i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live™ Messenger. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. We've set no cap on the amount we'll donate to each organization. The sky's the limit. There's no charge, so join now and put our money where your mouth is.

i’m is about making a difference. Not in a huge expensive way, not in a time-consuming way. But in a simple, effective way.

You won't have to change your conversation to change the conversation. With every instant message you help address the issues you feel most passionate about, including poverty, child protection, disease, and environmental degradation. It's simple. All you have to do is join and start an instant messaging conversation. We'll handle the donation.

Once you've signed up, every ad you see in your message window contributes to the grand total we send to the causes.

Please visit IM.Live.com for more information and to sign up...

Note: At the moment this is a US only offering, but hopefully we'll see it spread around the world soon.

I wonder if this was inspired by the old hoax emails saying that if you forward the email, Bill Gates or Microsoft will donate a sum of money to charity. It’s almost comical, because that is now true to a certain degree.