Way to go!

I am very happy to announce that the Squidoo community raised more than $8,000 for charity in the month of May.

Our top 7 charities that got the most donations from lensmasters were:

• Action Against hunger
• Save the Children
• Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation
• ASPCA
• Humane Society
• Room to Read
• Acumen Fund

We support more than 82 different charities. Don’t see your favorite charity as a top earner? Make a lens for them! Don’t see your favorite charity on the drop down list? Drop your favorite org a note and introduce them to me so we can set them up.

$8,000 makes a lot of difference! Let’s do even more in June!

Congratulations!

Nothing but Net

I can’t give a million dollars to my favorite charity. I probably never will be able to write a check like that.

Should I give up? Not worth it to do anything? Not run out the ground ball? Throw in the towel?

Absolutely not. Because I care and speak up, some else cares and speaks up. After all, small is the new big.

Need some proof? There is an amazing article in today’s NY Times, Nothing but Net that shows us it’s not the million dollar donor who makes the biggest difference but the one who cares about a cause and shares it.

Not $1,000,000 but $10. What can $10 do? It can buy a mosquito net for a child in Africa. Help that child stay malaria free. $10 can save a life.

Can a lens save a life? Sure it can. Make a lens. Raise $10. Save a life. Give it a shot.

Congratulations to the Squidoo Community!

Squidoo can do some amazing things – it gives lots of people a platform on whatever they choose

Did you know it can also do great things for charities? Lensmasters can raise awareness for their favorite cause and raise money to boot

In the past couple of years, the great Squidoo lensmasters have raised hundreds of thousands of for charity. That’s right, hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Charities have included:

MyTwoFrontTeeth
Donors Choose
A Day of Hope
California Community Foundation
Steve’s Club
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
American Heart
Acumen Fund
American Refugee Committee
ASPCA
Grameen Foundation
Heifer International
Humane Society of the United States
Inner-City Scholarship Fund
Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund
KIVA
Lance Armstrong Foundation
Modest Needs
MyTwoFrontTeeth
NPR – National Public Radio
Polly Klaas Foundation
Room to Read
Save the Children
The Liberty Kids

Going forward I am going to announce monthly how much money has been raised for charities through Squidoo. Great job so far! Let’s see if we can top it!

New to Squidoo!

I’m Anne Reidy, Squidoo’s new Nonprofit Organizer. The great people at Squdioo have noticed that lensmasters want to do more for their favorite charities. So I’m here to lead the groundswell for even more great lenses for nonprofits. And what better way to help than to organize, listen, empower and lead people who believe passionately in something.

I’ve spent seven years of volunteering for, studying and working in nonprofits. It’s been a exhilarating and frustrating experience. I have learned a lot about structure and practice, much good may it do me. I have met the most inspirational people who work on behalf of something neither for glory nor accolades but rather because they simply believe it is the right thing to do. Such people have a viral effect – they infect you with their belief so much so that you want to help too. Even if they’re only 10 or 20 or 50 in number, those people become the real heart of the cause.

The problem is that sharing powerful stories through the traditional fundraising structures (i.e. direct mail, telethons, and events) often rings with a note of inauthentic self-congratulations. The structure belies the efforts of the people who work so hard on behalf of causes in which they believe so passionately.

I believe there has to be a different way. Nonprofits have to redefine the way they reach out. The cost of direct mail, telethons and events continue to rise with a diminished return. No one wants to go to a black tie event at the Waldorf Astoria but people DO want to help. And it’s not always about donating money, either.

The people who believe in the causes they serve may not be the millionaires and moguls who change names on the buildings, but they are the ones who can make the most difference. They need a forum for sharing their story and their passion all in a way that helps their cause.

Enter Squidoo! I think Squidoo can help change the fundamental nature of fundraising and idea-spreading. Make it not about the big and the showy but rather about the powerful and the personal.

So I’m am here to help grow a network of people who want to support their causes and ideas and charities by making pages about them on Squidoo.

There are some great stories to tell. What’s yours?

Tell me! Drop me a note or visit my lens.