Since our beginning, Twitter has been committed to giving back through community involvement and social responsibility. When we launched our advertising platform in April 2010 with Promoted Tweets, we started with just six advertisers -- and two charities. Since then we’ve offered 501(c)(3) non-profits a way to participate through an ongoing pro-bono program that grants them Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts. To date, more than 50 organizations worldwide have received pro-bono ads amounting to over $300,000 worth of donated advertising on our platform.

Over time, we’ve added more offerings for non-profits such as account verification and crisis relief grants to help escalate relief fundraising when disasters strike. After seeing the success of early campaigns such as Twestival and the Red Cross’ text to give effort, which raised over $1 million for earthquake relief in Haiti and topped global trends, it was clear from the start that Twitter is a platform that lends itself to cause and action.

Today we’re expanding our pro-bono ads program - now called Twitter Ads for Good - and unveiling a new fund designated for non-profits in our hometown of San Francisco. By providing grants for San Francisco organizations, we’re extending a hand to the non-profits that work hard to make our city a better place to live.

To apply for a Twitter Ads for Good campaign, complete this contact form and detail how your organization would benefit from one of these grants. For an FAQ on these programs, please see here and follow @twittergood for the global highlights.

We are thrilled to highlight six non-profit organizations, in addition to 21 exclusive advertising partners, as part of the launch of enhanced profile pages, which we announced last week. See how these organizations come to life on Twitter with their enhanced profile pages: @kiva, @jobsforusa, @roomtoread, @globalcitizenyr, @redcross, @gaffta.

Earlier today we announced a new version of Twitter that makes it easier for users to discover what’s happening now. As part of this release, we are introducing enhanced profile pages that help marketers create an even more compelling destination on Twitter for their brands.

Communicating with users isn't just about what you say. It’s also about how you say it. Now, your profile page does more to help you make an impression with a large header image for displaying your logo, tagline, and any other visuals.

You can also control the message visitors see when they first come to your profile page by promoting a Tweet to the top of your page’s timeline. This Tweet helps you highlight your most engaging and important content and better connect with your target audience. The Promoted Tweet on your profile page will appear auto-expanded so that visitors to your page can instantly see the photo or video content that you link to from your Tweet.

This page and the Promoted Tweet are both free of charge and publicly accessible for the whole world to see. Your profile page is your own - your colors, your logo, and your messaging.

We are thrilled to launch the new enhanced profile page exclusively with 21 advertising partners and select charities and individuals. See how these brands are taking flight with their enhanced profile pages: @AmericanExpress, @BestBuy, @bing, @chevrolet, @CocaCola, @Dell, @DisneyPixar, @generalelectric, @Heineken, @HP, @intel, @JetBlue, @Kia, @McDonalds, @nikebasketball, @NYSE_Euronext, Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible – @GhostProtocol, @pepsi, @Staples, @subwayfreshbuzz, and @VerizonWireless. You’ll need to use the new version of Twitter to see these enhanced profile pages.

We will slowly roll out enhanced profile pages to a wider audience of brands in the coming months. To learn more go to fly.twitter.com/ads. To learn how to get the new version of Twitter, go to fly.twitter.com.

RT for a good cause. Each retweet sends 50¢ to help kids in foster care. #TreatItFwd

— Wendy's (@Wendys) June 15, 2011

And the winner of the 2011 Golden Tweet Award is...@Wendys!

The most retweeted Tweet this year — which we honor each year with the Golden Tweet award — was from @Wendys. This Tweet, one of more than 60 billion Tweets people shared this year, raised $50,000 to help foster children. Wendy’s offered to donate 50 cents for every retweet, and the world responded by sharing the Tweet for a good cause.

This Golden Tweet is noteworthy because it came from a company, not an individual. Last year's Golden Tweet award went to Stephen Colbert, for his Tweet about the plight of oil-soaked birds in the Gulf of Mexico. Wendy's Tweet is also notable because it was a Promoted Tweet, part of a Twitter advertising campaign that Wendy’s ran in June to celebrate Father’s Day. That campaign, whose call-to-action encouraged people to #TreatItFwd, was so successful that another Tweet from the same campaign was the second most retweeted Tweet of the year.

One of the most powerful things about Twitter is how easily Tweets can be shared. With one click, you can share messages that make you laugh, or think, or ones you think your followers should know about. Retweeting makes it possible for those messages to reverberate around Twitter, potentially reaching millions of people. We’ve developed our Promoted Products to amplify this domino effect, mirroring the way people already use Twitter organically.

As this year's Golden Tweet award winner shows, anyone --or any company-- can have an impact when their message connects with others. Congratulations to @Wendys!