Charity Link Meme

Recently I’ve been impressed with the number of different initiatives in the SEO community involving giving something back. Bruce Clay recently launched an SEO for Charity contest, one of the 5 finalists in Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship Contest is a viral attempt to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa, and I just recently noticed that Aaron Wall makes his SEO Book available free to charities. So, when Chris Garrett offered to help launch a few blog memes, I figured this would be a good chance to follow in the industry leaders’ footsteps and do something for someone else for a change.

The Charity Link Meme –

The national media recently picked up on the fact that Stephen Colbert had been Google bombed to the top of the search results for the term “Greatest Living American.” Essentially this meme looks to do the same thing, only for a good cause. Several good causes in fact. The rules are simple, copy the list of charities and links (grab it from whomever tags you) and add your 5 favorite charities or non-profit organizations to the end (link to their sites with anchor text of the causes they champion). Of course finish things off by tagging 5 other webmasters/bloggers and then publishing the post or the webpage. Then drop a comment at the end of this post or email me at bcook at seorefugee.com. I’ll try to keep the list up to date but if the meme does in fact take off I might have trouble keeping up.

Ideally this list will be published hundreds of times across hundreds of high quality sites, generating hundreds of links for the charity websites with anchor text aimed at improving their rankings in the search results. Better rankings results in more exposure and hopefully more exposure results in more funding and more education on the different causes as well. I’d also like to encourage everyone to consider donating to any of these charities as well. Many of us in the blogosphere have been blessed financially and it’s never a bad idea to help out those less fortunate.

Ok, enough of my droning on. Here’s my list of charities:

Update: I’d like to say a BIG thanks to all who have participated so far. It’s really quite amazing to watch this unfold. Also, I’d like to encourage you to go over and read Marty Weintraub’s post on this meme. It really put’s an emphasis on the point of this meme. Thanks again to Marty and everyone that’s contributed.

• Service International – Disaster Relief
• Pujols Family Foundation – Children with Down Syndrome
• National Alliance to End Homelessness – Homelessness
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research – Parkinson’s Research
• Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Program – Child Healthcare
  • Cancer Research UK
  • Childline
  • BLISS the premature baby charity
  • RSPCA
  • Children in Need
    • Ecotrust – environmental conservation efforts.
    • Humane Society of Canada – protecting animals and the Earth.
    • Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund – searching for a cure for a deadly disease.
    • Room to Read – helping build schools and libraries.
    • Sick Kids – hospital for sick children (Canada).
    • The National Arbor Day Foundation
    • Compassion International
    • World Wildlife Fund
    • The Humane Society
    • Global Refuge International
    • The Challenged Athletes Foundation
      • Save the children
      • Hope and Aid Direct
      • Variety – Never say no to a child in need.
      • SOS Children’s Villages
      • Child’s Dream – support children in needs
        

  • Aids Research Alliance – Aids Research
  • Wildlife Conservation Society – Wildlife Protection
  • Cancer Research Institute – Cancer Research
  • Second Harvest – End Hunger
  • AARP Foundation – Helping Senior Citizens
    • Doctors Without Borders – Humanitarian Relief
    • American Red Cross – Emergency Preparedness
    • AMREF – African Medical & Research Foundation – African Health Development
    • DOROT – Programs for Elderly
    • Feed the Children – Protect Children
      • Ronald McDonald Mobile Program- Child Healthcare
      • Save The Children – Helping Children in Need
      • Child’s Dream – Helping Underprivileged Children
      • St. Jude Children’s Hospital – cancer research for children
      • Program of Insulin Pumps in Diabetic Children Therapy – Insulin Pumps For Children
      • Breast Cancer Research Foundation – My mom had cancer and kicked it’s ass, hopefully forever.
      • Doctors without borders
      • Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust
      • National Enviromental Trust
      • A Million Thanks – Shauna Fleming rounds up letters of thanks for Troops
      • One – Fighting Aids and Poverty
      • Louis Braille School – My personal tribute to Elizabeth Able on her and her mother’s devotion to the blind.
      • A Woman’s Place – Protecting women from domestic violence in Bucks County, Pa
      • Bpeace – Business Council for Peace helps women in areas of the world in conflict and post-conflict to rebuild communities and strengthen families
      • Thanks to Nan Dawkins for pointing out SOS Children’s Villages
      • American Red Cross – disaster relief
      • Raleigh Rescue Mission – homeless raleigh
      • SOS Children’s Villages – sponsor a child
      • Samaritan’s Purse – emergency relief programs
      • St. Jude Children’s Hospital – cancer research
        • National Parks Foundation – support America’s National Parks (Hawaii has many National Parks with the most visited being Hawaii Volcanoes National Park)
        • USO – serving our military service members ( There is a USO Center in Hawaii at the Honolulu Airport)
        • K Love Radio –listener supported Christian radio (Hawaii stations are 89.3 in Hilo on the Big Island and 90.7 in Honolulu on Oahu)
        • Samaritan’s Purse – emergency relief programs
        • March of Dimes – birth defect research
        • Phoenix Rescue Mission – homeless shelter Phoenix
        • Teen Challenge Arizona – help with addictions
        • The Crisis Pregnancy Centers – pregnancy counseling
        • Serving Our World – care for orphans
        • Teen Mania – Christian outreach to teens
          • Jewish charity
        • The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – Polish Charity
        • CPR For Schools Across Poland – CPR Training
        • Program of Insulin Pumps in Diabetic Children Therapy – Insulin Pumps For Children
        • Non-invasive Neonatal Breathing Support – Infant Flow
        • Program of Universal Neonatal Hearing Screenings – Neonatal Hearing
          • Ardgowan Hospice
            • Cancer Research UK – Cancer Charity
            • Childline – Free advice for children
            • World Wildlife Fund – Save the environment
            • Friends Of the Earth – Solve environmental problems
            • Groundwork – Improve my community
  • Idol Gives Back
  • Red Cross

Spontaneous:

• Medical assistance on disaster / war – Mercy
• HIV/AIDS education – PT Foundation
• Liver Foundation – MLF
• Orphanage – Darul Izzah
• Disabled asscociation – Mobiliti
• Pies Descalzos – Bare Feet Foundation
• Mi Sangre – My Blood Foundation
• The people’s movement for human rights learning
• Apreflofas – Association for the Preservation of the Wild Flora and Fauna
• Green Peace – Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization
• The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is the nation’s largest lymphoma-focused voluntary health organization
• The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world’s largest voluntary health organization
  • RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution
  • NSPCC National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
  • UNICEF- Protecting and educating children all over the world
    
  • Susan G. Komen- Race for the Cure
  • Habitat for Humanity- Build houses for families in need
  • Ronald McDonald House- Affordable housing while children are hospitalized
  • United Way- Mobilizing our communities to improve people’s lives

Tag, you’re it:

1. Chris Garrett
   1. D’Arcy
   2. Raj
      1. Andy Boyd
      2. Brett Bumeter
      3. Sharon Sarmiento
      4. Liz Strauss
      5. Ben Yoskovitz
   3. Ahmed
   4. Mark
      1. Tomas
      2. Sara
      3. John
      4. Brendon
      5. Jelena
         1. Josh
         2. Dragan
         3. Moses
         4. Egor
   5. Adam
      1. Ashley Cecil
2. Donna Fontenot –
   1. Michael VanDeMar
   2. Barry Schwartz
   3. Aaron Wall
   4. Nathan Weinberg
   5. Andrey Milyan
      1. Joe Whyte
      2. Lee Odden
         1. Laura Thieme – Environmental Awareness & Global Warming
         2. Stephan Spencer – Changes for Good
         3. Jim Boykin
         4. Li Evans
         5. Jim Hedger
      3. Darren Rowse
      4. Kim Krause Berg
         1. Sophie Wegat
         2. Jennifer Laycock
         3. Lisa Barone
         4. Bill Slawski
         5. David Temple
            1. Joe Whyte Rockyfied
            2. Becky Ryan – Webmoxy
            3. Ilker Yodas – The Thinking Blog
            4. Maximillian Kaizen – Hunter of Genius
            5. Chris Winfield – 10e20
      5. Andy Beal
         1. Jordan McCollum
         2. Sheila Beal
            1. Darren Rowse
            2. Kuanyin
            3. Blessed1
            4. Matt
            5. Sightseer
         3. David Wallace
            1. Matt McGee
            2. Barry Schwartz
               1. Link Building Blog
               2. Bling Bling Blog
               3. ShoeMoney
               4. Search Marketing Thoughts
               5. Techipedia
            3. Chris Winfield
            4. Jennifer Laycock
            5. Stoney deGeyter
         1. Jennifer Slegg
         2. Andy Beard
            1. Stefan Juhl
            2. Gavin
            3. Fraser
            4. Keith
            5. Shaun
               1. David
               2. Joel
                  1. Eco Kev
                  2. Adnan
                  3. Brendon
                  4. Yaro
                  5. Tyler
               3. SEO Woman
               4. Alister
               5. Saman
3. John Chow
4. Tamar Weinberg
5. Neil Patel

Spontaneous:

1. Kamal
2. SEO Practices
   1. Guillermo Zuñiga Dot Com
   2. Hawaii SEO
   3. SEO’Brien
   4. Getting hit by traffic… Not cars
   5. SEO by the Sea
3. Marty Weintraub
   1. Cartoon Barry Blog
   2. SEOsk.com
   3. Search Matters
      1. Darin Carter
         
      2. SEO Black Hat
      3. GrayWolf
      4. StepForth
      5. Gord Hotchkiss
   4. SEOptimise
   5. Cornwall SEO
      1. Rob Watts
      2. Rand Fishkin
      3. Andy Hagans
      4. Michael Gray
      5. Todd Malicoat

Oh, and if you are interested in a giant list of the different charities out there, check out Charity Navigator and Charity Watch.