America’s Giving Challenge: Early reflections

The Case Foundation, Parade Magazine and Facebook Causes have joined forces for America’s Giving Challenge which has been talked about quite a bit by terrific cause champions like Beth Kanter, Soha El-Borno at Wild Apricot, Britt Bravo, and Allison Fine. Participating in the challenge means you could win $50,000 for your favorite nonprofit. Posting a charity badge on your blog or website or facebook profile, joining a facebook cause, and recruiting others to join and donate are all part of the process.

I am supporting the Sharing Foundation and Beth’s work to get $50,000 donated to them. I have a badge in my facebook profile and have encouraged/invited others to do the same. I have joined a cause and also invited others to it.

I could have chosen a different group and selected the badge and cause that corresponded to it, blogged about that cause and told stories of that organization’s work. I chose to support the Sharing Foundation, though, and support Beth’s work in outreach for its cause. Why?

Because when I thought about starting my giving challenge, I couldn’t decide who I would pick! There are so many organization all over the world that I love and support. Whenever I think about making small contributions of money, time, skills, effort, etc. in my life, I always think “together we can make a difference.” To me, this means that if my contribution is going to go the farthest, I will want to be sure that I have many others fighting with me. I decided, then, to team up with Beth for the Sharing Foundation (you should check them out, they are terrific!) and experiment, learn, and enjoying making a difference together.

Will you join us to make a difference? Here are some terrific calls to action from Beth:

• If you are on Facebook, join the Sharing Foundation’s cause and recruit your friends.
• Not sure if you want to join the Facebook cause? Watch this video
• Be ready to celebrate [Beth’s] birthday on January 11th with the minimum donation. This is a great way to let her know that you appreciate the blog as well as the work of the Sharing Foundation.
• Not on Facebook? You can contribute through the widget that Michele Martin set up and is championing. (You can add the widget to your blog, facebook, website, etc!)
• Are you a blogger? Please sign up to help me! You’ll find the information here