Gift Certificate to Celebrities

[Guest]

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[Julia]

So I decided that I am going to start sending gift certificates to celebrities, to see if they will become Kiva enthusiast. I figure I'll send one or two off a month, and see who bites.

I sent my first one to Perez Hilton. He's a big tabloid guy who gets millions of website hits a month. So far he hasn't used it yet, but he did reply to me asking if it was legit.  I hope he uses it. I have no idea why I chose him first, I don't read his site that often (I don't know most celebs, I'm not a big TV or movie person).  I think it was because he got so many hits, and its just one person running the site (I like that he does it all himself).

Any suggestions to other Celebs to send gift cards to?  Anyone else want to play this game?

[Samantha]

Interesting idea! Do you get notified if someone accepts or uses your certificate? Also, if they don't bite can you re-give it to someone else? I haven't given one yet so I don't know.

Perez is an interesting first choice. He's got a popular site so just one little link on the side bar could attract thousands of dollars to Kiva. Lets hope he uses it and plugs the concept! I like that he actually e-mailed back and asked if it was legit.

[Joe]

That's some good thinking outside the box. I also hope he uses it and gets hooked in.

As for more names, I think I'd try celebrities that have a track record in charities and/or are outspoken. Rosie O'Donnell comes to mind. She's got a pretty popular blog at www.rosie.com and is on The View. Imagine if she got hooked into the concept and, at the very least, posted about it on her blog....

[Julia]

Interesting idea! Do you get notified if someone accepts or uses your certificate? Also, if they don't bite can you re-give it to someone else? I haven't given one yet so I don't know.

Gift certificates show up at the bottom of your Kiva profile.  The one to Perez (my first) is showing as 'not redeemed'.  I hope it shows what loan he funds when he does.

I don't know what to do if they don't reedeem it. I was thinking of sending a few emails, then just using it myself or somethign. How long should I give them? a month? year?

Rosie's a good choice too.

[optimistic.bob]

Great idea. I would wait a month and then let the celeb know that they had 14 days left to redeem. If they don't invest, you can always re-gift it to another celebrity.
Cheers and Three Cheers

[Samantha]

Yeah a month sounds like a good time period with a reminder at 14 days and 7 days left.

Getting Rosie would be awesome! I think she'd be quick to use it because it seems like she's online a lot.

[johanna]

This is a nifty idea! BTW, it doesn't show what business your gift certificate recipient chooses to fund--too bad! Although you could always ask.

What about Yul Kwon, the guy who won Survivor? He already has a record of being involved in charitable causes related to the Asian American community, & maybe he would find Kiva interesting.

[Julia]

Getting Rosie would be awesome! I think she'd be quick to use it because it seems like she's online a lot.

Any idea what her email is? I can't find it on the site.   I want to send her a gift certificate.

And thanks everyone for all these comments!

KIVAFRIENDS ROCKS!

[Joe]

Looks like she doesn't have a public address on her site. How about going through the "Ask Ro" form? Send her some brief information about Kiva and then offer a gift certificate to try it out. If she (or someone representing her) replies by e-mail, use that address to send it to.

Also, I wonder if the snail mail method could also work. Kiva has that wonderful gift certificate template on their site that you can fill out and give to someone.

[Samantha]

I wonder if Oprah would use a certificate...