While most of us designers don’t have the time to go out and save the world, there are a few things we can do that will take up little time and money.

1. Use your design superpowers for good - design a poster or flyer that opens peoples eyes to the issue of poverty and put it anywhere you legally can.
2. Design an educational website teaching people about the effects of poverty in your area.
3. Run a mini Blog Action Day type event on your blog - ask people to sponsor you by donating $1 for every post you make about poverty in a 24 hour period.
4. Host a fundraiser BBQ and invite your clients. Charge them an entry fee and donate the proceeds.
5. Donate your time - give a talk to a classroom of people trying to free themselves from poverty about the business world or design.
6. Organise a design competition in your area and speak to your local council or community radio stations about free promotion. Ask entrants to draw or design something to do with poverty, whether a poster or an innovative representation of an idea to end poverty.
7. Turn your computer and office equipment off when you don’t need it. Calculate the money saved on electricity and donate it.
8. Donate your design services for free to a charity. Let them call on you when they need flyers designed or a website developed.
9. Donate your in-house e-commerce software to a charity to allow them to accept donations on their website.
10. Offer to manage the content on a charity’s website for free, to allow them to concentrate on more important things.
11. Donate a portion of your earnings to helping rid the world of poverty. Ie. Donate 10% from every logo design to The Global Fund (or your organisation of choice).
12. Set up an account with BuySellAds.com and start selling ad space on your website or blog, with the intention of donating every cent of it to a good cause.
13. Start a blog dedicated to the issue of poverty. Post only about that topic and use your design skills to come up with some pretty provocative imagery.
14. Work with other designers to come up with ideas about how your industry can make a difference.
15. Take time out from posting on your blog about design for one day and instead use the time to interview a homeless person. Post the interview on your blog and get it to spread like wild-fire. Let the world hear the personal story of one sufferer.

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Want to help a good cause AND win great prizes? You do? Great!

To help raise funds for Blog Action Day, marnieb.com is running a small competition with some big prizes!

As a designer, I of course wanted the competition to be focused on design. This doesn’t mean you have to be a professional designer to enter though. If you like to doodle, paint or fiddle with Photoshop in your spare time, you are welcome to enter. After all, it is for a good cause so why limit the donations by only allowing certain people to enter? The prizes have also been chosen to reflect this - they are prizes that the every day person can enjoy, so you’d better get enterin’!

how do i enter?

All you have to do to enter is design a poster themed end poverty and donate $2 or more!

Posters must be 500 pixels wide by 700 pixels high. Aside from that, entrants are free to interpret the theme any way they choose.

Your entry could be a sketch of a revolutionary idea to end poverty, it could be completely typographic, it could be a graphical representation of the suffering poverty causes, anything. You are free to design as you choose, as long as the words ‘end poverty’ are included in your design.

prizes!

Entries will be judged on the 14th of October, 2008. There will be prizes for first and second place, as well as 3 runner-up places.

first place

1 x Logo re-design - thanks to Bergan Blue
1 x Business card design - thanks to Bergan Blue
1 x copy of The Path To Success - thanks to Sprout Publishing
1 x subscription to Communication Arts
1 x $50 Gift Voucher to spend at Joliv - thanks to Joliv
1 x $50 voucher for Dawson Documents VA Services - thanks to Dawson Documents
1 x hair treatment and blowdry - thanks to Hairplex (available to Sydney/NSW winners only)
Valued at approx. $1,345!

second place

1 x Business card design - thanks to Bergan Blue
1 x phone consultation or resume update - thanks to Enhance Your Chances
1 x copy of The Path To Success - thanks to Sprout Publishing
1 x $60 Gift Voucher to spend at Tayana - thanks to Tayana
1 x Moving Memory DVD - thanks to Zana productions
1 x Nutrimetics Little Luxuries Fragrance Collection - thanks to Dawson Documents
1 x BubbaLog baby log book - thanks to BubbaLog
Valued at approx. $520!

runner-up

Runners-up will receive a copy of The Path to Sucess, and one lucky entrant, which will be randomly picked, will receive 1 x hour telephone life coaching session - thanks to Crossroads Life Coaching. There is also a Box of Stuff to be won thanks to Blue Zamboo!

where will my money go?

ALL money donated will go directly to The Global Fund. The Global Fund combats AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, all which have a crippling effect on the fight against poverty. In 2008 The Global Fund is the official Blog Action Day charity. Your donation will be processed via Change.org and will not enter the hands of anyone involved in this competition or anyone at Marnieb.com.

ready to enter?

Use the ‘donate’ button below to donate $2 or more to The Global Fund. Once you’ve done this, email your entry to blogactionday@marnieb.com with your name, phone number and location.

sponsors

The above prize packs would not be possible without the generosity of some great businesses. I’d like to thank each and every one of your for donating a prize and being willing to give up your time/products for such a great cause.

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