"The Vampire Diaries" actor Ian Somerhalder announced to his Twitter followers on Monday that he will auction his personal copy of E.L. James' erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" for a charitable cause. The Ian Somerhalder Foundation (ISF) objective is to "empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures."

"Win my personal copy of 50 Shades with a personal note :) crowdrise.com/ianmfc Help ISF win the MFC!" the 34-year-old heartthrob wrote on his Twitter account @iansomerhalder. The Mozilla Firefox Challenge (MFC) permits various organizations to gather on the web site Crowdrise.com in order to raise money that will be donated for good causes.

On January 7 at 10 a.m. EST, Ian Somerhalder asked his fans to either donate or raise a fund with a minimum of $50 until January 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST. "I'll even write a personal note to you in one of my favorite sections," Somerhalder also wrote on the promotion section of the web site. Die hard fans of the actor, especially the "Fifty Shades of Grey" enthusiasts, will definitely support his charity plea.

According to Ian Somerhalder, his target is to collect a $50,000 worth of donation from Mozilla for his charitable foundation. The ISF has already raised a total of $48,092 on the January 7 update at 1 p.m. EST. With that, the actor had his foundation at the second place where the Bat World Sanctuary leads with only a couple of thousand dollars ahead of ISF.

Meanwhile, Ian Somerhalder recently returned from an Asian trip with girlfriend Nina Dobrev. The couple is back working on the set of "The Vampire Diaries." "Back in the saddle and ready to work- #tvd time. UP, 6AM-training, breakfast, study lines, bite someone..." Somerhalder posted on his Twitter account.

With all of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" casting rumors surrounding Ian Somerhalder, the actor may have used his name connection but in a good way because he was able to gather more support for the foundation. Will Ian Somerhalder's "Fifty Shades of Grey" charitable move result to being cast for the principal role of Christian Grey?

RELATED STORIES
Twitter