From our partner, The Zimbabwean

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Picture 45

Please help us win News Challenge!The Zimbabwean has entered the 2012 African News Challenge in partnership with Question Box – but we need all our readers to help us win. We propose to harness the unique power of Question Box technology to engage our existing network of journalists and readers in opening up new avenues of discussion and news gathering inside Zimbabwe.

In our own country as well as in much of Africa, media access is not free, nor is it a two-way discussion. Our submission can change that – but we need your help! The more popular our entry, the better our chances of winning the money we need to get it off the ground. If our supporters take 15 seconds of their time to leave a "heart" and comment on our entry, we stand a much better chance of being able to make a real difference.

So, please visit the link below and leave a comment and a "heart", and then forward this message on to all your friends. We're really grateful for the support you've shown us so far; we know that with your help we can continue to help promote freedom and justice in Zimbabwe.

Our submission: http://africannewschallenge.tumblr.com/post/26750041254/the-zimbabwean-question-box-anti-corruption-people

Wilf Mbanga

Editor The Zimbabwean

The Indigo Trust Supports Question Box!

Question Box is pleased to announced a recent generous grant from The Indigo Trust! This grant enables us to complete development of our Open Question call center software, build a suite of manuals, and enable community organization to get started building and running their own local hotlines!  Please watch this space for more information about the project. About Open Question:

Open Question, an initiative of Question Box, provides open-source tools combining custom software and printable how-to guidebooks that allow most any community organization to start their own local phone hotline.

Community organizations around the world have a lot of valuable information. However, right now it is difficult to get that information to the people who need it, in a timely manner. With Open Question, the organization can share their knowledge by setting up a simple hotline. People in the community can now call in during working hours, and benefit from the organization's knowledge, even if there are no workers in the field available.

Using Open Question, most organizations that have a phone and a computer can set up a basic hotline  to locally share their knowledge using existing staff in the central office. Having this simple hotline invites beneficiaries and community volunteers to call the organization which allows people can to  get the answers they need, when they need it.

Open Question tools works well for all organizations across multiple sectors. The knowledge may be previously a day's drive away, but with Open Question, it can now be accessed by a short phone call. Open Question tools will be available to everyone and distributed free of charge via Question Box website.

We are seeking community organizations to test out Open Question! Please Contact Us if you are interested.

About The Indigo Trust:

The Indigo Trust is a grant making foundation that funds technology-driven projects to bring about social change, largely in African countries.  The Trust focuses mainly on innovation, transparency and citizen empowerment.  The Indigo Trust makes grants to African projects or programmes, or to organisations who operate at least partly in African countries. We believe that access to information for all empowers people to change their own lives and communities. The Indigo Trust is one of the 18 Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts (SFCT). The Trusts work and fund autonomously across many different sectors and geographic regions but share offices and administration. For more information see our blog: http://indigotrust.wordpress.com

Open Mind is Now a 501(c)3 - Help us celebrate with a donation!

Hello supporters and friends of Open Mind - Question Box! We are pleased to announce that Open Mind has recently received 501c3 Status from the IRS - It's official!  That means that all donations from US residents are now fully tax-deductible under the law. To celebrate, we are starting our first-ever fundraising push! Open Mind is raising $30,000 in order to build a Question Box Total Toolkit that will enable any organization to build and run their own local language telephone hotline. Can you help? Please Donate Now!

IRS 501c3 letter text