American Idol announced today that it will host the third-ever “Idol Gives Back” charity special on April 21, 2010 — and Malaria No More has been chosen as a beneficiary!!!

“Idol Gives Back” has raised millions of dollars to help fight malaria and shown millions of Idol fans across the country that every individual can be a hero in the fight against malaria.

Thanks to Idol and the generous sponsorship of ExxonMobil, we have distributed mosquito nets in Uganda, Zambia, Angola, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and strengthened our programs in Africa to save lives.

We have traveled to Africa with Idol alums Jordin Sparks and Melinda Doolittle and worked with Elliott Yamin and Brooke White to help raise awareness.

We’re looking forward to another great “Idol Gives Back” in 2010!

Saint Isabel Orphanage and School (OSCI) in Luanda, Angola was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from ExxonMobil to help improve their facilities to better fight malaria and protect the children that stay there.

In addition, and in conjunction with American Idol finalist Elliott Yamin’s performance at the 1st Annual Washington Ideas Forum today, the ExxonMobil grant will also cover the launch of an art-based malaria prevention education program at OSCI.

Elliot, a champion in the fight against malaria, said:
When I visited Angola as part of Idol Gives Back, I saw how devastating malaria is in Africa and that there are some basic actions we can take to save lives. Saint Isabel provides hope and new lives for the children of Luanda, and I am very honored to support its efforts.

ExxonMobil does a lot of amazing work in the malaria space and we’re proud to work closely with them to end malaria deaths in Africa. Thanks to their support through American Idol’s Idol Gives Back, we’ve been able to expand our programs in Africa by strengthening country capacity and improving the delivery and use of malaria interventions.

We’ll continue to track the progress being made at OCSI and you can too by visiting their site.

Our friends over at Twitter tell us that today is Charity Tuesday (#charitytuesday, in Twitter-speak), so the Twitterverse is alive and well with people Tweeting about their favorite charities and helping raise awareness about some really great causes!

Malaria No More is proud to work and partner with some really wonderful organizations and would like to honor them—not just on #charitytuesday, but every day!

Idol Gives Back has done incredible work to highlight issues at home in the U.S. and internationally, including the fight against malaria. In two years, Idol Gives Back raised $29 million to end malaria deaths in Africa.

Our partnership with U.S. Fund for UNICEF is helping distribute more than two million nets in sub-Saharan Africa. in addition, the U.S. Fund is appealing to its supporters in a matching campaign, showing that together we can send twice as many mosquito nets to families in need.

Plus a special thank you to many of the grassroots organizations that help us achieve our mission!

And what list would be complete without a (biased) shout-out to some of our favorite organizations? Malaria No More’s global affiliate network, including Malaria No More UK, Malaria No More Netherlands and Malaria No More Canada, plus the Malaria Policy Center, are part of the continuing global effort to end malaria deaths.

A week ago, Malaria Foundation International announced its picks for the 2008 End Malaria Awards, which recognize noteworthy efforts and achievements in the fight against malaria in 2007.

Malaria No More is honored to have been named the “Roll Back Malaria Partnership Advocate of the Year”, for engaging the public and private sector and raising funds for the fight against malaria in our first year as an organization.

We were also thrilled to see that Melinda Doolittle was named “Singer of the Year” for her efforts to raise awareness about malaria with Malaria No More and through a trip to Zambia with First Lady Laura Bush in 2007.  Melinda has been a strong supporter of Malaria No More ever since.

Also recognized as “Performance of the Year” was American Idol Gives Back, the charity special that raised over $17 million for malaria in 2007 and helped millions of Americans learn what they could do to help end malaria deaths.

Many thanks to our partners at MFI for this wonderful award!

American Idol’s 2008 charity special, “Idol Gives Back”, announced today that it raised $64 million for worthy causes, including Malaria No More.

Tens of millions of Americans watched the Emmy-winning program in April and learned how to join the fight against malaria by donating a simple $10 mosquito net that can save a life.

American Idol winner David Cook presented Malaria No More’s check, on behalf of “Idol Gives Back” and corporate sponsor ExxonMobil, to soccer superstar David Beckham. Beckam accepted the check on MNM’s behalf and thanked millions of Americans for their support.

See the video of the check presentation here.

Malaria No More CEO Scott Case said, ““By helping us provide life-saving mosquito nets, American Idol fans are helping mothers in Africa keep their children safe from malaria. The generosity of “Idol Gives Back” and ExxonMobil show that Americans refuse to accept preventable deaths. Together with the help of committed individuals and groups like these, we can make malaria no more.”

Additional beneficiaries included Children’s Defense Fund; Children’s Health Fund; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Make It Right; and Save the Children. Read the press release for more details.