Taking Dares For A Good Cause

One of the things that always irked me about those dare TV shows like Fear Factor and the rest -- even much of reality television in general -- is that they always seemed very selfish and self-absorbed.

It always seemed to scream, "Me!" As in, "Look at me, see what I am doing" and "What's in it for me to take on this competition?"

A new website takes the reality-dare concept, brings it to the Internet, and puts the "me" on its head. That's because people on DareDealer donate to charities to support the dares on the site in addition to making a little cash for themselves.

One of the dares advertised on DareDealer right now involves a chef named Dennis preparing a glass of something called "DareDealer Putrid Protein Potion," which consists of clams, octopus, dog food, milk and other ingridients all mixed together.

It all sounds like mindless fun, until you take a look at some of the causes dares on DareDealer support: Living Beyond Breast Cancer, the Houston SPCA, Rescue Mission of Trenton and many more. Charities supported through DareDealer are categorized right on the site, so you can find a cause that's important to you.

Support someone else's dare -- or take up a dare yourself. In this case, it's all for a good cause!

This was a sponsored post.

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Many Charities Behind on Their Fundraising This Season

Less than half of charities across North America are raising more money during the 2007 holiday giving season (defined as October through December) than they did
last year, according to a survey by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

AFP's 2007 Holiday Giving Survey found that just 48.3 percent of charities are raising more money during the last quarter of 2007 (as of Dec. 10) compared to the same period in 2006. Approximately a quarter (25.4 percent) have raised about the same amount, and 26.3 percent have raised less.

In general, larger organizations are faring better than smaller charities. Two-thirds of organizations with budgets greater than $50 million have raised more money during the last quarter of 2007 than in 2006, as are more than half (52.4 percent) of charities with budgets between $10 million and $50 million. In contrast, only about one-third (32.7 percent) of organizations with budgets smaller than $500,000 have raised more money during the last quarter of 2007 then they did during the
same period in 2006.

"While charities have been dealing with an uneven economy for several years now, the timing of the housing slump and credit crisis and their impact on the stock market and public confidence could not have a come at a worse time," says Paulette Maehara, president and CEO of AFP. "The holiday season is an important fundraising period for many organizations, so donor concerns about the economy are critical. Fundraising levels are not at the low levels they were in 2002 or 2003, but there are clearly many organizations that are negatively affected at this point."

For most charities, the last three months of the year are crucial for their fundraising. According to the survey, more than 40 percent of charities raise on average between one-third and one-half of their annual contributions during the last quarter of the year, and almost three in 10 charities raise more than 50 percent of their annual contributions during that time. Nearly two in ten respondents receive more than 40 percent of their annual contributions in the month of December alone.

Despite disappointing results so far in the last quarter of 2007, most charities are still very optimistic about the rest of the year. Two-thirds believe their fundraising results will improve during the remainder of December, while one-fourth of respondents predict their numbers will remain about the same. Only 7.6 percent believe their fundraising results will get worse before the end of the year.

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Newman's Own, Ford Donate Trucks and Food to Feed Hungry

The Newman's Own Foundation and Ford Motor Company today donated seven refrigerated trucks to members of America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network.
The trucks were filled with an assortment of Newman's Own products.

The refrigerated trucks will help deliver fresh and nutritious food to hard-to-reach communities that are often underserved. Donated produce, meat and dairy products usually cannot be delivered to remote areas unless refrigerated trucks are available for long delivery routes.

This is the seventh consecutive year of the "Partnership for Hunger Relief." A total of 75 vehicles have been donated since the partnership's founding in 2001. The trucks have traveled a combined total of more than 3 million miles and have distributed more than 74 million pounds of food to rural areas in need.

The seven food banks receiving trucks this year are the Baton Rouge Food Bank, Louisiana; Food Bank of South Central Michigan, Battle Creek; FoodBank of the Virginia Peninsula, Newport News; Foodbank of Santa Barbara, California; Food Bank of the Rockies, Denver, Colorado; Island Harvest, Long Island, New York; Mississippi Food Network, Jackson.

According to the USDA report Food Security in the United States: 2005, 12 percent of all rural households are food insecure, an estimated 2.3 million households. The America's Second Harvest report, Hunger in America 2006, found that 42.6 percent of the adult clients they serve live in suburban or rural areas.

Actor and activist Paul Newman says, "Food is available in this country - it just needs to find its way to our neighbors living in remote areas. Ford, America's Second Harvest and the Newman's Own Foundation are helping to do just that."

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