Kelly’s strategy was partly inspired by a tweet of mine this week: “I’ll donate my full Fire Starter Session fee ($300) to Haiti causes to 1st person who books in and pays today…Please RT” and Gwen Bell’s uber successful Best of 2009 Blog Challenge.

The concept and how it applies to bloggers:

1. Sign up for the Help Haiti Blog Challenge (on Kelley’s site). Write about it on your blog and tag it “Help Haiti Blog Challenge“. Ask your people to join you and do the same.
2. Add the Help Haiti Blog Challenge badge to your blog.
3. Make your offer: I will donate ________ dollars to _________ on behalf of the next person who buys _________ from me.
4. Make your donation and tell us how much you donated.
5. Tweet about it using the hashtag #haitiblogchallenge. Update your facebook status with a request to pass on the message and the call to action. Send e-mails. Everywhere you are, online, talk about the Help Haiti Blog Challenge, tag it, and call your friends, family, colleagues – your people – to action.

So, what if you have a blog but nuthin’ to “give away or sell” per se?

Well, Aidan Donnelly Rowley is giving away $2 every time some leaves a 2-word comment on her blog between now and January 18. The Pioneer Woman gave 10 cents for every comment on her blog yesterday. She got 25,850 comments that’s…$2,585!

So what if you don’t have a blog?
Just donate, dammit:
The Acumen Fund recommends: Partners In Health and Architecture for Humanity.

Canadian? In case you don’t know already, The Canadian Government is matching Haiti donations up to $50 million. Find out more here. Because of that, my family is donating to Plan Canada (we also sponsor a child with them.)

May the blessings rain down.

With Love,
Danielle

I’ve been a Women for Women International sponsor for over a year, and it’s a sheer privilege. When you receive a hand-written letter from a woman your age in Kosovo who has five kids and no running water, and she’s thanking you for helping her to build her confidence and hope – you know you’re doing something worthwhile, as little as it is.

5% of every Fire Starter session with my clients goes to the charity of their choice: Kiva, for micro-lending to third world entrepreneurs, or Women for Women International. WfW is backed by some very heavy hitting politicos, celebs and activists. Most importantly – WfW is helping women from war torn countries to rebuild their lives.

RELATED
: kiva: be a microlender

This is a positively clever use of propaganda from www.helpchildsoldiers.com. The message: we’re supporting the problem if we’re doing nothing to stop it. Brill.

And this interview with former child soldier and author of Long Way Gone: Memoir of A Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, and the reliably-brilliant George Stroumbouopolous puts a face on the horror and the healing. “People have a romantic notion of war,” says Ishmael. Let your heart be broken.

RESOURCES
BE AWARE AND GIVE WHAT YOU CAN:
WAR CHILD CANADA
AMNESTY USA

I love Kiva. My $50 bucks is currently helping two groups of women, one in Uganda and one in Cambodia to build their businesses. When the money is re-paid, I’ll re-loan it to new entrepreneurs.

From Kiva’s site, this says it all:

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding – not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

‘Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.’
- BBC

‘If you’ve got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you’ve now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.’
- CNN Money

‘An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity…All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.’
- Entrepreneur Magazine