Guess what today is?  It’s the day you can change an American child’s life in mere seconds!  Take the pledge to be part of Team No Kid Hungry  – #TeamNoKidHungry and @NoKidHungry on Twitter — and become a hero in seconds.  331,000+ Americans are already making the decision to help our kids get the meals they need to succeed.  Let’s drive the number to untold heights and help as many kids as possible!

Millions of kids don’t get enough to eat, but we’re all helping to change that, one pledge at a time.  There are so many little actions, that together, can change the world. If you can make a donation, of course it is most welcome!  And you pledge to help means the world.  Please share your hope and helpful spirit with friends via social media and any way you like to help them take the pledge and help make sure there’s no kid hungry too.

It’s so easy to exponentially increase your help if you tie an event to helping kids!  You can leverage a marathon, bake sale, car wash, or any other event to help feeds kids too.

It’s super-simple to donate once or monthly!

Thank you!

On Sunday March 10, the Bachman family of Solon is hosting the second Tolerance Fair at the I-X Center to bring awareness and compassion toward differences, like their son Justin’s Tourette Syndrome.  This year, more than 48 charities and 1000 attendees are expected.  The event is inspired by Justin’s less-than-ideal personal experience with people’s lack of understanding about differences.  Ignorance can result in a  lack of tolerance, something Solon’s Bachman family is on a mission to prevent.

“Our original goal was to show people how to become involved as volunteers… We learned that a lot of people were seeking resources to help themselves,” Justin said in the article.

Justin Bachman, Solon High School sophomore, and inspiration for the Tolerance Fair, March 10 at the I-X Center in Cleveland. Photo courtesy of The Plain Dealer.

Admission and parking for the Tolerance Fair are free, and the event will be held from 2-7 p.m. March 10 at the I-X Center.

Read the full article here.

Kyle Maynard, a two-time ESPY sports award winner and a New York Times bestseller author of the book, “No Excuses,” is the Keynote speaker.  Maynard, born a congenital amputee who became a champion in wrestling and in life, will share his inspiring story.

Participants at the event can see what it’s like to have various disabilities by engaging in adaptive sports, like soccer and rugby in a wheelchair.  The Cleveland Sight Center will provide hands-on lessons to aid participants in understanding what it is like to be visually impaired.

Visitors will receive a free resource guide listing the various organizations at the fair with contact information and websites.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase, while book signings and T-shirt sales will go to support Honor Good Deeds.

Learn more and read the original article on Justin Bachman’s story here.

• Fine tune your sales skills

• Implement social media strategies

• Develop relationship skills to improve your business

Tuesday, February 12, 2013 * 8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m.
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cleveland Downtown -Lakeside
1111 Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

R.S.V.P. online at www.smecleveland.com or 216-767-5951

For more details click here.

Speakers presenting:

Bob Sukys
Partner
The Partnering Group

“Using Brand ENRg to Bring Life to your Brand”

Scott Mowery
Cleveland Clinic

Search Engine Optimization

Amy Neumann
cleveland.com

Social Media for Sales and Marketing

Kristy Amy
Smart Business Network

Driving conversation through content

If you had more money than you could ever need, would you swim in it like Scrooge McDuck or give it away? Most of us will never achieve a level of wealth like that, but entrepreneurs who have made a staggering amount of wealth choose to spread that wealth. Some, like Mark Zuckerberg, pledge large donations publicly and encourage philanthropy among their peers. Others, like Bob Parsons, draw less attention with their gifts, but give nonetheless.

Bob Parsons

Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy.com (and executive chairman) and his wife started their own charitable foundation aptly named the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation based out of Scottsdale, Arizona. They plan to give several million dollars a year, according to AZcentral.com. The foundation was created to facilitate charitable gifts to a variety of organizations. The Parsons give to a variety of causes with personal significance. They also like to patronize charities based in and serving Arizona.

“I made my living here, and I feel we have an opportunity to help out where there’s some really critical needs,” Parson said.

Though Parsons frequently provides video blogs for GoDaddy.com and was the driving force between the advertising campaign that made them a household name, he isn’t actively publicizing these charity initiatives. And while previous gifts were given to causes hand-picked by the Parsons, the foundation does accept funding requests from any organization in need through their website. While businessman Parsons isn’t working full time at GoDaddy anymore, he’s still got plenty to keep him busy. He owns several motorcycle dealerships and has an interest in a real-estate investment firm.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

Wildly successful Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been very vocal about his stance on philanthropy. In 2007, the then-26-year-old donated $100 million to Newark, New Jersey schools, according to Entrepreneur.com. In the same year, he also signed The Giving Pledge. In doing so, he pledged to give most of his wealth to charity either during his lifetime or after his death. The creator of the world’s largest social network even went so far as to reduce his yearly salary to $1. His 28 percent stake in the company is enough to keep Zuckerberg financially stable for several lifetimes.

Bill Gates

The Giving Pledge was created by Bill and Melinda Gates who, according to Forbes, are unrivaled as the greatest givers in human history. As of early November 2012, the Gates had reportedly given upward of $28 billion in philanthropic gifts. Beyond doing good with their own fortune, the Gates have encouraged some of the most wealthy families and entrepreneurs around the globe to commit the majority of their fortunes to helping others. The Gates foundation, for example, has worked to rid the world of polio, cases worldwide are now down 99 percent over the last 20 years, according to the Gates Foundation website.

What local, regional or world problems would you tackle with an unlimited budget? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

On December 20, 2012, hundreds of “virtual” strangers came together, and then invited many thousands more of their friends, to help ensure children in these amazing United States have enough food.

No child should grow up hungry in America, but 1 in 5 children struggles with hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

Throughout the day on December 20, millions of people saw how important it is that in this beautiful country of opportunity, there should be No Kid Hungry.

In 24 hours, with a small team of passionate #NKH advocates leading the charge, hundreds of donors gave thousands of dollars to No Kid Hungry - to the tune of more than $30,000 (including a match for gifts).  Many donations came in small amounts, from first-time givers led to donate by seeing the passion of other donors on social media. And every penny was keenly appreciated.

And not only social media stars and individuals contributed.  Sponsors like Hotspot Shield  gave 100 donors of $20 or more an annual subscription for their premium online security, privacy and malware protection service, and BTC Revolutions donated an iPad Mini that (almost) inspired riots to help.

In this day and age, helping a cause can mean much more than writing a check or giving online.  It can mean getting your social graph – everyone important to you, that you interact with on social media – involved.  And those connections are what make events like #NKH’s Give-A-Thon a way for people to turn a passion for helping little kids eat, into a blockbuster event of giving.

Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry program information can be found here:

No Kid Hungry

1730 M Street NW, Suite 700

Washington DC 20036
(800) 969-4767

On Thursday, December 20, please join in the effort to help end childhood hunger by helping spread the #NoKidHungry word through tweets, Facebook posts, emails, and/or direct (gentle?) nudging of friends and family.

We will be having a Give-A-Thon all day 12/20, with some amazing surprises and prizes for those generous souls who spread the workd and MAKE A DONATION!

* A generous Share Our Strength donor decided to do something extraordinary this holiday season: personally match all gifts up to $500,000. This means the impact of our Give-A-Thon will be doubled at the end of the day, making twice the difference for kids struggling with hunger!

Author note: Join us! Help us spread the word this Thursday! Visit the Team fundraising page.

This Thursday, December 20, we are excited to work with our amazing online community to hold a Team No Kid Hungry Holiday Give-A-Thon. Why now? Why in the middle of the holiday season? There are a number of reasons.

Primarily, hunger doesn’t take a holiday. When EVERY child should be excited for winter breaks, many know exactly how many school meals they will miss over the holidays, and don’t know from where their next meal will come. It is important for us to remember these children and their families during this time.

Fortunately, you can help. A $25 donation can connect a child to up to 250 meals. Are you wondering what to get that family member who has everything? Or are you trying to find something special for a friend? Consider giving the gift of No Kid Hungry this holiday season – a meaningful, and truly life-changing gift.

Through our countless online advocates and our Team No Kid Hungry community, we are making a day of it, and hosting our Holiday Give-A-Thon, complete with incredible prizes throughout the day that will amaze you! If we hit $10,000* in donations, one lucky donor will receive an iPad mini. Drawings will take place all day, so please spend the day with us!

Are you on Facebook? Be sure to like our Facebook page and follow our posts this week. On Twitter? Follow us here, and join in the #nokidhungry conversation. Check back on Facebook as we post our list of giveaway items!

How can you help prior to the Give-A-Thon? Share our Facebook posts, retweet our Give-A-Thon tweets, and spread the word. Plan your holiday shopping list, and do some one-stop, tax-deductible shopping here on Thursday.

The day will be hosted by our No Kid Hungry Social Council. Find out more, and consider getting involved!  Click “Join the Blogger Council” and we will be in touch. Thank you for all you do, for sharing your strengths with us.

Special thanks to friends (and Good Plus Tech client) AnchorFree for donating many annual HotSpot Shield Elite annual subscriptions (valued at $29.95 each!) , to be given to donors around various goals during the day on 12/20!  Stay safe keeping in touch, shopping, and making donations on all those mobile devices!

‘Tis the season for end-of-the-year holiday giving!  Ring in 2013 with a bang (and more donations!) with these helpful tips for your nonprofit’s fundraising.

The holidays are upon us, and nonprofit organizations are scrambling to capture a share of holiday generosity. Statistics show that December represents a third of all online giving. And 22 percent of year-round donations accumulate in the last two days of the month.

Data supplied by Network for Good’s Online Giving Study.

Additionally, December donors tend to give more than supporters in other months. In fact, Network for Good’s Online Giving Study shows they donate 52 percent more. The study also says,

“December is the strongest month for most organizations offline. It’s even more so online. Further, it’s not just the month of December that’s spectacular, it’s the last couple of days, and even last few hours that make the difference.”

Americans want to donate to charitable causes during this time of year. In a survey conducted by The American Red Cross, 80 percent of Americans surveyed said helping those who are less fortunate is an important part of their holiday tradition. And 70 percent who donated in the last holiday season said they planned to donate the same or more in the upcoming season.

Given this compelling fundraising opportunity, what should nonprofits do to capitalize on the last-minute, year-end giving trend? Here are some suggestions from authors around the Web for organizations vying for a piece of the seasonal pie.

Make Giving Easy

Prospective donors shouldn’t have to search for a donation page. Frogloop writer Allyson Kapin suggests a big, bold, clear call-to-donate button. “This should be incredibly obvious in your navigation and in a callout box towards the top of your website. If you want to raise money, the donate button should not be buried and de-emphasized on your website.”

Keep it Seasonal

Jen Johnson, who writes for Otis Spunkmeyer’s Fundraising Success Tastes Sweet blog, says that including festive elements “adds excitement, spirit and holiday magic to the hard, cold process of raising money.” She suggests seasonal fundraising efforts like wreath auctions, themed charity walks/runs, holiday bake sales, caroling events, and Christmas concerts.

CLICK HERE to read the whole article, and all 7 tips for end-of-year nonprofit fundraising!

The holiday season is here, and you may be looking to pass on some of the good fortune you received in 2012. Even in a tough economy, Americans managed to donate almost $300 billion to charitable causes in 2011, according to Charitynavigator.org. The willingness to give is one thing, but determining which charity to contribute to is the hard part.

With so many causes and organizations, it’s easy to get bogged-down in your effort to help people. Charitynavigator.org is a useful resource in your search, reviewing the claims and and actual efforts of hundreds of charity organizations. As you look to give back this holiday season, consider the following well-rated charities.

City Harvest

This New York charity provides local food support to the city’s 1.7 million people living in poverty, supporting nearly 600 community programs. Charity Navigator rates City Harvest highly for its percentage of donations that goes directly to food provisions. You can donate food at one of City Harvest’s sponsored drives or support the organization financially by mail, phone and online at Cityhavest.org.

While it can be dangerous to donate money online because of scams, .org websites such as City Harvest, typically add a layer of reliability. To protect your financial security, consider a service that monitors your financial activity and raises red flags. Many service providers, such as LifeLock, offer this kind of protection, so do the research to find the best protection for you.

Grameen Foundation

A global operation, the Grameen Foundation empowers the world’s poor, particularly women, through micro-loans for business creation. Instead of providing the fish, these donations act as the rod for impoverished people to sustain themselves. Charity Navigator gives this DC-based organization the highest possible rating for accountability & transparency. http://www.grameenfoundation.org

Stop Hunger Now

It’s tagline clearly states the goal: “Working Together to End World Hunger.” Stop Hunger Now packages low-cost, nutritious meals and distributes them throughout hunger-stricken regions. Along with financial support, volunteers can also make a difference by hosting or participating in a packaging event. So far, Stop Hunger Now has packaged 75,000,000 meals. Donate or get involved at Stophungernow.org.

The Hope Foundation

Currently, one of the fastest growing charities, according to Charity Navigator, The Hope Foundation supports one of the largest cancer-research groups in the United States. Through clinical trials, the foundation aims to find the cure for cancers, including lung, prostate, breast, gynecologic, gastrointestinal and leukemia among others. The foundation received the highest rating, four stars from Charity Navigator, for its financial generosity and transparency.

Globus Relief

Providing health care services throughout the world, Globus relief works with governments, corporations, hospitals, clinics and other charities to administer reliable health care wherever it can. Charity Navigator ranked Globus Relief second in its “10 Top-Notch Charities”. Globus accepts financial donations and volunteers. Visit Globusrelief.org for more information on how to support this highly touted organization.

Here’s to you!  Please enjoy 150+ “Uplifiting Quotes on Gratitude and Goodness to Show Appreciation.”  You are very appreciated!

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