Life Rearranged

As most of you know, I had the privilege of attending Mom 2.0 a couple of weeks ago.  If you’ve been around long enough, you know that while I’m happy to turn my fun hobby (blogging) into an income stream, that’s not what it’s all about.

For as much as I enjoy finding ways to work with companies for payment or new product, my overall ulterior motive has been, and always will be, forming brand partnerships for GOOD.  Whether it be finding a brand to come alongside one of my fundraisers, or finding a cause that a brand supports that I can help promote.  As I said during one of the panels: “I don’t want to work with brands for their swag, I want to work with brands for their influence.”  Swag is fun, obviously  but I’ve got bigger fish to fry, you know?

I met a lot of great people and chatted with the reps for a lot of really great brands.  Hopefully, some of those discussions will come to fruition, and you’ll see some of that on ye old blog in the coming months.  In the meantime, I thought I would share a few of the GOOD things I learned about and that you might be interested in taking part in too!

Shot @ Life

Shot @ Life was the official cause partner of Mom 2.0 and I was so excited to see that the conference was using their influence to highlight a cause.  The Shot @ Life campaign is “A national call to action for a global cause, the campaign rallies the American public, members of Congress, and civil society partners around the fact that together, we can save a child’s life every 20 seconds by expanding access to vaccines.”  You can learn more on their website, but one of the things I learned during a panel I sat in was that your local representative really, truly, actually does take notice of tweets, letters, and phone calls.  I must be a cynic because I always just assumed that “tweet your Congressman” was a nice way to make people feel like they were doing something, but you know, it was wasted effort.  Well it turns out that your representative figures that for every one person who takes the time to tweet, write, phone…there are at least 500 other who feel the same way but didn’t do it.  Take a peek at the site where they have suggested tweets, letter templates, and all kinds of information for how to let your representative know that this is something you care about!

The Mission List

“The Mission List connects non-profits, NGOs, and socially conscious, pro-woman brands with people who are passionate about taking meaningful steps to increase awareness of and take action for social good causes. Anyone can join, whether you make yourself heard via social media or in-person in your community: all you need is a passion to make the world a better place and shout it from the rooftops.” By joining The Mission List, “members receive opportunities to participate in social good campaigns involving issues such as child and maternal health, global development, women’s rights, and hunger.”  When possible, the opportunities are even paid!  I like this.  A lot.  It’s basically a Social Good version of blogger ad networks!  Sign up and see where it goes.  I’m excited!

 The Million Moms Challenge

The Million Moms Challenge ”brings together a coalition of more than 30 world-class partners working around the globe to improve the lives of women and children. The Million Moms Challenge will focus on crucial issues that are a priority for all mothers, including access to proper nutrition to support healthy pregnancies, trained midwives to assist in safe deliveries, and vaccines that enable children to survive to their first birthdays and beyond.”  You can sign up to take the challenge and learn more about how you can help from where you are.

Whirlpool Brand Cares

Whirlpool was one of the major sponsors of the conference, and boy was I ever impressed with them!  Did you know that Whirlpool has donated more than 140,000 appliances to Habitat for Humanity projects?!  Yeah.  That’s Awesome.  With a capital A.  That video gives me goosebumps.  I LOVE when corporations see beyond their bottom line.  Happiness in my heart, I tell ya.  Habitat for Humanity is amazing.  Whirlpool partnering with them is incredible.  Plus, their pretty appliances don’t hurt. Take some time to poke around the website, it’s really cool.  

 Any of these interest you?  Will you be joining/signing up for any of them?  Don’t you just love loving?!