The answer to that question depends on your goals. Do you want to:

1. Raise money for an existing charity.
2. Start your own organization.

If you want to raise money for an existing charitable organization, you do not need your own 501c3. If you just want to encourage your readers to donate to a specific charity, it’s easy to link to the charities website or to provide donation information. If you’d like to get more involved, contact the charity and ask if you can volunteer or organize a fundraiser on its behalf.

If you want to start your own organization, determine if the organization will have fundraising needs. If you want to ask others to donate or apply for most grants, you will need either a 501c3 status for your organization or a fiscal sponsor.

If your organization/cause  has no expenses (for example: it consists of you organizing a monthly blog carnival or regular Twitter discussion using a specific hashtag), you may not need either a 501c3 status or a fiscal sponsor.

You might be wondering what a “fiscal sponsor” is.  A fiscal sponsor is a 501c3 that lends their legal status to your project. Obtaining and maintaining a 501c3 status is a lot of work. It requires a board and often an accountant, and it can be expensive to get started.

If you have a great idea but lack the funds to pay start-up costs, a “fiscal sponsor” may be the best option. There are different kinds of fiscal sponsorship: “projects” and separate entities. If you are incorporated/registered, you could qualify as a separate entity. Otherwise, a “project” may be a good option for you. You will want to define a formal agreement with your fiscal sponsor regardless. To learn more about “fiscal sponsorship,” check out the Fiscal Sponsorship Directory.

When our co-founder Debbie Bookstaber returned from her role as Cause Marketing panelist at BlogHer 2011, she had the non-profit Share Our Strength on the brain. This non-profit was a donor recipient of session sponsor Jimmy Dean Sausage.

Not long after returning home, Debbie started working with Little Miss Muffin, a company who ran television ads www.mylittlemissmuffin.com about their “muffin”dolls which made her think of all the kids who are hungry and need food (and would surely enjoy a muffin!)

After suggesting the connection, manufacturer Jay at Play International decided to support Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale® by donating 1% (up to $75,000) of all Little Miss Muffin Pop N Flip™ dolls sold in 2012.  Thank you, Jay at Play!

“Jay at Play wanted to give back to the millions of children who already love the brand Little Miss Muffin, so we decided to share our success with Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale,” said Joseph Sutton, Jay at Play managing director. “We are truly honored to show our support and help with the Great American Bake Sale’s mission.”

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale^®, presented by Domino^® Sugar and C&H^® Sugar, and Duncan Hines^®, is a national effort that encourages Americans to host bake sales in their communities to support the No Kid Hungry^® Campaign, Share Our Strength’s^® national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Since 2003, more than 1.7 million people have participated in Great American Bake Sale, raising more than $6 million to make sure there is no kid hungry in America. Great American Bake Sale is supported by official bakeware partner Chicago Metallic, national television partner Food Network, national magazine partner Family Circle, and official baking ingredient partner Solo. Visit GreatAmericanBakeSale.org.

Little Miss Muffin arrives to you peeking out of her magical muffin cup. Pop her muffin top, flip the muffin cup inside out, and Little Miss Muffin becomes a soft adorable doll. With sweet expressive faces and bright smiles, there are ten Little Miss Muffin Dolls each with their own flavor to delight kids of all ages. They are available this holiday season exclusively at Toys”R”Us stores and ToysRus.com.

Shop and GIVE! It’s a win-win!

With so many people out of work and struggling, it is more important than ever for low-income families to be able to access childcare–and diapers are part of that equation.

Help a Mother Out is asking us to support the Diaper Act. This act does not make additional appropriations–that means there is no added cost. This only allows funds that are already allotted fir Child Care Development Funds to be used for diapers to improve child care quality and access.

Will you help a mother out? You can blog, tweet, take photos, and sign this petition!

Congratulations to Sarah Peppel, the winner of the iPad 2. We will be announcing our $1000 Blogger of the Month Winner today as well!

On July 31, P&G will distribute its brandSAVER coupon booklet in newspapers across and country and for each coupon redeemed, P&G will donate $.02 to Communities In Schools, the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization. The donation is uncapped – so the more you save, the more you give.

We hope you’ll join P&G and John Legend in helping to “School the Nation” and keep more than 1 million kids in school. Here’s how you and your readers can help!

• Use the tools in this digital toolkit to create posts about the program and encourage your readers to get involved.

• Join GIVE Education at www.facebook.com/pgmygive for simple, shareable tools you can use to help the cause.

• One blogger who writes about GIVE Education by August 12, 2011 and includes the link to their post in the comments on this post or in our BlogFrog discussion board will be chosen at random by Bloganthropy.org to win an iPad 2! (Note: you must be 18 to enter. Open to US Residents only.)

Thanks for your support of programs that give back!

P&G sponsored the June 24 Bloganthropy Awards and the July Blogger of the Month to help support bloggers who are making strides for important causes. Bloganthropy would like to thank P&G for supporting Bloganthropy members by helping to spread the word about their cause efforts and how you can get involved. The Bloganthropy.org founders are not compensated by P&G for supporting GIVE Education, but P&G is providing the iPad 2 to the winner of this contest. We genuinely support the mission of P&G GIVE Education and hope you’ll participate.

Education is fundamental to providing equal opportunity and keeping the United States competitive in the global economy. Yet, too many of our children fall through the cracks. Every nine seconds, another student will drop out of school. And 2,000 schools are responsible for 50% of the nation’s dropouts.

With the help of P&G Give, we have been able to support and recognize the grass-roots, charitable efforts of the blogging community. So, we were happy to join with several Bloganthropy Advisory Board members and other Bloganthropy members to find out how P&G Give Education is partnering with Communities in Schools to make a difference in the lives of our most at-risk students. We were joined by the spokesman, the famous recording artist and philanthropist, John Legend. John Legend was on hand to sing his song, “Shine”, with the Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation choir from M.S. 390 in University Heights, Bronx.

During a blogger round table, John Legend, shared his passion for, and commitment to, education reform.

Some of the bloggers who spoke with John Legend have posted about their experiences:

Kimberly Coleman, of Foodie City Mom, writes: “On, the parent note, he mentioned something that really stood out…that parents (in poorer communities) need to have higher expectations for what their kids deserve education-wise. [...] Unfortunately, many parents in distressed communities are so consumed with just surviving – especially in this economy – that their kids’ education falls to the wayside.  That is where the “it takes a village” mentality comes in.  There needs to be people in the schools and community who care about all kids – not just their own.  John shared that in addition to his parent, it was the school officials – his guidance counselor, music teacher and gym teachers – who had the greatest impact on him. ” (Read the full post.)

Candace Lindemann: At my education blog, Naturally Educational, I posted:”The issue is a convoluted and messy one that does not have a simple answer. Wrapped up in issues of student performance are problems of health, pollution, race, economic inequality, urban planning, and much, much more. However, there are solutions. We know there are proven methods that can have a dramatic impact on drop out rates. As complex as the issue is, the answer may still be summed up in a word: community.” (Read the full post.)

Sarah Peppel of  also has photo and video of John Legend singing with the kids..

You can help raise a significant donation for Communities in Schools in two ways:

• On Sunday, July 31, the GIVE Education brandSAVER, featuring a note from John Legend, will be distributed in newspapers across the country, with discounts on trusted P&G products. For each GIVE Education brandSAVER coupon redeemed, P&G will donate two cents to CIS – allowing consumers to give back, while saving money. The P&G uncapped donation will be based on the number of coupons redeemed beginning July 31 – the more consumers save, the more they give.
• Watch a video featuring John Legend and CIS students on the P&G myGive Facebook page. When you watch, P&G will make an additional 25¢ donation to CIS (up to $10,000).

Disclosure: P&G Give Education reimbursed travel expenses for the area bloggers who attended the event. Bloganthropy is a non-profit (501-3c pending). The co-foudners of Bloganthropy do not take a salary or other compensation for Bloganthropy projects. All donations go directly to funding Bloganthropy awards and projects.

The Co-founders of The Motherhood, Cooper and Emily, are getting involved with an exciting opportunity through The ONE campaign to promote awareness of the issues that women, especially mothers, experience in Africa. Cooper and Emily, along with 8 other mom-bloggers, will travel to Kenya July 25-30 to spend time with local women and gain insight about their daily struggles. They will meet with experts and see firsthand just how different raising a child is in an underdeveloped country. They will continue to blog about their experiences and utilize social media to help convey the extremity of the situation that moms in Africa face today.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can become involved in their efforts towards raising awareness, you can become a ONEMom team member. Signing up is free and easy and you will receive updates about their journey through Kenya and the issues that they are learning about. You can also help promote their cause by posting on facebook or tweeting with the hashtag #ONEMoms. It only takes one person to make a difference, and you could be her!

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) June 24, 2011

Susan Niebur, of the blog Toddler Planet, today was named the winner of the 2011 Bloganthropy Awards. The Bloganthropy Awards is a unique program that recognizes women bloggers who have made a difference by using social media effectively to support a good cause.

An astrophysicist who has worked for NASA and mother of two young boys, Niebur has battled inflammatory breast cancer four times, surviving countless surgeries, intense radiation and chemotherapy. Through her blog, Susan has spread awareness about the disease, “the cancer that kills without the lump,” and has lead thousands of women to join the Army of Women, a movement founded by the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women that provides women afflicted with breast cancer access to potential research studies and participation in treatment trials. Susan sits on the board of the American Cancer Society, is active in its More Birthdays campaign, and has been featured by media across the country.

Niebur received an honorary plaque and a $2,000 cash prize for her cause-focused social media accomplishments.

The Bloganthropy Awards ceremony was held in Asheville, NC in conjunction with the popular Type-A Parent Conference, and was presented by Bloganthropy.org, a non-profit organization that combines the power of social media with the resources of corporate giving. GIVE Education, one of Procter & Gamble’s social sustainability programs partnering with Communities In Schools to help keep more than one million kids in school, is the 2011 award sponsor. In 2010, Procter & Gamble sponsored the first annual Bloganthropy Awards through its GIVE Health initiative. The Bloganthropy Awards presentation ceremony sponsors include: MAM USA, Toy State, Backyard Safari Outfitters, Music Together, Fairy Tales Hair Care and Corolle.

Candace Lindemann, co-founder of Bloganthropy, says: “The Bloganthropy Awards enable us to applaud the work of these powerful women and to inspire others to make a difference using social media.”

“We are delighted to honor Susan Niebur and her blog, Toddler Planet,” adds Stephanie Azzarone, president, Child’s Play Communications. “Susan has shown great dedication to informing and advocating for cancer patients and survivors over the years and it is our pleasure to recognize and help support those efforts.”

In addition to Niebur, the following finalists were recognized for their unique contributions to the blogosphere. They are:

Lydia Yeung, Ever Ours; Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador, Utterly Engaged

After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, Lydia Young, Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador mobilized to raise money in support of Japan disaster relief efforts. To date, For Japan with Love has raised more than $66,000, with all proceeds going to Shelter Box USA, a charity that provides shelter, water, blankets and other emergency supplies to families affected by disasters around the globe.

Andrea Roberts, Reece’s Rainbow

Andrea Roberts is the proud mother of 9-year old Reece, who was born with Down syndrome. Out of appreciation for the support they received following Reece’s 2002 birth, in 2004 Andrea and her husband founded Reece’s Rainbow—an outreach program for families with kids born with Down syndrome at an Atlanta, Georgia hospital. In 2006, Reece’s Rainbow expanded to encourage the international adoption of orphaned children with Down syndrome, through grants totaling $1.5 million.

Jess, A Diary of A Mom

The mother of two daughters, one autistic, Jess uses her blog as a forum to unite the widespread autism-support community, whose goal is to improve the lives of the 1 in 110 children living with autism. In April, 2011, at President Barack Obama’s personal invitation, Jess attended an autism conference at the White House as a parent advocate and continues to garner support nationwide for autism awareness.

Melissa Ford, Stirrup Queens

The mom of twins conceived through fertility treatments, Melissa Ford started the Stirrup Queens blog as a result of her own personal struggle with getting pregnant. Stirrup Queens serves as a meeting place and resource for individuals and couples dealing with infertility, prematurity and pregnancy loss. She has been invited to speak at a congressional briefing on infertility and has met with Congressman to discuss the Family Building Act.

“Through the Bloganthropy awards, we hope to increase the reach of these inspiring and highly effective bloggers by promoting their projects and connecting them with corporate sponsors that can further support their causes,” says Debbie Bookstaber, co-founder of Bloganthrophy.org

About Bloganthropy.org
Bloganthropy.org aims to empower bloggers to become philanthropic leaders in their communities. The annual Bloganthropy Awards recognize those who have made a difference by using social media to effectively promote a cause or charity.

About Child’s Play Communications
Child’s Play Communications specializes exclusively in public relations, social media and word-of-mouth communications for products and services targeted to moms. Based in New York City, the agency has launched an exciting array of proprietary services to engage this influential market through traditional media, online and in-person, including the award-winning Team Mom™, the agency’s own network of mom review-bloggers. Recent company awards have included Bulldog’s PR Innovation of the Year and Social Media Innovator of the Year. For additional information, please visit our Web site, our blog, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

About GIVE Education
Through the GIVE Education program, P&G is teaming with Communities In Schools to help fight the dropout crisis and keep more than one million kids in school. The program encourages consumers to help keep kids in school through the redemption of P&G brandSAVER coupons and use of social media tools designed to inspire others to support the cause. For each July 31 P&G brandSAVER coupon redeemed, two cents will be donated to Communities In Schools – one of the nation’s leading dropout prevention organizations, and one that is proven to increase graduation rates and decrease dropout rates.

GIVE Education is part of P&G’s myGIVE program, a social sustainability platform designed to inspire and enable people to use their everyday purchases to touch lives and improve life. To learn more, visit.http://www.facebook.com/pgmygive.

The Bloganthropy Awards at the Type-A Parent Conference were made possible by the following sponsors:

Each month when the time for Bloganthropy Blogger of the Month submissions rolls

around, we are thrilled to read about the inspiring bloggers who are dedicated to making a difference using their social media platforms.

In March, we honored Sian To of Mummy Tips, an accidental activist from the British countryside. Sian attended the BlogHer conference in 2009 on a whim, and was there inspired to help found “the UK’s premier blogger conference,” CyberMummy, in January 2010. After speaking at the first CyberMummy conference, Sian was contacted by a representative from Save the Children, and was offered a position as a blogger for their recent Blogadesh campaign. Her work with Blogadesh has helped bring awareness of the issues related to the UN’s 2010 Millennium Development Goal Summit to over 75 million people worldwide. You can read about her bloganthropic journey here.

On June 24, we will be recognizing five AMAZING finalists at the 2011 Bloganthropy Awards at the Type-A Parent Conference. You can read about these inspiring women here. P&G GIVE EDUCATION is the 2011 Awards Sponsor, and they are generously giving prizes worth $5000 to the five finalists.

We want to recognize one blogger each month who has used his or her social media influence to make an outstanding volunteer or charitable contribution to her community.

Bloganthropy is built on the idea that we can use our social media influence to amplify the good we do. By calling upon the strength of your online network, you send your message viral, inspiring others to give.

For the month of July, we are partnering with P&G’s GIVE Education to honor another incredible Bloganthropy Blogger of the Month with an exceptional prize– $1,000 for your charity and an iPad2 for you.

In keeping with the P&G GIVE EDUCATION objective, our goal this month is to find candidates who are using social media to support education-related causes.

If you or someone you know uses blogging and social media for educational advocacy or charities, fill-out the Bloganthropy Blogger of the Month nomination form, right now!

The winning blogger will be announced here on Bloganthropy.org and may also be recognized by our sponsor and in press releases. We know you are a powerful voice, supporting and inspiring your community–let us know what you are doing to use your social media influence for good so we can help spread the word!

You may nominate yourself or another blogger. Read the “fine print” to find out more about eligibility and the nomination and selection process. Nominations for July’s Blogger of the Month will close July 15, 2011.

For the second straight year, Procter & Gamble is sponsoring the Bloganthropy Awards, this time through its Give Education program. The company will present a total of $5,000 to the winner and finalists.

The winner will be announced at a special event taking place Friday, June 24th, at the Type-A Parent Conference in Asheville, NC. The Bloganthropy Awards presentation ceremony sponsors include: Corolle Dolls MAM USA, Toy State, Backyard Safari Outfitters, Music Together, Fairy Tales Hair Care and Bigjigs Toys.

“We received more than 100 entries for this year’s Bloganthropy Awards,” says Stephanie Azzarone, president, Child’s Play Communications. “Narrowing down the list of accomplished women was incredibly difficult. The five finalists are all passionate activists who make a significant impact.”

“Bloganthropy.org’s goal is to encourage bloggers to rally support for good causes through social media,” explains Debbie Bookstaber, co-founder of Bloganthropy.org. “The finalists for this year’s Bloganthropy Awards are catalysts for positive change.”

Candace Lindemann, co-founder of Bloganthropy.org, adds: “The Bloganthropy Awards enable us to recognize bloggers who are making a difference in their communities by giving voice to issues that matter to them and resonate with others.”

The first annual Bloganthropy Award was presented in 2010 to Katherine Stone, publisher of the blog, Postpartum Progress, the most widely read blog on post-partum issues in the U.S.

The 2011 Bloganthropy Awards finalists are:

Susan Niebur, Toddler Planet
An astrophysicist and mother of two young boys, Susan has battled inflammatory breast cancer four times, surviving countless surgeries, intense radiation and chemotherapy. Through her blog, Susan has spread awareness about inflammatory breast cancer, “the cancer that kills without the lump,” and has lead thousands of women to join the Army of Women, a movement founded by the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women that provides women afflicted with breast cancer access to potential research studies and participation in treatment trials. Susan sits on the board of the American Cancer Society, is active in their More Birthdays campaign, and has been featured by media across the country.

Lydia Yeung, Ever Ours; Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador, Utterly Engaged
After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, Lydia Young, Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador mobilized to raise money in support of Japan disaster relief efforts. To date, For Japan with Love has raised more than $66,000, with all proceeds going to Shelter Box USA, a charity that provides shelter, water, blankets and other emergency supplies to families affected by disasters around the globe.

Andrea Roberts, Reece’s Rainbow
Andrea Roberts is the proud mother of 9-year old Reece, who was born with Down syndrome. Out of appreciation for the support they received following Reece’s 2002 birth, in 2004 Andrea and her husband founded Reece’s Rainbow—an outreach program for families with kids born with Down syndrome at an Atlanta, Georgia hospital. In 2006, Reece’s Rainbow expanded to encourage the international adoption of orphaned children with Down syndrome, through grants totaling $1.5 million.

Jess, A Diary of A Mom
The mother of two daughters, one autistic, Jess uses her blog as a forum to unite the widespread autism-support community, whose goal is to improve the lives of the 1 in 110 children living with autism. In April, 2011, at President Barack Obama’s personal invitation, Jess attended an autism conference at the White House as a parent advocate and continues to garner support nationwide for autism awareness.

Melissa Ford, Stirrup Queens
The mom of twins conceived through fertility treatments, Melissa Ford started the Stirrup Queens blog as a result of her own personal struggle with getting pregnant. Stirrup Queens serves as a meeting place and resource for individuals and couples dealing with infertility, prematurity and pregnancy loss. She has been invited to speak at a congressional briefing on infertility and has met with Congressman to discuss the Family Building Act.

About Bloganthropy.org
Bloganthropy.org aims to empower bloggers to become philanthropic leaders in their communities. The annual Bloganthropy Awards recognize those who have made a difference by using social media to effectively promote a cause or charity.

About Child’s Play Communications
Child’s Play Communications specializes exclusively in public relations, social media and word-of-mouth communications for products and services targeted to moms. Based in New York City, the agency has launched an exciting array of proprietary services to engage this influential market through traditional media, online and in-person, including the award-winning Team Mom™, the agency’s own network of mom review-bloggers. Recent company awards have included Bulldog’s PR Innovation of the Year and Social Media Innovator of the Year. For additional information, please visit our Web site, our blog, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.