IMPORTANT: Sometimes the Pepsi voting site has technical problems. If you get a “connection error” or the voting links don’t work for you, try refreshing the page several times to get the list of us and our partners to show up.

3-WAYS TO VOTE EACH DAY

OUR PROMISE TO SEATTLE

If we win this grant, we will reopen the Church of Bass as a non-profit community space and fully engage with our Vision, for the benefit of our local community. We will do this by hosting intentional events, gatherings, workshops, and classes.

The possibilities are endless ~ when we stand together!

WAYS TO STAY CONNECTED

♥ Subscribe to the CoB newsletter
♥ Text the word CHURCHOFBASS to the number 41411 to receive a daily text reminder. (case sensitive; opt-out anytime)
♥ We also have a Facebook event you can “attend” and invite friends to.
♥ Consider setting your browser home page to the CoB Web page
♥ Create a recurring event on your calendar

PARTNER PROJECTS

Weaver Middle School Language Arts Department consists of 13 dedicated professionals who strive to instill a thirst for lifelong learning in our students by integrating technology, literature, and writing. We believe 21st century learners need to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and good communicators.

Copper Harbor Improvement Association is a non profit organization that strives to improve the lives of our businesses, residents and guests through area promotion and continued community involvement. We intend to construct a temperature-controlled building for the ambulance and medical supplies.

Read to Me The U.S. Department of Education reports that 61% of low-income families have no children’s books in their home. Read to Me would like to change this alarming statistic and provide a new children’s book to new mothers and their newborn babies; encouraging them to share the joy of books.

Theater Collaborative of South Jersey TCSJ was created to save The Gateway Playhouse in Somers Point, NJ from demolition. TCSJ intends to renovate the now closed theater, reopening the doors for use to the public as a community theater. Once completed, the theater will host a variety of educational programs and live performances.

Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation CABF is a national, parent-led organization that provides information, support and advocacy for 500,000 website visitors annually. CABF advocates for youth with depression and bipolar and is highly respected for its scientifically credible information. Early intervention can save lives!

Centre Stage Group Adopt A High Way to Higher Education provides financial support to qualifying students of Haitian descent, of families in the armed forces or public safety, of the first generation to attend college, or where caregivers have been challenged by serious health issues or living in poverty.

Bernard Campbell Science believes in teaching science interactively. Our goal is to not only teach important concepts, but to teach our students the skills that they will use as professionals in the future. We currently share 15 Ipods for over 450 students and know how they can make learning difficult concepts enjoyable.

Autism Women’s Network AWN was created to support, promote and maintain the well being of autistic females. During April, AWN hosted AUTISM FRIENDLY NIGHT OUT in Pennsylvania, and AWN’s Executive Director attended a meeting at the WHITE HOUSE on World Autism Awareness Day.

Cohoes Music Hall The Cohoes Music Hall opened in 1874. With the decorative front facade, it is considered the best example of that era in the city of Cohoes, NY. In 1971 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Cohoes Music Hall is the fourth-oldest music hall currently in use in the country.

Together we hold the “currency” to fund a new beginning for the Church of Bass: 5 minutes of our time each day so that the CoB may win a $50,000 grant. The money will enable us to upgrade the CoB space, so that we can reopen a brand new CoB in the Spring! Complete with new exits, a wood floor, and more bathrooms! It will allow us to fully manifest the CoB ViSiON, for the benefit of everyone that walks through our doors!

The November round of the contest is under way, and we are in 37th position. We have very strong partners this month, and combined with strong support from the communities we serve we can make into the Top 10, and win! In addition, our votes for our partners will also help their worthwhile programs to get the funding they desperately need.

It takes less than 5min each day to fully participate!  We realize that you’ve given so much already, and that our goal of winning this grant may not seem very likely to you. We are asking you to believe with us that it is possible, that we can and will succeed, and throw your full weight behind this effort.

We appreciate you and your gift of time and energy to the CoB community.

with gratitude,

Hendrik, on behalf of CoB family

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✔ VOTING 3-ways per day is as EASY as 1-2-3; takes less than 5 min!

1: From your PHONE: text 102195 to 73774

2: ONLINE*: http://bit.ly/vote4cob or http://bit.ly/bQ01YO (mobile friendly)

3: Inside FACEBOOK http://goo.gl/WFlH

*You will not receive any spam from Pepsi by registering to vote!

Please support our ViSiON:

❥ VOTE religiously every day in Nov

❥ SHARE our cause with your close personal circle and ask them to support you (us) and vote daily. Invite them to this event!

❥ REMEMBER with a daily reminder*:

☎ Text the word CHURCHOFBASS to 41411

✉ Sign up for our Newsletter and a daily reminder Email at http://goo.gl/d5t4

*opt-out anytime; 1 msg/day

Although we will not finish in the Top10 in Oct, we will likely finish in the Top100 and advance to the November round, offering us another opportunity to win $50k. It leaves us with a difficult decision: Should we campaign in November, or not?

“Pepsi is evil, and we should not accept their money”

Each of us have our own opinion of Pepsi. The CoB is not endorsing them or their products, nor are we required to do so. However, redirecting $20mil Superbowl ad money into this grant program is a brilliant marketing strategy. Contest winners receive a no-strings cash grant. As for solicitations – we have not received a single solicitation from Pepsi since registering to vote 6 months ago.

“Competing with worthy medical and social causes is wrong.”

This is a popularity contest, definitely not a contest based on merit. Winners are determined solely by online and text votes alone. Everyone can vote for 10 ideas daily, which leaves 9 votes with which to support other programs. Although we make it easy to vote for our worthy partner projects when voting for the CoB, everyone is free to vote for other projects.

“We’ve given it our all and have fallen short.”

Short URL statistics show an average of only 60 clicks per day to the Pepsi site via the short links we used in our campaign. (This excludes votes via Facebook, text, made directly on pepsi site, votes from the public, votes from our partner projects.) We have 1,000′s of people in our community, many of whom are in support of the CoB vision. We believe that we can do better.

“Voting reminders, pepsi, and all that jazz is getting old!” and “I feel like I am being spammed to vote.”

We are not experienced campaigners, and have learned a lot about campaign communications along the way. Daily reminders are essential – We even forgot to vote some days! We are asking our supporters to sign up for daily email or txt reminders, and receive one message or txt from us per day.

“We can’t possibly win.”

We have been living and breathing this contest for 2 months now, and have spent a lot of time doing research, analysis, and networking – with other contestants as well as past winners. Strong partnerships with other projects in the contest is the proven (only) way to win. We have very strong partners now, many of whom joined us at the end of Oct. Very few past grant winners won in their first or second months – most won in their 3rd or 4th months in the contest.

Other considerations:

Raising $50k with conventional fundraisers is very hard and will take a long time. A successful party yields perhaps $1,000, and many much less than that. We have a great understanding of the contest, as well as two months worth of “experience”. Our first month cut our teeth and we made it to #94, this month we built partnerships and made it to #48, next month…?

Our decision:

After carefully considering our position, the pro’s and con’s, we believe that competing for one more month makes a lot of sense. With your support we have a really good chance to win and get the funding we need!

Connection & Unity:

Our November campaign will be different: Our theme will be uniting us all behind the CoB Vision*, and honoring personal connection. Rather than a barrage of messages, we will ask every individual in support of the CoB to own our cause, and act as a spokesperson/activist for the CoB. If we all reach into our close personal circle for support, it will unite us and we will reach our goal!

Our Proposal:

We are inviting you to unite behind the CoB Vision*, vote religiously every day in Nov (3-ways if possible), act as a CoB spokesperson, and win this grant!

Thank you for your support and encouragement. We are planning to win this grant, start construction in January, and reopen the new CoB in the spring. We can only do it with you!

In loving gratitude,

Hendrik

on behalf of Church of Bass family

*Church of Bass Vision:

The Church of Bass in Seattle, WA is a not-for-profit volunteer organized community space founded in 2006 upon the premise that music is a common thread that overcomes all cultural barriers. Our Vision is to facilitate community through an expression of music, movement, wellness, and heartfelt connection.

1. PHONE: text 102195 to the number 73774
2. ONLINE (you won’t get spam from Pepsi, really!)
3. Inside FACEBOOK (make sure you are logged into FB first)

Let us help you remember. Sign up for a free daily reminder*:

☎ Text the word churchofbass to the number 41411
✉ Or for an Email reminder
*opt-out anytime; no extra charge; 1 msg/day

We are excited to announce the Win³ Sweepstakes! We are giving away 2 free tickets to one of the hottest shows in Seattle every day! Everyone wins with Win³:

You win tickets to hot events!
The event wins (your presence) !
The Church of Bass wins…re-opening via $50K grant!

~~~~~~~~

Entering the Win³ Sweepstakes is free and easy – subscribe to the Church of Bass $50k Daily reminder email and/or Newsletter using the convenient subscription box to the right. We will send you a Daily Voting Reminder each day during October. It will include 1 or more trackable link(s) that directs you to vote for the Church of Bass in Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Project (“Pepsi Refresh”).

You are automatically entered to win the Church of Bass Sweepstakes when you click a link to vote for the Church of Bass in Pepsi Refresh during the Promotion Period. A separate random drawing for each day of the Promotion Period shall be held. To be entered into a daily drawing, an entry must be received by midnight EST on the same day.

Sign up now for your chance to Win³!

(Complete rules available here)

Partner codes are (text individually)
100542, 100246, 100265, 100256, 100854
* Sign up for a daily txt reminder! Text the word CHURCHOFBASS to the number 41411

We are excited to announce the Win³ Sweepstakes! We are giving away 2 free tickets to one of the hottest shows in Seattle every day! Everyone wins with Win³:

You win tickets to hot events!
The event wins (your presence) !
The Church of Bass wins…re-opening via $50K grant!

Entering the Win³ Sweepstakes is free and easy – subscribe to the Church of Bass $50k Daily reminder email and/or Newsletter using the convenient subscription box to the right. We will send you a Daily Voting Reminder each day during October. It will include 1 or more trackable link(s) that directs you to vote for the Church of Bass in Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Project (“Pepsi Refresh”).

You are automatically entered to win the Church of Bass Sweepstakes when you click a link to vote for the Church of Bass in Pepsi Refresh during the Promotion Period. A separate random drawing for each day of the Promotion Period shall be held. To be entered into a daily drawing, an entry must be received by midnight EST on the same day.

Sign up now for your chance to Win³!

(Complete rules available here)

OUR PROMISE TO SEATTLE

The possibilities are endless ~ together, we can do this!

Our TRUE VICTORY is in coming together and uniting behind a vision. An expression of music, movement, wellness, and community.

We choose to CONNECT with each of you. We are grateful to you for staying rooted and believing that a common dream can materialize. Thank you for branching into your personal networks and beyond, to share our vision of unity, common space, and sharing.

OUR INTENTION is clear: To reopen the Church of Bass!

LETS FINISH what we started: Vote every day, finish in the top 10 in October, win $50k, and reopen the Church of Bass!

VOTE EVERY DAY: (October voting opened this morning!)

♥ text the digits 102195 to the number 73774 from your cellphone

♥ vote online at http://www.refresheverything.com/churchofbass

♥ Share on FB and Twitter

PLEASE TRUST US**(no spam)

♥ Sign up for a daily text reminder: text the word CHURCHOFBASS to the number 41411

♥ Sign up for a daily email reminder at http://goo.gl/9RB2

** Please help us reduce the amount of traffic on facebook and the innertubes. We urge you to consider signing up for one of the reminders above and make all our communications more efficient and effective. We will only use it to send you a daily reminder!

UNITY IN COMMUNITY

Someone asked me whether I believe that the end justify the means and I agreed that it doesn’t. And it started me thinking…. About the Church of Bass, what it stands for, what it really is. And I realized that it has a lot to do with gratitude. And that in all my enthusiasm and excitement at the possibility of winning a grant, I lost sight of that.

An attitude of Gratitude

I would like to express my gratitude to you for supporting the Church of Bass, from it’s humble beginnings in 2006, all the way to the present. The Church of Bass only exists as a direct result of your support, encouragement, time, energy, money, and contributions. Without that it would be nothing more than an idea.

I am very grateful for the opportunity it provided me to follow my dream. A dream of community. A dream of a special community space where we can celebrate and dance and learn and grow and laugh and heal together. Today, even though we have closed our doors, that dream is still very much alive in my heart. And whether we win this grant or not, whether we open our doors again or not, I am grateful. More than anything, I have learned a lot about myself along the way.

The road ahead

This contest is a blessing. Not only does it offer us hope, it is also a good barometer for how well the idea of the Church of Bass resonates out there. Thanks to you, we have moved up 36 places in the last week. (Now #129) If we end up in the top 10 at the end of this month, we’ll receive the grant. If not, all is not lost. The first 100 places advance to the next month’s contest, so we may have another chance in October.

Regardless of what the future holds for the Church of Bass, I am practicing my attitude of gratitude.

Thank you for your support!

With love,
Hendrik

• Vote every day online and by phone (text 102195 to the number 73774) You can vote both ways every day. You also have 9 other votes – please support other worthy causes!
• Jump in an help with electronic (www) outreach. Tell your friends about our cause! Invite them to join our voting events on Facebook, send emails to people and communities asking for support, and encourage everyone to vote daily.
• Join our street outreach team that goes to events, gatherings, and venues and hand out handbills to people, asking them to vote for us. We have beautiful business card size get-the-vote-out fliers ready! Contact us by email at info at churchofbass dot org. Or write a comment below this blog entry.
• Download our 6-up PDF handbill that you can print at home and make copies of. It’s inexpensive and easy to do! Take these with you where you go (to events, gatherings, meeting, wherever) and hand them to people, and ask them to vote for us. (Suggestion: print in high quality B&W, copy at Kinkos)
• Sign up for our daily reminder email.
• Please reach out to us, email, call, whatever. Your words of encouragement and support and solidarity means so much!