The Writings On The Wall – and elsewhere!Kiva.org deserves to get it's name into the public gaze. So, here's a few ideas to write the phrase 'Kiva.org' in public places – without (hopefully) getting into trouble!. Use the phrase 'Kiva.org' for most of these ideas, but if you can add a bit more, well just go for it.
1) Do you live near a beach? Are you or will you be visiting a beach? Why not write 'Kiva.org' in the sand. Make the letters big. Use your foot or a plank of wood to carve it out. The harder the sand the easier it will be to write the message. Do it early in the day to capture as many people as possible visiting the beach and try and do it above the tide line. As far as I know, there's no law about writing in the sand – otherwise, our prisons would be full of kids!
2) Similar to the above, how about writing the message with pebbles or driftwood on a beach. Enclose your message within a circle of pebbles or driftwood. This will give it a sense of purpose or permancency – illusionary of course, because it's on a beach, but to the first glance, it will give that something extra to the message than if it wasn't enclosed.
3) Following on from above, how about painting some stones red or white, anything that will stand out from the colour green. Why green? Well parks are full of green grass. Write your message out with the stones on the grass, not forgetting to enclose it within a circle of stones. If you can make the message look really arty, the more attention it will get and the more it's going to be left in place because people will think it's meant to be there as part of an art project by some official body.
4) Got some chalk? Feeling arty? Well, do a bit of pavement art and incorporate Kiva into your design. The more colourful, the better
5) Got any of those Christmas fairy lights on a continuous cable. Why not spell Kiva.org with the cable. Why wait untill Christmas to put up this message? Why not do it now, especially if you live on a main road.
6) In the UK here, we have an organisation called the Women's Institute (WI). They do loads of things, but one of the things they are more known for, is their cake stalls at the local market or country fetes. If you're a member of the WI, why not offer to make a cake for their stalls and then ice it with the 'Kiva.org' message on top. Of course the more creative you are with it, the more attention it will get. Loads of people look at the WI stalls to buy their cakes. This means there will be so many pairs of eyes looking at your cake and ultimately the Kiva message. There must be equivalents around the world to the WI, so go check them out. Offer to donate a Kiva Kake for their stall and say they can keep the proceeds from the sale of it.
7) This idea is for the die-hard committed Kivan (not sure what to call a Kiva committed person, but a 'Kivan' sounded OK to me, for a spur of the moment name). If you live in a warm/sunny climate, why not consider getting a semi-permanent tattoo ie. the henna ones. Have the Kiva.org message tattooed on your body where you like to flash a bit of flesh quite often! I've not seen anybody do this one for any worthwhile cause. Is Kiva worthwhile enough for you to do it??
7) And lastly, I'll finish where I started, which was with the 'Writings on the Wall' title. Fancy a spot of graffiti. I'm not advocating that you starting graffiting any old wall, but here in the UK, there are designated areas in some towns where you can graffiti to your hearts content, without getting pestered. Get creative, get graffitting.
Treasure HuntTwenty odd years ago, I used to organise car treasure hunts. Basically, people would have to hunt for clues to questions, photos or rhymes along a route, which would only reveal itself as the journey unfolded. In adapting this idea to promote Kiva, you could still have the normal questions about things that the Treasure Hunters would see along the route, but also you could have other clues related to specific letters along the route eg. what is the 4th letter from the left on the red road sign at the roundabout. Each letter would be part of a phrase which only begins to reveal itself further into the treasure hunt. The phrase could be something to do with Kiva eg. Kiva.org – loans that save lives. Why not put up some Kiva posters strategically placed next to some of the answers to the clues as well, for good measure.
The car with the most correct answers wins a Kiva Gift Certificate or two or three. If everybody contributed an entrance fee, you might get your money back on the Kiva Certificate. I believe people will need to be told that the Treasure Hunt is being organised to promote Kiva, as otherwise the secret phrase and posters are going to seem a bit out of place as the Treasure Hunt unfolds. This idea, can also be arranged for a walking Treasure Hunt and in these days of being 'green', that's what I would be doing these days. I used to arrange the Hunts for my work colleagues, friends and members of a club I once belonged to. Maybe you could do the same.
The main thrust of this idea is to get the word across about Kiva whilst the participants are having a bit of fun. Of course and most importantly, a Kiva entrepreneur gets some money towards their loan in the process, as well. Whooppeee!
Kiva E-CardsIs anybody here arty enough to create some e-cards promoting the idea of Kiva. If you are, some sites allow you to submit your own designs to be used as ecards on their site. Once you've submitted your designs, tell us about them and we can then use them in our e-greetings for that special person or occasion and get the message across about Kiva to boot!
Design your own Ecard submitting sites are:
http://www.digitaldrawn.nl/indexa.htmlhttp://www.ecardsearch.com/submitecard1.htmlhttp://www.artecards.net/add_ecard.phphttp://associates.123greetings.com/Hope all the above has tickled your brain cells.
Mike
