We would like to invite all GiveForward users to tune in OR join us tonight at Raven (Clark and Belden) to watch Ariana, our director of marketing, as she gets made over on Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style on Bravo TV.  The show airs tonight at 9pm CST.

For those of you able to make it to our Launch Party in August, you just might catch a glimpse of yourself during the final scene, where they do a brief follow-up on Ariana.

Tell us what you think of the show!

We just wanted to thank everyone who participated in last weekend’s Run for a Reason in NYC. We had about 25 runners join us in the 5 mile run through Central Park. Through your AWESOME efforts you all helped raise $13000 for 13 different charities and causes. Overall, it was a great weekend and we look forward to next year’s run!

Here are a few pictures from the event.  You can check out the rest of the album on Facebook

I’m off to give a presentation about young donors at the Youth Communication Chicago Board meeting but before I head out, I wanted to share with you all the great news!

Individual fundraisers on GiveForward.org have raised $21,455 as of this afternoon.  That is $21,000 that is going to amazing causes like stem cell research, animal rescue clinics, canvassing for presidential candidates, and more. read more…

GiveForward wants to give a shout out to Aron “the fundraising dominator” Grossman for being the first GFer in GiveForward history to reach 100% of his fundraising goal.

This fundraising stud is raising money for the Fresh Air Fund, an organization that provides free summer vacations to inner-city kids from NYC. You can check out his page here.

Aron is one of over forty people running in GiveForward’s Run for a Reason five-mile fun run next weekend in New York City. Although Aron has admittedly never run five consecutive miles in his life, Aron decided to be like Gheorghe Muresan, and “score one for the kids.” Way to go, Aron!!

For all the ladies out there, you can catch a glympse of this big-hearted, fundraising stud at 8:30 AM on October 26th as he completes his history making, first ever, five mile run through Central Park.

Anyway, if you’re reading this Aron, we just wanted to say “Congratulations” on this monumental accomplishment. GiveForward will be sending you a congratulatory bottle of Gheorghe Mursesan cologne for your efforts.

Our economy is in the tank; your 401(k) has taken a nosedive and you’re about to ask Grandma Elsie for her favorite Depression era recipe for shoe soup. We know it’s not pretty out there, and trust us, we feel your pain. That’s why we’ve decided to come to the rescue. That’s right, you heard it here first, folks. After days of negotiation, the powers that be at GiveForward have passed an historic $300 bailout plan to jumpstart the old economic engines.

OK, so maybe it’s not as monumental as $700 billion, but we are giving away 300 smackers to help jumpstart your fundraising efforts. Here’s how the GF bailout plan works:

On October 26th GiveForward is traveling to New York to Run for a Reason in the Poland Springs Marathon Kickoff Fun Run.

If you are running with us on the 26th, you are eligible for either of the two cash prizes below

On October 26th 2008 GiveForward will be in New York ‘running for a reason’ to raise money for our favorite charities in the Poland Springs New York Marathon Kickoff Fun Run.

We aren’t in good enough shape to run the NY Marathon, but we’re pretty confident we can conquer a five mile fun run through Central Park. The idea behind ‘Run for a Reason’ is that unlike most charity races where everyone runs for the same charity, with this event, you get to run for the charity or cause that is most important to YOU.

If you are interested in joining us, send us an email (ethan@giveforward.org) and let us know, sign up for your GF fundraising page, and make sure to register for the race before Oct 11th. It’s $25 to register. $30 after the 11th. You can register at http://www.nyrr.org/races/2008/r1026×00.asp

Hope to see you all out there!

Remember when you were a kid and Mom used to get on your case about writing thank you notes?   Well, Mom was right.  It’s always a good idea to thank the peeple that helped you out along the way.  That’s why we just added a new feature that allows you write personalized thank you emails directly to your donors.

Here’s how:

When you log in and go to “My Fundraisers” click on the “My Donors” tab.  From here you can send an email directly to Aunt Edna, your amigos or even the friend of a friend who sent you $10 to help with your fundraising effort.  So go ahead, be a mensch and give it a try.  We promise you,  Aunt Edna and the rest of your donors will really appreciate it.

GiveForward.org is officially one month into our soft launch, and I must say we’re off to a pretty fantastic start!

So far, we have raised $5,600 on the site and have had nearly 3,000 visitors.  For a new site, with zero marketing budget, that’s pretty darn good!

While we’d love to give ourselves a pat on the back, the congratulations really goes to all of you who have been working so hard to promote your fundraisers.  Thanks to your work, $5,600 is going to great causes that would have never received that money if it weren’t for your efforts. read more…

We have come to the finish line of our week-long fund race, and after counting every last penny, we are happy to Congratulate Priya Patel as our fund race winner!

Priya raised $550 for her fundraiser “Bring Bouba Back” and GiveForward will recognize her impressive efforts with a check for $100.

We also want to congratulate everyone who participated and made GiveForward’s first fund race a success. Collectively, you raised a little over $1400 in seven days, each helping make a difference for the fundraiser of your choice.

If you missed this fund race, Stay tuned to GiveForward for future competitions. Thanks again everyone!