Banner Ads to Support Haiti

UPDATE 1: @decappeal have been in touch with official banners.

UPDATE 2: Please use #techhaiti in tweets & blogs, tech volunteers and Crisis Camp.

I was working late when the news started to come in about the earthquake in Haiti. The sense of something major unfolding on an unimaginable scale reminded me of listening to the radio as I heard reports of the tsunami.

What can you do? Put your hand in your pocket. Done.

Next up, spread the word using the channels at your disposal. For me, one of these is using the advertising space on Chinwag.com for worthy causes. We've helped Do The Green Thing in the past and using the space to help promote donations is a no-brainer.

I did a lot of searching for banners to use, as I'm conscious of copyright and keeping everything legit when there's money involved. I tried Twitter to no effect and then through LinkedIn, was pointed in the direction of Oxfam Ireland who have a page full of banners (congratulations to their comms team for turning this round so quickly).

Unfortunately, none of them fit the size used on Chinwag (MPU - 300x250), so I've mustered my meagre design skills (and that's probably overstating the case) to create a banner that'll have to do in the meantime:

This banner and the one on Chinwag are linked through to Disasters Emergency Committee (the UK organisation that coordinates numerous charities):

https://www.donate.bt.com/dec_form_haiti.html?p_form_id=DHEA60

So, apologies on the copyright front. And apologies to designers everywhere, please feel free to use the Photoshop PSD or do create something better and share it here in the comments, or anywhere in fact. I'll catalogue them here if it's helps spread the word.

Oh, and as President Clinton put it, "give money".

UPDATE 1: Jamie from @decappeal got in touch with the official DEC banners

They have banners available in lots of handy sizes:

• 120x60
• 120x600
• 150x150
• 160x600
• 300x250
• 360x200
• 468x60
• 728x90

UPDATE 2: #techhaiti, Techcrunch's call for tech volunteers and Crisis Camp

@mikebutcher over at TechCrunch has posted a call for "Tech companies can Help Haiti, so get on this list and use #TechHaiti on Twitter". Using the #TechHaiti hashtag sounds like a smart move for keeping track of everything.

Also found out about a kick-off meeting for Crisis Camp London, on Thursday. It's a free event and aims to use social media "facilitate[s] partnerships and maintains a network of technology volunteers to respond to specific needs".