Giving to those less fortunate used to mean a donation of time or money, but with social media there are so many new ways to support your favorite charity.
Get the word out for a charity you care about in a blog post, a tweet or by sending out a message to your Facebook friends. Making people aware and getting them involved is a great service for the cause you support. Your donation can be multiplied by your number of followers.
When you see random acts of kindness, tweet it: The teenager who gives up their seat for an elderly person, a colleague who bought lunch for a homeless man. When you do something that makes someone smile, share that and how it made you feel. When people hear the benefits of doing good, they may learn from your example.
Buy gifts for your friends and family that help to support a good cause and spread the word. One example isstore.MadeBySurvivors.com a site that sells handicrafts made by survivors of human trafficking.
Partner with local businesses to organize a tweetup to raise money for the cause you care about. Seth Schneider, owner of Learning Express, a toy store in Boca Raton andWellington , started talking on Twitter with Ian Esplin ofmypbc.com about doing a tweetup to benefit the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program. Tonya Scholz of Boca Raton and Dana Lawrence of Jupiter, heard the Twitter talk and decided to join the effort representing the Association for Women in Communications South Florida Chapter. Together they raised about $2,000 worth of toys. That's 150 to 200 toys.
Even "if we had only received a few toys, I would think it was worth our time. Each toy could make a child, who wouldn't otherwise have one, happy," said Schneider.
Start or join an existing charity group on Meetup.com a social media site where you can find or start a charity or fundraising meet-up group near you. At meetup.com/South-Florida-Fundraisers I found a Broward County environmental group and a group in Hollywood called Operation Christmas Child project that sends gifts to poor, orphaned and abused children around the world.
Follow your favorite charities on your social networks. This will increase the size of their network so when the charities tweet or post information about a campaign or a cause, they know they'll have an audience. Consider retweeting that post on Twitter or posting it on Facebook.
Social media doesn't replace the act of donating money or time, but it does give you many more opportunities to help those in need.
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