adopting team work, the ngo Tweet

The Civil Society Gala [RO] this year has targeted bloggers with the first appealing and concerted campaign seen so far in this medium: adopting a NGO you believe in, i.e. writing about it on one's blog. For most bloggers, picking one probably meant filtering many more organisations, as well as learning more about the annual event that awards civic spirit--in other words, the campaign accomplishes at least informing and creating awareness. Whether orgsanisers considered it and aimed for it or it is just a side effect, this bit of promotion actually encourages relationships to form between bloggers and NGOs, and that is the best gain for all.

It took me somewhat longer than most, but here's my pick: Team Work [RO], because I heart their mission--helping students with volunteer activities that allow them to accumulate the experience needed to become an efficient professional. It's painful to see students in their first jobs and challenging to help them become valuable team members. While I've done it, with great rewards on the student's side, as well as mine, I can't ignore that most companies do not bother with the process. Applauds to the NGO that intervenes.

The project that won me revolves around the Botanical Garden in Bucharest. You can see above an image from their Spring Cleaning action, while the support button on my sidebar stands for the once a year event titled The Cultural Garden, where arts like photography, theatre, and music are employed to enhance the charm of the garden. As I told them, I believe that succeeding to place the garden back on the perceptual park map of Bucharest, at least, would be glorious. I also believe I could help them with better communicating such projects and we'll be talking further to translate that into actions.

On the adopting campaign blog [RO] you can learn which other bloggers adopted which NGOs. Some bloggers adopted more than one. Another campaign aspect worthy of praise is turning a somewhat elitist and unsexy event into an accessible and popular one for all citizens, not just the corporate sponsors of some of those NGOs and their projects. I appreciate that because Romanians still need to develop a civic spirit, and this action takes one first step towards it.

One final word about the Botanical Garden project: on June 2nd, this Saturday, you can witness another event, Child and Parent's Garden, involving a treasure hunt, a witch, and many surprises.

Update October 6th, 2007: Yet another final word. I didn't hear back from them after I offered help and suggested a blog, not to mention the much needed updates of their website. My potential support has been wasted, I feel, and the logo comes off my sidebar until further notice.

Update April 8th, 2008: I forgot to mention that the blog of the NGO adopting campaign followed my suggestion once and published the campaign stats of that moment in a post last June [RO]. Did they keep up the practice, though? I can't tell for sure, but it would seem they didn't. In fact, they hardly kept up blogging. Maybe they'll pick up the project this year again?