Add one dose social-networking, a dollop of corporate charity, and blend with hope that younger generations like national parks and the National Park Foundation could leverage a portion of a $3 million grab bag for the parks.

Through May 25 the foundation is participating in "Bullseye Gives," a campaign launched on Facebook by department store chain Target. Under the campaign, the more votes the National Park Foundation receives from the Facebook community, the larger the donation.

“Our National Parks were actually established more than 100 years ago by citizens who gave their time and money to protect the natural spaces that they loved for the benefit of future generations. The Bullseye Gives program is created in that same spirit—asking each of us to stand up and vote for what matters most to us,” says Vin Cipolla, vice chairman of the NPF Board of Directors. “The National Park Foundation is honored to have been selected by Target to participate with all of these magnificent and worthy organizations and we hope that all of our Facebook friends who love nature, and history and our American heritage make your voice heard by voting as many times as you can to help the National Park Foundation protect our national parks.”

The campaign is just the latest evolution of courting charitable dollars for the national parks. But is the social-networking scene the right venue for the National Park Foundation? Are those who frequent Facebook frequent charitable givers? Are they familiar with the national parks?

Social-networking sites are all the vogue these days, with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and who knows how many others. Some are for fun, some are for serious business networking. Have any established a record for charitable giving?

The Park Foundation, on the other hand, has been around for a while. Chartered by Congress in 1967 as the official non-profit partner of America’s 391 National Parks, the role of the foundation is to strengthen the connection between the American people and the national parks by raising private funds, making strategic grants, creating innovative partnerships and increasing public awareness.

Ensuring that younger generations have a strong connection to the national parks is key to their future care. The foundation supports nationwide conservation education programs like First Bloom and youth programs like Junior Rangers that get kids outdoors to discover and take ownership of our national parks. NPF also supports electronic field trips and other programs in classrooms that help kids learn about the parks when they can’t be in them.

Under the Bullseye campaign, the percentage of votes per charitable organization will correlate to the charities’ portion of the $3 million. All votes and dollars allocated will be updated in real time on the Target Facebook page throughout the course of the contest. Site visitors can vote once per day, everyday, throughout the contest. The final allocations per charity will be announced on May 26. To vote, visit this site.

The other nine charities participating include American Red Cross, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Feeding America, HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute, Kids In Need Foundation, Parent Teacher Association, Operation Gratitude, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, and The Salvation Army.