Causeway Blog

we hit a huge milestone this week! congratulations to you chattanooga! we are continually blown away by the giving spirit that thrives in chattanooga. we truly are creating a kind of community involvement that allows the culture of chattanooga to thrive! we're so proud to live in a city full of civically engaged citizens!

With over 750 volunteers, April 6th’s organized downtown cleanup was the largest Clean and Green to date. More than 1,500 bags of trash were collected along with graffiti removed from over 20 buildings and monuments. The following were the included districts, downtown neighborhoods and gateway neighborhoods for Clean and Green: City Center, Riverfront, Southside, MLK/UTC, Northshore, Fort Wood, Glass Farms, Glenwood, Highland Park, Hill City, North Creek and Orchard Knob.

Along with trash collection and graffiti removal, select teams tackled special projects like creating a community garden the 21st Century Child Development and Learning Center and window washing crews in City Center.

River City Company would like to thank all the volunteers who came out, rolled up their sleeves and made a noticeable difference in their downtown. Without the generous spirit found in our community, Clean and Green would not be possible.

The next Clean and Green will be in April 2014. We encourage the community to mark their calendars and think of any special projects they would like to see added to the Clean and Green roster.

A very special thank you goes out to our sponsor Volkswagen Chattanooga and partners Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, Causeway.org, LifeKraze, Chattanooga Kiwanis Club and ServPro.

1st place - kristin leffew

a big congratulations to kristin leffew for winning the "i love chattanooga" photo contest! kristin posted her picture to instagram with the hashtag #ilovecha and then began rallying people to vote for her photo on our facebook page. overall kristin's photo received 158 votes. way to go kristin!

in 1st place kristin leffew won the chattanooga prize pack which includes:

• 4 tickets to the aquarium
• 2 family pass tickets to rock city
• a moonpie t-shirt and moonpies
• a 1-year membership to bike chattanooga and a bike chattanooga t-shirt
• 1 free night's stay at the crash pad
• $100 credit to the flying squirrel
• a coca-cola bottling plant t-shirt
• 2 tickets to see the wallflowers at track29
• a causeway t-shirt and bumper sticker

2nd place - kristin fulcher 

kristin leffew was in a very close race with kristin fulcher on our facebook page. kristin fulcher won 2nd place with 123 votes for her photo! 

kristin fulcher's 2nd place prize includes:

• 4 tickets to a UTC home football game
• moonpie hat and moonpies
• little debbie memorabilia
• causeway t-shirt and bumper sticker

3rd place - sarah gardner 

in third place sarah gardner received 48 votes for her #ilovecha photo. 

sarah's 3rd place prize includes:

• moonpie koozies and moonpies
• a causeway t-shirt and bumper sticker

we really saw the heart of chattanoogans through their photos. we already knew we loved chattanooga, but seeing our city through all these different lenses gives such a deeper appreciation for our amazing community!

last week causeway kicked off the "i love chattanooga" photo contest on our facebook page. over 100 photos and counting have been posted on instagram and tagged with the #ilovecha hashtag and @causeway.

if you haven't checked them out already, you should! these chattanooga photos are amazing and it's cool to see different shots that embody why we love our city. public voting will remain open through thursday night at midnight, and you can vote 1x every 24 hours for your favorite. 

what's up for grabs?

our chattanooga-themed prize pack is getting bigger by the day! the 1st place winner with the highest number of votes will win:

• 4 tickets to the aquarium
• 2 family pass tickets to see rock city
• a moonpie t-shirt and moonpies
• a 1-year membership to bike chattanooga plus a bike chattanooga t-shirt
• 1 free night's stay at the crash pad (private room or 2 super bunks)
• $100 credit to the flying squirrel (opening soon!)
• a coca-cola bottling plant t-shirt
• and more!

we also have prizes for second and third place (plus the top 10 winners will receive a causeway t-shirt and "i love chattanooga" bumper sticker.

this past sunday, several causeway volunteers joined hundreds of chattanoogans at the mccallie school for this year's great strides walk to benefit the cystic fibrosis foundation. we were proud to join the cf smackdown team, complete with blue superhero capes, and walk in support of those individuals and families battling this disease. we walked with a determination that we wiill find a cure to end cystic fibrosis once and for all!

the "cf smackdown" cause, as we refer to it around the office, has been rapidly raising support from many of you in our local community - surpassing their first goal of $20,000 in record time. after going beyond their original goal, the cf smackdown and causeway raised over $31,000.

this is what it's all about! share the love. 

many of those who have posted causes to causeway (or groups who are thinking about posting their cause) have asked us over and over again - how do we be successful? how do we rally support to our cause?

now that we're in our second full year here at causeway, we thought we'd share a few of the great tips we've seen other successful causes implement. hopefully these will spark your imagination, and we'd love to hear your ideas about how causes can be successful! let us know in the comments, and we'll update our list of tips.

#1 - be creative

one of our current causes (end cystic fibrosis this decade: a cf smackdown) has been doing a great job of coming up with unique ways to get the word out any way they can. for their family holiday card, they sent a note on the back to show their friends and loved ones how they could support cystic fibrosis research on causeway. similarly, the family sent out lily's first birthday cards and asked that in lieu of gifts, a donation be made to the cf smackdown cause.

 #2 - maximize your networks

whether it's through social media, email blasts, printed cards or word of mouth, use your current base of contacts and supporters to spread the word that your cause is on causeway. great selling points include that 100% of the funds raised will be passed back to you (meaning you won't have to pay those pesky credit card fees)! that's right. in case you haven't heard, we cover all the credit card transaction fees, and you get every penny that donors intended to send your way! there's also matching funds on the table, so start spreading the word!

 #3 - market your cause

include your cause in your typical marketing strategies. we noticed one of our earliest causes, OPEN in East Lake, created their very own causeway widget which linked to their specific cause page. would you like something similar for your site? just ask! we've created custom widgets for websites and can provide you and your development team with everything they need!

have a great idea you think other causes could benefit from? share it in the comments, so we can keep updating this list over time!

while in our "beta" phase, we're constantly trying to fine-tune the causeway platform, roll out new features, and incorporate the feedback we have heard from you! since the new year we have had one of the biggest website updates yet! here's what we've rolled out:

social log in

• we have always wanted causeway to be easy to use. integrating facebook and google is just another step in the right direction. now you can create a profile quickly by logging in through your facebook or google accounts. let's be honest; sometimes you just don't have enough time to fill out all of your information. we heard your cry and have brought you a solution with just a click of a button (literally. just click "facebook" on the sign-up screen!)

homepage design

• map - peruse our interactive map to find a cause in your neighborhood! click on a pin to see some quick info and then jump to the main cause page.

• featured cause - some causes just need a boost, or are really gaining momentum and we want to help out! that is part of the reason for a featured cause section. also look forward to some mini challenges and opportunities for our causes to get the coveted spot on the homepage!

new cause pages

we have completely redesigned the cause pages to be more transparent and to better organize the amount of information each cause contains.  now get all the info you need at a glance and change tabs between the cause, the way, and updates to find out more. 

• contribute - clearly see what has been given to a cause already and what the cause has requested in the contribute area. this was one of our main feature requests and we couldn't agree with you more! you can also see when the requested resources have been completed by a checkmark in the contribute area.
• completed causes - causes that are completed are now marked with a "completed" banner and the contribute section of that cause displays the resources raised. this is just our first step in showing results! so be on the lookout for more to come in our next big update.
• interactive categories - by making the categories of the cause clickable, you can now jump to a filtered view of other causes marked with the same category.

let us know what you think of the changes or what you might like to see on causeway. just like our causes, we are looking for the absolute best way to get things done, so help us out and you may see your suggestion in our next big update!