I’m going to ask a simple question: have your opinions of Pepsi changed since this launched? I’m going to say yes, but here’s what I need more of:

1. Stories from the grantees;
2. Stories from people who benefited from the grantees’ projects;
3. Stories about collaborations from people who met through this project; and
4. Stories from people who work at Pepsi and why this initiative is important to them, including CEO Indra Nooyi.
5. In general, real stories of how this is making an impact. The number of dollars given don’t do it for me. You can tell me that a school received a $1,000,000 donation, but I’m actually much more interested in how they spent the money and the eventual impact. (I know that having just started the community impact is TBD – just hoping it does come.)

Here’s what I need less of:

1. Emails, DMs and Facebook messages asking me to vote. (Who came up with the idea to allow people to vote every day for the same contestants? It just adds another level of headache to contestant’s and their supporters.)

(Full Disclosure: My Mom is a rabid Pepsi drinker and we always try to have some on hand when she visits.)

It seems odd to critique a program that just gave $5,000,000 to non-profits, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do. The Chase Community Challenge ended on Friday with some happy people and more controversy. You’re connected to the Challenge if you ever dated someone in high school who was a friend of a friend who went on to be the cousin of a guy’s college roommate who started a non-profit. Such connections earned you dozens of emails, facebook messages and tweets begging for your vote. As much as I appreciate Chase donating so much money to so many non-profits (100 were whittled down from 5,000) and as much as I don’t actually mind voting for people who ask me, there was a misfire here. The non-profits that enter these contests must be happy or things tend to go poorly. Remember: they’re more than purveyors of positive sentiment, they’re also the loudest when they feel wronged or unhappy. You have to leave them happy and moneygrabs aren’t the best way to do that.

That’s not to say these contests can’t be useful to non-profits. Those that could use both money and exposure get it. I didn’t know the “Feel Your Boobies Foundation” existed before the challenge. Not only do I now know they exist, but that they are headquartered a short drive from a family member that could benefit from their services. I tell that family member and offline action ensues. If they win money, that helps too.

The problem is that I see them becoming more and more less useful. Non-profits (and their supporters) are starting to show signs of VBCB (Vote-Base Contest Burnout). Do you know how hard it is for many of these (*generalization alert*) super nice, wouldn’t hurt a fly, non-competitive, non-profit leaders to BEG their friends, family and supporters for votes over and over again? The first time is exciting and exhilarating. The next time a little less so until finally it becomes a painstaking “I know I bug you all the time, but” email that scrapes the bottom of their social capital piggy bank. In the end, you run the risk of them not liking you very much regardless of the opportunity.

If you want to build actual brand ambassadors using this formula here’s one simple way these contests can evolve to bring all the good (and more) with less of the bad.

Don’t make it all about the money.

Only 2% of all Chase participants won money and that’s actually pretty high. Future contests need to start from the premise of “how do we bring value to the other 98%?”

You have to give people a reason to participate beyond the money. Better yet, don’t make it about the money at all. Until about a year ago I was the community manager at Ideablob – a vote-based contest platform that granted $10,000 a month, but also crowdsourced and encouraged new ideas. Actually, we were a crowdsourcing platform that used the $10,000 a month prize to encourage people to participate. A vote was great, but how about a piece of advice that could fundamentally alter the way I think about my organization or services? That’s priceless. We also worked hard to understand each participant and actively looked for ways to grow community through introductions between users or an industry expert. We wanted every user to feel like they were a part of a larger, valuable, energetic community of organizations working to improve some aspect of our world. We worked to grow their social capital, not just give them a reason to spend it. Whether they won or lost (*generalization alert*), they loved us for it.

After Chase finalist Jessica Rauch won $10,000 on Ideablob for The Generation Project she told Beth Kanter about her experience and didn’t mention the money:

“The website is such a great way to connect with entrepreneurs. We received some really great advice and encouragement and met a lot of people who want to help us develop our idea.”

That’s exactly how we wanted people to feel. Users had an intangible benefit from participating and their satisfaction meant we both benefited in the end.

So what do you think? Am I off-base here? Does VBCB exist? Please comment and let me know. Also, stay tuned for a post later this week on some things brands should keep in mind if they decide to dive into similar contests.

The model is simple: offer a huge cash prize to non-profits or social entrepreneurs who will then creatively, enthusiastically and relentless beat the bushes to win. It’s like creating a seemingly infinite amount of brand ambassadors virtually overnight. Chase competitors recently hit me up an incredible 9 times in one day via email and Facebook.

The question that haunts me (and one that the Pepsis of the world need to carefully consider) is whether people care more about Chase now than they did before the $5million was up for grabs. If the goal is to create buzz online then it’s probably been a success, but if the goal is more focused on their bottom line (like hoping people now or in the foreseeable future will choose Chase for their banking needs) then I’m afraid this will come up short.

Here’s a perhaps oversimplified reason why: of the “tens of thousands” of non-profits that competed in the Challenge, only a handful had any connection with Chase’s core business – banking. A quick scan of the $10,000 winners reveals groups like the “Cavalier Drum and Bugle Corps,” the “Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps,” and the “Feel Your Boobies Foundation.” I’m sure all are fine organizations, but why would Chase giving them $10,000 make me more loyal as a customer or motivate me to actually become a Chase customer? Wouldn’t a similar commitment exclusively to, say, microfinance organizations or New York City non-profits make more sense, though still only marginally interested in Chase? Without even getting into what I suspect is the main reason people choose their banks – convenience and interest rates – or the fact that hosting a free-for-all contest brings up problems like this, there is a huge strategic piece missing here. Unfortunately, that missing piece is critical if Chase hopes to receive a sustained, positive brand impact from their efforts.

Before succumbing to the economy, Advanta bank – a small business credit card company – developed ideablob.com as a forum for people to crowdsource new business ideas while competing for monthly $10,000 grants. As a special incentive, existing customer could win $20,000. Advanta generated an enormous amount of loyalty from existing customers and positive publicity in places that were relevant to our business, including  The Motley Fool, The New York Times small business section and the social entrepreneur-focused TriplePundit. We also partnered with Kiva during that time.

It’s very possible that Chase just felt like giving $5million away and was looking for a way to do it that was more engaging, fun and promised more publicity than just writing another check. Maybe they just wanted to give money away without worrying about “maximizing” ROI. If that’s the case, then I can appreciate that. As a business accountable to shareholders and one with some slip ups in the recent past I don’t understand it, but I can appreciate it.

What has been your experience with the Chase Giving Challenge? Am I way off base? Are you more likely to become a Chase customer because of the Challenge? If you’re a Chase customer do you think of yourself as more loyal now?

This is not a political post. Just a very humble “thank you” to the troops who sacrifice so much to do their duty as prescribed by the government of the United States. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who have to say goodbye without the certainty that a commuter train will bring them back to their loved ones in due time.

I challenge myself to not forget their sacrifice and be reminded of it each day. I hope you will do the same.

This post was created as part of the USO’s Community Strong event at Fort Hood –a day for healing, fun and entertainment to uplift the spirits of the Fort Hood community in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting incident. You can help show your support for Fort Hood and its more than 349,000 military personnel, family members, retirees and civilian employees by visiting the Community Strong website, Tweeting your support with the #CommunityStrong hashtag, leaving comments on the Official USO Blog and donating to the USO’s ongoing efforts to support our troops.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit the TweetsGiving site to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

Click here to learn more and support the stache.

I had a pretty surreal moment this morning discussing social media with Rev. Peter Storey – the South African ecumenical leader during the anti-apartheid struggle. I thought for a second about my own time in South Africa and the incredible gap I saw between the haves and have-nots. I saw that, yes, apartheid was over, but that compassion – love and respect for all people – was a long way off.

I remember a conversation I had with a manager at a gold mine near Johannesburg who assured me that although apartheid was over “things really hadn’t changed much.” The managers at his mine were all white and the workers – many of whom left their families and came in from other African countries only to work 18-hour shifts and live in work camps – were black. “Things like this take time” is usually the answer. Well, Karen Armstrong is tired of waiting.

As the 2008 TED Prize winner, Karen believes the time is now to spread compassion; to get moving and change the world. Sitting in a room with her now at the National Press Club as I write this and listening to her impassioned pleas, I can’t help to be energized as well. It’s contagious. You’ll find below the ability to read the fruits of labor from thousands of people who came together to celebrate compassion and help write Karen’s wish: the Charter for Compassion. I would encourage you to visit the Charter homepage, read the Charter and join those around the world to Affirm its message.

You can learn more about the charter at the Charter of Compassion website and more about TED here.

A July 2009 research study by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law found that 81% of senior management, marketing and human resources executives view social media as a valuable tool to enhance relationships with customers and build their company’s brand. That’s the good part. Here’s the challenge: the same amount, 81%, perceives social media as a corporate security risk. There’s a natural balance. You want to use social media to enhance your brand and customer relationships. Who’s managing the associated risk? Your new best friend – your in-house counsel.

Before joining the 360 Digital Influence team, I worked on customer outreach Web 2.0 platforms for a large financial institution. As the study correctly suggests, our success was inversely proportional to our corporate security risk. The more reach we achieved, the more our in-house counsel panicked. With a background in law, I was uniquely qualified to take verbal beatings for our compliance failures and debate (argue) the merits of our outreach efforts. It wasn’t that much fun. To lessen the unpleasantness, I developed some best practices to improve our relationship with in-house counsel and improve the likelihood of our social media campaigns seeing the light of day.

I’ll expand each one in the coming weeks, but here they are in brief:

1. Work with counsel to develop an overarching social media operations plan. Have an offsite and create timelines for review processes, content guidelines, and expectations. Doing this together enables buy-in from both sides and you’ll also start to learn some of the legal issues that keep them up at night (so you can proactively try to avoid them).

2. Put yourself in their shoes. Lawyers are doing their job. Take pains to understand their point of view and explain yours. They don’t know who Guy Kawasaki is and are more focused on violating CAN-SPAM legislation than the reward you might receive from sending him a personalized email.

3. Involve lawyers early in the process of any specific social media campaign. They’ll want to review everything anyway, so save yourself revisions by telling them what you want to do and ask them if they foresee any issues. Keep them updated on changes that inevitably take place during the creative process. Get their sign off in writing early and you’ll avoid setbacks.

4. Don’t sneak anything by them. The old adage, “do now and ask for permission later” only applies to loved ones. They don’t love you and will show you as much in increased surveillance for the foreseeable future.

5. Be nice. Make sure to include them in a congratulatory email to the team on a successful campaign. They have stressful jobs and have the double indignity of feeling like the bad guy all the time. Let them know they’re appreciated.

These 5 suggestions made my life easier, but every situation is different. What interesting ways have you learned to work with your legal team.