There were some very interesting charities mentioned.  I hope you will take some time and look over the comments that I received.  There are a ton of great non-profit organizations out there performing fantastic things everyday!

The nominations are over, but the winner is still to be announced!

I have closed the comments on this giveaway and will not be accepting anymore nominations.  I hope you enjoyed sharing a little about your favorite charity.

I will be announcing the randomly selected winner of my donation in my post on Thursday. 

Please check back then to see if your favorite charity will receive my donation.

Thanks again for participating!

I will donate up to $500 to the winner’s favorite charity!  All you have to do is nominate the charity of your choice by leaving a comment on this post.  I will randomly select a charity from the nominations and then donate $1 for every comment received.  It is as simple as that.

I have been greatly blessed this year and in the spirit of Christmas, I earnestly want to give back.  I thought this would be a great way to do it and to learn about some new charities along the way.

Guidelines for nominating your favorite charity for the donation

This is an excellent opportunity to spread the word about the charity of your choice!  Also, in order to make the donation, I need to be able to positively locate the intended charity.  Therefore, let me offer these guidelines to ensure your charity gets the consideration it deserves.

In your comment:

• Be sure to use the exact official name of your charity
• In 2 to 3 sentences, tell us who your charity benefits and what they do
• If you would like, leave a link to the charity’s website so I can find it
• Tell us what you particularly love about this charity

Following these guidelines should help ensure that all the necessary information is included to qualify your charity for the giveaway.

Rules for the charity donation giveaway

What would a contest be without a few rules, right?  I’ll keep it simple, but I do have to set a few boundaries in order for this to be fair and meaningful.  Here it goes!

1. All organizations nominated must be actual non-profit charities.  Please no “I’m my favorite charity” nominations!  A Charity where I cannot verify its official status will not be considered.
2. I will close the comments on this post on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 5:00 P.M. Central.  Only comments received prior to this time will be a part of the random selection giveaway.
3. Please only one nomination per person.  No spam comments!
4. I reserve the right to disqualify any charity that offends me or my beliefs.  I doubt this will be an issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
5. Again, I will donate $1 per legitimate comment to the charity nominated in the randomly selected comment below.  The maximum donation is $500.  I’d love to see 500 valid nominations!

Be sure to tell your friends so they can nominate their charity!

This is a great way to support your favorite charity without having to spend a dime out of your own pocket!  Why not let all your friends, so they can participate too? 

Spread the word! 

Note: My wife saw this idea in the December 2008 edition of Real Simple Magazine.  In response to the “Your Words” question of  “How Do You Give Back During The Holidays?”, Kristen from GreenStyleMom mentioned how she did this last year.  It seems like a fabulous idea so, I borrowed it.

Photo by dental ben