Lots of charities and non-profit organizations have been doing it tough since the global economic slowdown. One of those is FORGE, an organization that works with displaced communities in Africa.

A few people in the search community put their heads together and decided to help FORGE meet their budget gap of $100,000 through a pro-bono SEM campaign designed to increase awareness and donations.

You can read about their efforts on the SEM Challenge web site. Congratulations and hats off to the following marketers that have generously volunteered their time and expertise to help FORGE: Greg Laptevsky of ClickInclusion.com, as the Pay-Per-Click expert; Todd Mintz of S.R. Clarke Inc. handling Search Engine Optimization; John Robbins of Anvil Media as the Social Media Marketing expert; and Derek Edmond of KoMarketing Associates providing Website Usability recommendations. The organizer of SEMChallenge is Boris Mordkovich of MordComm.

Care to lend a hand? You can help in two ways:

1) Visit FORGEnow.org and consider sponsoring one of their pending projects. Even a $25 donation can go a long way into helping others live better, more rewarding lives. Best of all, you’ll be able to monitor and view the progress and impact of your sponsored project as it develops.

2) Spread the word about SEM Challenge and FORGE on your blog, website, or professional and personal networks.

Thanks in advance!

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