Contest: TN + HP = Aw.
(And “awe.” And “some.”)
(…YOU GUYS.)
(eeee!)
So, anyone want to know what’s going on with the HP match? I thought so. My new friend Candice at DCHQ broke it down for me earlier today, as follows:
- On Wednesday or Thursday of this week, HP will allocate a proportionate share of the funds to the participating giving pages. In our case, that’s around 43% (more, really, but let’s leave the decimals out of it for now).
- These funds will appear as part of the Bet Red total impact, but will not actually fund projects. You get to fund the projects. HP will send electronic DonorsChoose.org giving cards to all donors who contributed to a Social Media Challenge giving page (these should go out in mid-November).
- The donor giving cards work proportionately as well; it’s based on the percentage raised by each individual donor.
So, as an example, if you guys raised 43% of the total, Bet Red then gets 43% of $200,000 — which is $86,000 — credited to the Bet Red giving page. But if, say, Amanda The Mysterious individually raised 0.016% of the total, then she gets a giving card worth $32. (I really hope I did that arithmetic correctly, or some teacher is going to have to put my ass up as a project. Sigh. You can correct me in the comments if necessary — gently, please, for I am of the tired.)
At first, I must say, I didn’t love the breakdown; I felt like, well, we earned the 86K with our awesomeness, but then, if the projects don’t get funded, we…kind of didn’t really earn it. I just wanted you guys to point to a metric shit-ton of funded projects on the Bet Red page and say, “We did that.” I mean, 43 percent? When Gawker Media is at, like, 1.2 percent? Are you kidding me? Y’all worked for every goddamn penny of that.
I’ve had the day to mull it over, though, and now I like this way better, because y’all worked for every goddamn penny of that. Sure, HP could spend it on whatever they want; it’s their money. Or I could disburse it for you and try to pick a good range of projects, and make everyone happy. Or Mr. K could make some origami birds out of it.
But what should happen is that you guys should spend it, on whatever you want, in whatever way you want, because it — the money, the accomplishment, the whole challenge — belongs to you. If the giving page says we hit 210K, then by God the tomato is going to Atlantic City; I don’t need to say where the money is going after that. That’s your job. We can pretty safely say that nobody does it better.
Any questions? Ask them in the comments. (“Are you dancing, or is there some kind of cramp happening?” “Shut up.”)
Tags: contests
For that matter: I would like to add that we can, whether our total says $133k or $219k, already point to a metric shit-ton of funded projects on the Bet Red page and say, “We did that.” As of about 10AM today, we had funded over 400 projects of the ~660 on the giving page.
You guys are my heroes.
First: Origawesome! (sorry, I just can’t let that word die). What an amazing Nation the Tomatotians are.
With the money HP is giving us to give to Donors Choose, is there a way to keep the Bet Red Donors Choose pages up, so if we choose we can fund the projects that don’t get filled before October 31st that are on the list?
Also- A Tomato “Gambols” in Atlantic City- I can’t wait!
Hooray for Atlantic City! I will be happy to see the giving page total hit $210k (more, in fact).
My only worry? That a number of the projects set to expire in early November — and that I’d deliberately avoided funding thinking that the HP funds would address them first – might not get finished.
Can we highlight them on the main page and try to knock them off this week? “More Novel Reading” http://bit.ly/zaOdR and “Science Fair Project 2009” http://bit.ly/34hOGV are due to expire on Sunday, and there are two more ending on Tuesday.
Finally – thanks to you, Sars and Amanda, for the incredible amount of infrastructural work and cheerleading you guys have done. You convene the army of awesome each October. YOU ROCK!
This is amazing news. Did you know about the HP matching funds when you set the $210K goal? Because, we’re awesome and all, but we would have struggled to make the mark without them. (This year, at least. I’m sure we’ll add to our legion next year, and continue to keep pushing the envelope!)
I’d also like to put in a good word for Youth Voices Across Curriculum: Documentary Film Makers. The project is here: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=279669&challengeid=23248 It seems rather unlikely that these kids will raise the $22K they need for kickass video equipment in the next month without our help. If about 1/4 of us put our HP money toward the project, though, Bill and Melinda Gates will make it happen for them.
Whew, sounds complicated, thanks for explaining! I know I’ll want to spend my card on any Bet Red project that doesn’t get funded by the end of October- will the challenge page stay up until we can spend our cards?
Let’s think about this for a second. The Spreadsheet of Doom is still going to be around mid-November, yes? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the Citizens of Tomato Nation will use their HP giving cards to complete whatever Bet Red projects haven’t been funded by then, if there are any. And then fund a whole bunch more awesome projects with the shit-ton of HP cash that’s left over.
Just my theory. And my plan.
This whole thing is truly awesome, amazing, and inspiring. Kudos to all, especially The Mighty Sars and The Mysterious and Powerful Asirda. 5 days left – let’s finish it in style.
It is a weird way to do it, but it works. I guess what we really need to do now is finish all those projects off that expire before mid-November. It looks like there’s only about 10 to go. Whaddya say, Nation?
This is awesome! How totally fun!
It sounds like, then, that we should focus our energy for the rest of the month on projects in our giving page set to expire before mid-November, that can’t wait for the HP money to actually be applied. Am I right about this?
Awe. Some.
I think Bet Red can stay open for a while, but I’ll ask and make sure.
@Laura: Nope. Hoped for a Hail Mary from somewhere (besides the Asirda blitz attacks) (I’ll stop with the football metaphors now). And there it was!
If I may offer a suggestion to the Nation–lets work on getting the early-November projects funded, and take care of the later ones once we get the HP money. I think many of those projects have been highlighted recently, but just in case, the closest-to-expiration projects are:
More Novel Reading
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=284844&challengeid=23248
Science Fair Project 2009
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=305625&challengeid=23248
Can You Picture This?
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=285274&challengeid=23248
Calling All Scientists!
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=285839&challengeid=23248
Books Worth a Million
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=280860&challengeid=23248
Native American POW WOW
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=286290&challengeid=23248
All of these expire within two weeks.
I was also going to ask about keeping the Bet Red page up – I think it would be great to continue to collectively fund projects. Of course it’s great when any project gets funded by anybody, but I love seeing a project that’s been completely funded by Tomato Nation.
Last year we had 1,000+ donors – maybe we can pull in some more donors and fund the projects that are set to expire before the gift cards come in.
Caveat: not a math whiz…
IF I understand and IF I’m figuring it correctly, I think donors should expect to get a card for about 2/3rds of their total donation. For example, if you gave $100, you should get a card for around $66. It works out that way whether you figure it by (donation/130K) * 86K, or (donation/300K) * 200K.
As many different projects as most of us have given to, DC is going to have a heck of a time tallying it all up!
Is there any way we can keep the current list of projects up through November? I like having a targeted list of projects for the Nation–it really helps to focus efforts and make sure projects get DONE, not languishing with 30% of their funding until they expire…
Just so I can get the nitpicky details straight in my head…
It sounds like we won’t get the HP giving cards until mid-November, but the contest only runs through October 31st. So the HP money won’t show up on the giving page, will it? Are you being nice and mentally adding in that extra amount, or am I missing something? Or are you extending our deadline to hit $210k until we can use those giving cards?
Dittoing the hope for the list to stay up until the cards go out. I’ve got a soft spot for the Mardi Gras masks project and maybe this way some of those cards can help get that funded all the way :D
The Spreadsheet o’ Doom will stay up indefinitely since I think of it is as a rather eloquent testament to what a group of caring individuals can do when they try.
(And while updating may not occur DAILY during November, it will still happen on a fairly regular basis; probably more once cards start to deploy.)
As far as everything that expires on or before the 16th, $7000 will cover those 11 projects. I don’t know if that can be raised in five days, but then again I don’t put much by way of awesome past you guys.
@Toni: The HP money will be added to our total, in advance. It’s basically a thank-you “credit” for the work we’ve already done. So, it’s actually HP being nice and mentally adding those giving cards to our total, although you don’t have to use them on Bet Red projects; HP just hopes you will, I assume.
This is why I felt a little bit like having the money added to Bet Red’s page this way was “cheating,” but in the end, honestly, you’ve all been in the traces pulling hard enough — for years, some of you — that I think we’ve earned the credit even if we don’t technically recoup every dollar. Kids get helped either way. The point is that, on Wednesday or Thursday, the total will jump up a whole bunch, but the projects will remain unchanged. It’s not intuitive, necessarily, so if it’s still unclear, let me know.
The Bet Red page will stay open, but the contest/challenge proper will end on 31 October as scheduled. I believe you’ll still be able to contribute to projects on the page, and I’ll have an eye on it, but for logistical reasons, I’ll need to start moving ahead with the prizing phase (and other work that’s been ignored for over a month).
I concur with the early November project blitz. I’m getting paid again in a couple of hours….. ;-)
Oh, one more thing: if we keep going through November with the giving cards, and all that money does come back into the Bet Red page, plus whatever else we raise in the meantime, and we hit 240K, that brings the TN readership’s lifetime total raised to a half million dollars.
So if you’re looking for a number to point to…I like that one.
Origawesome!
Coolio. Thanks for the clarification. I was planning on making one more donation before the end of the month, and I like the suggestion to hit those projects that are about to end.
Let’s start knocking off the soon to expire projects, We can do this! Come mid November, how fun it will be to clear the BET RED page. I am so happy to have found this amazing group of people!
@Sarah, perhaps you can just post the first 3 projects to expire on your note for the day for people who don’t read all the comments or have not found (Amazing Intern’s) fab. spreadsheet.
Half a mil…? That just made me get a little teary.
I started donating to this contest back before I had kids, and had way more discretionary funds. One year, I funded an entire reading project, and got the personal thank you letters, one of which is still on my fridge (direct quote: “I don’t know why you wasted your money on us, I guess you really want us to read this book”).
This year was sooo much harder, but I set aside the amount I wanted to spend, and chose to donate in smaller increments throughout the month. Not only does it let me feel, you know, awesome (or origawesome) at being part of the whole hilariously competitive part of the project, but it definitely showed me that I can be better about my own personal budget. Life is good.
I don’t know why I had to share this, but thanks just the same. I am honored to be a part of the ‘Nation. I’ve got $30 burning a hole in my pocket, so off I go!
@Jen. What a great story, glad you shared!
So, there’s this: http://tinyurl.com/ygfkcjh
It needs twenty THOUSAND dollars. And it expires in 21 days. It sounds like a very cool, very ambitious (and very expensive) project. Do we think the HP gift cards will get sent out in enough time for people to cover this?
It’s all over my head at this point. I want to add my thanks to you, Sars and Asirda, for your hard work.
“40844 students reached” <— That's what chokes me up. And that's just October of 2009. So far! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!
Awe & then some!
@Jen…By some miracle I have managed to not tear up over the past month; however, reading your comment totally got me. Thankfully my office mate is not here so I won’t have to explain my sniffling.
“One year, I funded an entire reading project, and got the personal thank you letters, one of which is still on my fridge (direct quote: ‘I don’t know why you wasted your money on us, I guess you really want us to read this book’).”
@Jen: I haven’t really teared up over this year’s contest, (I know, I know!) but that? I have to say, I’m a little verklempt now. You’re awesome, and so’s that letter on your fridge.
I had a couple of bad days. I was hoping to get something together to help get some of the remaining Michigan projects funded, but life interfered. So I read this post this morning and nearly cried. I know that sounds melodramatic, but from what I can figure, the projects will likely get funded because HP and the Nation are awesome. And I’ll be able to earmark a large chunk of one of the projects so I’m going to be able to make sure some little kids get trikes. Thanks everyone!
So, I’m not a graphic designer, but I was inspired to make this little drawing by the mental image of tiny paper cranes exploding at Sars.
http://tiny.cc/aYIEA
Hope you enjoy!
(This comment was supposed to go here, please excuse my brain error)
Well, this does sound pretty cool.
It does sound complicated–I hope they already had some auto-magic and what not figured out or some poor interns and accountants willl be up late nights feverishly pounding on keyboards (and googling Tomato Nation at some point, no doubt)!
I think we’re all awesome. From those giving their winter coat dollar finds to the money goal matchers! Many thanks, Sarah and Dr. Internhatten!
@Tanya- the paper crane explosion is origawesome.
@ Jen: thank you for sharing that, I loved the comment and I hear you on the budget. That’s what’s so great about participating here, I give what I can and there’s the army of awesome helping along.
@ Tanya: really loved that image. Thank you!
@Vanessa: the tykes will get their trikes. They will!
And many thanks to Sarah and the Incredible Intern.
Awe, thanks you guys. Don’t know why but the paper crane story has really touched me. Wheeee origami kids!