5.02.2006 ET

(CSRwire) Washington, DC- Care2 (www.care2.com), the online community of 6 million progressive people, today announced the opening of its first office in Washington, DC to forge closer ties with more than 150 nonprofit organizations that rely on Care2 as a vital source of dedicated members, donors and volunteers.

"Creating a presence in the nation's capital is an important, logical next step for Care2," said CEO Randy Paynter, who founded Care2 in 1998 to empower people who want to lead healthy lives and make a difference. "Many leading nonprofit organizations are headquartered in Washington, so establishing a presence there enables Care2 to better serve them and our millions of members who want to support the great social causes of our time."

Leading the new Care2 office is Clinton O'Brien, who joined Care2 last year as its Vice President of Business Development. O'Brien brings 15 years of media industry experience, including a career as an award-winning journalist for Newsweek, the Associated Press and daily newspapers, as well as several years working in New Media at book publisher Bantam Doubleday Dell and seven years at the nonprofit Public Broadcasting Service, where he led the PBS Adult Learning Service. O'Brien holds an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School and a BA from Brown University.

"By uniting so many motivated activists, Care2 has become a unique and ideal partner for progressive organizations seeking grassroots support for their causes -- from promoting equal opportunity to education, health and a free press, to protecting wildlife and the environment, to advancing the rights of workers, women and minorities," O'Brien said. "Now that Care2 has its own Washington presence, we will build even stronger partnerships with leading nonprofit organizations."

Among the growing ranks of Care2's nonprofit partners are such dynamic groups as Defenders of Wildlife, Amnesty International, The Humane Society of the United States, Women's Funding Network, Oceana, WGBH, Consumers Union, MercyCorps, Oxfam, Common Cause, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Civil Liberties Union, AFL-CIO's Working America affiliate, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, American Lung Association and many more.

Also helping to lead the Washington office is Andrew Stocking, who is Care2's VP of Nonprofit Strategy. Stocking joined Care2 in 2000 and led business development until last year, playing a pivotal role in helping the company to achieve financial success while advancing progressive causes. He holds an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a BS in Chemical Engineering, both from Stanford University.

Strengthening Care2's new Washington team are Heather Holdridge, who joined the company last fall as Director of Political Advocacy, and Justin Perkins, who joined Care2 this year as Care2's Manager of Business Development.

Holdridge spent six years working for consulting firm CTSG, where she served as Online Organizing Director, planning and executing campaigns for political organizations and other nonprofits. She also created and built CTSG's creative multimedia unit. Holdridge previously worked for the nonprofit group Project Vote Smart. In her new role, she is focused on mobilizing Care2's highly engaged members to support a variety of political organizations and causes. She holds a degree from Tufts University.

Justin Perkins, who joined Care2 in January, is a former Colorado state water resources administrator, as well as a social entrepreneur, with an MBA from the University of Colorado. He manages and edits frogloop.com, Care2's Web site for nonprofit online professionals, as well as Care2's new project, MovingIdeas.org, an online community site that provides in-depth information about progressive issues from the nonprofits that support them.

Based in Redwood City, California, Care2 is the leading online destination and action center for people with a passion for leading a healthy, responsible lifestyle and supporting progressive causes. Together with its millions of members, Care2 is building a powerful network of online communities to collectively make a difference in the most important social, health and environmental causes of our time. Care2 also hosts ThePetitionSite.com, which generates millions of advocacy letters to decision makers each year, as well as Moving Ideas Network (www.movingideas.org), which brings together180 leading progressive nonprofits that contribute content, action alerts and other resources to the site.

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