Have you ever posted a silly photo of yourself online, via Facebook or Twitter? Perhaps in the sober light of day it didn’t seem like quite such a great idea, but you may have raised a few chuckles. When Mike Cowlishaw (@theCowlicker) tweeted a photo of himself with a pair of bright red Armani pants on his head he raised more than a smile - within less than two days he managed to raise over £1,000 for charity.

Within minutes of Mike tweeting the photo there were calls from his followers to see a new photo of him actually wearing the pants. Mike’s friend, author and HIV activist Kristian Johns, suggested that, as it was World AIDS Day, he take the opportunity to raise funds for charity. Mike chose GMFA, the gay men’s health charity.

“HIV affects us all,” Mike said, “and GMFA is a gay men's health charity which is close to mine and my friend's heart.” Mike initially set a fairly modest target of £200. Within a few hours he had exceeded that total, and increased the target to £400. Before the working day was over that target was also passed and overnight, as the story took off on Twitter and other social networking sites, the total crashed through the £1,000 barrier.

As the total grew, Mike tweeted his appreciation, “It has gone beyond what I could have ever imagined! Amazing! Thanks to everyone who sponsored me today. It's for a great cause that means so much to me and the people I love.” Later he added, “I’d just like to apologise to my mum for the day she's surfing the net and finds a picture of me in red pants. It was all for a good cause mum!”

Matthew Hodson of GMFA, said: “The support that GMFA has received this World AIDS Day, from so many people, has been great. We launched our current HIV prevention campaign, ‘Count Me In’, with no funding at all, and much of our work, including all of the work that we do for HIV-positive gay men, receives no statutory funding.  People like Mike, who raised this money off his own bat, and gave a lot of pleasure to people at the same time, can make all the difference for a small charity like us.”

Mike comments, “One of the responses that stood out for me was when a follower said "Thank you for giving me some way to contribute". I think there are a lot of people out there that want to help but just don't know how or where.  This gave them a chance to contribute from their own homes and they were more than happy to.”

Matthew adds, “With the current economic climate, money is tight all round. Pretty much every charity is struggling at the moment, the cuts are beginning to bite and any funding we get is short term. The support we receive from the community is more vital now than ever before.”

Mike Cowlishaw’s fundraising page, which now includes the photos of him wearing the pants, is still open and accepting donations atwww.justgiving.com/TheCowlicker/.

Details of GMFA’s Count Me In campaign can be found atwww.gmfa.org.uk/countmein

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