While we consider ALL of our challengers celebrities, many would suggest that the technical definition of “celebrity” is someone who can be found in the limelight but not so easily in person. Then there are local celebrities and heroes who may not make the news consistently, but they and their accomplishments have been publicized.

We’ve been working hard on getting in touch with celebrities about their interest in DailyChallenge.org since we launched September 19th. While we still have several hot leads to follow up with, it’s a challenge to connect with these people! To recap, here are a few that have already participated:

Robin Sharma - Best-Selling Author of “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”: click here to see his challenge.

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Recyclable cups, fair trade practices, health programs at work, Google’s Project 10 to the 100th - all of these are examples of CSR.

Corporate social responsibility is basically businesses taking responsibility for their actions. It’s the extra measures (beyond the law) that an organization makes to lessen the negative impact of doing business. From wikipedia:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business and corporate social opportunity) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.

When you’re shopping, does it make a difference to you that the company cares about your health, the environment and their employees?

Apparently a lot of people do nowadays! Marketing Mag just published results from a survey that reported:

Fully 90% of consumers feel it’s their duty to contribute to a better society and improve the environment; 84% feel they can personally make a difference, and 87% are willing to change their own consumption habits to help make the world a better place.

But then there are the critics. They say that most companies aren’t really serious about their CSR initiatives, that many choose self-serving ways to ‘give back’ and are merely flashy, half-hearted attempts to woo consumers.

What are your thoughts on corporate social responsibility?

All of us here at Daily Challenge have our own unique talents that we bring to our individual departments. Here’s the team letting loose a little steam while we provide you a descriptive snapshot of each department’s duties:

So let’s have a vote! Who’s the hardest working of the bunch? 

Google wants to give back to the world by providing funding to 5 world-changing ideas. For those who love video, here’s what their project 10 to the 100th is all about:

For those who love text:

Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time, so many people, of all walks of life, could use so much help, in both little ways and big.

In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the simple wisdom that beyond a certain very basic level of material wealth, the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people.

In other words, helping helps everybody, helper and helped alike.

The question is: what would help? And help most?

It’s so fascinating how the world is changing. Really, greed was rampant not too long ago but I feel that those with financial health are more than willing to share now. It could be because the world needs it or it might be because the general public’s socially conscious consumerism. Our purchasing choices, en masse, forces companies to change. And it’s company initiatives like Google’s project 10 to the 100th that reaffirm this positive belief in me.

Stay tuned to the Do Gooder Daily to hear all the latest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives happening around the world!

By far, out of all seven of last week’s challenges, the cold shower challenge caused the most debate, garnered the most comments, if you ask Darius, it was the most challenging; and if you ask his girlfriend/videographer, it was by far the most FUN (to film, anyway).  

I have to be honest: I tried it this morning after my workout and failed miserably. Lasting all but 30 seconds, I switched to hot water until just before getting out. Rather than cold, though, I was a big baby and opted for cool water. I did my best and I’m looking to try this challenge out again when it’s a little warmer out.

Darius! You’re my hero!

So did any of you try the cold shower challenge? Were you the superstar Do Gooder like D or did you do what you could at the time, like me? What did you think of this extreme challenge, and please tell us: would you like to see more?

It’s release day and the team is stoked about the new features that have gone live today. It’s been a very busy and productive 11 days since our Beta 1.2 release so I hope you’re all enjoying the new release. In case you haven’t spotted all the new tidbits around the site, this post will give you an overview of exactly what we worked on as well as what’s to come. As always, we need your feedback to keep improving, so don’t be afraid to hit that big blue Comments link at the bottom of the post!

Get the full scoop after the jump!

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Our sincerest apologies, Do Gooders! This morning each of us opened our email boxes and were absolutely horrified to find this morning’s challenge email reminder was sent out FIVE times! Please believe us that this was unintentional.

What happened? Well, from our initial investigation it seems that our hosting company was doing server maintenance last night. For some reason, the process we use to send the daily emails out to you was multiplied… not once, twice, but five times! We regret this unfortunate incident and our Chief Architect, Luciano, is on the phone right now to make certain this does not happen again.

We hope this unpleasant circumstance has not tainted your experience with Daily Challenge and that you will continue to do your one good, daily, with us. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Genuinely,

The Daily Challenge Team

You are the Daily Challenge life blood. So we want your opinion on an idea that we’ve been throwing around. How would you like to know ahead of time the type of challenge you can expect on each day of the week?

This is the category schedule we’re considering:

Sunday: Home. The weekend is perfect to do things around the house. We figured Sundays might work well for challenges that help improve you and your home to reflect more eco-friendly and self-sustainable living.

Monday: Work. Gearing up for the work week ahead, why not take on a challenge that might enhance your work life and workplace?

Tuesday: Health. With last weekend firmly behind you and a four days before the next one rolls around, we thought Tuesdays would be fabulous for health-related challenges. This way you have some time to heal before you have your fun again.

Wednesday: Environment. Hump days are usually a drag and so we thought we’d make these our green challenge days to help brighten up your mid-week blues. Nature and taking care of her always cheers us up.

Thursday: Relationships. The weekend is nearing and what better time to solidify your relationships than Thursdays? I mean, you’ll be getting in touch with them anyway to make plans, why not spread a little kindness at the same time?

Friday: Extreme Challenge Day. Ok, this one has got to be our favourite! Fridays are the days to let loose steam from the pressure cooker you were during the week. Let it loose with an extreme challenge! These are crazy challenges for those who are ready to make a BIG difference in one shot. For an example, check out this video of Darius taking a cold shower.

Saturday: Community. The first day of the weekend, Saturdays you’re usually still buzzing from the week. Having loads of energy to expend, we thought these are perfect days for challenges that encourage us all to get out into our communities and do what we can to make them better for everyone.

So what do you think, Do Gooders? Let us know and leave a comment below!

This was due to the fact that we have never gotten so much slack for a challenge before. Yes we realize it is the middle of November and this challenge was probably much better suited for August, but Do Gooders are a bit crazy anyways and can have fun doing any challenge.

Hope you enjoy the video!

P.S. This is obviously not a professional production so my apologize for the poor quality.

It’s been a while since Daily Challenge has been up and running, and as time goes on we keep adding more and more features to the site. So, as we continue to grow, we thought it would be a good idea to release some screencasts (or video tutorials) to help you get acquainted with how things work. The screencasts also aim to help new Do Gooders find their way around - a 2 minute Daily Challenge crash course, if you will.

I’ll try to release a few of these periodically, but for now, here are two new screencasts that cover some of the basic activities you can expect to be engaged in on Daily Challenge.

Your feedback is welcome! These are the first two screencasts I’ve ever done, so be kind.

Enjoy!

How to become a Do Gooder

How to accept, complete and submit challenges

PS - Sorry for the quality of the videos! I assure you they looked a lot crisper before YouTube’s compression.