Tweet. Meet. Give.
On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.
Join us by:
- Attending one of the events detailed on the city sites listed on this page.
- Uploading or buying music at Twestival.fm.
- Taking part in the t-shirt design competition.
- Donating to charity: water.
The Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers in cities around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects.
In September 2008, a group of Twitterers based in London UK decided to organise an event where the local Twitter community could socialize offline; meet the faces behind the avatars, enjoy some entertainment, have a few drinks and tie this in with a food drive and fundraising effort for a local homeless charity.
The bulk of the event was organized in under two weeks, via Twitter and utilized the talents and financial support of the local Twittersphere to make this happen.
Around the world similar stories started appearing of local Twitter communities coming together and taking action for a great cause. Twestival was born out of the idea that if cities were able to collaborate on an international scale, but working from a local level, it could have a spectacular impact.
By rallying together globally, under short timescales, for a single aim on the same day, the Twestival hopes to bring awareness to this global crisis.
charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.
Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Public Service Announcement from charity: water on Vimeo.
Right now 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's one in six of us.
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
Many communities in developing nations often have a plentiful supply of clean drinking water just below the ground, but no way to get to it.
This is where charity: water and their partner organizations come in. Drilling a well can cost from $4,000 - $12,000 USD and many living on less than $1 a day cannot afford one in their community, even if the money is combined.
Twestival cities might consider setting a goal to raise enough money from their event to fund a well project in a developing country, starting at $4,000 USD.
We all know that Twitter can be a powerful communications tool. It can connect, mobilize and inform people around the world instantly.
Those of us on Twitter know of its ability to organically create interesting communities from those people who find and follow each other. It is proven from the first Twestival that bringing the Twittersphere together for a special event is not only a memorable night; it has momentum to bring about social change.
This website has been designed as a simple portal where each Twestival city organizer will be assigned their own site to update their event information, post news, blogs, photo and video content.
This site has specifically been established with central controls which ensure that all of the donations go directly to charity: water and event registration is secure.
There will be certain creative restrictions on city sites, especially for those with a web developer on their team; but it was important not to compromise these features due to the scale of this grassroots event.
Feel free to link in social media sites or any other website relevant to the Twestival.
- Phase one: Launch the homepage with a list of cities which have already registered. Over the next day, organizers will be given a password and instruction to upload information to their own city site (start thinking about a first blog post). Please have a bit of patience as we are working as quickly as we can.
- Phase two: All of the cities should be linked up to the homepage. Features to donate, bid on an auction, raffle and other fundraising projects will come online as buttons as they are completed.
- Phase three: On 12 February 2009, Twestival will be working with partners to have live broadcasts of the events around the world.
This site will be the central hub of information and schedule of events with links to Twitter, photosites and video content sites.
- Follow @twestival for updates.
- Contact @amanda for global enquiries.
- See the development blog for technical site updates.
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