Plant A Billion Trees

Plant A Billion Trees

"One dollar. One tree. One planet."

Plant A Billion Trees is a campaign effort by the Nature Conservancy to plant 1 billion trees by 2015, thus restoring 2,500,000 acres, or 10,100 sq. km, of land in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. By doing so, the Nature Conservancy hopes to slow climate change by restoring the Atlantic Forest, which, according to the Plant A Billion Trees site, "helps regulate the atmosphere and stabilize global climate."

The Plant A Billion Trees campaign pledged to plant 25 million trees as a part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign. The Plant A Billion Trees campaign also works with such partners as Disneynature, Planet Green, Penguin Books, Payless Shoesource, AT&T, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, and Visa, to maximize efficiency.

Supporters can donate as little as $1, and this will plant one tree; for every dollar donated, one tree is planted. At the time of writing this article, the Plant A Billion Trees campaign has planted almost 7.6 million trees as a result of donations to the program. By doing so, they are saving such species as the Green Lizard, the Prepona Butterfly, the Guapuruvu Tree, and the Scarlet Ibis (among others, found here.)

If you want to help save the environment, the animals, and the world, visit Plant A Billion Trees today.

Child's Play

Child's Play

"Gamers give back."

Child's Play is a charity that aids children's hospitals in acquiring gaming equipment for the children at the hospital. It is funded entirely on cash donations or purchases, and is tax deductible. The Child's Play charity is entirely non-profit, though they do spend 2-3% of the donations on such things as shipping, etc.

Direct donations of cash through PayPal are readily accepted, and quite appreciated; however, there is also the option to buy an item for the hospital. The hospitals write up a wishlist, and when it is finished, doners may buy the item on Amazonand have it sent to the hospital, through Child's Play.

The site was announced on November 24, 2003, by the creators of the popular Penny Arcade webcomic, with the intentions to aid the children in hospitals and to reverse the bad public image of videogaming. The original post by "Gabe" (aka Mike Krahulik) can be found here.

Within the first month of kick-off, the charity raised about $250,000; overall, Child's Play has earned $6.7 million for various children's hospitals around the world, in such locations as U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and England. If you want to contribute to this growing charity that supports not just one, but two causes, at once, check out Child's Play!

The Fuzz Academy

The Fuzz Academy

"Environmentally friendly"

The Fuzz Academy is a networking site that combines simple, fun games along with valuable lessons and intellectual stimulus to create a worthy site that also happens to aid environmental causes and charities. The Fuzz Academy, or "FA" as some of its users call it, donates to several strong charities focused on saving the environment.

Fuzz Academy allows users to create an account and a personal pet, or 'cadet'. The cadets can be dressed up with various items that are bought with hairballs (the site's currency). Hairballs are earned by playing games, or showing some love to other cadets. Special, more intricately designed items are available for premium members, who spend real currency on the game. However, most items are available to normal users as well.

The site functions largely like the popular Neopets, in which the user has a social network profile, dressed up pets, and plays games for currency. What separates Fuzz Academy from your everyday pet site is that it donates to causes such as, according to their About Us page, the Nature Conservancy's Adopt-An-Acre, Plant A Billion Trees, the ASPCA, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Interested in helping one of those environmental charities yourself? You can do so, just by playing some games over at The Fuzz Academy!

Smile Train - Changing the World One Smile at a Time.

Smile Train

"Changing the World One Smile at a Time."

Smile Train is a charity whose mission it is to provide free cleft surgery and to train doctors and medical professionals in cleft-related operations. The charity focuses solely on that goal, putting to use all available resources to reach it.

According to Wikipedia's article on Smile Train and the Smile Train site itself, approximately 1 in 700 children are born with cleft lip and palate. Though the number of children being born with cleft lip and palate is strikingly large, Smile Train claims that it is currently fixing more cleft lips and palates than the rate at which people are being born with it, thus hopefully nearing eradication of the problem.

A cleft lip and palate surgery (and treatment) costs around just $250. While that is a large sum for any one person to donate, Smile Train claims that a person can help by simply donating a small portion of that, paying for something as important as the medications. It accumulates all of the money, and then uses that to pay for the surgery and treatment.

Cleft lip and palate can be a severe hindrance to the lives of innocent children around the world, breeding social and personal issues. You can help with just a small donation to Smile Train.

FREE: Trick-or-Treat For UNICEF Kit

Posted originally by Rose, on the Tips for Saving blog:

"It is the 60th anniversary for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF program. You can help support this foundation by ordering a FREE trick or treat kit, and gathering donations on Halloween.

The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF - works for..." [Read More]