Saturday, April 12, 2008

BlogHer needs your help: Will you blog our donation widget to save women's lives in five countries?

I got this email the other day. I thought it was awesome to use blogging to raise funds to save lives. So please donate if you can, pass on the message, anything you can to assist in the drive.

Jacqueline

2008/04/11 18:07 Eastern Daylight Time

Hi everyone,

This week, as BlogHer launched a special campaign with GlobalGiving to raise money for lifesaving programs for women around the world, I watched three members of BlogHer's community show extraordinary leadership:

  • Jen Lemen launched an amazing effort to help her friend Odette bring her children home from Rwanda and has raised more than $5,000!
  • Bonggamom reminded everyone that Jill Asher is holding a bone marrow drive April 19 inspired by her mother's ongoing battle with cancer. Join me there - especially if you have a rare blood type?
  • Raquita gave her baby's car seat away to a young couple who drove up in front of her house holding a ten-month old on the front seat. Her only desire? That she'd had two car seats to give. Because they had a baby on the way.
  • Don't these stories just make you want to pump your fist in the air and hug your neighbor and donate your time and money to help them? Me, it does. Which is why I'm using today's newsletter to describe the hard work Denise Tanton and Erin Kotecki Vest have done to kick-off our final phase of BlogHers Act.

    BlogHers Act: Donate Now to Save Women's Lives Our goal is to find out how many women's lives we can save by blogging to raise small donations -- $10, $15, $25, $50 --for critical clinics and educational programs for women, children and girls specifically in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Darfur, Nepal and South Africa. Denise and Erin chose these programs in partnership with the terrific team at GlobalGiving because GlobalGiving guarantees that your money will get where they say it's going. They research their programs carefully, and send your money to a well-defined project instead of to funding general operating expenses. And -- this is my favorite part -- if you're not happy, you can get your money back. More here.

    As a team, we also really like the diversity of their programs in the developing world -- from feeding hungry children to maternal health. As Denise wrote in her announcement:

    Over the weekend, I bought a domain name for $10. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it yet.

    * $10 covers the costs of a clinic in Nepal for two days. 2 days.

    This morning, we spend $15 at Starbucks. We bought 2 Quad Grande Non-Fat Caramel Macchiatos and 1 Triple Grande Cinnamon Dulce w/whip.

    * $15 also buys lunch for 50 girls in a West African village

    * $15 can fund healthcare for medicine for 100 refugees in Darfur

    We need to fill up the gas tank today, which will cost about $25.

    * $25 also aids 20 Afghanistan women with reproductive health care and education

    I was thinking about dinner at Satchel’s which costs about $50.

    * $50 will provide AIDS counseling for 2 women in South Africa.

    My money can make a difference - so can yours.

    So far, this enormous BlogHer community has donated $1,280. I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish togther by Mother's Day, May 11, not to mention July's BlogHer 08! I believe that when you click through on this page to see these incredible programs, you'll agree. Denise and Erin have worked to make it easy, using a great little widget developed by GlobalGiving.com. If you will download this widget today and encourage your readers to donate, we can find out just how many women we can help.

    Won't you join us?

    Get the widget here: http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/65740/748489/http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/47f4f6fb77077b5d

    Take Action Now:

    1) Grab a button or donation widget to place on your blog.

    2) Share this information with your readers by blogging about maternal health, or this BlogHers Act initiative, or the individual project you're supporting.

    3) Leave your link at the bottom of this post, using Mr Linky, so
    others can hear your thoughts on these issues. (We'll also be featuring
    many of you on BlogHer.com and in our newsletters.)

    4) Donate to save women's lives, today.

    As someone who is like a broken record about the extraordinary power of women who read and write blogs, I'm excited to see what we can do together. Thank you in advance for your help -- I encourage you to blog this now. Let's do this.

    Peace,

    Lisa

    for Elisa, Jory and Lisa

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