By now everyone’s heard about Bill Gates’ charitable endeavors and the enormous sums of money he’s giving away. But did you know that you can get involved, too, now? With Microsoft’s new “I’m Making a Difference” program, you can now donate money to one of 9 different charities every time you use their new instant-messaging service. (Hence the IM in I’m. er, the I’m in IM?) National AIDS Fund, Sierra Club, StopGlobalWarming.org, and the U.S. Fund for Unicef are a few of the beneficiaries on the list.

The best part about it: in the tradition of Goodsearch.com, (which is still my favorite search engine) making a difference doesn’t cost you one penny!

Check it out at http://im.live.com