When times are tough, the tough throw a free music festival. For 35,000 people.

Let Free Ring! Virgin Mobile USA Announces 2009 "FreeFest" to Give Back in Bad Economy

Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, and Public Enemy Plus More Than a Dozen Others Scheduled to Perform August 30, 2009

Speculation and predictions that have filled blogs and discussion boards can be put to rest. The Virgin Mobile Festival is returning, but with a catch. Admission will be free.

Virgin Mobile USA, creator of one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., announced today that it would host the 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest on Sunday, August 30, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD., with admission free of charge. All tickets will be given away, and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at securing the 35,000 tickets.

"In a time of economic challenges and daily sacrifices, we wanted to throw a fantastic party so people could let loose and have a great time -- on us," said Sir Richard Branson, Founder and President, Virgin Group. "Virgin Mobile FreeFest offers music fans a brilliant day of fun and music and a chance for them to give back to those even less fortunate."

To respond to the sharp decrease in national social giving, Virgin Mobile FreeFest will also host a special VIP seating area for those who donate their time to community service at designated homeless youth shelters around the country. Virgin Mobile is also encouraging people, regardless of wireless carrier, to text "FREEFEST" to 20222, with a $5 donation which will go to select youth homeless centers around the country.In parntership with MobileCause.

http://twurl.nl/fc563s

Giving USA Report for 2008 and Online Fundraising Estimates

The GivingUSA Foundation has released its Giving USA 2009: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2008. The report shows the first decline in giving to US charities in current dollars since 1987. Blackbaud also analyzed the data, along with other information, to estimate the growth of online fundraising by US-based nonprofits.

2008 Total Giving Estimates
Giving USA estimates that $307.65 billion was given in 2008, exceeding $300 billion for the second year in a row. The 2007 estimate was revised to $314.07 billion. The change from 2007-2008 is a decrease of 2% or -5.7% adjusted for inflation.

Although this 2008 figure is the first decline in giving in current dollars since 1987, giving still represented 2.2% of GDP. These donations were primarily from:

• Individuals — $229.28 billion, down 2.7% (-6.3% inflation-adjusted)
  
• Foundations — $41.21 billion, up 3% (-0.8% inflation-adjusted)
  
• Charitable bequests — $22.66 billion, down 2.8% (-6.4% inflation-adjusted)
  
• Corporate giving — $14.5 billion, down 4.5% (-8.0% inflation-adjusted)

Where Donors Gave in 2008
Only religious, public-society benefit, and international affairs showed positive changes in contribution totals. The biggest percentage drops were felt by grant-making foundations and human services organizations. Full Article

MobileCause Partners with Mega Church and 3 Conferences in 1 Week.

MobileCause is proud to participate this month in one of the largest Pastors Conferences in the country. We'll be offering our popular Text2Screen platform to enable audiences to connect via mobile and participate with on screen polls and never-seen-before Twitter integration.

Here's some info about the conference:

Ascent is an experience to network pastors to pursue health together.

New Life Church has persevered in tough days but we are gaining in strength because of them. We’re in pursuit of health. We want to invite other pastors to join in the pursuit with us.

Ascent begins Monday night June 22 with Brady Boyd, Senior Pastor of New Life Church and concludes June 24 with a worship night with Chris Tomlin. Bill Hybels will be a guest speaker, along with communicators from New Life Church including David Perkins, Ross Parsley and Phil McCallum.

For maximum impact, Ascent for pastors runs concurrently with Enter conference for worship teams. The Enter will feature Ross Parsley and New Life Worship. The bonding in staff ministry teams will be extraordinary.

Immediately after Ascent for pastors, follows the Desperation conference for students. For more information on Enter and Desperation visit www.NewLifeConferences.com.