AIDS Walk Added To BloggersUnite.org

BloggersUnite.org, a new social network dedicated to providing nonprofit organizations exposure to bloggers and social networkers who want to do good, selected AIDS Walk Las Vegas — Everyone Walks! as one of ten local nonprofit events to be featured along with 27 other international events.

Being listed on the network exposes the walk to hundreds and thousands of bloggers and social networkers, encouraging them to help raise awareness and raise funds for the event. You can help too.

By joining BloggersUnite.org and then subscribing to the event, participants will be able to add graphic badges to their Web sites, blogs, and some social network profile pages that link back to the event page. The event page at Bloggers Unite provides supporters with various resources and a direct link to the AIDS Walk donation page. Here is an example:



In the days ahead, Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) will be adding resources for bloggers and social network members, including suggested topic backgrounders and fact sheets. If you live in Las Vegas and have a Web site, blog, or social network profile, we would be grateful if you could help us get the word out.

Last year, the AIDS Walk included more than 250 corporate and community teams and 7,000 walkers who raised more than $550,000. This year, while we are confident the event will be a success, we have only raised $38,785 with the event only six weeks away. We need to do better.

AIDS Walk is vital for AFAN to continue serving more than 3,000 people afflicted with HIV or AIDS in Southern Nevada. These critical funds also help AFAN promote prevention campaigns, which is especially important as young adults, ages 18-24, currently represent more than half of all new AIDS cases.

Bloggers Unite is no stranger to AFAN's cause. Prior to becoming a standalone social network, it was a BlogCatalog.com initiative that encouraged bloggers to do good by raising awareness for underserved social awareness campaigns.

Last December, BlogCatalog teamed up with AIDS.gov and NIDA.gov to promote World AIDS Day. The campaign was an important component in generating more than 15,000 news stories and 250,000 blog posts that reached more than 62.5 million readers. According to AIDS.gov, its Web site traffic more than doubled and many new visitors have continued to participate on its site.

As an event that touches more than 5,000 people locally and more than 1.1 million people in the United States, we know every story, post, social network mention, participant, and contributor makes a tremendous difference. Your support is appreciated.