Here’s two excellent uses of Twitter:

http://www.justgiving.com/Rory-Cellan-Jones

In exchange for a £5 donation on his JustGiving page, Rory Cellan-Jones will follow you on Twitter. For a donation of £10 or more, he’ll retweet you.

Rory’s also auctioning a few gadgets on his Twitter stream, which you can see here.

Rory’s adds, ‘Don’t worry if you don’t use Twitter: your cash is just as welcome!’

http://www.justgiving.com/TABItarot

For a donation of £10, the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI) are offering tarot readings via Twitter. To book your reading, send a direct message to Chairman Alison Cross (@TABItarot) or one of her colleagues, Sara Donaldson (@psychodwarf), Ribbitcat (@ribbitcat ) and Darlinda (@bdark2755), and once you receive confirmation of your booking, donate via their JustGiving page here.

One of the most heartstring-tugging stories we’ve ever featured on the blog, we’re so happy to be able to announce that The 2Simple Trust’s Sophie Atay Appeal has already passed its initial target of £500,000, meaning that as you read this Sophie is in New York receiving the unique treatment for neuroblastoma that will increase her chance of survival from 20% to 90%.

In case you missed the story first time round, two-year-old Sophie was diagnosed in the ‘high risk’ category of the cancer when she was just 15 months. An intensive course of therapy including chemotherapy, surgery, stem cell rescue and radio therapy increased her chances only slightly and wiped out her immune system. This was unacceptable to her family, who found out that Sophie would be much better off with a treatment that combined oral chemotherapy with an antibody known as ‘3F8′. The catch was that this treatment is expensive and only available at one hospital in New York.

An amazing 40,000 of you visited Sophie’s page after it was mentioned on ITV News. Traffic was so high, in fact, that at one point we had to take the unprecedented step of suspending new comments on the page to make sure that everyone had a chance to donate. Rest assured though that we collected your comments and they are now displayed for Sophie’s family to see.

So, while you might not be able to get your JustGiving page on national television, what the Sophie Appeal shows is that any publicity you can get will increase the number of people viewing your page and therefore the number of potential sponsors.

Sophie’s mum, Karine, is of course with Sophie in New York. The 2Simple Trust asked us to pass on her thanks along with their own to everyone who’s donated. They’ve promised us an update on Sophie’s condition as soon as they have one.

You can still sponsor Sophie by visiting her JustGiving page here.

We always like JustGivers who are willing to suffer for their chosen cause, so it’s not surprising that Alan Terry’s JustGiving page caught our eye.

Alan - perhaps foolishly - has agreed to let his sister-in-law wax his legs for her college course, and to prevent himself from chickening out, has made an event of it and is asking people to donate money to The Prostate Cancer Charity.

Alan’s sister-in-law will be bringing the pain this Thursday (19th November) at 7:00 PM, so if you’d like to sponsor him, there’s still time and you can do so by visiting his JustGiving page here.

Alan uploaded this “before” shot of his legs. They don’t look too hairy here, but remember, digital cameras can be deceptive. Just as well he didn’t upload a photo of his face, as he’d probably get sick of people stopping him in the street and asking to see his newly smooth pins!

Keyboard legend Rick Wakeman is shedding pounds to gain pounds for The Salvation Army.

A regular guest on BBC Radio Norfolk’s Karen & Graham Show, the challenge came about when Rick e-mailed presenter Karen Buchanan (pictured) to say:

‘Put on another half stone… Thoroughly depressing… I need encouragement… Maybe losing weight for charity by getting sponsorship might do it… Have to sign off now, the chair’s collapsed!’

Rick’s goal is to lose 3st by Christmas and in doing so, help other people have a good Christmas through the work of The Salvation Army.

Yesterday, Rick appeared on the Karen & Graham show again for his mid-challenge weigh in. When he started the challenge he weighed just over 19st, but now he’s down to 18st 5lbs, making a total loss of 9lbs. Pleased with his success so far, he’s going to extend the challenge into 2010, aiming for a target weight of 14st 7lbs.

Radio Norfolk listeners have already helped Rick beat his initial target of £1000 and what his challenge clearly demonstrates is that any publicity you can generate for your event is a good thing. You don’t have to be a celebrity, you don’t even have to have access to local radio.

You can see Rick’s JustGiving page and make a donation here.

In September 2006 Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson was wounded in a landmine explosion while serving with 7 Para RHA in Afghanistan. Ben sustained over 40 injuries, most of them life-threatening, including the loss of both his legs, brain damage and fractures to his spine, earning him a reputation as the worst-injured soldier ever to survive.

Amazingly, just three years later and against the all the predictions of his medical team, Ben is regaining the ability to talk and learning to walk with prosthetic legs.

But the challenge of recovery is not enough for Ben. He also wants to help to others who have been wounded while serving in the armed forces. Therefore he has accepted the position of Patron of the military charity Project 65. Project 65 raises funds for the care and support of all wounded military personnel, not just the casualties of recent wars, as well as families who have suffered bereavement.

In May 2010, despite his injuries, Ben is going to be taking part in the fifth stage of Project 65’s Forces March, a 131 mile run/walk from Ilfracombe to Bulford set over five days.

You can view Ben’s JustGiving page and donate here.

You can take part in the Forces March alongside Ben by visiting: www.forcesmarch.org.uk.

We caught up with Ben recently to find out how his recovery, training and fundraising is going.

JustGiving: How did you find out about Project 65 and the Forces March?

Ben Parkinson: I first knew about them when they arranged the run to Pegasus Bridge last year. I wasn’t well enough to take part, only to be there and I am determined to actually join in this time.

JG: Can you tell us about a bit about what the funds you raise will go towards?

BP: The funds raised all go to military charities - different ones which help people with all injuries and all ages. We have heroes aged 18 to 100.

JG: What goes through your mind while you’re recovering/training for the Forces March?

BP: I must get better and I must do more than people expect me to. My mates are still going out there and may be the ones to need help.

JG: How are you finding adapting to the prosthetics?

BP: It’s been very hard for me ’cause of the back injury and the head injury, but it’s just gonna take me longer. I love it when the lads walk just a few months after getting hurt, but I know I’ll get there in the end - I’m Airborne!

JG: What advice can you give to other wounded armed forces personnel facing the challenge of recovery?

BP: Just get on with it. You can’t change it so you gotta do your best for your regiment, your family and yourself. If you are alive you have been lucky and you gotta make something of yourself to say thank you for that luck.

JG: It’s early days yet, but what would be your top fundraising tip?

BP: Everyone loves the lads. Just get the word out and the support is there.

Try saying that three times faster.

Here at JustGiving we love our marathon runners, but we recognise it’s not for everybody and we’re always on the lookout for people whose fundraising activity is just that little bit different. Eddie Green is just such a person.

By his own admission, Eddie’s marathon hopes would end in a space blanket five minutes into the race, but he still wanted to do something to raise money for his favourite charity AVERT, so he came up with the idea of forcing himself to do something he hates for 24 hours straight, and Eddie hates romantic comedies.

Eddie set himself four simple rules for the challenge:

1. No sleep.
2. No beer to lessen the pain, only the Rom-Com-appropriate Lambrini.
3. A maximum 15 minute break between films for making tea, snacking and going to the toilet.
4. Regular blog updates throughout the marathon.

What’s Eddie event really has going for it - apart from a novel concept - is this fourth rule. Eddie used social media (blog posts, tweets and photos) to give his supporters live updates on his slow descent into madness. You can read the hilarious results here, and you can view Eddie’s JustGiving page and donate here.

We gave Eddie a little time to recover and them debriefed him on the whole experience.

JustGiving: How did you come up with the idea?

Eddie Green: My wife knows how worked up I get about things in general and says that people enjoy seeing me getting cross. She decided that I might as well put all my negativity to good use, get people to pay me to be stroppy, and put the money towards a good cause. I am genuinely repelled by romantic comedies, she usually has to watch them by herself, so I think it was a good piece of revenge on her part!

JG: What was the worst film and why?

EG: Gigli is without a doubt one of the worst films ever made. It’s offensive on a huge number of levels, not least because they somehow got Al Pacino to read that awful script for 10 minutes straight. The scene with Christopher Walken was weirdly brilliant though, but for all the wrong reasons.

To be honest with you though, Bridget Jones’ Diary possibly offended me more, with Bridget constantly moaning about being fat when she only weighs 9 and a half stone! I think Renee Zellweger looked fantastic in that film, and her moaning about the amount of weight she put on for the role, as well as the constant jibes about her weight within the film, made me really quite depressed.

JG: What was the best film and why?

EG: When Harry Met Sally! It’s a wonderful, proper grown-up film. It reminded me of good Woody Allen, with genuinely brilliant writing that’s not afraid to be smart and post-modern without being too knowing. A story of a dysfunctional couple that’s both believable and hilarious, it properly brightened up the bleak 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM period. I’m annoyed that my prejudice against Rom-Coms meant that I’d gone so long without seeing it.

JG: How did you make it through?

EG: Lambrini mixes surprisingly well with Red Bull, it’s worth a try. I did actually drink far too much coffee at one point and have to go to the bathroom for a lie-down in between films. My wife made sure I made it back to the next one in time.

In all seriousness though, the amount of money people donated before the event was a terrific motivation. I’d have let many people down by falling asleep or giving up, which would have been awful and embarrassing. Being British, the fear of embarrassment is a great motivator.

JG: What changes did you notice in yourself as the challenge went on?

EG: Nausea played a big part, and reasonably alarming mood swings. The aforementioned coffee overdose made me feel genuinely awful, and I plunged into a mental low after Bridget Jones, so thank God for Billy Crystal cheering me up! Something I forgot from my student days is the odd mania that seizes you when you stay up for 24 hours, you stop feeling tired and feel oddly euphoric and lively. I felt like Jack Bauer on one of his days off.

JG: Why did you choose AVERT?

EG: AVERT’s focus on both treatment and education about HIV and AIDS is enormously appealing to me. There are many ways that people can contract the virus, and shame, stigma and complacency contribute to thousands of unnecessary deaths. The holistic view AVERT takes in tackling both prevention and treatment is a very mature approach, and keeping HIV and AIDS firmly in the public consciousness is, in my view, the best hope in helping halt its spread. Prevention and education as supported by AVERT is key in fighting complacency, rather than moralising, stigmatising victims or preaching abstinence, all of which are counter-productive, and I believe cost lives.

JG: What would be your top fundraising tip?

EG: Be original! And, if possible, suffer. My wife had scheduled a few genuinely good films like Juno and The Philadelphia Story, but when we saw that people were donating money because they wanted to see me miserable, she replaced them with some awful tat. People want to feel they’re getting value for their money, and if you’re comfortable and happy, they’re less likely to donate!

JG: Is there anything in particular you liked about using JustGiving?

EG: It’s brilliant because it goes straight to the charity. People can pledge to give you money, in which case you have to chase it up, or people can give you money to pay in yourself, but with total strangers they’re less likely to trust you. With Justgiving, people who didn’t have a clue who I was were able to donate quickly and easily through the Internet and know the money is going to the right place. I honestly don’t think I’d have raised half the money I did without Justgiving, it’s taken all the hassle out of fundraising. And the Gift Aid on top is a brilliant incentive too.

Fife GP Bob Grant - “Dr Bob” to his friends - recently completed an impressive 100 mile “Hop Across Scotland” to raise money for Maggie’s Centres. With the aid of his trusty crutches, Dr Bob walked from Bowling in Dumbartonshire to Kirkcaldy in Fife, visiting Maggie’s Centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Fife along the way.

This is Dr Bob’s third walk for charity and his second for Maggie’s Centres, which help people adjust to living with cancer by providing patients, families and friends with support in carefully designed centres located close to an NHS hospital.

Dr Bob’s influential career in the field of cancer has been intertwined with his own experiences ever since he was diagnosed with a non-Hodgkins lymphoma in his thigh bone at the age of just 15. In 2001, after a bad break, his leg problems returned, culminating in eventual amputation in 2002.

Cara Dodson, the Community Fundraiser for Maggie’s Fife had this to say about Dr Bob’s amazing achievement:

“Dr Bob is a phenomenal fundraiser. His enthusiasm and love of a challenge has encouraged people to get involved and join him on his ‘Hop’, raising thousands of pounds for his local Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Fife. We rely on public fundraising to run our network of Cancer Caring Centres across the UK. Dr Bob not only raises funds for Maggie’s, but also spreads the word about the free support we offer to people with cancer and their carers, family and friends. We are very thankful to him for his ongoing and tireless work.”

You can view Dr Bob’s JustGiving page and make a donation here, and you can see his photos and blog posts from the event at: www.bobswalk.co.uk.

It’s probably a bit of an understatement to describe social media consultant Christopher Thorpe as an “early adopter”. Chris recently returned from a four-day walking holiday in Austria during which he was raising money for the Child’s i Foundation, “lifestreaming” all the way. That is, Chris was using new technology - including an application he wrote himself - to update his donors with photos, tweets and his GPS location. You can view the results on Chris’s blog here.

Now, you might not have Chris’s technical expertise, but his story is still a great example of how you can use new technology like mobile phones with Internet connectivity to provide your donors with a more interactive fundraising process.

We asked Chris to give us the benefit of his experience.

JustGiving: What inspired you to do four walks in Austria for charity?

Christopher Thorpe: I really needed a holiday and so started planning one, but I’d also been deeply affected by some of the themes of the Activate Summit which I’d helped to set up at The Guardian. The summit was all about the deep societal impact that technology can have if it’s done well. However, the summit also had discussions about the challenges we must face up to such as disease, poverty, oppression and climate change. It struck me that there were many people in the world who would never know what a holiday was, so I wanted to do something good with my time as well as relaxing.

JG: Could you explain a bit about the technology you used on your walks to let people track your event from your website? What are some of the gadgets you used?

CT: I’ve got a couple of mobile phones which I was using for this. One is an Android phone for which I wrote a really simple application that sent my GPS location to a service I’d written, which in turn powered a live-updating Google map. I also used an iPhone 3GS to send and receive Twitter messages, and to send geotagged photos, and to collect GPS trails  - although it crashed as I was walking for so long! I also had Nike+ to give me an idea of how fast, slow, far I was going. The live map, tweets and photos were all pulled into the website as they were uploaded so people could see exactly what I was doing, seeing and feeling. I also used one of the JustGiving widgets so people could see my fundraising progress.

JG: Was it difficult finding signal strength to transmit your location data while you were on the walks? How often were you able to update your location?

CT: Signal strength actually wasn’t too bad. Getting a GPS fix was sometimes a bit tricky, especially in the shadow of some of the mountains, but on most of the walks I could update about once every ten minutes. It was reasonably well automated, but the software I wrote for the Android (in about 3 hours) was a bit crash-prone! I’ve now bought a book and will write it properly this time for the next fun project.

JG: Can you tell us a bit about Child’s I and why you chose to fundraise for them?

CT: They’re a totally wonderful charity for a many reasons. First of all, what they’re trying to do, to build a transitional babies home in Uganda is amazingly worthwhile. In Uganda violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS causes hundreds of babies to be dumped by their desperate mothers. As a father of a young son I just can’t sit still and not do something to help better the chances for these children. Second, I love Child’s I for being powered by volunteers. They’re a “crowdsourced” charity essentially. This keeps their costs and overheads very low which means they can do more with every pound you raise. They’re also great believers in the power of their supporters to be the charity’s voice rather than spending money on advertising. Finally, I love the way they’re using blogs, video, Twitter, Facebook and amazing bits of home grown technology like their totally amazing Buy A Brick website to raise awareness, build community and momentum, and raise money.

JG: Do you think using technology has helped you to raise more money?

CT: I think it did. I’d decided to do the walks a while ago and do them for charity, but due to a hectic work schedule I hadn’t had time to ask for sponsorship or build any of the tech until the week that I left for Austria. Many people sponsored from seeing what was going on live on the site and from me updating on Facebook and Twitter. It think it also raised awareness of the charity, which is important as it brings more potential helpers and donors into contact with the cause.

JG: If JustGiving could implement one piece of cool fundraising technology what would it be?

CT: I think making things a bit more real-time and bidirectional. There is a magical time when you are actually doing the sponsored event, where your supporters can send you messages of support and you can tell them exactly what you’re doing, either through sharing your location or by sending updates. I gained so much from talking to my supporters many miles away. Because I was sending messages and they were replying, it felt like they were with me when I needed them most.

On Tuesday night, at Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields Recreation Ground, teams from the Royal Marines and the Peninsula Medical school faced off in the Medics Rugby Challenge. In the crowd of around 1,700 people were the team’s respective sponsors, Scott Quinnell (ex-Llanelli Scarlets and The Lions) and Will Greenwood (ex-Harlequins and The Lions), as well as local celebrities including Plymouth-born actress Emma Pierson.

For added fundraising value there was also an Under-16s warm up game between Devonport Services and Ivybridge RFC, a raffle and an auction.

The event was organised by Surgeon Commander Anthony “Doc” Lambert. As surgeon in the Royal Navy, Doc has patched up his fair share of the casualties of war and is always amazed at the resilience of those servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty, as well as their drive and determination to recover.

Amazingly, the event has already raised nearly £21,000 - almost £6,000 more than Doc’s target! - which Help for Heroes will use to provide practical, direct support to military personnel wounded in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can view Doc’s JustGiving page and donate here.

You can find out more about Help for Heroes here.

Here a quick competition for Bonfire Night. Send us a photo of your Guy - before you burn him please! - and the best one will win a £50 donation to the charity of your choice.

What makes a impressive Guy? Well, it could be size, clothing, a humorous facial expression… Let your imagination run riot. This is one instance where nice Guys finish first.

When you’re ready, e-mail your photo to featured@justgiving.com with ‘Guy Fawkes Competition’ in the subject field. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, 11th November.