Congratulations to the winners of the first annual PPA Charities Portrait Awards! These photographers joined in the effort to raise money for Operation Smile via the Celebration of Smiles Day nationwide fundraiser, and the images that they created were definitely applause-worthy. Check them out!

"These funds will go a long way toward meeting our 2012 goal of raising $100,000 for this wonderful organization," says PPA Charities President Mary Fisk-Taylor. As of August 1, PPA Charities' 2012 fundraising total stands at $72,180.

Let's put that in perspective. What does this money actually mean? Because Operation Smile's medical professionals and support staff volunteer their services, it costs only $240 to provide a simple cleft lip surgery to a child in desperate need. In other words, the funds raised by PPA members so far in 2012 mean that over 300 smiles will be saved! Now THAT's something to smile about.

Celebrating Smiles Now & Next Year
The 2012 Celebration of Smiles Day promotion offered consumers a mini session and a 5x7 professional portrait in exchange for a donation to Operation Smile of only $24. So for every 10 sessions photographed by a participating studio, another smile could be saved by the volunteer professionals of Operation Smile. The official date for the event was April 21, but studios that had commitments on that date were allowed to conduct the fundraiser on alternate dates in April or May.

Next year's Celebration of Smiles Day is scheduled for April 6, 2013. PPA members who participated this year will automatically receive information about the 2013 fundraiser. Others who would like to participate in 2013 should email PPA Charities Executive Director Bert Behnke.

Now, before you jump to the next news bite, join us in a big round of applause for PPA Charities and all the kindhearted PPA photographers who participated in the 2012 event. Top donors were Ryan & Erica Manthey of Pure 7 Studios in Florida, who contributed a whopping $3,813. In addition, the following Top 20 donors contributed between $1,440 and $600:

• Ryan & Erica Manthey - Pure 7 Studios, Miramar Beach, FL
• Laurie Weaver - Treetales Photography, Austin, TX
• Tara Olsen - Tara Rochelle Photography, Santa Clarita, CA
• Jeff Ebert - Ebert Studio, Oak Park, IL
• Susan Hoermann - Evergreen Studios, Austin, TX
• Vicki Hultsman - Seasons Photography, Rice Lake, WI
• Krish & Mark Kiefer - VIP Gallery, Waconia, MN
• Zaida D. Parkes - Parkes Photography, Stratford, CT
• Meredith Wilcke - Meredith Wilcke Photography, Winter Park, FL
• Lauren Vicars - Portraits by Lauren, Plano, TX
• Wendy Waddell - Wendy Waddell Photography, Marina del Rey, CA
• Tanya Boggs - 255 St. Phillip St., Charleston, SC
• Damian Battinelli - Damian Battinelli Photography, Plattsburg, NY
• Charlotte Bowles - CLB Photography, S. Attleboro, MA
• Larry Lourcey - Lourcey Photography, Plano, TX
• Clark Sanders - Clark Sanders Photography, Inc., Cherokee Village, AR
• Courtney Trembler - Soul Focus Photography, Salem, MA
• Paul & Julie Wood - Paul Wood Photography, Slidell, LA
• Meggan Harper - Meggan Harper Photography, Ormond Beach, FL
• Melanie Anderson - Anderson Photographs, Hagerstown, MD
• Trusa Patel - Luce Photography, Southlake, TX

PPA Chairman of the Board Don Dixon and his wife, Charlcey, show their support for PPA Charities' Celebration of Smiles Day.

Celebration of Smiles is PPA Charities' newest fundraising event (April 21), where you can help raise money for Operation Smile while increasing your community's awareness of your business. To help you make the most of the event, PPA Charities is supplying predesigned marketing materials, an entire marketing guide, and weekly countdown emails to keep you on track.

And if you don't register now, you'll miss out on the first of those helpful countdown emails!

As soon as you register with a simple $25 donation, your studio name and website link will be placed on the Celebration of Smiles consumer website. Within a week, you will receive that Celebration of Smiles Marketing Guide that takes you step-by-step through how to market, prepare for and execute your promotion, along with predesigned promotional elements and materials you can use to market to your clients and prospects.
 
What's more, you can participate in the PPA Charities' Portrait Awards to win great prizes and recognition, exclusive to Celebration of Smiles participants. Plus, you might even win the opportunity to document an Operation Smile Mission!
 
Register and learn all about Celebration of Smiles--and why it's such a worthy event--by visiting ppacharities.com.

Only PPA members are invited to participate in this charitable, promotional event. Not a PPA member? It's easy to join at this link: ppa.com/joinppa.  

Whether you are an old hand at charitable marketing or want to get started but don't know how, now's your chance! PPA Charities, in association with Marathon Press, offers the perfect opportunity to gain new clients and repeat business through a brand-new charitable marketing event. As a PPA member, you can participate in "Celebration of Smiles," set for April 21, 2012. (Or choose another day that works for you.)

What It Is
Participating photographers will host an event where clients donate a minimum of $24 for a portrait mini session and desk-sized portrait, and 100% of donations go to support Operation Smile. This worldwide children's medical charity (focusing on facial deformities) can perform a surgery for as little as $240. So, for every 10 sessions a studio photographs during this Celebration of Smiles event, one child will receive the life-changing gift of surgery.

Think how many smiles you could help save by joining in this one-day event! Think how your name recognition and repeat business could grow! (Plus, you might even win the opportunity to document an Operation Smile Mission!)

Get Involved
Register with only a $25 PPA Charities donation, and you'll receive . . .

• The Celebration of Smiles Marketing Guide that takes you step-by-step through how to market, prepare for and execute your promotion. (You'll also get predesigned promotional elements and materials for marketing to your clients and prospects.)
• Your studio name and website link on the Celebration of Smiles consumer website.
• Weekly "timeline" emails, so you'll stay on track with marketing and operating your promotion.

Learn more and register at ppacharities.com.

Not a PPA member, but want to take part in the Celebration of Smiles? It's easy to join: ppa.com/joinppa.

For more information contact:
Bert Behnke
20600 S. Old Wolf Road
Mokena, IL 60448
(708) 267-0657
bbehnke@ppa.com

PPA Charities is hosting their annual PPA Charities Celebration at Imaging USA (January 14 at 8:00pm), and their auction this year includes some pretty amazing items. Personal one-on-one education from industry leaders. Educational retreats to Texas School (even to sold-out classes) and beyond. Breathtaking art pieces. A seven-day dream vacation to Cabo San Jose, Mexico. Sounds pretty amazing, right?

These "Spotlight Packages" range from $1,200 - $6,000 in value, and for the first time ever, you can start bidding early! Jump online, browse the choices, determine which ones speak to you most, and bid to make it yours (and help PPA Charities and Operation Smile, to boot).  See the list and learn how the pre-bidding process works here.

Ready to help a child smile? It's easier than ever with PPA Charities' Double Smiles Month for Operation Smile. Now your $240 donation will save TWO smiles, not just one!

A small group has issued a challenge to all PPA members to help raise $25,000 by the end of 2011. This "PPACH Leadership Circle" pledges to match, dollar for dollar, all PPA member contributions up to a total of $25,000! Plus, that $240 donation earns you the title of PPA Charities Operation Smile Studio (and all the resources that come with it). Learn more about this charity, the challenge and how you can help: www.PPAcharities.com 

Many photographers helped PPA Charities commemorate 11.11.11 (also Veteran's Day) by raising over $7,750 for Operation Smile on that special day. PPA Charities President Mary Fisk-Taylor adds, "To all who donated, you helped prove how much photographers care for others. We thank you for your generosity." Don't worry, there are more chance to help Operation Smile this year--just visit ppacharities.com!

And don't forget to celebrate charity and take part in the auction at the PPA Charities Celebration at Imaging USA.

Every day, thousands of children suffer with facial deformities. Make 11.11.11 the day you help such children smile again!

You can when you help PPA Charities meet its Operation Smile fundraising goal this year by 11.11.11. A unique date like this comes around only every 100 years. So, make it count by designating it your fundraising day--your day to save smiles! If every PPA member donated just $11.11 on that day, we would raise enough money for over 1,000 children to receive the facial surgeries performed by Operation Smile's medical volunteers (doubling our previous donations)!

Every little bit can help save a smile. Plus, donations of $111.11 and above will receive a PPA Charities t-shirt AND the chance to meet and greet Dr. Magee, founder of Operation Smile, at the PPA Charities Celebration at Imaging USA! The more you donate, the more smiles you'll help save (and gifts you'll earn). Go to www.PPAcharities.com for details.

Donate now to save smiles on 11.11.11!

Every day, thousands of children suffer with facial deformities. Make 11.11.11 the day you help such children smile again!

You can when you help PPA Charities meet its Operation Smile fundraising goal this year by 11.11.11. A unique date like this comes around only every 100 years. So, make it count by designating it your fundraising day--your day to save smiles! If every PPA member donated just $11.11 on that day, we would raise enough money for over 1,000 children to receive the facial surgeries performed by Operation Smile's medical volunteers (doubling our previous donations)!

Every little bit can help save a smile. Plus, donations of $111.11 and above will receive a PPA Charities t-shirt AND the chance to meet and greet Dr. Magee, founder of Operation Smile, at the PPA Charities Celebration at Imaging USA! The more you donate, the more smiles you'll help save (and gifts you'll earn). Go to www.PPAcharities.com for details.

Donate now to save smiles on 11.11.11!

Join photographer David Ziser and Animoto on a Photo Walk through New York City! The suggested donation is $20/person, and proceeds will go to PPA Charities in support of Operation Smile. There are only 50 tickets available. Get yours now: http://bit.ly/nDVYdw.