In the mood to give to your favorite charity this holiday season but just don’t have the dough this year? Why not try third party giving? What the heck is that, you may ask? Well in this case, it’s an option where YOU VOTE for your favorite charity and if they get the most votes, someone ELSE will give them a ton of money.

You know, kind of like American Idol……where you decide what matters. Sound too good to be true? Well it's not.

This past week, Chase Bank launched an amazing philanthropic program. It will give a total of five million dollars to charities over the next two months, all based on votes cast by the public through a portal they have set up on Facebook.

The project is being called Chase Community Giving. It really does sound almost too good to be true, but maybe Chase has just decided to give a little back after all the bad press from the bailouts earlier this year?

An Advisory Board, made up of experts from a wide range of backgrounds and philanthropic areas, will oversee the voting process, screen the finalists, and have the pleasure of awarding some of the grand prizes.

To be eligible, charities must fall under non-profit status 501(c)(3), have an operating budget below $10 million, and cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, medical condition, citizenship, ancestry or marital status. That about covers every possible angle, and quite honestly, might narrow the playing field quite a bit. There are a few additional requirements a charity will have to clear to be deemed officially eligible. Awards will go to up to 108 charities total.

Here is an outline of the donation plan, as described on their Facebook page:

Round 1: Chase will donate $25,000 to each of the 100 Charities receiving the most votes in Round 1, provided all eligibility requirements and standards have been met. Those Charities will be announced on the Chase Community Giving Page, as well as through the Chase Community Giving application on or about 12/15/09. Voting began Nov 15th and will be available through Dec 11th at midnight.

Round 2: Chase will donate $1,000,000 to the Round 2 Charity receiving the most votes and will donate $100,000 to the five runners up, provided all eligibility requirements and standards have been met. Those Charities will be announced on the Chase Community Giving Page, as well as through the Chase Community Giving application on or about 02/01/10. Voting for Round 2 will start Jan 15th and run through midnight, Jan 22nd.

The Chase Community Giving Advisory Board will also select one or more nominated Charities to receive donations with a combined total of $1,000,000. The chosen Charities will be announced on February 8, 2010.

Here is where you come in. Log In to Facebook and search for Chase Community Giving as you would search for a friend. Become a fan. Read all the details of the program. Search for a charity on their site, or come up with a list of charities here in San Diego or anywhere else that pull firmly at your heart strings, and then VOTE. Get your friends to vote. Vote again for another charity. It will become addicting.

You can vote once per round for an individual charity, but you are allowed to vote for 20 different charities in round 1, and 5 different charities in round 2! Be advised you can’t roll over votes like minutes on a cell phone plan, so make each vote count!

There are hundreds of charities to choose from right here in San Diego. The Center. San Diego Pride. Mama's Kitchen. Auntie Helen's. Just GET INVOLVED and VOTE for your FAVORITE CHARITY today.