Flip for Good

As a mother and self-appointed family historian, I'm constantly chasing my children around with a camcorder and posting their hilarious antics onto YouTube, Facebook, and our family website to share with friends and family. One of the "best gadgets ever" (such title awarded by my husband who received one of these as a gift for father's day) is the Flip Video made by Pure Digital Technologies. This little camcorder is so compact, it feels like a cell phone; and it's so easy to use, I often find my two year old and four year old taking video of each other.

The makers of Flip Video recently have come out with the Flip MinoHD, the world's smallest high definition camcorder at just over 3 ounces and records up to 60 minutes of HD video. Their advanced on-board software platform allows you to plug the camcorder’s signature flip-out USB arm into any computer for easy drag-and-drop video organizing, editing and sharing online. MinoHD also becomes the first and only “designable” HD camcorder. If you go to TheFlip.com, you can choose from thousands of professional designs or custom-design your own Flip Mino or MinoHD at no extra cost. Additionally, you have the option to share your designs on TheFlip.com to earn commissions for themselves or non-profit causes. The camcorders range from $149.99 to $229.99.

There are many ways to Flip for Good, which actually is a design category on their website. For example, if you buy a Flip Video with the Kiva design, $10 will be donated to Kiva, a non-profit whose mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. I am a huge fan of Kiva. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. I can search for an entrepreneur (even by gender) in a particular region of the world and a business sector, learn about her business and make a difference with a loan as little as $25. Kiva handles the loan process; and once the loan is paid back, I can choose to lend it again to another entrepreneur, donate it to Kiva to support their work or withdraw the money. It's great that the camcorder has a Kiva logo; people are bound to ask about them if they see it on your camcorder. You can also get one with a breatkthrough.tv design or a Witness design; both are organizations that focus on human rights issues.

There are also other Flip for Good designs like this "dots dots dots" camcorder or the "ornaments" (orange circles above) which do not consist of a non-profit logo; but for every 7 camcorders sold with these Flip for Good designs, Flip Video will donate one to charity. And if that wasn't enough options... if you're a U.S. based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, you can apply for a Flip Video Spotlight Kit which helps charitable organizations use video to make the world a better place.

So that's a lot of flippin' good for one little gadget... but, seriously, it will totally change the way you take and use video in your life. It did for me. And now you can also change the world a little bit with your itty bitty camcorder.