NPTech | Social Signal

Like many people, when I heard about the disaster in Haiti, I wanted to help. And I wanted to give others a way to help, too.

Here's what I decided to do: go to a relief agency's web site, and set up a peer fundraising page (along the lines of what Convio, Blackbaud and DemocracyInAction create for their clients).

As causes go, you can't get much closer to our hearts than with a children's hospital. The thought of having to take one of our kids there is wrenching, and I'm sobered by the fact that thousands upon thousands of children - and their parents - go through that every day.

We want those kids to get the care they need swiftly and effectively. We want our best medical knowledge brought to bear, and we want clean, quality facilities that promote good health as well as healing sickness.

So we jumped at the chance to work with the BC Children's Hospital Foundation, helping them chart a social media strategy for engaging their audiences and raising money.

Blogathon 2009 is here.

Starting on Saturday at 6:00 am, nearly 200 bloggers from a number of cities - Vancouver prominent among them - will be posting to their blogs every half hour for 24 hours. They'll be raising money for a wide range of charities; so far, nearly $27,000 has been raised.

Here in the Vancouver area, Rebecca Bollwitt is serving again as the rallying point for local participants. Many of them will be gathering at Workspace in Gastown, where she's sponsoring a tweetup for the duration.

It's a terrific event. So tomorrow, give a thought over the course of the day to those bloggers (especially as the wee hours approach!) - drop by their blogs and leave a comment, and maybe make a donation via their widgets.