Bloggers – We’re Givers

The holidays are here, more or less, whether I’m ready or not. It’s a little challenging for us this year with tighter budgets than ever. Or to be brutally honest, it feels nothing short of awful not to be able to give my kids the things they’re asking for, especially now that they’re old enough to ask for them.

(Not including the trip to Friendly’s which Thalia somehow thinks is like a trip to Disney after hearing that damn commercial all the time. Gah.)

One thing I’ve found that makes me feel better about what I can’t do is remembering what I can do. There’s a lot.

And there are so many bloggers just all wrapped up in the spirit of giving and tied with a big foofy red bow while cheesy holiday music seems to swirl around them and cartoon angels dance in their footsteps, that it seemed like a good opportunity to mention a few of their efforts.

***First of all, I’m so excited that we put together an XBox 360 giveaway at Cool Mom Picks today in which you can not only win one for yourself, you can win one for your favorite local children’s charity. I never write up the Cool Mom Picks giveaways here, but I love this one so much.  Details are on the post and a big whoo-hoo to the Microsoft team at Edelman for helping rally around this idea. You’ve got until Saturday night to enter.

***Debbie Bookstabber and Candace Lindemann of Mamanista, yesterday announced the launch of Bloganthropy which is so brilliant, I’m just honored to know them. They’re basically combining all the corporate giving resources out there with the benevolence of bloggers and the power of social media. (You are powerful! Yes you are!) But this is no grassroots thingie, Bloganthropy is a bona fide 501c3 non-profit to help you make your own fundraisers and chariable efforts more legit and more lucrative. They also need volunteers. Hint. Follow them on twitter at Bloganthropy. I did.

***Speaking of which: Maddie would have turned two yesterday. How amazing that her memory is still living on through so many beautiful people and their generosity.

***If you haven’t already, check out Her Bad Mother’s Give Good Blog campaign which outlines some clear simple ways to include charities in your posts or giveaways. (Hey, like Cool Mom Picks just did!) Similarly, another blogger named Alyssa has started a Blog For a Cause effort in which bloggers are asked to earmark some of their kid-friendly swag this holiday for local Ronald McDonald houses.

Bloggers?

We are a cool bunch. As if you needed more evidence.

If you know of any more great giving efforts from bloggers, please feel free to list them in comments.

{17 Comments}

17 thoughts on “Bloggers – We’re Givers”

  1. It's not just women or mom bloggers who give either. I'm not sure how to tell this story succinctly, but the readers of my husband's Penn State sports blog, Black Shoe Diaries, ended up contributing a large undisclosed amount (probably over $1000) to a fundraiser the football team does called Lift for Life that benefits Kidney Cancer research. It happened almost by accident, because the community has inside jokes supporting two particular players on the football team, both of whom were well short of their fundraising goals before another blog called BSD out. It's a cool story about community doing good WITHOUT even really being asked to give.

    Unfortunately you have to read all the comments to get the whole story.

    http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2009/7/8/942603/good-question

  2. I love this. My younger son is at the age where he sort of understands what it means to give. And how good it feels. Last night, I gave to Friends of Maddie in honor of her second birthday. That felt really good. A recent story that caught my attention is the Jeff Beatrice story. He's a guy from Newton, MA who died last month, leaving his wife & 11 kids to keep their house from being forclosed on. The community came together and started a blog to help them. It's called the Beatrice Family Fund. Sometimes it does take a village.

  3. Check out the fat cyclist to see what truly amazing things can be done via blogging. His blogging of his wife's battle with cancer and his fundraising on behalf of the Lance Armstrong foundation are inspirational, heart-rending and awesome.

    Check out this post to see how much money was raised:

    http://www.fatcyclist.com/2009/10/25/the-speech/

  4. Even if you don't have money to give, it is nice to know that you can help by spreading the word (via blogging or tweeting) about charities that need help finding financial and volunteer support.

  5. I belong to BloggersUnite, where bloggers can donate a day of their blogs for great causes throughout the year. So far, I've devoted posts to Refugees United, which helps to reunite families who have been split up into different refugee camps, especially reuniting parents and children. And most recently, I blogged in support of veterans causes like Blue Star Mothers and Wounded Warriors.

    If other bloggers are interested in BloggersUnite, here's the link:

    http://www.bloggersunite.org

  6. Bloggers Unite has the blog for preemies day coming up, which might insprire some more Friends of Maddie and March of Dimes donations. Join me and the rest of us as we blog for a preemie, Nov. 17. Borrow mine if you want.

    wv: supdish HA!

  7. I don't suppose you know of anything like this happening in Australia or NZ do you? I hate not being able to do this kind of thing based purely on my area of the world 🙁

    I think it's fantastic how bloggers can do such great things!

  8. Every time I see Maddie's name, my heart aches. I think of her and her family constantly.

    Thank you for including Bloganthropy in your beautiful post.

  9. What's Friendly's? Maybe save up and give it to her as an actual gift. I love homemade gift certificates, personally.

    As totally cheap (FREE) and local (ANYWHERE YOU ARE) gifts that you can give go, how about (for those who are eligible) giving blood? So few people do, but I swear, it never goes to waste, and there's nothing like saving a person's life (or maybe three, since they spread it out) to brighten ones day.

  10. Liz, wanted to give you and everyone at Cool Mom Picks a heads up about doing giveaways on Facebook. Basically without their written permission (which I assume neither you or Edelman had) you cannot run giveaways on Facebook anymore or make “fanning” or leaving a comment on Facebook as a way to enter a giveaway.

    See http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php and the writeups by Real Social Girl at http://www.realsocialgirl.com/2009/11/how-the-new-facebook-promotion-guidelines-affect-you/ and Mari Smith at http://whyfacebook.com/2009/11/09/thinking-of-running-a-contest-on-facebook-think-again/

  11. Thanks Ann Marie – we just learned it ourselves, and obviously it was an honest mistake and we won't do it again. It was our first Facebook contest and because we don't have comments on our site, we thought it was the best way to get some visibility for the charities.

  12. I just donated about $400 worth of brand new, unused items to a silent auction for a local early childhood program. I was happy to get the items to homes where they will be used and appreciated all while raising money for a good cause.

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