Athens charity wins $25,000 in Facebook competition

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An Athens-based organization raising money for muscular dystrophy research has been awarded $25,000 from the Chase Community Foundation as one of 100 charities chosen by Facebook users to receive grants.

The 100 small and local charities across the nation were announced Wednesday following the first round of voting by more than one million Facebook users.

Athens-based Darius Goes West Inc. will now compete with the other 99 finalists in the next round of the online competition, with the ultimate winner receiving $1 million from the Chase foundation.

Darius Goes West was started several years ago after a group of young filmmakers produced a movie by the same name chronicling a trip to California by Darius Weems, a then-15-year-old Athens teen afflicted by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

In the movie, Weems made the cross-country quest to have his wheelchair customized on MTV's "Pimp My Ride."

MTV didn’t upgrade Weems' wheelchair, but the movie about his trip, directed by University of Georgia student Logan Smalley and made for $70,000, became a hit at film festivals.

The movie, which the organization sells on DVD for $20, has raised more than $1.5 million for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to the charity's Web site.

In round two of the Chase competition, the finalist organizations, which span 31 states, will submit a grant proposal to Facebook users, detailing the difference they would make in their local community with the extra resources.

Facebook users will start voting on Jan. 15, and on or around Feb. 1, one of the charities will receive $1 million from Chase.

"This has been one of the most popular crowdsourcing campaigns in Facebook history," said Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications and policy at Facebook.

"We were pleased to see the level the of support that round one generated," said Kim Davis, president of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. "Interestingly, only two of the 100 organizations overlapped with our existing giving portfolio, which confirmed our early view that this method of giving would indeed complement our traditional giving, while sparking innovation."