I am so grateful for the opportunity to exhibit at BlogHer. During the conference, we spoke with hundreds of bloggers about the accomplishments of the five Bloganthropy Awards finalists. We also heard from bloggers about how they are using their influence to support causes and charities they are passionate about through their blogs and Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Hopefully the mainstream coverage of BlogHer 2010 will focus on the best of the blogging community instead of the out-of-character actions of a few misguided individuals (like last year’s coverage of what was termed “SwagHer”). What do I mean by “best of the blogging community?”

For starters, check out Tutus for Tanner.

I had the opportunity to meet  Catherine from HerBadMother.com at BlogHer. Catherine is the woman behind Tutus for Tanner. She’s an amazing writer, but (more importantly!) she’s also an amazing person.  Catherine is raising awareness about Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy as well as funds to fight the disease and to enable Tanner to live at home rather than in the hospital. I saw so many people making and wearing tutus at BlogHer in support of Catherine’s nephew Tanner who has DMD. But the most amazing thing happened on Twitter immediately before the conference. Air Canada damaged Tanner’s electric wheelchair and refused to get him a replacement. Tanner would have been without a wheelchair for several days and would have missed the 5k run in his honor. Clearly this was an unacceptable way to treat a dying boy.  Thousands of bloggers took to Twitter to protest, and Tanner received a replacement wheelchair in time. It was wonderful to see how bloggers united in support of this incredible little boys, and I suspect Air Canada learned an important lesson about how to treat its wheelchair-bound passengers in the future.

A highlight of the conference was meeting the Bloganthropy Award finalists. I am still in awe of their accomplishments, and I thrilled to see this group of women receive some recognition for their accomplishments. (Click here to read more about them.)

Did you know that the team behind Passports with Purpose is going to build a village in Southern India? I’m not kidding here. They built a school last year are actually building an entire village this year! Please check out their site and contribute to their fundraising effort if you can.

Kristine Brite McCormick of Cora’s Story has already saved the lives of several babies by raising awareness of congenital heart defects and educating parents about the importance of pulse oximetry screening. How many of us can actually say that we’ve saved a life? Kristine can, and I think she is truly heroic! As her organization grows, I know many more lives will be saved through her efforts.

Maggie from Violence Unsilenced gives survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault a voice. During the conference, I met several women who told me how Violence Unsilenced helped them heal and thanked us for honoring Maggie for her incredible work building the community and raising awareness about the epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault in our country.

Megan from Velveteen Mind wrote a post saying she was honored “but distinctly out of place” compared to the other nominees. Her numerous admirers at BlogHer would disagree. Megan has used her blog to bring attention and donations to Hurricane Katrina survivors and the people impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf. She promoted Tide Loads of Hope and worked on a recent campaign to donate nearly 70,000 meals to Feeding America.

Long before Brooke Shields wrote her famous book on her experience with PPD and had her famous battle with Tom Cruise, Katherine Stone of Postpartum Progress was working tirelessly to help women with PPD and other perinatal and antenatal mood disorders. Postpartum depression and perinatal mood disorders affect over 800,000 women annually in the United States alone. Increased awareness of PPD is critical to early diagnosis and treatment. For six years, Katherine Stone solely supported Postpartum Progress, helping countless women through her efforts. She recently incorporated as a non-profit with the goal of expanding the organization’s reach and effectiveness. We hope that recognition as the first annual Bloganthropy Award Winner and the prize money donated by P & G GIVE HEALTH will help Katherine Stone to accomplish this worthy goal.

Katherine Stone of Postpartum Progress won the first annual Bloganthropy Award at the awards dinner sponsored by Child’s Play Communications on August 5th. Stephanie Azzarone of Child’s Play Communications was the “fairy godmother” behind the Bloganthropy Awards dinner. I cannot thank her enough for all of her hard work on the event, contributions, and pro-bono PR support. She has been incredibly supportive of our efforts to build Bloganthropy.

I had a chance to share the stories of all these amazing women with Jennifer Brandt of Momversation, thanks to “performance with a purpose” from PepsiCo. Click here to see Momversation’s excerpts from this interview.

And I was so proud to see the efforts of the ever effervescent Lori Holton Nash, a member of our Bloganthropy Blogger Advisory Board, for Go Red for Women, which “celebrates the energy, passion and power we have as women to band together to wipe out heart disease and stroke”.

BlogHer is truly a community of women, lifting each other up.

You might also be surprised that many bloggers donate the infamous “Swag” to charities or to people in need in their community. For example, I’m donating mine to a local family who just lost their house to a fire. This family had five children and no fire insurance, and they needed help. I actually found out about them from a friend of mine, via her blog.

At the thredUP booth, they took an approach we wholeheartedly appreciate.  A sign on the table said: “Looking for Swag? We’ve got something better… Make a Green School Year Pledge and thredUP will donate $1 to Cradles to Crayons.” Karen told us that bloggers were very supportive of the “no swag”, eco-friendly charity pledge. They are at $840 right now so why not go and add to the donation?

This is what bloggers do best. They use their blogs to reach out and inspire others to make the world a better place.

Carol of NYCity Mama and Corine at Complicated Mama Rocked the NYC Help A Mother Out Cocktail Party/Diaper Drive! and Candace at Mamanista.com helped out mothers on Long Island with the help of her local Moms’ Meet-up.

Diapers are a serious need for families in difficult economic situations–a need not covered by existing social safety nets. Please consider helping a mother out by donating diapers to your local diaper bank, food bank, shelter, or house of worship.

I get very emotional when I see, read about, or watch on TV a child in pain. A family struggling to accept the reality of an impaired or afflicted child in their lives. An empty crib, clothes that are never worn, a mother who has lost the light of her life.

Ah, there is so much misery in the world. Every time there is a natural disaster I have the urge to adopt an orphaned child whose parents were taken in the earthquake/tsunami/AIDS crisis/insert here. Don’t tell my husband – we already have two little boys. Someday, when the time is right, I will bring it up.

Until then, my most far-reaching power is here on the internet. This week I am working with a charity called Trisomy 18 Foundation which is a finalist in the Chase Community Giving Challenge on Facebook – it has won a grant for $25,000, and is now among 100 charities up for five $100,000 prizes, or the first prize – $1 million to help pursue a Big Idea! The winner will be chosen by public vote from January 15-22. Will you help spread the word to your readers to visit their Facebook voting page and help them win?

One out of every 3,000 children is born with Trisomy 18. That means that every day in the United States alone, 10-20 families receive the news about this diagnosis, which may take their child from them before he or she is even born. Victoria Miller’s baby boy Isaac was born with Trisomy 18 in 2001. He lived only 11 days. At the time, the support community for families affected by the condition was very small, so Miller started the Trisomy 18 Foundation to raise awareness, improve the lives of the families, and drive research initiatives to focus on prevention and treatments. Miller tells her story in a special video on YouTube.

As a mother, naturally I was touched by the sadness that Trisomy 18 must bring to the families who are affected. But it didn’t really hit me until I visited the Facebook voting page and read the comments written by those parents and relatives who had the joy of knowing their babies for as little as 4 minutes before they slipped away. Those children never had a chance. With funding of $1 million, the Trisomy 18 Foundation can make significant progress toward improving treatment and prevention of this condition.

If you are on Facebook, I urge you to click the badge above and simply vote. You can also visit the Trisomy 18 Foundation information site where there is code for the video and other badges that you can put on your own site. It’s only for a week, but it can make a huge difference in the life of a family.  Please spread the word.

BADGE CODE:

<a href="http://tinyurl.com/votet18" ><img src="http://www.trisomy18.org/images/content/pagebuilder/42812.gif" alt="Trisomy18 Vote" width="202" height="244" border=0 /></a>

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Kim Tracy Prince is a TV producer in Los Angeles and a mother of two young boys who has been blogging at House of Prince since 2004.  With the community of bloggers and internet users she has built over five and a half years, Kim is hoping to make changes that will help unfortunate people.  She also works with Help a Mother Out, a network that encourages people to donate diapers to homeless and needy families.

Many bloggers are raising funds online and we hope you will open your hearts and donate if you can to support relief efforts.

AJ Lawrence of The Jar Group is offering a matching grant of up to $1500 to members of the social media family who are raising money for Haiti. If you are using your blog to raise money for a reputable, registered non-profit operating in Haiti, or if you are a company or individual that would like to match donations, please feel free to contact us at info [at] bloganthropy.org and to add your post to our facebook page.

Below are some posts raising money for Haiti and matching information, if any.  Please feel free to share this list and copy it.  We will update with new posts and totals as available.  Through these campaigns, you can help contribute and show your support:

• Kelly at The Centsible Life (through January)
• Debbie and Candace at Mamanista (through 1/22; AJ Lawrence matching up to $200)
• Emily at DesignHerMomma (TOTAL = $269; AJ Lawrence matching up to $250)
• Ree at The Pioneer Woman (TOTAL = $7755.00 ;$2585.00 each to American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Compassion International )
• Katie at When Hello Means Goodbye (TOTAL = $110)
• Some amazing bloggers have started an entire site with a benefit auction for Haiti: Hope for Haiti (ONGOING, already up to $4000)

The LA Times has a list of organizations accepting donations for Haiti, including:

• Salvation Army
• American Red Cross (also text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti. The donation will be charged to your cellphone bill)
• Unicef
• AmeriCares
• Yele Haiti (Donations can be made at the site, or automatically by texting YELE to 501501 to give $5)
• Doctors Without Borders

Here are two more excellent organizations:

• Partners in Health: Stand with Haiti
• Care.org

Many of these organizations (@AmeriCares @MSF_usa @RedCross @yelehaiti @unicef @salvationarmy @Care @PIH_Org) also have excellent Twitter updates on their work in Haiti.

Edited to Add: @KristineBrite has suggested using #blog4haiti on Twitter for blog posts about #Haiti. — Great Idea!

UPDATED 1/17: I’ve found some lists with hundreds of bloggers making pledges for Haiti. I’m adding a Link Widget below so please feel free to add your link if you have a post about your financial donation to a reputable charity working in Haiti:

Photo Credit: United Nations