Near me is a beautiful little ranch that has been converted into a therapeutic riding center for physically challenged children. Every day several volunteers -- most have been coming here for years -- show up to lead the horses and to protect the delighted kids who ride the horses and ponies. They all serve with gentle care, love, and commitment, and no fanfare at all. Those volunteers are my heroes.

If you're like me, you are inspired by people who are quietly changing the world each and every day. They're not on the front page of the newspaper, and they're not mingling with the Gates and Buffets of the world. They're everyday people like you and me who have shown extraordinary commitment to making this world better than they found it.

Now you can honor those individuals through the CTK Foundation's "Heroes with a Heart" Grant Awards. You can nominate your heroes, and give them a chance to win $5,000 - a simple thanks for the hard work that they do.

What Are the "Heroes With A Heart" Grants?

Here's an overview of the CTK Foundation awards and details on how you can nominate your Hero:

• $15,000 for Three Heroes

  One Hero with a Heart from each of the three categories of Health and Human Social Service, Animal Rights and Environmental Protection, and Arts and Literacy will be awarded $5,000 USD plus a professionally produced video about their nonprofit for use in public awareness or education.

• $1,500 for One Hero

  The CTK Foundation will also give a $1,500 (USD) President's Choice Award (the Susan Lee Winter Grant Award) for an individual working to provide creative and innovative approaches to HIV/AIDS education or prevention.

• Blogger's Choice Award

  The $1,000 CTK Foundation Blogger's Choice Award will recognize the blogger who does the best job of promoting HWH, with that blogger selecting a volunteer award recipient of his or her choice, from any category.

Applications for all Heroes with a Heart grant awards open on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 and close Wednesday, February 29th, 2012 at midnight.

Finalists will appear on the CTK Facebook page for public voting during April and winners will be announced on May 1, 2012. This award is open to registered nonprofits or charities of all types and sizes, worldwide.

Nominate your Hero with a Heart here. Do it today!

For regular updates on the Heroes with a Heart Grants, check out the CTK Facebook Page.

Good Luck, Heroes!

More about Charity Contests

• Using Social Media to Win Charity Competitions
• Three Experts Suggest Paths to Success in Charity Contests
• '50 States for Good' Gives Small Nonprofits Edge

Nonprofit Blog Carnival

Nancy Schwartz collected all our dreams for the nonprofit world in her January Nonprofit Blog Carnival. Who would have thought that we would dream so much and so creatively?

Marc Pitman kicks off the February Nonprofit Blog Carnival with his Valentine's Day themed How do you take care of yourself? Marc asks, "We often focus on letting donors know we love them, but how do you show yourself the love?" Oh, did you forget to reward yourself? This will be an opportunity to pledge anew to do just that.

Fundraising, Social Media, Business for Good

Katya Andresen reminds us of The 6 absolutely essential keys to influence, ala Robert Cialdini. Katya lists the principles of influence from "authority" to "social proof" and provides a wonderful video of the great Cialdini himself explaining them all.

Ifdy Perez, writing for Razoo's blog, reminds us Why You Shouldn't "Go Viral". Ifdy writes, "Because you can't really predict what will or won't go viral (assuming you don't have millions in your budget to create an outstanding ad campaign like the Old Spice Guy), there are other ways to focus your precious time and energy into things that will surely pay off for your organization." She gives us three possibilities--fun, magnetism, and purpose.

Every Monday, Marissa Garza shows up at DonorDreams. She writes about tangled tech questions in a way that we can all get through. This week, Marissa tackled How Google's Recent Changes Affect You and Your Non-Profit Organization . Such a thorny topic, but Marissa whacked it down to nonprickly manageability, explaining Google search, the privacy issues, and what you can do.

I follow the Motley Fool religiously. So I was delighted to find this article by Alyce Lomax, of that investment guide, about the new business for good law in California. Alyce explains how the new B corporation works in Doing Good to Do Well Gets a Legal Boost in California, which appeared in DailyFinance. There are some excellent examples here of companies that combine innovation with social good.

Rather than just think of recalcitrant board members who won't help fundraise as deadbeats, take a new tack suggested by Nell Edgington of Social Velocity. Nell, in 9 Ways Board Members Can Raise Money Without Fundraising, says, "The good news is that there are lots of other things board members can do to bring money in the door. And remember, if you are financing not fundraising your organization, your definition of 'bringing money in the door' should be very broad.

Nonprofit News

Obama campaign deploys Square for mobile fundraising - Gigom

2012 Top 100 Best NGOs - The Global Journal

Photo: Getty Images

Feb 3rd is National Wear Red Day. It is a creation of the American Heart Association to create awareness of heart disease among women. Heart disease kills more women than does breast cancer.

Go Red is the overarching campaign, of which National Wear Red Day is a part, and it is a model of cause-marketing.

Cass Wheeler, long-time CEO of the American Heart Association, told the story of the Go Red campaign in his book, You've Gotta Have Heart: Achieving Purpose Beyond Profit in the Social Sector.

Wheeler said the organization worked with the leader in cause-marketing, Cone Inc., to develop "the most far-reaching, comprehensive marketing campaign in nonprofit history." But he also pointed out that nonprofits should not be intimidated by the sheer size of this program. Many of its branding, marketing and promotion strategies can be replicated by even small nonprofits. Read More...

Charity: water has justifiably been lauded for its rapid growth as a mostly online fundraising platform and for its audacious marketing.

J.D. Lasica, over at SocialBrite, recently said, "In my view, charity: water has made the most astonishing use of social media and new media, with breathtakingly good videos, multimedia, photography and smart ways to mobilize social networks."

The infographic I recently received by email is a good example of the visual goodies that charity: water lavishes on its followers. The infographic, which is sort of a mashup of the infographic form and a newsletter, is a thank you, an annual report, and a lovely proof of impact all at once. I've just added an image of the entire charity: water infographic to my Beyond Formulas: Thanking Donors and Volunteers, a growing collection of out-of-the-box ways to say thanks.

Charity: water is a true multi-media cause, although not entirely multi-channel. I've yet to receive anything from them through the mail. But it works for them. They've staked out the brave new world of virtual communications and spend their time, energy, and resources making it as lush as possible.

If you are interested in developing your own inforgraphics, Wild Apricot has an excellent roundup of resources that you'll want to check out. Not all infographics need to be complex...they can be simple illustrations of information and statistics that you can embed within other messages. Tribalcafe has an assortment of social media infographics that can be used as models for yours.

Related:

• Examples of Thank You Letters
• Examples of Email Thank You Letters
• Examples of Direct Mail Fundraising Letters
• Examples of Thank Yous that Break the Rules