Not yet! We have a plenty of great submissions!

Winners will be announced on Monday, July 7. Five great lenses will get Lens of the Day Monday through Friday. We won’t let Independence Day steal your thunder!

Judging is going to be tough – send your lenses in if you haven’t yet to superhero@squidoo.com

Way to go guys!

Until tomorrow at might night Superheros can keep coming in!

Remeber to submit all five submissions to superhero@squidoo.com

$500 is just wiaitng to be claimed

See ComfortDoc’s great lens for some great examples!

Five days left in the Superhero contest!

There have been amazing submissions thus far, ranging from parents and grandparents to rockstars and politicians. Some of you may have a couple of lenses out together and you had a few days left for the finishing touches.

Have you thought about

• one about your dog whose wagging tail greets you when you get home?
• one about the person who always greets with a smile, doesn’t that just make your day?
• one about the people who champion the causes worth fighting for?
• one on your pastor/rabbi/minister/yoga teacher? Whoever makes your soul work as hard as your brain!
• one about the people who know how to fix levies – superheros to those out in Iowa for sure

The personal, the life-changing, the fun, the awws all count.

ComfortDoc did a great job on rounding on some great ideas – have a look!

Have some fun on a Friday afternoon.

Ever play the “What if” game? What if you were stranded on a desert island? What if you could travel anywhere? what if you had a million dollars? The game is always a great conversation starter.

Squidoo is also a great conversation starter. Tell a story using pictures, RSS feeders, books, links, something from Ebay, host a debate, ask the community to pipe in on guest comments.

To me the Superhero Contest is the best of Squidoo and the best of the What If game.  What if you could tell a great story and win $500 for your favorite charity?

Well you can! Make another superhero lens today!

We have always been told patience is a virtue. Taught to wait our turn in line. But why?

I have worked for several charities; unfortunately they are all the same. Marketing takes the back seat to everything else and is woefully misunderstood. The least relevant project requires an enormous amount of time and attention.  The amount of time, labor and money put into things like brochures and annual reports is embarrassing. And for what? For them to sit out on the reception table in the main office? Get mailed (at exorbitant postal costs) to all the members and donors for them to thrown them out? Dumped without even a second look. Maybe I am the exception but I only starting looking at annual reports and brochures when I started working for charities. I read my college’s glossy, full color, full of text annual report purely out of sympathy for the person who put it together. Some places put an entire year into putting these “marketing pieces” together!

Unfortunately charities are as slow as molasses when it comes to change. They do what has worked in the past (like put a return envelope in that glossy annual report so the reader can send in a check – I never have and never would) because it worked before. Why change? Why try something different?

As passionate interested parties, should we wait for them to change? To adopt the internet as a viable means for sharing their mission and the great stories they have? Patience is a virtue but this is one instance where it is detrimental.

We should show them how it’s done. This is what the Squido Superhero Project is all about. Lenses like this one on Carolyn Dailey, the CEO and President of ASCEND is better than any annual report or brochure I’ve ever seen. Why? Because it’s personal. The lensmaster is sharing why she cares about the cause and why that cause is important. It is personal. It is real. It is authentic.

This is how change will happen. Lensmasters will demand better and instead of waiting for the charity to do it they will take action themselves.

Be impatient. Don’t wait.

Only a week left in the Superhero Contest. Start making change now.

OK, I’ll admit it.

These Superhero lenses are harder than they seem.

Since the idea was born I have been thinking of my sister, certainly a Superhero. She is a teacher, a wife and a mom. And a sister! She teaches the fourth grade in the south Bronx, the poorest Congressional district in the U.S., in one of the worst performing schools in the city. She shines in this school. Parents request that their students be placed with her because year after year her class is the the best behaved, highest performing in the school. No accident for the born teacher!

It is a challenge to put this in a lens… so much can seem daunting!

JagarJulie shows us how it’s done with her Superhero lens on teachers

It’s about her teachers, yes, but also that all teachers make a lifetime impact. If that’s not super, I don’t know what is! Thanks JaguarJulie!

I have a favorite charity because I think what they do is important. To me, their reach, their impact is real. Over the years I have gotten to know some of the people who work in my favorite charity because, as I mentioned in an earlier post, fundraising is personal. I want to know that the people in charge of my favorite charity are good stewards of the gifts I can give them.

Would I like to give my favorite charity $500? Of course I would! They would appreciate it (and me!) very much. Can I do that right now? No.

Instead yesterday I called them and told them about the Superhero Contest. Not just so that they can be in the running to win $500 (which is great!) but also so that they have a presence on Squidoo. They should use Squidoo to tell their story, engage an audience and raise some funds.

Squidoo is new to them but not new to me. I am going to help them set up some lenses. Hopefully they will get as addicted as I am! And it the long run it will help them with visibility but also raise some much needed cash.

Anyone reading this blog is an experienced, excellent lensmaster. What would happen if YOU went to your favorite nonprofit and asked them to build a Superhero lens?

It would count towards your submission of five (as long as I know they come through you!) and it is a great way to get your favorite nonprofit on Squidoo

I’ll let you know how I do with my favorite charity. Let me know how you do with yours!

Are the Superheros on Squidoo’s best kept secret? No way!

Superheroes are meant to be shared. Some of the lenses posted so far are truly inspirational. How can we not share stories like widows of 9/11

Share your superhero story not only with me but with the person or organization the lens is about. And share it with the Squidoo community! You can inspire someone else. What better way to say thanks to your superheroes?

Giant Blogs. Giant Ideas.

BDKZ has mentioned the Superhero on her blog as have the Giant Squid Organizers.

Great advice from some of the best!

How about a little competition?

I have lots of brothers so I am used to a competitive atmosphere. Does competition help? Get the juices flowing?

Game on. Lens of the Day is going to feature the Superhero project. Seth featured it on his blog yesterday. Word is getting out there! Get your lenses in before the rush!