Blogging is a social media that’s designed to bring people together, along with the tools they can use, to share in a conversation of like ideals. It can have a global reach, making it a powerful platform for disseminating information. It can also bring awareness to your favorite subject or important issues and causes. Charities and the blogging community are natural partners and the benefits of this partnership can be quite wide-reaching.
Charity and the Blog Post
Blogging is an excellent way to help a charity you feel passionate about. There are so many outlets for blogging, from Blogspot or WordPress, to MySpace or Facebook. When you are writing about issues you are passionate about, you’re spreading awareness about that subject among your circle of influence.
A group of bloggers concerned about world humanity issues banded together to raise money for several organizations by asking their readers to each donate $1. Some of the organizations included “Sustainable Harvest,” “Healthy Child, Healthy World,” and “Water for People”. As part of their program, they allowed their readers to vote how the funds should be distributed.
Something to consider is Blog Action Day. This is a once-a-year event in which thousands of bloggers pledge to write a post about a pre-determined social issue. Last year, the subject was poverty. This year, Blog Action Day is on October 15th.
Sharing with Other Bloggers
Your influence as a blogger can spread even wider for charities when you spread awareness by sharing links to other blog posts and news articles that are supporting the same cause. Use Twitter, Digg, Facebook and other social medial, including your email. You can find an affordable price for the Blackberry Z10 touchscreen smartphone to go portable and spread your message. All these tools and blogs create a community of like-minded people building awareness, and essentially support for these worthy causes.
You assist the charities you champion by sharing links to their direct campaign, or to other articles that you care about that provide additional information.
Social Networks and Awareness Hubs
Image via Flickr by AJ Cann
In addition to all the links you share, joining the charity’s social network is also helpful. You increase their social graph as well as the scope of their reach. You could also help their statistics by retweeting a post on Twitter or liking it on Facebook, or simply writing your own blog about it.
You can also show your support by rallying around them on awareness hubs. These include social networks like “Change.org,” “Facebook Causes” or “Care2,” that are organized specifically for non-profits. They offer special opportunities and tools that help charities spread awareness, raise money or take action.Embed a Widget
You can show support for your charities by using their embeddable widget on your site. They help accomplish two purposes. They raise awareness about the issue while offering links to additional information. They’re also used to raise money.
There really are a plethora of other great ideas that can be brought to bear when the power of the blog and the motivating character of a charity are brought together. Creative people have helped spread awareness and raise money for many good causes through this union.
Author Bio: Calvin Sellers is a writer and graphic designer from Tampa, FL. Follow him on Twitter @CalvinTheScribe.
