Photo Credit: Real Portrait Images

That is an image of Adam Hirsch, COO of Mashable and creator of the Summer For Social Good conference and online charity sponsored by Zappos and MailChimp. Over 400 attendees filled those seats at the 92nd Street Y auditorium and with donations still coming in topping $30,000, Adam was a great builder. Both an educational day and a day of giving, all proceeds went to four charities: Livestrong, WWF, Oxfam and The Humane Society. As an attendee, it was quite an enlightening experience and somewhat spiritual. The room was filled with giving people, and those who wanted to learn how to effectively raise awareness and funds for the non-profits.

An example of build it and they will come is Drew. Tomorrow is 9/9/09. Neat huh? Well tomorrow is also a day of blame. The event, Blame-a-Thon is organized by Drew Olanoff, one of the speakers from last month’s Summer for Social Good Conference. Drew was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on May 20, 2009 and ever since then has been blaming everything on his cancer. Then it became a community blaming random things on drew’s cancer. “I am a geek so I started a website”. Blamedrewscancer.com is now partnered with Livestrong, a Lance Armstrong Foundation and has succeeded in getting big corporate attention with the Taco Bell truck being the first to donate $1 for the first 1,000 tweets with the dedicated hashtag #blamedrewscancer. They are now partnering with Drew on tomorrow’s blame-a-thon.

Presentations throughout the day included an engaging keynote speech by Randi Zuckerberg, Marketing Director, Facebook. I know, this blog is called TwitterCoach, but ever since FB integrated a Twitter feed on their fan pages, I feel I can get away with sharing their story. And boy did Randi have quite the announcement to share, the launch of charities on Facebook. Now you can purchase a donation to a charity of choice for someone’s birthday. They launched the gift shop, with virtual real charity gifts for Project Red, Kiva, Toms and WWF. If all goes well, they could open to all.

There was so much wonderful insight in the non-profit arena but I realize this is a blog post not a book. I will try to mention the key shout outs in good ole twitter style:

“If you have a voice or a platform you have a responsibility to voice your word” Randi Zuckerberg Facebook

“Our CEO is a twitter addict and we have 6 people out of 25 dedicated to social media.”…”We have buy in and resources to leverage social media. Our CEO visited Michael Vick in prison, we let the conversation happen but made sure it was taking place under our roof.. We were prepared for the twitterstorm” Carrie Lewis The Humane Society

“The more people that are engaging, the more leaders will feel pressure to do the right thing”… “Why social media?…best way to reach supporters, quickly trend people checking Facebook and Twitter more often than email” Andy Ridley of EarthHour

So build it, because they will come. No fear, no shame, don’t be afraid to tell your story and to ask for support. Lastly, it feels good to be a part of something, it was a Summer for Social Good, it was damn good!

Drew’s cancer is pissed, make it more pissed on 9/9/09. Raffle tickets are available for those who cannot physically attend blame-a-thon.

Summer may be over, but social good is still accepting donations

To join the conversation and to see what others had to say about the event, you can search #socialgood

To find out more about these charities and the social good conference, visit the Mashable event site here

Images of the presenters, attendees, cocktail reception and Adam’s shocking feel good proposal can be viewed on Real Portrait Images Facebook Fan Page

One month ago, I received a call from my cousin who left a message as, “give me a call when you get this message”. You know that call, in that tone, for certain it is not going to be good news. When we finally connected, he said the words “Karen has breast cancer”(my other cousin).

A disease that has killed not only her mother but also grandmother before the age of 45, it was undoubtedly alarming to hear. With a good report from pathology showing stage I, she thankfully is doing ok after having surgery. Chemotherapy will be the next step. It is surely clear to me that after over 30 years from her mother’s death, we need to “Run Breast Cancer Out of Town”, the subtitle to the September 13th Susan G Komen NYC Race for the Cure 5k.

Komen for the Cure as well as many non-for-profit charities can be found on Twitter, helping organizations gain not only substantial donations but also raising awareness and supporting the community. Ashton Kutchner’s victory over CNN battling to reach 1 million followers, lead to his high profile donation of 10,000 mosquito nets to help prevent malaria deaths in Africa. Hugh Jackman’s “tell me in 140 characters or less why I should donate to your charity of choice” told the world that “Charity Water” helps bring clean water to developing countries and “Operation of Hope”, provides surgical procedures to children in developing countries with facial deformities. He couldn’t decide on one in particular, so he split the 100k donation giving to both charities.

As the “Summer for Social Good” comes to an end, I share with you my story as well as a list of other charities that I support. What charities are you supporting and why? Please feel free to add to the list in the comment section, help spread the word and help your community.

Livestrong (Lance Armstrong Foundation for Cancer)
@livestrong
Proud of their strong and engaged community, the twitter account lets you know of latest blogs, twitpics from events and offers support messages from the enormous community. They will certainly retweet your message like this one from this Sunday Morning:

RT @lorenarojas just landed 4 the @livestrong Cancer Summit! Watch out Cancer this week you get weaker!

You can even get your Livestrong Band to wrap around your avatar to show your support.

Komen for the Cure:
@komenforthecure
The global leader dedicated to fighting breast cancer. Join me/support me Running Breast Cancer Out of Town

Thanks to Lululemon Athletica for their support in supplying me with athletic wear for the Race for the Cure 5k

Operation Smile:
@operationsmile
I learned about Operation Smile at a Pre-Conference Reception for the May 2009 TWTRCON conference. The organization helps children who have cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and has a presence in 51 countries. Twitter updates include event listings, blog postings and general news about the organization.

Summer for Social Good by Mashable:
@socialgood
Four Critical Causes, Four Charities, One World
Tickets are still available for this Friday’s Social Good Conference in NYC, I will be there. If you cannot attend, they are also accepting donations. The fund supports Livestrong, Oxfam America (supporting the hungry in America), The Humane Society and WWF(raising global awareness to ensure a sustainable future on earth). Tweet to support! More details here.

Soles 4 Souls:
@soles4souls
After putting in way too many miles from training and running the NYC ½ Marathon, I went to my favorite local store “Runners Edge” in Farmingdale NY to buy a new pair of sneaks. Right there by the new sneakers was a box to donate your “soles for souls”, giving to those who desperately need footwear. Donation sites and events are listed here on their website.

Russell Refuge:
Fan on Facebook
Lastly a quick mention to Russell Refuge and their social media efforts. I adopted my sweet Jakey from this organization a couple of months ago. Russell Refuge accepts Jack Russells when they have no where else to go and helps place them in proper loving homes. Although they do not have a Twitter account as of yet, they have a fan page on Facebook.