An IM Social Responsibility Campaign by Microsoft

People like you are among the most influential voices in our culture, reaching millions of people who share your commitment to important social causes.

Since they were attentive enough to personally address me in the pitch for the new campaign [bull shitake factor noted], here are the basics for the I'M Campaign by Microsoft. The obvious idea is to have people start using their Live Messenger service.  The better part is that you can choose which of the nine partnering nonprofits you'd like your 'share' of advertising revenues to go to - including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, National AIDS Fund, Unicef and stopglobalwarning.org. These groups are guaranteed a minimum of $100,000, a portion of the ad revenues generated by your using the services, and there's no cap on how much they might receive. Obviously, the more you use Live Messenger...

How effective can this effort be? Just ask any of the groups who aren't on the list.

The real challenge is getting the person who would never ordinarily think about donating to charity to think about it in a different way.

There is no single way to raise money, show concern or express support. It's all about the behaviors people and their organizations choose to engage in and the [easy and plentiful] opportunities we provide them to do it.