"We used the BidPal system in the CHRIS Kids benefit dinner to demonstrate how mobile and wireless can improve the overall attendee experience and yield net positive results for non-profits like CHRIS Kids.”                                                                                         Fran Dramis

 Last Saturday evening, my wife, Alicia, and I had a chance to attend a benefit dinner for CHRIS Kids at the Georgia Aquarium with over 500 other caring people. CHRIS Kids is a 30-year-old non-profit that helps disadvantaged, often abandoned kids (teens to early 20’s) get into stable living conditions, benefit from psychological counseling and obtain a high school education.

The CHRIS Kids organization just finished renovating an entire apartment complex south of downtown Atlanta to house the participants who are all selected from referrals by the kids themselves, as well as made by other charities and social assistance organizations. Each selected participant is provided with personal counseling and a mentor. You’re right if you suspect there’s a waiting list for an organization like this. But, their statistics are very positive: over 90% graduate from high school and move on to either attend college or the workforce.

What we found most interesting from the benefit dinner was the way in which mobile and wireless was used during the entire evening to help CHRIS Kids raise over $50,000.

When we checked in for the benefit dinner, we were handed a custom iPod Touch with software developed by BidPal. They swiped our credit card as a deposit in case the unit wasn’t returned and to allow payment for any of the items we might have won in the silent or live auction.

As we went around the room looking at the silent auction items, we just entered the item number and were immediately told the bid status. You could then make a bid on the item and even set up a max bid.  If your bid was passed by someone else, it would up the bid automatically until the system reached your max bid. It worked flawlessly. We bid on a few items, and (darn) our max bid for the one item we really wanted was outbid in the last minute before the bidding ended during dinner.

We were invited to the benefit by Sheila and Fran Dramis.  Fran is the past CIO from BellSouth whom I’ve known for a number of years and is an investor in one of my companies that I’ll be telling you about in a few weeks. Sheila is CEO of Lowdon & Associates, an HR advisory firm that helps young, growing companies set up HR, payroll and benefits. Fran has assisted CHRIS Kids with fund raising including helping with their recent $12.1 million capital campaign.

The use of the BidPal handheld got more exciting when a local radio personality led the live auction. The live auction items were shown on the screen. This was done in the traditional manner with the auctioneer helping to increase bidding on some great items including a week’s stay in a condo in Paris.

Then, the auctioneer asked everyone to use their BidPal system to make donations to CHRIS Kids. The BidPal system allowed everyone to enter an amount on their display.  As the donations were received, the total was updated on the screen. First, he asked for $1,000 donations, and the amount on the display reached $15,000 rather quickly. Silence . . . nothing changed on the display. He then asked for $100 donations and the screen showed a mad increase in the total to over $22,500. Again, silence. Their goal was to raise $30,000 through this crowd sourcing application. He asked for one person to donate $5,000 and the screen popped to $27,500 and then to $30,000. A few more came in and the total raised exceeded $31,000. It was both exciting and rewarding to participate in this fund raising activity.

Being an analyst, I’d recommend that the BidPal folks add alerts to the system so that when any of the silent bid items bid or max bid were exceeded, the system would vibrate and send you an alert message. Clearly, this is an excellent use of mobile and wireless to help social good.

If you’d like to make a donation to CHRIS Kids, simply click on this link. It is very affirming to see an organization able to help young, abandoned kids get the help and assistance they deserve to reach their full potential. Clearly the public sector social assistance and juvenile systems deal with many more kids than those helped by CHRIS Kids, but by their referring kids who have potential - even those who have had a very rough life - to the CHRIS Kids program, those with a great potential have a chance to blossom and become positive contributors to society instead of a continued drain.

If your local community has a non-profit organization that is trying to help young, disadvantaged kids and unwed teen moms, it’s clear that you need to get a Board of Directors with folks like Sheila and Fran Dramis who make things happen.  Sheila and Fran were honored by CHRIS Kids for the contributions both of them made.

My wife and I commended Sheila and Fran with the Visionary of the Year Award for all they have done to demonstrate a positive ‘give back’ to the Atlanta community.

We’re pleased we could contribute in a small way to the CHRIS Kids program.
 

Written By:

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Mobile & Wireless
MobileTrax LLC
gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com
404-406-5309

Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column. If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.