eBay Giving Works allows buyers and sellers to support nonprofits by selling an item and donating a portion of the proceeds.

“In fact, for the value of every laptop sold this month through Giving Works, one uninsured patient could get a mammogram,” said Robert Chatwani, Director eBay Global Citizenship.

“Each person who takes part in this campaign will have an impact on the fight against breast cancer.”

Partnering with eBay on the effort are more than 100 national and local nonprofits including the American Cancer Society, Avon Foundation for Women, Bright Pink, City of Hope and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The nonprofits have teamed with eBay for a Hollywood charity auction featuring a meet-and-greet with Honorary Chairman of the Avon Foundation for Women Reese Witherspoon; a VIP meeting with Kristin Chenoweth backstage of the Broadway hit, “Promises, Promises”; dresses worn by Avon spokesperson and singer Fergie, and mark Brand Ambassador Ashley Greene of Twilight; a pink Vespa; and a Cher experience at Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas.

Other items up for bid will include electronics, clothing and accessories, home goods, toys, sports and recreational equipment, books and memorabilia.

Visitors to ebay.com/jumpstart can pledge to support the cause and will be entered to win a holiday shopping spree on eBay. Five $100 eBay shopping sprees will be given away daily throughout the month of October. 
 

Today, we look at MySpace, who as they have done for the past three years, is teaming up with General Mills to support an online community called Pink Together, which resides on MySpace.

A spokesperson for MySpace tells WebProNews, "The popular community was developed to provide people with an online forum to share how breast cancer has personally affected their lives and reach out to other MySpace users to show support and share hope. The profile has been extremely successful, to date."

The spokesperson shares the following stats:

- 37,575 connections have been made (via stories shared, flowers gifted, etc.)

-  13,259 MySpace users are “friends” with the community

Every year, Pink Together identifies a number of survivors to serve as the site’s ambassadors. "From sharing hope with other newly diagnosed women to raising awareness about early detection with 20 somethings -  this group of commendable people is reaching others through MySpace," says MySpace Senior Vice President of Marketing, Angela Courtin. "Their belief is that one person’s story becomes another person’s hope and inspiration."

The site has tools like forums, "virtual bouquets" to send to friends and family, and ways to stay up to date on cancer-related news.

"Today is a day to honor our mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends affected by breast cancer," said Scott Garell, President of Ask Networks. "By devoting our homepage to the millions of Americans touched by this disease, we hope to further empower consumers in the fight to end breast cancer."

Original Article: Ask has launched a new program where the company will contribute money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity, when users change their Ask homepage to one of a set of new breast cancer awareness themes the search engine is offering, and answer some questions.

"The Ask.com Search for the Cure program seeks to empower consumers in the fight against breast cancer through an interactive, educational experience that doesn’t cost them a dime or require much time – which we hope will encourage support of this important cause regardless of financial or schedule constraints,” says Ask Networks President Scott Garell.

"Susan G. Komen for the Cure has saved millions of lives by funding breast cancer research and education programs globally, and we are honored to join forces with this extraordinary organization of activists and survivors in furthering the search for the cure," he adds.

Ask’s themes (or skins) display a weekly series of questions about breast cancer that consumers can answer. Ask will donate up to 50 cents for each person who chooses one of the themes and answers the questions correctly. There will be new questions every week until the end of October.

Ask also has a Susan G. Komen For The Cure toolbar available that turns your browser pink:

"One of our greatest opportunities in the fight to end breast cancer lies with the many people who tell us they want to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure but don’t have the time or money to contribute," says Hala Moddelmog, CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "Ask.com has created an easy, engaging, and cost-free way for consumers to get involved and generate funding that is crucial to breast cancer research and education."

Ask is of course hoping you will use their search engine to find the answers to the questions posted.

Individual donation tallies are tracked via a display at the top of the Ask homepage. Ask is also investing $1 million through the end of next year in Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The Ask.com Search for the Cure program is a first-of-its-kind donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The initiative makes it easy, educational, and free for consumers to support the fight against breast cancer. Starting today, Ask.com is featuring new homepage themes, called skins, which are designed to educate consumers about breast cancer and inspire support for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The skins display a weekly series of questions that challenge consumers’ knowledge of breast health and breast cancer issues. From September 13, 2009 through October 31, 2009.  Ask.com will donate 10 cents for select items downloaded and/or activity completed on their site, www.ask.com, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $50,000 up to $100,000.  Consumers can use Ask.com to find answers to the questions, and individual donation tallies are tracked via a display at the top of the homepage.

“The Ask.com Search for the Cure program seeks to empower consumers in the fight against breast cancer through an interactive, educational experience that doesn’t cost them a dime or require much time – which we hope will encourage support of this important cause regardless of financial or schedule constraints,” said Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks. “Susan G. Komen for the Cure has saved millions of lives by funding breast cancer research and education programs globally, and we are honored to join forces with this extraordinary organization of activists and survivors in furthering the search for the cures.”

In addition to the individual donations generated through the Search for the Cure program, Ask has pledged to invest $1 million through December 2010 as part of its commitment to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which will raise awareness and encourage involvement in finding the cures for breast cancer.

“Susan G. Komen for the Cure offers supporters ways to engage in the breast cancer movement in ways that are easy and meaningful to them,” said Hala Moddelmog, President and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Ask.com has created an easy, engaging, and cost-free way for consumers to get involved and generate funding that is crucial to breast cancer research and education. We are thrilled that Ask.com has joined our cause with such an innovative program.

Comments

The study is published in the March 15, 2008 issue of Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society, and recommends that patients consult clinicians before taking action on breast cancer information found online.

Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center examined the usefulness of current quality-rating tools aimed at helping patients find accurate information on breast cancer.

They used five search engines, Google, Yahoo Directory, Alta Vista, Overture, and AllTheWeb to find Web pages that people are likely to use when searching for breast cancer information.

A total of 343 Web pages were analyzed. Each page was reviewed for 15 quality criteria, including authorship, date of creation and last modification. Forty-one inaccurate statements were found on 18 of the different Web sites, or 5.2 percent.

"Consumers are taught to look for Web sites where the author’s credentials are identified, his or her affiliations are disclosed and other information is listed," said Bernstam, an internist. "But none of this ensures accuracy."

A positive finding is that breast cancer information found online is more accurate than other fields of health information says Meric-Bernstam. The researchers hope to create a screening or automated tool to help people avoid sites with misinformation.

"However, our current recommendation to patients is to be skeptical, make sure what patients read is applicable to their specific medical well-being and not to take action without consulting a clinician," says Meric-Bernstam.

And sometimes carrots. You know, because of Forrest Gump.

An inside joke, I gathered.

But not a joke, a cause. The peas were appearing on Twitter in advance of today, Frozen Pea Friday. Susan Reynolds, an artist and new media consultant, is having surgery today to remove a malignant mass in her breast. The peas are for her, and for the American Cancer Society.

Let’s back up.

After a painful biopsy, Reynolds opted for a frozen bag of peas rather than an uncomfortable, hard icepack. She tucked the bag into her bra, and that made her laugh. "That bag of peas added a touch of lightness to what could have been a sad and serious tale," she writes at her BoobsOnIce blog.

It also provided a simple and familiar symbol that people could relate to, in addition to providing "a vehicle for conversation and let people tease me instead of having to cry."

"When I fell asleep with peas in my cleavage I’d wake to the smell of freshly cooked peas. That made the story funnier, and more human. Of course I shared it because what is life but a series of stories."

Before long, the frozen peas began appearing on Twitter to show support. And before long again, Reynolds and friends had set up the Frozen Pea Fund with the American Cancer Society.

As Connie Reece illustrates in her video at FrozenPeaFund.com, two bags of peas is worth about $5, which is what they’d like people to donate to help fight breast cancer. Of course, they’ll take more.

Brian Solis believes this is evidence of what a powerful medium a microblogging platform like Twitter can be.

He encourages others to:

"Change your avatar. Follow the conversation. Send your support. Observe the brilliance and magic of what happens when people get together to make a difference in real time."
 

Breast cancer is the most common and second-most fatal cancer among females, effecting one in nine females who reach age 90. In America, 211,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and there are an average of 43,300 female fatalities attributed to breast cancer annually. Despite this alarming statistic, the five-year survival rate of females who have detected breast cancer early surpasses 95%.

Many companies and organizations are doing their part this October to promote awareness of this fatal disease. For years, activism in this arena involved wearing a pink ribbon and distributing literature to any curious schmuck who inquired. Thankfully, the internet has become a great front for this cause as well.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation has for many years distributed literature and pink ribbons to schools and colleges across the nation, and now maintains a website full of useful information to help educate visitors.

The Breast Cancer Site was founded by activists Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg and its mission is to help offer free mammograms to women in need. They accomplish this goal with the help of an advertising program, through which users click on a series of advertisements. The money raised through the pay-per-click campaign is directly donated to a foundation that makes free mammograms possible.

In possibly the widest-reaching effort this October, Matthew Oliphant has started Pink for October, an initiative that asks webmasters from far and wide to redesign their sites in pink monochrome. So far, hundreds of sites have donned the redesign in support of this cause, sometimes featuring informative blurbs to raise awareness, and at very least containing links to online informative resources.

The idea behind this primarily viral campaign is that when visitors click on a “why is this site pink?” link, they will be directed to Breast Cancer Awareness informational resources. Through this campaign, Oliphant, of popular blog Usability Works fame, hopes to raise awareness for not only the disease itself, but also for its victims and survivors. He has invited visitors of Pink for October to share their stories so that others may begin to see how this far-reaching disease is likely to effect their own lives.

Pink for October also offers downloadable banners and buttons that webmasters are urged to place on their site with a backlink to help promote the cause as well. So if you aren’t yet convinced enough, or if a redesign would prove to be too difficult, these images range from 20 x 20 pixels to 250 x 250 pixels, so you’re sure to find one that will fit quite nicely within your site’s design.

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Jim is a designer and a staff writer for iEntry. He is also the editor of the FlashNewz newsletter.