There is only one day a year dedicated to the loving mothers that care for us so selflessly, when in reality, they spend much more time being caregivers than we give them credit for.  Estimates of the percentage of family or informal caregivers who are women range from 59% to 75%, and the average caregiver is age 46, female, married and working outside the home earning an annual income of $35,000, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance.

Because moms are known to put the needs of others in front of their own, it is understandable that they have trouble asking for help when they are the one who needs care and support.  In honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, we are highlighting fundraisers that are supporting their mothers going through a medical crisis.  For these three moms, the overwhelming financial and emotional support that their loved ones have shown on their GiveForward page will be better than any card or candy:

The children of Marilyn Gross (AKA Lady M)  have all come together to raise $5,500 so far for her battle against a rare form of kidney cancer. Her pre-surgery mantra: “I Believe I will kick ass. I Know I will kick ass. I Will kick ass!”

Betty Goldberg‘s son, Christopher, says “I’m simply a desperate son trying to help his mom live her last days in relative peace.” He has raised almost $10,500 for at-home dialysis treatments for her to be closer to her family.

While Brenda Flowers is bravely fighting breast cancer AND caring for her 86 year old mother, her 4 children and 11 grandchildren have secretly raised over $8,000, and plan to surprise her on Mother’s Day with the news of the fundraiser.

If you know a mother/caregiver who is in need of some emotional and financial help, consider starting a GiveForward page for them to let the love and support last for more than just one day. Consider honoring your own mom by making a donation to one of these deserving mothers or any other project on GiveForward in her name.

Promoting your fundraiser with a widget can really help increase traffic to your page.  What is a widget and how is this magical creature supposed to help your fundraiser?  Good question.  A widget is a little box that you can paste in your blog or website that gives people a sneak peek at your fundraiser.

If you don’t have a blog, ask your friends to post the widget on their blogs or websites.  This is an easy way for them to show you support and help spread the word about your fundraiser.

Actually getting the widget into a blog or website may seem a little scary to those who aren’t very familiar with ‘code’ or the language that tells your computer what the widget should look like, but I promise it isn’t as bad as it seems.  Don’t worry, until I started working with GiveForward widgets and their code kinda scared me too.

So how does it work exactly?  Well first go to a fundraiser page and click on the link that says “Grab this fundraiser’s widget!”.  That link will lead to a window that looks like this:

Once this window opens, copy the code on the right.  Next, go to your blog or website and paste it into your main text entry box.  Once you’ve pasted this code, preview it to ensure it looks correct.

Not sure where your main text entry box is?  Check with your blogging service.  Here are a few links to some of the main blogging services and what they say about adding widgets:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tyepad
• Live Journal

Today is the day to start promoting your fundraiser to compete in the official 7 Days to World Give Day Fundraising Competition to win an extra $750 for your fundraising efforts.  Unfortunately, the prize won’t come in a cute little stack of money with a bow on it like this visual display.  (In all seriousness, the GiveForward team will donate $750 directly to the winning fundraising page on May 5th when the winner is announced).

Starting April 28th, the fundraisers that raises the most money throughout the course of 7 full days will win an extra $750 for their fundraiser.  Each day we will post the leaderboard here so you can track the standings of the Top Ten fundraisers.  Even if you’re not always at the number one spot… keep promoting your heart out– there may even be a super secret prize to another lucky fundraiser if we’re really letting the spirit of World Give Day get to our heads *wink*

This is the time to gather your friends and tell the masses!  You only have 7 days to win this competition, so don’t waste any time! Promote your page by asking everyone to help be a part of World Give Day 2011 by giving to your fundraiser and in doing so, helping you win $750.  The more money you raise, the better chance you have at being crowned the King (or Queen) of World Give day 2011!

Winner of the World Give Day Competition

The 7 days leading up to World Give Day were exciting ones as each day it seemed a new leader was in the #1 spot every time we checked the leaderboard.  We were happy to see all the generosity and love that poured out i n honor of World Give Day to all of the deserving fundraisers on the site.

GiveForward is very pleased to announce that the winner of the World Give Day fundraising competition is:

Brian Corbett Recovery Fund

April 18th 2011, Brian Corbett from Fort Lauderdale, FL, was injured in a terrible car accident that unfortunately took the lives of two of his friends.  Brian and two others were lucky to survive, but were seriously injured.  At only 18 years old, Brian is fighting for his life as he suffered  neck and spine injuries and now remains in critical care.  The huge network of support that has come together to help the Corbett family is truly inspiring.

This fundraiser was started by Brian’s cousin, Rob who lives in New York.  Starting this GiveForward page was a way for Rob to organize this community of support even though he was so far away.  This solidifies the idea that distance doesn’t mean you can’t show your love and come together to help a family in need. Congratulations; we send our well wishes and LOTS of positive vibes to the entire Corbett family.

Brian’s fundraiser will be awarded an extra $750 to his page in honor of World Give Day.

GiveForward is starting a new feature every week, the Staff Pick Fundraiser.  Now this doesn’t mean we have a favorite fundraiser, we love all of our fundraisers equally, but at the GiveForward office we make an effort every day to reach out and ‘hug’ a person on our site.

Once a week we come together and share the stories about the people we’ve hugged.   It is a great way for everyone to get to know more about the people using our site and spread a little good cheer at the same time.  After we share the stories we all vote for our favorite story and feature it as the “Staff Pick” for the week.

This week we are kicking it off with a fundraiser that is new to our site: “Help Support Black Family Cancer Fund”.  Jake first came to

our site when he mentioned on Twitter that he was auctioning off action figures on ebay to pay for his medical bills.  GiveForwardreached out to him to offer our services and he signed up.

Jake, a comic author, was initially diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2008.  Like one of his characters, Jake managed to battle the disease, coming out a survivor after rounds of chemo.

Unfortunately, fighting cancer doesn’t end with the physical.  Like most survivors Jake was left with mounting medical bills for the care he received.  Now the Black family is getting support from their loved ones as well as the comic community to help defray these medical expenses.

This week we want to give a big shout out to the “Help Support Black Family Cancer Fund” as our Staff Pick of the week.  Sending lots of virtual high fives your way!

If you’re anything like me you are bolting out the door right about now in order to try and get your taxes post-marked by today.

Once the anxiety and adrenaline has subsided I have an idea to make you feel better; take a tip from one of our donors and use the refund you get to make a difference by donating it.

GiveForward has so many amazing fundraisers on our site that could use any extra help, whether $5 or $50.  Need some inspiration?  Head over here and browse some of the extraordinary people raising money for everything from chemo treatments to medical equipment.

Happy tax day!

(Important note: you can’t claim these donations on your taxes but you can claim them for good karma.)

An unexpected visit by a beneficiary brightened up the GiveForward office last week.

Ron Porche is battling Polycystic Kidney Disease and is in need of a kidney transplant.  Currently he is listed as a transplant candidate at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA.  His friends and family wanted him to know he wasn’t alone as he went through the transplant process so they set up a GiveForward page for others to donate and show their support.

Last week, Ron drove up to Chicago from Georgia in order to undergo some testing for his transplant.

While he was in Chicago, he decided to stop by the GiveForward office to pick up his fundraiser check and say ‘hello’ to the GiveForward team.

After helping with the fundraiser, it was so nice to get a chance to meet Ron in person and hear about his progress.  We are sending lots of well wishes and GiveForward hugs to Ron and the whole Porche family.  Thanks for coming by and making us smile, Ron!

Fundraiser organizers will see new functionality starting this week.  We are excited to share that we are now assigning a personal fundraising coach to each fundraiser started on GiveForward.

What does this mean for users?  It means you get the exact level of personal attention that you want.  Is this your first time fundraising?  Our coaches are

happy to help you figure out the next steps and share their tried and true fundraising tips, just email them at info@giveforward.com or give them a call at 312-957-6113.

Are you an old pro at fundraising and just want someone to call on if you get stuck?  They’re there for that too.

Plus having a personal fundraising coach also means you get a nice glossy photo of your coach with your introductory email.  Always a nice perk.

We hope that you guys enjoy working one-on-one with our coaches as much as they enjoy working with you.

The brackets are in!  The finalists for the Sweet Sixteen have been finalized and arranged for each category for the March Madness fundraising competition on GiveForward.  Each fundraiser will now compete one on one to earn its way to the final championship to win lots of extra $$$ for their fundraising efforts.  The fundraiser to raise the most money between the dates of each round move onto the next competitor.  See if your favorite fundraiser has qualified for the Sweet Sixteen! Here are the match-ups, make sure you scroll down to see both arms of the bracket: read more…

This weekend, the Chicago Tribune took a closer look at crowdfunding, GiveForward, and some of our World Give Day partners.

The Trib spoke with GiveForward, 33needs, EduLender, and IndieGoGo to get an inside look at how crowdfunding is changing the face of philanthropy….

Funding from the masses: Startups try to harness social networks to raise money

At first blush, crowd-funding may sound like just another attempt to raise money online by getting as many visitors as possible to donate to a cause.

But a growing number of startups see the landscape differently. They see the potential that social networks have to raise money in ways that align with how younger generations practice philanthropy.

Click here for full article.

One of the cool things about being a medical fundraising tool is that at GiveForward we get to see all of the creative and inspiring ways that friends and family fundraise on behalf of their loved ones.

We wanted to share one such story about Jason Noble, who was diagnosed with cancer.   Friends came together to help raise money for Jason and his wife, Kristin, to cover the cost of everyday expenses that exist outside of insurance coverage.

The unique thing about their fundraiser was the way the organizers encouraged donors to get involved.  In exchange for a standardized donation amount, donors received a collection of 12 art prints that were donated by artists from all around the United States.

The organizers assumed it would take at least six weeks to reach their goal of $15,000.  Instead, during the first day donors from the U.S., Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and Canada had donated.  Within 12 hours of its launch, their fundraiser met and surpassed its goal, raising over $16,000!

Now, over a year later, Jason is on the road to recovery thanks to the support of his amazing group of friends.  We were inspired by not only the work Jason’s loved ones put into this fundraiser but the creativity they showed in their efforts.  A big GiveForward high-five to everyone involved in this exceptional fundraiser.