AOL Impact and Cause Marketing Forum Announce Winner of 'Share Your Cause' Contest 2012

(3BL Media) New York, NY - June 1, 2012 - AOL Impact and Cause Marketing Forum, a company that educates nonprofits and businesses on doing well by doing good together, today announced National Geographic’s ‘Cause An Uproar’ campaign as the winner of the 2012 'Share Your Cause' contest. The campaign will receive high-profile exposure across AOL’s Owned & Operated properties, including AOL.com and AOL Mail. The announcement was made by Blair Cobb, Senior Director of AOL’s Cause Marketing & Partnership initiatives, at the Cause Marketing Forum Conference in Chicago on May 31st.

“I’m thrilled to announce National Geographic Society’s ‘Cause An Uproar’ as the winner of our 2012 ‘Share Your Cause contest,” said Blair Cobb, Senior Director of AOL’s Cause Marketing & Partnership initiatives. “At AOL, we are dedicated to helping people. By leveraging our platforms to create awareness of worthy initiatives like, ‘Cause An Uproar,’ we can garner exposure for nonprofits at a massive scale.”

“We are thrilled to receive this honor and could not ask for a better place to engage the public and enlist more people to ‘Cause An Uproar’ for big cats than AOL.com,” said Alexander Moen, vice president, Explorer Programs.

Launched in March 2012, the 'Share Your Cause' contest called for eligible nonprofit organizations, their cause marketing partners or representing agencies to submit essays on how their program would benefit from this exposure. National Geographic Society was selected from more than 115 applicants for its ‘Cause An Uproar’ campaign, part of their Big Cats Initiative (BCI), which is dedicated to halting the decline of big cats through on-the-ground conservation projects and education. The campaign, which supports efforts to save big cats through partnerships with local communities, scientists and celebrities, will be featured in a premium position on AOL.com and the AOL Mail sign-in page for one day in 2012.

“We’re excited that ‘Cause An Uproar’ has earned this opportunity,” said David Hessekiel, president of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc. “AOL Impact reflects the growing awareness among marketing and media pros that consumers are hungry for information on how they personally can engage in cause-related activities. ‘Cause An Uproar’ is well positioned to leverage this opportunity.” 

AOL Impact reinforces AOL’s dedication to “giving back” by dedicating premium placement on AOL.com and AOL Mail to garner exposure for nonprofits at no cost. AOL Impact connects users with charities, making it easy to get involved and spread awareness. In November 2010, AOL launched the Daily Impact platform to provide permanent space on the most premium property, AOL.com, to promote a new cause every day of the year. To date, Daily Impact has garnered 19 billion pro-bono impressions, working with over 350 non-profit partners and 36 Top 100 advertising partners to share their cause story.* Visit http://impact.aol.com/ for more information.

*AOL Internal Data

About AOL:
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a brand company, committed to continuously innovating, growing, and investing in brands and experiences that inform, entertain, and connect the world. The home of a world-class collection of premium brands, AOL creates original content that engages audiences on a local and global scale. We help marketers connect with these audiences through effective and engaging digital advertising solutions.

About Cause Marketing Forum
Since 2002, Cause Marking Forum’s events, online offerings and membership program have helped thousands of business and nonprofit executives learn to succeed together and make valuable connections in the expanding field of cause marketing.  www.CauseMarketingForum.com, the industry’s leading website, offers free access to prodigious amounts of background information, statistics and case studies.  CMF’s free CauseUpdate service delivers the newest cause marketing campaigns to subscribers’ inboxes multiple times each week.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society’s mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

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Media Contacts:

Mandy Albers
AOL Corporate Communications
(212) 652-6394
mandy.albers@teamaol.com

David Hessekiel
Cause Marketing Forum
(914) 921-3914
dh@causemarketingforum.com