Oct. 19, 2009 -
PRLog -- New York, New York, – BiZBash, the leading trade media outlet for the event industry, has nominated, for a second year in a row, New York City based event production company Sophist Productions and its mobile fundraising program Text-to-Pledge™
for a 2009 BiZBash Event Style Award, award show to take place on October 21st at the Jacob Javits Center.
Sophist Productions’
Text-to-Pledge™
Program received a nomination in the Best Fresh Idea category, designated for the implementation of a pioneering, inventive idea that solved a problem or made an event especially effective. That idea was the addition of Impact Visuals to Text-to-Pledge™
at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship's 2009 DARE2DREAM Gala at the Marriott Marquis. Text-to-
Pledge™ raised $263,000 for NFTE’s 2009 New York City fundraiser, an 8% increase over and above the 2008 total at the same event, despite the economic downturn.
Sophist CEO Reed Baker credits Impact Visuals with much of the growth in NFTE’s Text-to-Pledge™
program and 2009 Text-to-Pledge™
statistics in general. Baker states: “In a year when 30% down was the new flat, we saw many of our Text-to-Pledge™
segments grow. Part of the reason was the universal integration of the Impact Visuals content component, which gave donors an instant ROI when they invested in one of our charities. This year more than any other, it was incredibly important for donors to know where their money was going, and Text-to-Pledge™
allowed them to see the effects of their contributions instantaneously.”
Impact Visuals are images of nonprofit projects and programs and the associated costs of those projects and programs. Sophist designs Impact Visuals at anticipated pledge benchmarks (i.e. $500, $1,000) and cuts to Impact Visuals live once a pledge is received at a benchmark amount, thereby offering an immediate return to donors and driving home the charity's mission.
In the October weeks leading up to the award show, Sophist Productions continued raising money for some of the most prominent nonprofit organizations in the United States including: Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Women's Sports Foundation, bringing the 2009 total raised to approximately $1.5 Million and the aggregate raised since inception to nearly $3 Million. Major fundraiser attendees participate in Text-to-Pledge™
by texting donations using their cell phones. Sophist broadcasts all of these messages and pledge amounts on screen in real time, creating a viral, competitive fundraising environment.
To register for the 2009 BiZBash Event Style Awards and see a complete list of nominees visit the BiZBash website at:
http://www.bizbash.com/newyork/ For further information on Text-to-Pledge™
, visit www.texttopledge.com. To schedule an interview contact Christopher Pape at 917.599.7289 or pape.christopher@
gmail.com
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Sophist Productions LLC is a New York based event production company and the top mobile fundraiser in the United States. Sophist uses a fusion of sponsor activation, digital signage and interactive on-screen text messaging capabilities in order to create Text-to-Pledge™
. The company guarantees a return on investment for non-profit clientele who choose to deploy Text-to-Pledge™
at their major fundraising events and offers numerous risk-free pricing options in order to facilitate a charity’s ability to experiment with the new fundraising methodology. Text-to-Pledge™
has been deployed in 9 major US cities and raised upwards of $2.5 Million since its 2007 inception.
