Black Friday, Cyber Monday….how about a day or even a week that celebrates the giving-back part of the holidays? Two years ago, we launched the idea of Cyber Giving Week, dedicated to generous giving and raising money for local and national charities throughout the last week of December (of course, the tax reduction doesn’t hurt). Since our inaugural year, we’ve helped to raise millions of dollars for hundreds of charitable organizations. A feat only possible because of your generous helpings of goodwill.

With that in mind, we'ved kicked off our Cyber Giving Week program a little early this year to put a spotlight on you. We want to hear your inspirational stories of giving and to share them with our global community. Today we launched our “Be a Better Inspiration” campaign on Bix, so you can tell us about individuals making extraordinary differences through their charity work in your local community.

The cool Bix platform lets you upload audio so that the story can really come to life (I promise it’s easy — even I could do it). Just make sure to submit your story and vote for your favorite by December 19. On December 25, we’ll announce the top five finalists on a microsite that will allow you (and our community) to really make a difference — by voting with your wallets. The finalist associated with the charity that receives the most number of unique donors will receive a matching grant from Yahoo! of up to $50,000.

For the third year in a row, we’ve teamed up with Network for Good to make it easy for you to donate and see in real-time which charity has the highest count. As you make plans to spend your holidays with friends and family, share with them how you’re giving back this season (think Facebook, MySpace, or your personal blog) or make this the year you offer gifts of donations on their behalf. It turns out that the number one reason why someone donates to a charity is because a trusted friend or family member has asked them. What are you waiting for?

Tell us your inspirational story, vote for your favorite local hero, and encourage your friends and family to join your good cause! Tis’ the season for some pulling of the heart strings!

Meg Garlinghouse
Yahoo! for Good