It you are a reader of comic books, then you will most likely be familiar with these two causes. If you are not, then let me explain what they do.

The Comic Book legal defense fund is a United States non-profit organization, created in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses. The CBLDF has several big name supporters in the industry, such as Neil Gaiman, Jeff smith, Frank Miller, and Peter David. Listen to why they give their support to this cause:

The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

There are several ways that you can support these causes. You can donate to the CBLDF though their website, or buy exclusive, or singed books and other items from their online store. The CBLDF often have a booth at many popular conventions, where they sell exclusive items and accept donations. Recently, Image comics released a CBLDF benefit book called Liberty Comics, from which all proceeds went to the CBLDF. I can’t recommend this comic highly enough, it is packed to the brim with great stories from some of today’s top writers and artists. The Hero Initiative accept donations through their website, and they also hold several charity auctions on eBay

There is another way in which you can contribute to both of these causes though. You can show your support for these foundations through Facebook’s Causes application. With this application you can join your selected cause and donate money, or you can just join to show your support. You are also able to take a pledge to recruit others to the cause, with the hope that they will join, and donated money, or will encourage others to join. I think this is a wonderful little idea to promote these great causes, and I urge everyone reading to join up. For the CBLDF click here, or for the Hero Initiative click here.

I donated to both of these causes recently. I wasn’t able to donate a lot, because my wife and I just laid down about 75% of our saving on the deposit for our first house, so we are cutting back a bit at the moment. I donated $25 to the CBLDF, and $40 to the Hero Initiative. I was shocked to find out that this made me one of the top 5 donors to either of these causes. I’m not showing off, I actually want you to join, and push my donation lower on that list! Facebook will allow you to recruit a limit of 24 people each day to a cause. I only started inviting people to join the Hero Initiative last night. I invited 20 people, but no-one that I invited has joined yet. I have actually invited 254 people to join the CBLDF cause on Facebook. Out of those 254 invites, I have only managed to recruit 5 people. That is quite saddening, especially considering I am “friends” with many comic book creators on Facebook. Of these 5 people, I know that 3 of them do not even read comics! The other recruits were my friend Ian Murphy, who is the Managing Editor over at LiveWire World, and superstar artist (and all-round top bloke) John McCrea.

So, if I have sent you an invite to either of these causes on Facebook, please accept them. Even if you don’t want to donate. Someone else could read the news on your page that you have joined, and that could inspire them to join. The more people who have joined the cause, the more chance there is that someone will donate some money.

P.S. If you want to add me on Facebook, feel free to click here. I’m always up for chatting about comics, book, the news, or any other subject. I also play a lot of Scrabulous, if you are up for a game. Actually, it is called Wordscraper now, due to legal reasons.

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