[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. The NTEN Blog has been running profiles on some of the participants.]

To celebrate her 51st birthday on January 11th, Beth Kanter is "...trying to get 51 people to donate $10 in 51 hours to the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge over at Global Giving."

Now, while we here at NTEN in no way believe that Beth is actually 51, we certainly support her efforts on behalf of the Sharing Foundation's Roteang Orphanage. NTEN community, you know what to do:

• Read Beth's birthday blog post
• Contribute to her cause
• Wish Beth a Happy Birthday on Friday

Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of the NPTech community and the world in general, Beth.  You rock.

Happy Birthday from Brett, Holly, Annaliese, Karl, and Anna.

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. You may want to read Ruby's first post, as well.]

Ruby Sinreich, Fellowship of Reconciliation

First, an update: My attention to Facebook recruiting fell off during the holidays and has not recovered much since. In addition, the realization that we not going to win any prizes has been demotivational. Our cause, "Peace and Justice through Nonviolence", is now up to 81 members and $235 in donations. As Beth Kanter recently pointed out, social networks are often not as effective for fundraising as they are for awareness raising.

This week, I bring you some advice for marketing your cause on Facebook, or anywhere else: Write a personal note!