The time has come to start selecting a list of charities towards which #5CentTweet will direct raised funds.

Please review the charities already suggested (below), then leave a comment here in order to nominate a charity you would like to see supported. Try to keep your recommendations to a community (based/focused) charity.

Nominations will close at the end of next Sunday (January 17th, 2010).

And remember, the easiest way to keep in touch with 5 Cent Tweet developments is to follow @5CentTweet.

Thanks for your continued support, & Cheers @Glebe2037

Charity nominations from Twitter so far:

Crohn’s charity’s – Crohn’s and Colitis Association & The Gutsy Group

St George Community Housing

WaterAid

Kiva

Nominations received direct from the following charities:

headspace: The National Youth Mental Health Foundation provides quality care and facilitates the improvement in the mental health, social wellbeing and economic participation of young Australians aged 12-25 years. headspace has 30 centres that provide free or low-cost services to young people across Australia. They are located in every State and Territory and cover metropolitan, regional and rural locations. headspace has helped 16,000 12-25 year olds who have attended our face to face services across Australia. In addition the headspace website (www.headspace.org.au) provides information and support to both young people and those who provide them with help. The website reports approximately 60,000 visits per month. An Independent Evaluation reported that headspace has made significant progress towards improving outcomes for young Australians by changing the way that mental health services are delivered.

headspace is critical because we know that one in four young Australians aged between 12 and 25 years will experience a mental health or substance use problem in any 12-month period. Young people continue to be poor users of traditional services, as confirmed by the finding from the most recent National Health and Wellbeing Survey, which suggests that only 10% of young people that have a mental health issue, are in care. Engaging young people who are in distress often needs to be immediate and the strategies for engagement need to be youth appropriate.

Messages to the community:

- headspace offers help, support and information for young people and their families through our free or low cost one-stop-shop services and our website.

- headspace’s social marketing campaign messages seek to normalize help-seeking behaviour and position headspace as the best solution to young people’s experiences of mental ill health.

- The campaign creates a collective identity around young people and headspace, and reinforces brand attributes of positively, upbeat, real and in touch with young people and their needs.

- visit Headspace to access information and support for mental health and alcohol and other drugs or to find one of our 30 headspace one-stop-shop services across Australia

ActionAid Australia is part of an international anti-poverty agency active in over 40 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.

We work in partnership with over 2,000 organisations – from small community groups to national alliances and international networks – to address the root causes of poverty, not just the effects.

Crucially, we believe poverty is a denial and violation of human rights. At the heart of ActionAid’s work lies the core belief in each human being’s fundamental right to food, shelter, work, education, health care and a voice in the decisions that shape their lives.

Poverty and injustice can only be eradicated when the world’s poor and vulnerable people are able to claim their rights and take charge of their own lives.

For this reason, we do not impose solutions. Our approach is unique. We work with communities over time, using our resources, skills, knowledge and networks to strengthen their own efforts to end poverty.

ActionAid also gives a voice to the poor and marginalised by taking their fight to those in power. We campaign at the local, national and international level to achieve lasting change.

Drawing on over 30 years of knowledge and experience in fighting poverty, our work is focused around six key rights-based areas:

- Women’s and girls’ rights

- The right to education

- The right to food

- The right to human security during conflicts and emergencies

- The right to a life of dignity in the face of HIV and AIDS

- The right to just and democratic governance

To fund our vital work around the world we rely on private donations, child sponsorship, regular giving, as well as grants from governments and international institutions.

ActionAid Australia is fully accredited with the Australian government aid agency AusAID, a member of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies and the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and abides by the ACFID Code of Conduct.

MacKillop Family Services provide a wide range of services to disadvantaged children, young people and families in Victoria and NSW. In NSW, they provide accommodation and support services to young people in the NSW out of home care system (child protection) and young people who are homeless. They also support their families. They provide these services in Western Sydney (mainly in Mount Druitt, Blacktown and Penrith) and Wollongong.

They receive funding from the NSW Department of Community Services, but it is never enough. The young people they support have complex needs – they are often in contact with the juvenile justice system, have challenging behaviours, mental health and drug & alcohol issues, are disengaged from education, or are unemployed, with no real skills. They are usually from disadvantaged communities and jobless families.