THE PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2012 IS HERE! Save the Children.
2012-12-17 · announcement · John · 3:25 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Global development · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: calendar ritual, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, community lore, self promotion
John launches the sixth Project for Awesome and makes the case for his charity, Save the Children: poverty is complex, Save the Children responds to it complexly and efficiently, and children born into poverty are not 'other'.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — P4A 2012 begins: submit and vote at projectforawesome.com; donate via Indiegogo with rewards incl. the Men of YouTube calendar
- ★★★ John announces the sixth annual Project for Awesome: today people all over YouTube are making videos about their favorite nonprofit organizations. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome, YouTube
- ★★★ John asks viewers to go to projectforawesome.com to submit their P4A videos and to vote for favorites, which helps decide where the P4A funds go. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome
- ★★★ John says the P4A funds only exist if people donate, pointing to the P4A Indiegogo page and its rewards, including a Men of YouTube calendar with the brothers in togas. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome, Indiegogo, YouTube
00:00:23 — 48-hour livestream; IKEA-monkey aside; poverty explained: 1.4 billion in absolute poverty, purchasing power parity, poverty's many causes
- ★★ John says a 48-hour livestream on the Vlogbrothers channel will comment on, share and like P4A videos, making the internet about charity for a couple of days. — 00:00:23 · Vlogbrothers, Project for Awesome
- ★★★ John says about 1.4 billion people live in absolute poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 a day with inadequate resources for food, water and other basics (last word unclear). — 00:00:23 · extreme poverty
- ★★★ John explains that the $1.25-a-day line uses purchasing power parity, not exchange rates: it means living on what $1.25 buys in the US, so it does not stretch further in Zambia. — 00:00:52 · United States
- ★★★ John says poverty is an incredibly complex problem: corrupt governments, malaria and HIV/AIDS, climate change and energy policy hurting food production, malnutrition, poor infrastructure and education, and discrimination all contribute. — 00:00:52 · extreme poverty, malaria, climate change, education
00:01:21 — Why Save the Children: the Bangladesh pond sand filter, a complex response to a complex problem, seven million under-five deaths, these kids are not 'other'
- ★★ John recalls that in 2009 Nerdfighters worked with Shawn's Uncultured Project and Save the Children to build a pond sand filter giving a Bangladeshi village clean water. — 00:01:21 · Nerdfighteria, Save the Children
- ★★★ John says he loves Save the Children because it responds to a complex problem complexly: training teachers, HIV/AIDS work for orphans, training farmers for drought, disaster response, and training midwives and frontline health workers. — 00:01:21 · Save the Children, aid effectiveness
- ★★★ John says seven million children under five will die this year (2012), most of diseases that can be treated or prevented inexpensively. — 00:01:50 · child mortality
- ★★★ John says these children are not fundamentally different from his own two-year-old son and are not 'other' because they were born into poverty; they could grow up to be anything from construction workers to vloggers. — 00:01:50 · othering, Henry Green
- ★ John shows a painting by his two-year-old son, calling him a genius. (playful) — 00:01:50 · Henry Green
00:02:20 — Survival to five cuts poverty; Save the Children's efficiency; John's P4A pick; e-book perk; 100% through the Foundation; comment pennies; sign-off
- ★★★ John says children first have to survive to five, and that cutting childhood illness and death rates also cuts poverty rates. — 00:02:20 · child mortality, extreme poverty
- ★★★ John says Save the Children works with astonishing efficiency: 91% of donations go directly to programs rather than fundraising or overhead, and it works worldwide, from Pakistan to Angola. — 00:02:20 · Save the Children
- ★★★ John says that for this year's (2012) Project for Awesome he is supporting Save the Children. — 00:02:20 · Project for Awesome, Save the Children
- ★★ After two years of selling zombie stories for P4A, John will share an e-book of stories with contributors, including a semi-autobiographical story, the first thing he wrote on the road to The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:02:49 · The Fault in Our Stars, Project for Awesome
- ★★ John says that, with no overhead, 100% of donations through the Foundation to Decrease World Suck go to P4A charities, which viewers partly choose. — 00:02:49 · Foundation to Decrease World Suck, Project for Awesome, world suck
- ★★★ John asks viewers to head to projectforawesome.com, watch the livestream and comment like crazy, since every comment on a P4A video is a penny he has to donate to charity. — 00:02:49 · Project for Awesome, Vlogbrothers
Threads in this video
- launched · P4A 2012 edition — John announces that the sixth annual Project for Awesome is under way today across YouTube. (00:00:00)
- reminder · John asks Nerdfighters to make P4A 2012 videos about charities they care about (2012) — John tells viewers they can now submit their P4A videos at projectforawesome.com. (00:00:00)
- asked · John asks viewers to vote for favorite P4A 2012 videos at projectforawesome.com to decide where the funds go (2012) — John asks viewers to vote for their favorite P4A videos at projectforawesome.com to help decide where the P4A funds go. (00:00:00)
- asked · John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2012 through its Indiegogo campaign and rewards (2012) — John asks viewers to donate through the P4A Indiegogo page, which offers rewards such as the Men of YouTube calendar. (00:00:00)
- restate · Do big problems have simple solutions? — John says poverty is an incredibly complex problem with many interacting causes. (00:00:52)
- looked back · Nerdfighter donations to the Uncultured Project for rural Bangladesh (2008) — John recalls that in 2009 Nerdfighters, Sean's Uncultured Project and Save the Children built a pond sand filter for a Bangladeshi village. (00:01:21)
- restate · What makes charity or aid work well? — John says good charity meets a complex problem with a complex response, as Save the Children does, and later praises its efficiency (91% to programs). (00:01:21)
- restate · Is there really an 'us' and a 'them', or are distant and different people just facets of us? — John says children dying in poverty are not fundamentally different from his son and are not 'other' because of where they were born. (00:01:50)
- promised · John: share an e-book of his stories with P4A 2012 contributors (2012) — John says that this year (2012), instead of zombie stories, he is sharing an e-book of his stories, available only to P4A contributors. (00:02:49)
- progress update · John: donate a penny to charity for every comment on a P4A 2012 video (2012) — John says every comment on a P4A video is a penny that he has to donate to charity. (00:02:49)
- asked · John asks viewers to watch the P4A 2012 livestream and comment on P4A videos (2012) — John asks viewers to watch the livestream on the Vlogbrothers channel and comment like crazy on P4A videos. (00:03:18)
Where the stories that moved here went next
- John asks viewers to vote for favorite P4A 2012 videos at projectforawesome.com to decide where the funds go (2012) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: asked, 2012-12-17
- John: share an e-book of his stories with P4A 2012 contributors (2012) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: promised, 2012-12-17
- John: donate a penny to charity for every comment on a P4A 2012 video (2012) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: progress update, 2012-12-21
- P4A 2012 edition — completed; last: looked back, 2013-12-16
Mentioned
Central: child mortality · extreme poverty · Project for Awesome · Save the Children
Also: People: Henry Green
Projects: Foundation to Decrease World Suck
Works: John's P4A 2012 e-book of stories · John's semi-autobiographical story in his P4A 2012 e-book (title heard as 'Double On Call') · Men of YouTube calendar · The Fault in Our Stars
Organizations: IKEA · Indiegogo · YouTube
Concepts: aid effectiveness · climate change · discrimination · education · HIV/AIDS · malaria · malnutrition · othering · political corruption · purchasing power parity
Places: Angola · Australia · Bangladesh · Canada · Pakistan · United States · Zambia
fact: annual number of under-five deaths · international poverty line · number of people in extreme poverty · Save the Children program spending share
Only in the description or credits: Shawn Ahmed · Uncultured Project
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