I started the Feel Your Boobies Foundation in 2004 after I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33. My goal was simply to remind as many young women as possible to “feel their boobies” because it’s something that saved my life.  We’re now an international non-profit foundation and Yahoo! enables us to spread our message far and wide… and that’s certainly worth a big Yahoo! Yodel.

Feel Your Boobies is 2 employees strong and runs out of a small garage in Central PA.  We are still so tickled pink (of course!) about our business relationship with Yahoo! and are so thankful for the personal support we have received during our growth.

When we say “unexpected and unconventional methods” it means you probably won’t see a “feel your boobies” brochure at your doctor’s office…but you sure as heck might pass the Boobies Bus® on the freeway, or you might be laying at the beach and see an airplane towing a banner with our logo during our Boobies @ the Beach promotion, or, you just might be lucky enough to claim a free car magnet or sticker during one of our Facebook and online promotions.

And that’s where Yahoo! comes into it.  We’re using the Yahoo! Store to give away free ‘feel your boobies’ swag to help remind people about this lifesaving habit with a little humor to boot. We also leverage the Yahoo! Store to accept donations and of course we sell plenty of funky apparel emblazoned with our slogan as well, which is the primary way we fund the “Are You Doing It?”® Reminder Campaign.

The overnight success (literally) of our first free magnet promotion in early 2009 caught us by complete surprise.  In fact, it was a personal phone call from a Yahoo! customer support person who alerted us to the massive volume we were experiencing.  He was not only as excited as we were, but also made himself available over a holiday weekend to provide us with tips to leverage the Yahoo! store to manage the increase in orders more efficiently.  Being a grassroots organization, this spike in traffic was something we dreamed of having, but nonetheless were quickly overwhelmed by the reality of it all.   Fortunately, the free magnet giveaway also triggered a large amount of unexpected donations and merchandise orders that have allowed us to extend the free giveaway program.  We have also decided to incorporate this into our annual campaign because of the exposure it has brought to our organization.

Learn more about our campaign, shop, and signup for our email list at www.feelyourboobies.com.

Leigh Hurst

Founder/President; Feel Your Boobies Foundation

When disaster strikes, people want to help, but they often don’t have the resources at their fingertips.  At Yahoo!, we’ve implemented a number of ways people can stay up to date in the aftermath of the devastating Haiti earthquake and find ways to help with disaster relief efforts.

I am very fortunate to work in Yahoo! for Good, a team at Yahoo! whose focus is to empower people around the world to make a positive impact.  To support relief efforts in Haiti, Yahoo! is collaborating with non-profit organizations, leveraging our global network of services to raise awareness, and offering much-needed funding for the millions of people who have been affected by this natural disaster.

Here are the ways we are helping.

• The homepages of Yahoo.com, Yahoo! UK, Yahoo! Italy, Yahoo! Canada, and Yahoo! Mobile are connecting people to the latest news and ways to donate.
• Yahoo! News is providing ‘How to Help’ links in related stories and created a Topic page about the earthquake with donation resources.
• The Yahoo! Employee Foundation approved a $100,000 emergency grant to UNICEF and Partners in Health.
• US Yahoo!s have donated more than $80,000 to the cause in the last 48 hours, including corporate matches for those donations.

It doesn’t stop there.  We are scheduling banner ads across the Yahoo! network to support organizations like the American Red Cross and UNICEF who are providing relief efforts in Haiti.  We are also providing prominent placements on Yahoo! Sports and OMG to encourage people to donate. And there is more to come.

In the last 48 hours, I’ve been so inspired and humbled by fellow Yahoos who have stepped up to make all of this happen at lightning speed.  It’s times like these that remind me once again of the amazing power of the Yahoo! network to encourage people to take action. Join us in this important cause by making a donation to one of the charities listed here.

By Connie Chan, Yahoo! for Good