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.

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.

P&G’s GIVE Health program is giving clean drinking water to people in need and offering a simple way that you can help! Visit GIVE Health on Facebook to learn more and then look for P&G brandSAVER coupons on your local June 5 newspaper. For each coupon redeemed, P&G will donate one day of clean drinking water ($.02) to the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program.

Plus, P&G is donating a day of clean drinking water for every new like, comment and share on the GIVE HEALTH Facebook page through Sunday June 5, 2011.  It’s such an easy way to make a difference, and we hope you’ll help.

And as involved community volunteers, we are always on the look-out for a fundraiser that will motivate members, raise enough money to support our cause, and reflect our values.

Now that we know more about Equal Exchange Fundraising, they are at the top of our list!

Equal Exchange Fundraising offers organic and fairly traded foods, beautiful fairly traded gifts and recycled (tree-free!) cotton gift wrap. You can build your own community organization while supporting sustainability in communities around the globe.

And with the free, downloadable, interdisciplinary curriculum, you can pass these free-trade values on to the students and give them a greater sense of ownership over the fundraising process.

Equal Exchange Fundraising is earth and people friendly–100% organic and Fair Trade. In addition to Equal Exchange’s unique green gift wrap, the fundraiser features delicious coffees, teas, chocolates, cocoas, healthy snacks, and items from Ten Thousand Villages such as silk scarves from Nepal, tablecloths and jewelry from India, and batik greeting cards from Thailand.

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.

We want to hear your ideas and to help you promote your philanthropic projects, so be sure to come say “hello”!
As an additional incentive to stop by, Corolle is also offering prizes at our BlogHer Bloganthropy booth–watch @Bloganthropy during the conference for details.

Even if you are unable to visit with us in New York City, we want you to be part of this movement to use our social media influence to build a better world.  Stay in touch by checking out our facebook page, following us on Twitter, subsribing to our RSS feed, and taking the Bloganthropy pledge.

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 10, 2010 — Child’s Play Communications and Bloganthropy.org, a non-profit organization that combines the power of social media with the resources of corporate giving, are proud to announce a call for nominations for the first annual Bloganthropy Award.

The Bloganthropy Award aims to recognize bloggers who have made a difference by using social media to effectively promote a good cause.

Finalists will be featured on Bloganthropy.org. The winner will be announced at the Child’s Play Communications Dinner’s On Us event held on August 5, 2010 in New York City. Bloganthropy founders Debbie Bookstaber and Candace Lindemann, along with Child’s Play Communications president, Stephanie Azzarone, and the company’s Team Mom™ blogger-network Director, Marie Baker, will consider all qualified candidates and select the winner. The deadline for nominations is Monday, June 28, 2010.

Bloganthropy.org is dedicated to connecting social media users with corporate giving and PR departments, to encourage and facilitate charitable donations. The organization also empowers bloggers to become philanthropic leaders in their communities.

NOMINATION INSTRUCTIONS
To nominate yourself or another blogger, please fill out the nomination form located at: http://childsplaypr.com/bloganthropy/.
About Bloganthropy.org
Bloganthropy combines the power of social media with the resources of corporate giving. Bloganthropy is a non-profit organization. (501c3 status pending).

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 bloggers. Recent company awards have included Social Media Innovator of the Year (2010) and PR Innovation of the Year (2009). When it comes to marketing to moms, Child’s Play Communications is the agency to call.

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