin’ your wish on
Doug

Another week, another batch of great changes for yall!

The development team has been hard at work and has released a few great new changes.

You might find it easier to delete all those outstanding friend requests/friend removals now to make your inbox bright and shiny. You also might notice a new little button on the bottom of your inbox called ” Move Messages To”. It will let you mass folderize all the messages you receive and maybe let you sort out all the drama easier

Enjoy!

-Doug

As a bunch of you noticed already, there are some shiny new changes to help make the GoN experience just that much better!

There are 2 major changes you can see right now. You asked for ‘em and here they are…

1) Users can remove a wish from their favorite wishes easily
2) New icon underneath everyone’s avatars that links them to the their recent activity.

Hope you like them!

We will be rolling out some other changes next week, and we will keep you posted

Happy Wishin!

Doug

Maybe…but I think you’ll appreciate it.

Everyone’s favourite Cameron (what? he isn’t your favourite Cameron? He will be soon!) has added a feature so that you are now able to update your own email addresses. Look in the Edit Profile area if you are wanting to change yours. You’ll have to enter it twice, because if you have a typo and change it to the incorrect email address, YOU WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED BACK. Just kidding, but you will have to get us to fix it, so double check everything.

Hope everyone is enjoying August…almost time for back to school prep!

Huggles,

Blue

Hello!

As you read from Blue’s last post, we are super excited about Greedy or Needy and the upcoming changes! Over the next few months you will be seeing some great new features being rolled out to help make GoN a more efficient and snappy. We are excited to hear from you regarding any features or changes you might have, and you can feel free to give me a shout to let us know what you would like to see down the road.

One of the best things about GoN is it’s community, and how it connects people from across the globe, and I am excited to be a part of that. Please feel free to add me as a friend, follow me on Twitter,, or read up on Giving 2.0 here. If you want to know more about me or what we are up to over here, just ask. For example

Question: “Hey Doug, whats your favorite color?”
Answer: “Gray…but I am really trying to like green.”

Its just that easy! I am really looking forward to meeting you all, and Blue and I will keep you posted on whats going on here in the background.

Till then, keep on wishin’!

-Doug

Check this out, then read below to see what it means for you
 Cambrian House Inc. and MakeGood Technologies Inc. Announce Transaction
The world’s first Web 2.0 wishing well part of a bigger strategy of Giving 2.0

July 16, 2008 – Cambrian House Inc. and MakeGood Technologies Inc. today announced that MakeGood will license the Cambrian House’s Chaordix™ crowdsourcing platform and acquire Cambrian House’s GreedyorNeedy™ peer to peer (P2P) charity community.  Cambrian House will receive a combination of cash and MakeGood equity as proceeds for this transaction.  

MakeGood is a Vancouver-based firm specializing in applying Crowdsourcing to ‘giving’, dubbed Giving 2.0™.  The agreement with MakeGood is a natural next step in Cambrian House’s Chaordix™ strategy. The Chaordix™ platform allows organizations to embrace crowdsourcing as a critical business process and was a natural fit for underpinning the MakeGood offering. 

“We’re proud of the GreedyorNeedy community whose members have actively worked to change the way people give online over the last year and a half. MakeGood’s vision for Giving 2.0 will help to grow the GreedyorNeedy community which MakeGood will now manage,” said Shelley Kuipers, President of Cambrian House.

Richard Goossen, Chief Executive Officer of MakeGood, and author of E-PRENEUR: From Wall Street to Wiki: Succeeding as a Crowdpreneur in the New Virtual Marketplace, sought out  Cambrian House’s Chaordix™ crowdsourcing platform and the GreedyorNeedy giving community to further strengthen MakeGood’s Giving 2.0™ capabilities. MakeGood is defining a new way for people and organizations to raise funds for charitable purposes – in essence to harness the member community for big-hearted, positive social giving.

“Our two visions aligned so well that it was natural to pursue a partnership,” said Goossen. “We’re eager to bring GreedyorNeedy to the next level of giving.”

Since its launch in November 2006, the GreedyorNeedy community (formerly known as RobinHoodFund), has become a thriving crowd structured around donating to both needy (selfless) and greedy (selfish) wishes.  Members rally around one another and their wishes, voting them up or down, and contributing to their fulfillment. With an average customer engagement level of 25 minutes per visit, strong friendships have been fostered by the community, including a marriage. 

As part of this transaction, Shelley Kuipers, President of Cambrian House and Michael Sikorsky, Chief Executive Officer of Cambrian House, have agreed to join MakeGood as advisors, collaborating as thought leaders in crowdsourcing to assist MakeGood in its business and community strategies. Following the transaction, GreedyorNeedy will remain an active community managed by MakeGood.  Cambrian House will continue to develop its portfolio companies, including Gwabs™, FilmRiot™, and the Chaordix™ crowdsourcing platform.

 
About Cambrian House Inc.
Launched in 2006, Cambrian House began as a crowdsourcing community using a wisdom of crowds based approach to discover new business and technology ideas. Today, Cambrian House focuses on developing those companies which emerged from its crowdsourced discoveries. The Cambrian House portfolio includes Gwabs™, FilmRiot™, and the Chaordix™ crowdsourcing platform. For more information, please visit us at www.cambrianhouse.com.About MakeGood Technologies Inc.
MakeGood uses Web 2.0 technologies and strategy to empower individual and organizational givers to make good on a global scale.  For more information, please visit us at www.makegood.com.

What does this mean for the community?

We can’t promise a new car for everyone, but we can promise good times ahead! Make Good will be working with us on developing a shiny new home for you guys, including most of the features you’ve requested, but we haven’t been able to roll out. It also means you will become part of a much bigger community of giving. Not only will you guys be established as the rockstars you are, you will also be able to guide others on how to give online, while building a professional “Giving Resume”

You’ll get to meet new people! Of course, I’ll still be around, but you’ll also have Doug! We’ll introduce him to you over the next few weeks. He’s dreamy.So, as we celebrate this exciting news, let’s take a moment to recall all of those who’ve worked on Greedy or Needy - Jim McDonald, Michael Parkatti, Michael Marrone, Christopher Calon, Jessye Cook, Aleah Neerhof, and Nox Dineen. High Fives to all, plus all of our amazing community members. You are all beautiful in that snowflake kind of way.

Huggles, 

Blue
 

Hey Guys,

I’m not really sure if you are interested in me blogging about this sort of stuff, but I thought I’d give it a go. If you are bored to tears, you can let me know and I’ll go back to posting recipes, etc.

Greedy or Needy is first and foremost a community. Yes, you can come on here and make a wish and potentially win a modest sum of money, but that isn’t the main reason why people keep coming back. It is the sense of community and real friendship.

When people first started using the web, it was a place where people could go to escape. They could have an online persona completely different from who they were in real life and it was pretty cool. Now, people want to use the web to connect on a deeper level with people in real life.

The web gives people the chance to find others with similar interests to themselves, regardless of location or socio-economic bracket. This is exciting! This connecting of people is what makes sites like GreedyorNeedy possible.

Knowing that, we need to think about how we are going to use the tools we’ve got to make the most out of them. How can we use this site to make amazing things happen? We have the opportunity to change things. No longer are you giving your $5 to UNICEF without having any idea what happens to it. You can make real connections with real people on here and see how that same amount of money impacts their lives. By the way, we refer to this as peer-to-peer giving.

We already have the Spare Change Fund, run entirely by you guys, what are some other suggestions for amazing things we can do on here?

The kids are all back to school after spring break, the snow is melting (for those of you that get snow), there’s a certain something in the air…

Spring is around the corner, can you feel it? I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions really, I feel it is just setting myself up for failure. However, I am all about making summer plans at the first sign of Spring. Here are my top plans:

-Bar-be-ques with Mojitos and friends

-lazy afternoons with Pimms

-team Lawnbowling (this is going to awesome!)

-hikes in the Rocky Mountains (Kananaskis Country and Banff National Park)

-hanging with my parents at their place on the Lake

What does everyone else have planned for summer? Any GoN meet-ups? You know I’ll totally come along if you guys are planning anything!