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The Norm Fund features @sarah5ash. Sarah was travelling with her boyfriend and wanted to #giveback a bit during her vacation. Her and her boyfriend volunteered with volunteerabroadivhq in Indonisia at the Green Lion Turtle Volunteer Program to get these amazing pics.

Use #turn2norm when you volunteer, and check out Norm to discover the best way to advocate for the causes you love!

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Commogri is becoming The Norm Fund. We have a refined vision to go along with our new name and look. The Norm Fund is dedicated to promoting advocacy and giving nonprofits free exposure on Norm (www.turn2norm.co). Here's a glimpse of what you can expect from us moving forward...

$50 to Pangea Education from The Norm Fund - Credit Kevin Oh

The Norm Fund Rewards Kevin Oh for his amazing work with Pangea Education. For posting great photos and becoming a true advocate for #PED, we're donating $50 to Pangea Education in his name! #turn2norm

Donate to The Norm Fund today (www.thenormfund.org) to help us support more nonprofits while recognizing their amazing volunteers!

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224 Advoates | 491 Photos | Total Reach: 866K

The Shedd Aquarium is a nonprofit dedicated to wildlife conservation, and its Auxiliary Board holds an annual fundraiser, BLU, to raise money to further the organizations efforts. 

We attended to help compile photos and show how each supporter has the ability to be true advocates for the Shedd Aquarium. Using the services from our sponsor, TINT, we aggregated everyone's photos who used #SheddBLU during the event to show their impact. Not only did the Auxiliary Board raise $318,000, but the attendees shared photos to increase exposure with a total reach on social media of 866K!

We were excited to have Commogri be a part of BLU because it's one of the largest junior board events in Chicago, but honestly, this is one of the best nights that you can have out in the city! Supporters who attended BLU pet stingrays, explored the various exibits the Shedd has to offer, enjoyed an aquatic show, and enjoyed dancing & fireworks on the patio that offers one of the best views of the Chicago skyline.

See everyone's photos from the night here!

Thanks to the Auxiliary Board for letting us be a part of this amazing night, and thanks to all of the supporters for sharing photos to help raise awareness for the Shedd.

Let's turn volunteering into a social norm. #turn2norm

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Commogri features "Ms. Fancy"...

...who put her love for animals to good use at the Misty Creek Canine Rescue up in Calgary. We’ve got Paws Chicago here.

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Commogri features Rafaella...

...for her conservation efforts in Texas #turn2norm. She’s part of a group of scientific divers helping keep the aquatic habitat of Aquarena Springs clean and healthy. So many cool ways to give back!

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We just hit the 2,000 follower mark on Instagram! As always, keep on using #turn2norm for your volunteer pics to be featured. Let’s turn volunteering into a social norm :)

Special thanks to the advocates who posted amazing photos to make our Instagram account what it is today:

Alan O’Donnell, Henrik Sogaard for projectsabroad, Ojia Adamolekun for @quickmedicalconsults, Rochelle Hathaway, Brianna, Eduardo Della Magiora, Chad Haffer for ivhqprogramchina, @bettenshmetten, Taylor Pitman

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Commogri features: Alexandra Duello

Commogri features Alexandra Duello. She’s been serving in the peacecorps as a Community Health Volunteer in Paraguay since Feb 2013 and will be there until April 2015. She’s got some unreal experiences that you can see on her instagram account or blog (http://aduello.wordpress.com/). #turn2norm

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Commogri Features: Eduardo Della Maggiora

Eduardo volunteered as an elementary school teacher in Moshi, Tanzania. His time abroad inspired him to found the Yayo Fund. Be sure to follow him, and read more about his incredible story/organization at yayofund.org. #turn2norm

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At Commogri, we call 1871 home, so we were extremely happy when we found out about their involvement in the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon this year! Thanks to the gracious sponsorship from EY, 1871 was able to send more than 100 volunteers to William Nixon Elementary School to build flower gardens and paint hallways.

1871 was really excited to use the services of our sponsors from TINT to empower their volunteers to promote the work they were doing in the community. Out of all of the 1871 volunteers, 24 people became advocates by posting 62 photos for a total reach of 135k! 1871 and its entrepreneurs have a really large following, so it's great to see them use their influence to promote their efforts to such a large audience. (135k is the largest reach we've ever seen!)

Huge thanks to Chicago Cares for another amazing serve-a-thon (learn more here), to EY for supporting the 1871 community, and of course to 1871 for empowering your entrepreneurs to do some good!

See everyone's photos from the event here!

Let's turn volunteering into a social norm - #turn2norm

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Commogri features Brianna for working with the teachers and students at Corazon de Dahlia. “I’ve spent the last two months learning from the children that I was supposed to be teaching.” Funny how that always seems to happen…#turn2norm

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At Commogri, we’re always promoting nonprofits & the amazing people who support their causes, but we think that it’s just as important to recognize great companies that understand the value in giving back. We stumbled across some employee pics from Keller Williams on Instagram during their annual day of giving and had to feature them here...

Keller Williams is an international real estate franchise that is repeatedly recognized as a top rated real estate company by numerous sources. In addition to their success as a real estate franchise, they are extremely dedicated to giving back to the community.

In 2009, Keller Williams started an annual day of giving where employees volunteer nationwide to “Renew, Energize, and Donate”, hence the name “RED Day”. KW recognized the benefit for their staff and their community to allow their employees to take time from work to support meaningful causes each year.

Keller Williams’ New York office (KWNYC) partnered with Citymeals-on-wheels on May 8th for this years RED Day. Citymeals-on-Wheels provides a continuous lifeline of nutritious food and human company to homebound elderly New Yorkers in need, helping them to live with dignity in their own familiar homes and communities. (Learn more about Citymeals-on-wheels here)

KWNYC employees got equipt with their hot & cold meals, split into teams of three, and hit the streets to get food to people who really needed their help. As expected, the employees were all extrememly proud to take some time from their day to day lives to give back to their community.

If you’d like to read more about KWNYC’s RED Day, check out their full recap here.

Let’s turn volunteering into a social norm - #turn2norm

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Just reached 1000 followers on Instagram! Check out our account to get inspired by amazing people :) #turn2norm

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Commogri features Ojia Adamolekun (@drsweetness) for her continued work with Quick Medical Consults (@qmcworld) in Nigeria. Check out her other photos on our Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts ;) #turn2norm

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AS2YP - Illuminate

63 Advocates; 96 Photos; Total Reach – 71.6k

Last month, we worked with Autism Speaks to Young Professionals (AS2YP) at Illuminate: A Light It Up Blue Cocktail Reception on April 26th to round out Autism Awareness Month. This year’s Illuminate event was held at Block 37 in the Chicago Loop, and it was a huge success. Autism speaks put on an amazing time for everyone and raised over $65,000! 

As always, Commogri came in to help encourage everyone at the event to share photos in order to increase exposure for Autism Speaks. We set up the services from our sponsor, TINT. Every person that posted a pic to Instagram or Twitter using #illuminate to get their photos to show on the big screen at the event.

With TINT Analytics, we were also able to measure the impact of everyone who posted a photo. 63 people took 96 photos that had a total reach of 71.6k users on Instagram and Twitter! This was the most exposure that any of our nonprofits have gotten, and it was all because of everyone at the event actively sharing the great time they were having because of Autism Speaks.

Click here to see photos from the night!

Let’s turn volunteering into a social norm (#turn2norm)

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AS2YP - Double Denim Barcrawl

21 Advocates; 34 Photos; Total Reach – 3.8k

April is Autism Awareness month, and we’re lucky enough to be working with Autism Speaks to Young Professionals (AS2YP) to help them increase their reach. On April 12th, AS2YP was a part of the 6th annual Double Denim Barcrawl with proceeds benefitingAutism Speaks. We set them up with the services from our sponsor, TINT. Every person that posted a pic to Instagram or Twitter using #ddbc6 or #hugeparty got their photo’s streaming live at Sluggers!

The Double Denim Barcrawl and AS2YP threw an awesome event with over 275 people coming to raise $6,035!!! They did all the hard work of organizing such a great time, and Commogri came in to encourage people on the crawl to post about their great time at the #HugeParty to raise awareness for Autism Speaks. With TINT Analytics, we were also able to measure their impact. 21 people took 34 photos that had a total reach of 3.8k users on Instagram and Twitter!

Our work with Autism Speaks isn’t stopping at the Double Denim Barcrawl this month. We’re so excited for Illuminate: A Light It Up Blue Cocktail Reception this Saturday (4/26) at Block 37. There’s still time to get your tickets now! Hope to see you there :)

Let’s turn volunteering into a social norm (#turn2norm)

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44 Advocates; 85 Photos; Total Reach – 41.8k

Commogri’s Community Outreach team attended the Lawrence Hall Youth Services Junior Board’s annual flip cup tournament this past Saturday, and it was a blast!

With the help of our sponsor, TINT, we were able to create a photo slideshow of everyone’s pictures at the event. By simply posting a great photo during the tournament to Twitter or Instagram and using #turn2norm, we were able to automatically project everyone’s photos on the big screen…effectively turning the entire event into a large scale photo booth!

With TINT Analytics, we were also able to measure our impact. 44 people took 85 photos that had a total reach of 41.8k users on Instagram and Twitter! By simply taking a photo, people were able to become advocates for Lawrence Hall and give the organization the exposure they deserve. Commogri went into the event planning to donate $50, but we also donated $2 for every person who used #turn2norm, so we’ll be donating $138 from the Commogri Rewards fund to Lawrence Hall because of everyone who took photos during the event!

The Lawrence Hall Junior Board helps at risk kids throughout the Chicagoland area by providing essential mentorship and guidance. The Flip cup tournament helped raise funds to help the Junior Board support the amazing kids in the program.

Be sure to visit lawrencehall.org to donate if you’d like to help more!

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We’re excited to announce Commogri’s first “Commogri Rewards” recipient. Nicole Vasquez recently volunteered in Ghana with Globe Aware, and just by sharing her best photos from her experience and using #turn2norm, she won a $100 donation for Globe Aware!

If you’d like to contribute to the Commogri Rewards fund so we can continue to promote people for their great volunteer experiences, we hope you’ll donate today. Let’s turn volunteering into a social norm!

“My volunteer trip to Ghana with the Globe Aware organization allowed me the opportunity to live amongst, work with, and learn from the local people, which was an incredibly insightful experience and one that I will never forget. I taught English, Math, and Art in the school and the children were so welcoming, kind, and eager to learn. Their smiles melted my heart daily and I felt that even in the small amount of time I was there, I had connected with them both as a teacher and as a friend.

In addition to my volunteer work the Globe Aware organization, their two program coordinators (Ghanian locals) coordinated several one-on-one lessons for me. I learned basic conversation in their native tribal language of Twi, how to cook Ghanian cuisine, and how to (or at least tried my best to) play the African drums and dance to traditional Ghanian music. Furthermore, the knowledge and history I learned directly from my program coordinators was invaluable. I felt blessed to be provided such an in-depth and perceptive view of the culture and people of Ghana, straight from the locals themselves.

I am so glad that I took my volunteer trip to Ghana. I came home feeling fulfilled and with a deeper understanding of what a true community and culture can be. I am already eagerly planning my next volunteer trip!”

-Nicole