5 Cool Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW To Make a Difference

Want to make a difference but don't have time to spend all day doing it?  Check out these 5 quick actions you can take right now to help some great causes:

1. Earn World Shares and Donate Them to Charity
   Sign up to Mother Nature Network's World Shares programme - and next time you're catching up on your green news take the time to share an article, make a comment or sign up for a newsletter (among other actions) to earn World Shares that let you make donations to some very deserving charities.
   
2. How to Make a Difference Toolbar
   Download the How to Make a Difference toolbar - every time you use it you're helping raise money for SALVEASERRA and funding their efforts to restore the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
   
3. Care2's Butterfly Rewards
   If you're not a member of Care2 already sign up (it only takes a few minutes) and earns you 200 Butterfly points straight away.  You can also earn Butterfly Rewards points by leaving comments, sending e-cards and e-mails and searching the web.  In fact, there are 17 ways to earn points!  And you can redeem them to help fund a loan on Kiva, provide safe drinking water, and feed abandoned cats (along with a few other great causes).
   
4. Take Action on Social Vibe
   It only takes a minute or two to help a friend raise money for their favourite charity on Social Vibe.  Or you can sign up yourself and recruit your own network of friends to support a cause you care about.
   
5. Join 'Mum's Making a Difference'
   If your a Mum and a blogger, then The Mom Bloggers Club is a great place to be.  Take a few moments to sign up and then join the 'Mum's Making a Difference' group and start friendraising for your cause and helping other Mum Bloggers spread the word about the causes that move them!

January Fundraising for SALVEASERRA

Thanks to all who donated to help SALVEASERRA continue their work in the Atlantic Forest.

In total we raised $10 - which wasn't as much as I was aiming for, but will be a great help to them all the same.

One of the great spin offs from the campaign was that over the month of January donations to SALVEASERRA through their GlobalGiving project increased significantly. In the last week of January their Trees and Education Project was one of the top five most popular projects at GlobalGiving and they received over $500 of donations.

The winner of the WE ADD UP 'Plant Trees' Tee was Kimberly C. If you would like to purchase one for yourself click on this link and 10% of your purchase price will be donated to SALVEASERRA.

You can help raise funds for SALVEASERRA at no cost to you by downloading the How to Make a Difference toolbar. Its powered by Conduit and works on both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Every download raises money for SALVEASERRA!

There's Only 7% of the Atlantic Forest Left. Help Save It.

This January YOU can help save the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. All it takes is $2 - and a few minutes of your time to spread the word.

Please Digg, Stumble and Twitter this post to help us get the word out for the Atlantic Forest. Your efforts will make a difference!




Why Save the Atlantic Forest?Image via Wikipedia

In 1500, when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, the Atlantic Forest stretched the entire 2,000 mile length of Brazil's eastern seaboard,covering an area twice the size of Texas. It was once the world's richest biological reserve; it has more plant and tree diversity in 2.5acres than the entire eastern seaboard of the United States.

Today, a huge 93% of the Atlantic Forest has been destroyed, largely in the last 50 years.

The Atlantic Forest and Amazon Rainforest really are the 'Lungs of the World'. Even with 93% of the Atlantic Forest destroyed the Atlantic and Amazon Rainforests produce 20% of the world's oxygen!

Scientists estimate 50-60 percent of plant and animal species found in the Atlantic Forest are only found in that region alone. Its an amazing treasure trove of biological diversity.

Who are SALVEASERRA?

SALVEASERRA are an NGO in Brazil working to restore degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest by promoting sustainable land use and agro-reforestation techniques through their 'Trees & Education Project' with GlobalGiving.

Since 1995 they have planted over 80,000 trees in the Atlantic Forest. They maintain a seed bank of local forest species to ensure that reforestation respects the original genetic profile of the forest.

SALVEASERRA also take groups of school children through the forest to help build awareness of its importance.

In addition to this they offer training courses tailored to the needs of local rural communities, farmers and others interested inorganic,ecologically sound farming and agro-forestry practices. In 2007250 students took part in these courses.

They also work directly to alleviate poverty in the area by training local communities on how to use forest resources to make handicrafts to help provide employment and increase local incomes.And they run a course teaching eco-friendly ways to produce organic food at home to supplement family diets and increase income from surplus production.They also prepare and donate vegetable gardens to local communities.

Donate $2 and WIN

Everyone who donates $2 or more to SALVEASERRA before the 31st of January 2009 goes into the draw to win a fantastic We Add Up Organic Cotton 'Plant Trees' Tee.

WE ADD UP is an organic t-shirt campaign that counts you in the fight to stop climate change. Each tee is custom hand-printed with a unique number. YOUR number represents your position in the worldwide count of people doing something to do their part. No two shirts are alike. When you purchase a WE ADD UP tee and join the count, you help our number grow. Our goal is to show that small changes do make a big difference and WE ADD UP.

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Fundraising for Complete Beginners

Image by thinkjose via FlickrI started out raising money for SALVEASERRA in July. I had no experience, but lots of good intentions and plenty of passion for the cause.

So far, I have to admit, I haven't raised vast wads of money for them. I have sold a few t-shirts at We Add Up - but still not quite enough for them to pay out. The How to Make a Difference Toolbar has earned just over $100 - but once again, not quite enough for Conduit to actually pay.

There is so much to learn - and so little information out there for people like me. Individuals who are starting from scratch trying to build up a fundraising 'brand', get the word out there for a worthy cause and build a network of donors and supporters. Given that, I thought I would share three important things I have learned about online fundraising in the last month:

1. It takes time to build credibility and create momentum
   If you are just starting out in the world of Online Fundraising, then immediate results are unlikely unless you already have a sizeable network of potential donors.
   
   So don't give up if nothing seems to be happening straight away. Keep your name and your cause out there and remember . . .
   
   
2. Social Networking is the Key
   I used to think Twitter was kind of weird and stalker-esque but in the last month I have become a convert. Not only has it been the path to some really useful sites and information (and some not so useful but equally appreciated), but it has been a steady driver of traffic to my blog. And everytime I get a new follower I feel so special!!
   
   There are some great tools out there if you want to make the most of Twittering for your cause - check out my list of favourites on Delicious. If you have any more that really work for you please let me know!
   
   Facebook has also been sending a fair percentage of my daily traffic. I don't actually do a great deal with Facebook - other than have my blog feed and Twitter feed display on my profile. Perhaps my next focus should be to look into how I can make Facebook really work for me!!
   
   Visiting other blogs has also been of real value. Not just for the great information and inspirational writing. I have found that taking the time to comment on other people's blogs has helped me to become involved, in a small way so far, in the greater community of bloggers. And, it does have the added benefit of getting my blogging efforts noticed as well!
   
   
3. You have to ask
   If you want people to help you, you have to ask.
   If you want people to read your blog, you have to ask.
   Do you want comments and discussions for your blog posts? You guessed it, you have to ask.
   And if you want people to buy a t-shirt or download a toolbar to help raise money for charity - well of course, once again, you have to ask! (Please buy an awesome t-shirt from We Add Up - and download our fantastic How to Make a Difference toolbar!!)
   

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My 2008/09 Giving Project

Over the last few months I have been working on raising awareness - and ultimately funds - for SALVEASERRA, an organisation in Brazil that is working to reduce poverty, encourage sustainable land use and restore part of the Atlantic Forest (possibly the most engdangered tropical forest area in the world).


I am primarily using the internet to achieve my goal for this project - which is to raise the full amount required for their GlobalGiving 'Trees and Education' project - $60,000. Given that I am a fundraising novice, this is a fairly ambitious target.

I have been using Razoo without a great deal of success. It seems like a site with great potential, but is very quiet and there doesn't seem to be a lot happening there or many active members.

I have also been trying Zazengo. Its a great platform, and it also has the fantastic widget you see in my sidebar. But once again, there isn't a great deal of action/discussion/networking going on.

The other platform I have been using is Care2. I have been a member of Care2 for years and I love the site! I have recently joined several discussion groups related to both fundraising and rainforest protection. I post something at least once a week to try and stimulate discussion. I also have the RSS feed of my How to Make a Difference blog directed there.

So far, these platforms haven't generated a lot of response. But they have meant that SALVEASERRA has a much greater presence in the search engines - which can't be all bad.

I have also created a great toolbar for How to Make a Difference that links to the site and will - when enough people download it - generate a monthly donation for SALVEASERRA. You can download it here.

My other fundraising campaign at the moment is selling fantastic organic cotton t-shirts from WE ADD UP. I have signed up to their affiliate programme and have used a free Google Adwords credit to advertise. It has been moderately successful so far - but I have yet to achieve the $50 payout amount.

I was hoping to have been able to make my first contribution to SALVEASERRA (via GlobalGiving) at the end of August. But it hasn't worked out that way. However, I feel that I have made a positive start. Traffic to How to Make a Difference is increasing slowly but steadily which will help the cause even more.

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