Don't forget to be awesome: It's the rallying cry of the nerdfighters, simply defined as fans of the Vlogbrothers, a YouTube channel with over 1.5 million subscribers run by Hank and John Green.
Not so simply, nerdfighters are members of a community complete with its own signature hand sign, slang ("French the Llama!") and determination to decrease world suck.
Nerdfighters are also, of course, made of awesome. And for the past six years on Dec. 17 and 18, this global community gathers where it all started, YouTube, for the aptly named Project for Awesome.
Project for Awesome, or P4A as thumbnails for the project read, began in 2007, almost a year after the Vlogbrother's channel launched, and only two years after YouTube itself was founded. That first year, the Green brothers encouraged nerdfighters to create videos about charities they cared about. Each video had the same thumbnail, leading the P4A thumbnail to dominate the now-defunct browse page.
"YouTube was caught pretty off guard by the first P4A, but ever since then they've been hugely supportive," Hank Green told Mashable. "Basically, if there's a way for them to help us, they help."

Every December, nerdfighters and other members of the YouTube community create videos about their favorite charities, still using the thumbnail uploaded on the P4A website. On Dec. 17 and 18, YouTube viewers watch the videos submitted to the Project for Awesome website and comment on their favorites. John and Hank host a live stream that runs for the full 48 hours, throughout which, YouTube celebrities intermittently stop by.
Once the votes are tallied, the money raised and collected in the newly-official 501(c)3 charity The Foundation to Decrease World is distributed among the top ten ranking charities.
The major fundraising source for this whole project is through IndieGoGo. Last year's campaign, which featured perks like a men of YouTube calendar and nerdfighter bottle cap necklaces, raised nearly $400,000 — or 397 percent of its original goal. The rest of the money is raised by anonymous donors and taken from the sales of certain items at DFTBA.com, a site attached to Hank's Youtube record label that also sells Youtuber merchandise.

For some charities, Project for Awesome can make all the difference for their visibility and reach. When Tab for a Cause, a Chrome extension that lets your open web browser tabs become money for charities, participated in 2011's P4A, the startup saw their user count jump from a few hundred to thousands. "I had never really made a video where I am myself in front of the camera," says Tab for a Cause co-founder Alex Groth, who spent hours filming and editing his submission. (Groth adds that he's a bit of a perfectionist.) "The most rewarding part was seeing the positive response to the video and the comments about our project." A year later, Tabs for a Cause had more than 10 videos made on its behalf, including ones created by well-known vloggers Haley G. Hoover and Alex Carpenter.

While it might be intimating to upload your video into a pool of creators with more experience and editing skills, it's important to remember that everyone is there for the same reason: To raise awareness about worthy charities. If you want to participate in Project for Awesome this year by making a video, Hank Green offers some simple advice: "Think about your audience. Who are they, what are you pitching to them? How is watching your video going to make their lives better...how will supporting the organization in the video make the world better?" Image: Project for Awesome Topics: charity, Conversations, vlogbrothers, Watercooler, YouTube
For some charities, Project for Awesome can make all the difference for their visibility and reach.
When Tab for a Cause, a Chrome extension that lets your open web browser tabs become money for charities, participated in 2011's P4A, the startup saw their user count jump from a few hundred to thousands.
"I had never really made a video where I am myself in front of the camera," says Tab for a Cause co-founder Alex Groth, who spent hours filming and editing his submission. (Groth adds that he's a bit of a perfectionist.) "The most rewarding part was seeing the positive response to the video and the comments about our project."
A year later, Tabs for a Cause had more than 10 videos made on its behalf, including ones created by well-known vloggers Haley G. Hoover and Alex Carpenter.

While it might be intimating to upload your video into a pool of creators with more experience and editing skills, it's important to remember that everyone is there for the same reason: To raise awareness about worthy charities. If you want to participate in Project for Awesome this year by making a video, Hank Green offers some simple advice: "Think about your audience. Who are they, what are you pitching to them? How is watching your video going to make their lives better...how will supporting the organization in the video make the world better?" Image: Project for Awesome Topics: charity, Conversations, vlogbrothers, Watercooler, YouTube
While it might be intimating to upload your video into a pool of creators with more experience and editing skills, it's important to remember that everyone is there for the same reason: To raise awareness about worthy charities.
If you want to participate in Project for Awesome this year by making a video, Hank Green offers some simple advice:
"Think about your audience. Who are they, what are you pitching to them? How is watching your video going to make their lives better...how will supporting the organization in the video make the world better?"
Image: Project for Awesome