Pardon me if this has already been posted, but I just saw that the Sunday Magazine, Parade, is sponsoring a Charity challenge of sorts. Actually, I assume it has been posted before because OCF is one of the listed charities. Anyway, the charities that have the most donors will get an extra $50,000 from Parade and The Case Foundation. It's not the most money raised, but the total number of people who donate that counts.

If enough of us donate just $10 each, it would help.

To donate, please go to the links in the later posts

After clicking on the Donate button, put Oral Cancer Foundation in the search field. You can use a credit card or PayPal. There is a small fee for the processing charge for the card or PayPal, but I just donated $20 using PayPal and the fee was only 95 cents, and it was very quick and easy.

This challenge ends on January 31st, so please donate now!

I will crosspost this on the Activism board.

Thanks,
Rosie

Rosie - Thank you so much for telling us about this, I was completely unaware of it, they didn't tell us a thing. Had we known I would have been emailing everyone I can think of to just give 5 or 10 dollars so we could get the number up. You have to know that other charities are thinking the same way!!!

Well I just went and checked out the site, and you know that is just what some of these charities have done. The top charities are ones that I've never heard of, meaning that they are really out there promoting themselves in this effort, since $50,000 is worth fighting for. The big charities that take in millions a year are not even trying since 50k is nothing to them.... When you fill out the form we are a NATIONAL charity, based in Newport Beach, CA, 92663

OK, just so you know, the minimum donation is $10.00, but the people that get the most other people to donate to a given charity, are the ones that get the recognition. This is a challenge donation process to get people to challenge others to raise donations for a charity (like OCF) and see who can get the most other people to donate to that charity... It's a really good idea. The question is do we have enough people at OCF interested in picking up the challenge to make a difference? It took me less than than minutes to create a screen name and password, make the donation, and pay through PayPal. (You could also just use a credit card).

Boy I just donated and you have to type in exactly what Brian has given us address wise and even then it's the slowest connection in the world. You would think they would make this a tad easier.

I have no credit cards at all and never have had one. I wonder if they will take a check.

Do you have to create a badge to donate?

Done. Come on folks. It is easy. Grab your credit card, go to the web site and type in Oral Cancer.

Then, copy Rosie's message and email it to as many people as you can think of. Remember it is not the amount of money but the number of donors who count towards the $50,000 prize.

Take care,
Eileen

Hope that works! Made my donation too, come on guys lets win this for Brian and OCF!!

Karen,
I see you figured out the answer - no, you don't have to create a badge to donate.
And what a great idea to post the link. I have one concern, though. If you use this direct link, does the donation register with the Parade/Case Foundation Challenge???
Because you can make a donation through the Network for Good at any time, not just for this challenge.

For it to count towards the challenge goal, you may have to start on www.parade.com/givingchallenge

Just wondering.........

Guys,

I think I goofed. I think to be eligible for the $50,000, I had to register as a fundraiser first. I should have read all the rules before I posted here last night.
I am going to try to register now. I will be back with more info soon.

okay, the lunkhead is back.

I apologize to those who have already donated. I assume your donations do not count toward the goal because I did not first create a "badge". They do, however, go to Brian and OCF. And they do count towards a lesser prize of $1,000.

I am so sorry for not getting this right the first time. But here is the link to use to make sure your donations count in the Parade Challenge:

http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=110252

Brian, I wanted to use the OCF logo for the badge, but didn't want to waste time getting permission from you. With time being of the essence, I just used Heather's photo. Didn't know what else to use.

Jim,

I am sorry, but they don't take checks. You have to pay either by credit card or by PayPal.

They do have something called a Good Card that you can use to pay, but I have no idea how you fund the card.

well hopefully Rosie you can figure this out.. I did go through that link but now i am wondering if it went through right. See I wasnt sure if one person needed to create a badge and we all donated to that or if we could donate directly.. Now I am confused..

Karen,

I messed up. I should have created a badge first and everyone should have donated through it.

Your donation does go to OCF and it does count toward a smaller prize, but for the $50,000, I guess it has to go through my badge.

I AM SO SORRY.

I was so excited to see this and so dismayed to see that there were only 11 days left that I jumped the gun and didn't read the rules.

For anyone who would like to donate, this is the correct link:

http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=110252

Everyone,

This is a sample email if anyone would like to forward this info.

You would have to edit it to remove my personal info, but hopefully, it can be a start:


Dear friends,

The Sunday News Magazine, Parade and The Case Foundation are hosting a Charity Donation Challenge. The charities that have the MOST PEOPLE DONATE will get an extra $50,000 from the Case Foundation. I believe it is only the top 4 that get the $50,000, so we need everyone's help. This challenge ends on JANUARY 31, so time is of the essence. Please forward this to as many people as you can.

I'm asking you to support The Oral Cancer Foundation. It is a great organization that is run basically by one man (with the help of a scant handful of volunteers and one webmaster) on a shoestring budget. He really needs help so he can continue to educate people about oral cancer and save lives. When my daughter Heather was dying of oral cancer, the OCF web site was my lifeline. They are truly fantastic people.

This is a great cause. Please pass this on and get as many people as you can to donate - the minimum is $10 and it is the NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT DONATE THAT COUNTS, so $10 is fine. You can make a BIG DIFFERENCE for just $10.

To donate, go to:

http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=110252

You can pay with a credit card or PayPal.

From the bottom of my heart I THANK YOU!

Rosemary Michael

Links removed per everyone's desires. Also anyone that wants to us the OCF logo fo anything you can, it is downloadable on the press kit link off the main site nav bar. http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/presskit/index.htm

I just went in through Rosie's badge and made a donation (number 2) It works well, but the best thing about the badge is that it gives you a pre written code to put on your emails going out to bring people to the badge. I also like the picture, not the OCF logo on it... Rosie's story is a painful reminder of how devastating this disease can be.

I have just donated using PayPal without any problems.
There is a help screen while going through the process with information on the Good Card so I have pasted the information below for those that require it. (My Mum 80 and Dad 79 would never dream of having a credit card :))
More info and FAQ's once you start donating.
Cheers
Gabriele
How does a Good Card work?
What It Is:
The Good Card is a gift card for charity where the recipient gets to donate to their charity of choice. Everyone has their favorite charities and now you can give them the perfect gift - a donation to their favorite charity.

I just made 2 separate donations by going (as instructed above) to:
http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=110252
I used two different emails with separate passwords and registered as a new user each time. I hope it worked because I did have a few glitches. When I tried to go to my "history" to get the transaction # and payment history on one of the donations, I got an error message. So I will try again later this afternoon. I used my bank check card - which means I put my own funds in there to use just like a credit card except that I don't pay Credit card charges and I get interest on funds. Just realized that the error msg glitch mentioned above doesn't really matter because I received email confirmation (of my 2 contributions) to each of my email accounts.

I stopped Friday and have a cash card coming this week. I should have done it sooner instead of paying as much as $2.50 to get cash. Sam's club was the only one that didn't have a fee but who wants to go there all the time.

Well, this is it, guys. We're coming down to the wire. Just one more day to make a difference. The donation challenge ends tomorrow at 3 PM. Do you think we could at least generate enough donations to get one of the $1,000 prizes?

All it takes is $10 to make a difference.

Use this link:

http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=110252

Thanks to all who have donated so far. And thanks in advance to any more who donate.

Rosie,

I did mine last week. I also sent emails to about everyone I know. I hope you don't mind but I prefaced your story with me ending treatment as Heather was going through the toughest of times. I have used yours and Heather's story many times.

Saturday I a going to have an OCF display at a Health Fair! I will be thinking of you.

Best Wishes Always,

Ed

Does anyone know how I can make separate donations under different names? I just did one donation for me. Then, I went back on the link to start another one for my husband and it put the donation in my cart with the other transaction I had already completed. I'm sure it's something simple that I am overlooking.

Use a different e mail address.

Margaret - the same thing happened to me when I first did it. It kept bringing up the previous donation. When you go back the second time, you have to make sure and go where it says "New". If I remember correctly, there are two places to put your info in and your computer automatically remembers where you were but just make sure you go to the place for a New different person. Hope that helps.

Ed,

You are more than welcome to use Heather's story anytime, if it will help get the message out about this horrible disease.

Everyone,

The challenge is now closed. You can still donate through the link and it will still benefit OCF, but it will not count toward any prize in the Parade Challenge.

Thanks again to all who participated.