Winner: United Nations Foundation - Send a Net, Save a Life, See a Game
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The United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign has provided insecticide-treated bed nets to fight malaria in Africa since 2007. In 2009, while 160,000 nets short of fulfilling its promised total of 1 million nets, the organization partnered with the NBA and launched the “Send a Net, Save a Life, See A Game” promotion, providing two NBA tickets for every $10 donation. ESPN sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote a column pledging a donation match up to $25,000—and fulfilled his promise within 24 hours. All 10,000 tickets that were available were snapped up quickly, and the average donation was $45—more than quadruple the requested $10. —Bill Miltenberg
Honorable Mentions:
Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre - Amethyst Track Challenge
For its annual fundraiser, The Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre broke from the archetypal charity golf tournament to host a Track Challenge. Held at the largest outdoor track facility in Ottawa, the Track Challenge promoted a healthy lifestyle while raising $33,700 and garnering coverage from prominent Ottawa news outlets.
Synaptic Digital and UNICEF Tap Project - Water for the World
In an effort to bring clean drinking water to children everywhere, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) created the Tap Project—a call to action inviting Americans to pay $1 for a glass of tap water. That same dollar would then provide a child with clean drinking water for 40 days. Synaptic Digital tied the Tap Project to World Water Week at participating restaurants and brought in $915,000—$200,000 of which went to Haitian relief.