November 10, 2008
Joe the Plumber's Charity
Joe Wurzelbacher, the Springfield Township, Ohio, plumber who picked up the moniker “Joe the Plumber” after he questioned candidate Barrack Obama about his tax policies and began stumping for John McCain may soon have a new nickname: Joe the Fund Raiser.
On his Web site, Mr. Wurzelbacher announced his plans to establish a nonprofit organization at a sister site, http://www.secureourdream.org. Details are few, but he notes that as Americans, “We can help each other far better and faster than the government has ever been able to.”
Channing and Sean Rodman, siblings who work as nonprofit-communications consultants, aren’t sure Joe knows what he’s doing in this arena. On their “Social Ch@nge”:http://www.netfornonprofits.org/ blog they label his on-line effort an example of “what not to do” when looking to raise money on the internet.
His mission, audience, and call to action are unclear, they write.
“What’s the big picture, Joe?” they ask. “Show me the path that my money will take, from my hands, through yours, and make a difference in the world.”
While the site has a placeholder for a forthcoming forum, called Joe the Forum, the Rodmans say there should be links to Facebook, Twitter, and other social-media tools in wide use. And the pair pulls no punches when talking about the site’s layout, which they dub “crappy” and “bit circa-1995.”
Given that the pair’s previous blog entry described how the Obama campaign’s use of the Web was the smartest ever seen, perhaps there’s a little partisanship involved in their sharp critque of the Plumber’s fledgling efforts at fund raising.
Mr. Wurzelbacher himself seems unsure of what his charity work will ultimately look like, telling the Toledo Blade that he intends to raise money “for all sorts of charities and causes for fellow Americans.”
The charity site will be a companion to his political-watchdog site that pledges to check on whether elected officials are “living up to their promises” and not dictating to people about “how to live and spend their hard-earned fortunes.”
Mr. Wurzelbacher praised Americans for their generosity to charity. He also stated that he intended his organization to provide him with some income.
“Yes, I would make money to some degree from this charity Web site, but not a whole lot because a majority of the portion collected through this Web site would go to help fellow Americans get a decent living,” he told the newspaper.
Presently, his Web site is largely under construction, although you can preorder his as-of-yet unwritten book, Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream. He also invites visitors interested in donating to “our soon to be established nonprofit organization” to drop him an e-mail.
Mr. Wurzelbacher did not respond to a Chronicle e-mail request for additional information about the forthcoming charity.
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> “Given that the pair’s previous blog entry described how the Obama campaign’s use of the Web was the smartest ever seen, perhaps there’s a little partisanship involved in their sharp critque of the Plumber’s fledgling efforts at fund raising.”
Partisanship? Is JTP’s site not crappy? Was BHO’s campaign not the best online campaign operation anyone’s ever seen? It’s not partisanship if it’s true.
— Neesh Nov 10, 02:56 PM #
Remembering Mr. Wurzelbacher’s views, I’m curious to see how “fellow Americans” will be defined in his NPO’s mission statement.
— TT Nov 10, 05:34 PM #
I can’t wait until his fifteen minutes are finally over!
— Dave Nov 10, 07:53 PM #
Any money given to this moron will be misused for his personal gain. Watch and see for the eventual investigation into his corruption.
— Juan Nov 11, 01:52 PM #
Good for Joe for directing his 15 minutes of fame towards creative and entrepreneurial ends. Of course it takes time to form a clear “mission, audience and call to action” for any organization. At least he’s not waiting around for Mr. Obama to pay for his mortgage and gas.
— Patrick Nov 11, 02:35 PM #
I hope that he forgets this idea. It seems like it could lead to a lot of trouble.
— Steve Dec 5, 04:13 PM #