Canadian Finance Blog

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 02:00 AM PST

Shortly before my wife was diagnosed with MS, she had participated in the local MS Walk fundraiser with a group from work. I donated $100 to her team, and gave myself a nice pat on the back for supporting a great cause.

The next year I took a different approach after learning about my wife’s diagnosis. Instead of contributing a token amount to the fundraiser, I went out to make a difference. So I started my own team and recruited my friends, family, and co-workers to join me. I spoke at a corporate breakfast club to help raise awareness for the event. And when it was all said and done, our team ended up raising nearly $12,000.

Since then, I’ve always felt that donating to charity can make more of an impact when you get as many people as possible to unite for the cause.

So when Mark Goodfield, from The Blunt Bean Counter, approached me with a unique idea to help raise money for charities using our blogs as a platform, I jumped at the opportunity to participate.

Bloggers for Charity

Bensimon Byrne, a client at Mark’s accounting firm, and a very successful advertising agency, deserves recognition for raising almost $100,000 for the United Way over the last four years. Every November they have a variety of events to raise money on behalf of the United Way, including an auction where friends, clients and suppliers of the firm donate services or goods that are then auctioned off.

This year, Mark is auctioning off a free guest post on his blog and has challenged other Canadian bloggers do the same thing in order to raise money for this great cause. Mark kicked off the Bloggers for Charity contest yesterday on his blog, and then called upon 5 of the top personal finance blogs in Canada, including Canadian Finance Blog, to join the effort.

Any blogger should feel free to join the effort (this initiative is not limited to financial bloggers) whether nominated or not and encourage their blogger contacts to join the Bloggers for Charity initiative.

The Contest and Rules

I’m sure there are many Canadian Finance Blog readers who have writing aspirations without a proper outlet to express their opinion (other than their Facebook page). If you are interested in guest posting right here on Canadian Finance Blog, please contact us here along with your bid.

Here are the contest rules:

1. Each blogger will auction off the opportunity to write a guest post on their blog.

2. All bids will be made in confidence to the blogger's email account. The blogger at their discretion can email back bidders the current top bid or note the amount of the leading bid on their blog to encourage bidding.

3. The auction will close on December 16, 2011. The blogger will notify the winning bidder by email.

4. The winning bidder will be required to send the blogger a copy of a donation receipt, dated between December 17th and December 31st (personal information can be blacked-out) to confirm the donation has been made. (This donation will be tax deductible to the winning bidder as long as the donation is made to a registered charity).

5. For unanimity amongst bloggers, it is suggested that January 17, 2012 be the date all the Blogger for a Day guest posts are published.

6. The winner can write a post on any topic (subject to approval by the particular blogger), although in the spirit of the contest, it would be great if the winning bidder wrote about a charity or charitable experience, but that is not a requirement. The only rule is that the guest post cannot be a marketing piece. However, at the bottom of their post, the guest blogger can provide their name, name of their company and a brief description of their company and its products. Alternatively, the guest blogger can remain anonymous.

7. All bloggers who participate are asked to email Lynda at Lynda@cunninghamca.com to note their participation and then contact Lynda with their winning bid so that Mark can tally the donations received. All individual donation totals will be kept confidential.

Bloggers, please take this opportunity to join the Bloggers for Charity project and extend this offer to your readers.

Readers, here’s your chance to guest post on Canadian Finance Blog and support your favourite charity while you’re at it.

Bloggers For Charity originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on November 22, 2011.