Random Acts
At Random Acts, it’s our mission to conquer the world one random act of kindness at a time. We are here to inspire acts of kindness around the world both big and small. We provide a vast network of caring people with the encouragement and support they need to change lives for the better.
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History
On December 3, 2009, Misha Collins, used Twitter to ask his followers (aka Misha's Minions come up with ideas for a “minionstimulus” project. The goal was to obtain U.S. government stimulus money (funding to aid endeavors to stop an economic recession) for non-profit “minion” initiatives.
The pursuit of government funding was soon abandoned in favor of morphing into a privately organized charity group and website, started by minion Lisa Walker and then known as Minion Stimulus. After visiting the fledgling website, Misha appointed Lisa his Director of Charitable Affairs.
With Misha's prompting, the minions raised over $30,000 to help UNICEF's aid efforts in Haiti.
In mid-2010, with The Art Department as parent organization providing non-profit status, the Minion Stimulus morphed into Random Acts - poised to conquer the world, one random act of kindness at a time.
On September 4, 2017, Misha announced via twitter that former executive director Cinde Monsam was promoted to the board, and former Supernatural co-star Rachel Miner was taking over the position. Rachel called it, "...A dream come true."
Info from the FAQ for Random Acts
Two of the major projects of Random Acts have been in Haiti and Nicaragua.
HAITI
On August 21, 2010, Misha launched the site, posting a self made video explaining the organization's mission, and announcing on September 5th he would run to raise money for efforts in Haiti and Pakistan. The charity accepted one time donations and per kilometer pledges. Jim Beaver participated by pledging $50 a kilometer, and encouraged his twitter followers to participate as well. Misha ran for over 11 hours, covering 83 km (51.6 mi). He tweeted his progress throughout the day. An estimated $94,700 in pledges was raised.
On March 12, 2011, Misha posted a video announcing ongoing work in Haiti would include a trip to build a community centre. Forty people who raised a minimum of $5,000 each would accompany Misha and Matt Cohen on the week-long trip. On June 20-26, 2011, twenty-two fundraisers who made the team traveled to Haiti with Random Acts staff, and Misha joined them on June 24-26, 2011, while Matt Cohen was unable to make it.
NICARAGUA Random Acts supprots the Free High School in San Juan del Sur, a grassroots nonprofit organization that provides access to education for adolescents and adults who are excluded from regular schools.
Links
- Random Acts website
- @therandomactorg twitter account
- Misha's promotional video
- Misha talks about the project to SFX
- Misha interview on the launch of Random Acts
- Misha interview with TV Guide
- Supernatural's Misha Collins Wants to Catch People Off-Guard With Random Acts of Kindness by Seattle Post Intelligencer
- Misha Collins or: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate Sean Penn by laurenist. A blogger who made a critical of the project's mission, which Misha responded to in the comments. Interesting discussion of the ethics of charity.
- After Elton mention of Misha's twittering and charity
- Misha talks about his charity work on a Bing commercial
- This Is What We Still Owe To Nicaragua by Melanie Shmitz who travelled to Nicaragua with Random Acts, Misha and Osric.
