lastupdated 10/6, 1 PM

The 2009Tomato Nation/Donors Choose Social Media Challenge lasts from October1 to October 31, 2009.

Ourinitial goal: $150,000.

What does$150,000 buy? A lot of books, pencils, microscopes, projectors,footballs, butterflies, computers, and trips to the ballet.A lot ofhope for school systems in trouble and kids without much to look forwardto on the bus.

Ouroverall goal: $210,000.

$210,000 buyseven more books and tools and tubas and whatnot.

It also buysyou a tall woman in a tomato outfit at the blackjack table.Raise$210,000, and I will put on the tomato costume, and I will go toAtlantic City.And I will bet red.

150K is a lotof money.210K is even more money.Giving students and their teacherswhat they need to learn is worth it.

Let’s do it.

QuickLinks

To read aquick overview of what the Sam Hill is going on here, click here.

To donate, click here. (For a searchable/sortable spreadsheetof all Bet Red/TN projects this year, click here.   All links work, and will take you tothe TN challenge page.)

To see ourprizes and partners, clickhere.

To watch the”Bunting’s 11 (and 1/3)” launch video, clickhere.

FREQUENTLYASKED QUESTIONS

“How do Ienter the contest?”

It’s veryeasy. Donate to a project, as much or as little money as you’d like;when you receive a receipt from Donors Choose, forward me the receipt. Iwill send you a form email acknowledging your entry.

If youhave not received such an email from me, you are not entered in thecontest. Any form of official proof that you donated is okay toforward to me, but you must have a response from me to consider yourselfentered.

Please makesure that you have donated via the Bet Red: Tomato Nation Contest ’09 page,so that it counts towards our total.Any donation does lots of good,of course, but selfishly, I want you on my team.   The challengeID is 23248; if you don’t see it in your browser bar when you donate,Tomato Nation doesn’t get credit for it.   Make sure you see thatnumber.   Thanks!

“Whitherdo I forward?”

bunting attomatonation dot com.

“Does itmatter how much/how many times I donated?”

No. You candonate once or ten times; you can donate ten bucks or ten thousand; ifyou forward me your receipt, that enters you in the contest — one entryper person.You can forward me all your receipts, or just one; if youhave more than one response from me, that doesn’t count againstyou or anything.But if you don’t have at least one, you’re notentered, so if you aren’t sure, forward again.

“Whatabout the mini-prizes?”

If you enterfor a mini-prize, you’re still eligible for the main prizing phase, andfor any future mini-prizes.If you’re not sure what to do, just forwardthe receipt, in case; I’ll worry about any duplicates later.

Mini-prizessometimes have their own instructions, which you’ll see in the blogentry for that mini-prize or project.

“I can’tdonate because I live outside the U.S./don’t have a credit card/otherreason — how can I participate?”

Please emailme directly at bunting at tomatonation dot com to arrange a donation viaPayPal. I’m so sorry, but I can’t accept/administer checks, cash, moneyorders, or any other means.

But the DCsite should accept credit cards from outside the U.S. Please email smcat donorschoose dot org if you’re having trouble getting it towork.(Please note that this address has changed since last year.)

You can alsoparticipate by donatinga prize, or offering to match donations; please email me todiscuss.

“Can I usea gift certificate, or donate to the contest generally instead of toone specific project?”

I think youcan send me a gift certificate, if you’d like to do that.

“Can Istill suggest projects?”

Of course! Your best bet to get your suggested project accepted: make sure it hasno spelling errors in the title; make sure it has plenty of money leftin it; make sure it doesn’t expire in the next week.

“Can Isearch within/sort the projects on the TN giving page?”

Yes!  FINALLY!   Sort of.

If you use this spreadsheet, you’ll see all the currentprojects (and ones we’ve fulfilled, if you’re interested).   You can sortthem by state, poverty level, grade level, expiration date, subjectmatter, and so on.   All the projects have links, and all the linkscontain our challenge ID — so if you go through that spreadsheet,you’re all set.

PLEASE NOTEthat going OFF the TN page to search for projects means thatyou’re…off the TN page.   For donations to count towards our total, youhave to go back INTO the TN page and make sure you see the 23248challenge ID in the browser bar — or search using the spreadsheet.   (Iteven has an FAQ!)

If you haveany questions, you can always email me, or post in the comments.

The short version: Donors Choose does not have a search/sort; we do.

“…Uhoh.   I donated, and forwarded you my receipt, but I don’t think I was onthe TN giving page at the time.   What can I do?”

First of all,give yourself a pat on the back for helping out.   Second, the DonorsChoose team can reassign those donations to me; forward me your receiptwith a note in the subject line that mentions that you want itreassigned.

“What allare you giving away as prizes?”

Lots ofstuff. Your fellow readers are so sweet, giving things away to make thecontest rad. Please click on the prizing page (you can always find it onthe homepage, top right) to see an updated list of loot.

“Any otherrules I should know about re: entering the contest?”

1. Everyoneis eligible — if you won stuff last year, if you live outside the U.S.,if you’re my mom, what have you.

2. Winnersare chosen randomly — like, “print out all the entries and let the catspick” randomly. (Note: Do not attempt to bribe the cats.)

3. You areawesome.

“I didn’tget my receipt/can’t figure out how to donate/am having some otherproblem or question with the DC site.”

Please emailthe Donors Choose team at smc at donorschoose dot org with anyquestions relating to the Donors Choose site itself.

“Who isThe Mystery Intern/Amanda, Intern of Mystery and Verse?”

That’sAmanda.   She’s…the intern.   She’s a little mysterious, and shesometimes writes some rhymes about that.   She’s also efficient, patient,soothing, smart, and self-starting, and if you would like to hire herfull-time to do something awesome for lots and lots of money, Irecommend her without reservation.   But not until after November 1st,because without her, I will drown.

“Anythingelse I should know?”

I don’t thinkso — just follow the homepage and the Twitter feed, and if you haveany questions, email me or ask in the comments.The readers and/or Ican always fill you in.

…Oh, wait,there is one more thing.You are awesome.What you achieve each year,each of you and all of you, is mighty.If you don’t believe me, ask theteachers who post the Donors Choose projects; they’ll tell you.

It’s not easyto find the money, it’s not easy to find the time, it’s not easy tomake the difference, but every year, it gets found; it gets made.Butlike the man once said about baseball, “If it was easy, everyone woulddo it. The hard is what makes it great.”

This is agreat thing you do. Know that.

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