new giving challenge…

Press Release to follow. Good luck one and all.

EMBARGOED TILL MIDNIGHT:

PARADE and The Case Foundation today announced the America’s Giving Challenge to award $500,000 to charities in the U.S. and overseas. The program aims to show how anyone and everyone can have greater impact in their community and bring more support to the charities and causes they care about. Participants can choose to use a simple and fun Web 2.0 tool called a “charity badge” to promote their cause and help their charity get $50,000. Or they can simply give to a cause to help it qualify for a $1,000 award. The America’s Giving Challenge runs from 3:00 p.m. EST on December 13, 2007 through 3:00 p.m. EST on January 31, 2008. To participate, visit www.parade.com/givingchallenge .

There are two easy ways to participate:

CHAMPION A CAUSE: Using fun and simple charity badges, individuals can get $50,000 for the cause they support. Eight Champions will be named based on the number of unique donations they have gathered for their charity through the Challenge.

GIVE TO A CAUSE: Simply donate to a favorite charity through the Challenge donation partners — Network for Good and GlobalGiving — and that charity could get $1,000. One hundred charities will each be awarded $1,000 based on the number of donations they receive through the Challenge.

Who Can Participate?
To “champion a cause,” you must be 13 years of age or older and a legal resident of the United States.

To “give to a cause,” all you need is the means to process a donation through one of the Challenge’s two donation partners — Network for Good, typically for those giving to U.S.-based charities, or GlobalGiving, typically for those giving to international causes.

According to this Sunday’s cover story in PARADE, charitable donations in 2006 exceeded $295 billion, up almost $12 billion from the previous year. About 68% of U.S. households gave something to charity last year. Interestingly, more Americans make charitable donations than vote. To sign up for America’s Giving Challenge, beginning 3:00 p.m. EST, December 13, 2007, simply visit www.Parade.com/givingchallenge.