Contest: Well, That Happened
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on October 27, 2009 – 7:08 PM124 Comments
(tm State and Main)
From Candice, our HP-ologist:
Actually, that is no mistake! :) We ran the percentages of Giving Page totals against the support that HP is providing to Social Media Challenge donors and Tomato Nation’s share was close to $130,000! You guys rocked it as usual! The total jumped a little because HP actually ended up having around $225,000 to allocate. So, Yay!!
In other words, that $264,705 is not an error.
997 donors. 41,379 students reached.
Tomato Nation readership lifetime total: over half a million dollars.
Pass the bourbon.
Share!
Tags: contests the O'Jays
WHOA! AWESOOOOOOME!
This is so incredible!! Amazing!! Awesome! Ok, but we need a follow up video with a Tomato and a baby and the Mysterians and Asirda and an intern watching a giant fountain in Atlantic City while Claire de Lune plays in the background…. I am in shock and awe!
I can’t say it enough, but THANK YOU, Sars, for creating this environment and amazing opportunity for all of us to participate in something together to do something so AWESOME.
And thanks to the Non-Mystery Intern, and all the other supporters of Sars and the Tomato Nation, and DonorsChoose, and the Mystery Donors, and the non-mystery donors, too! I just really, really love being a part of this with all of you.
I… Wow. I mean… I… WOW. I’ve been waiting all afternoon for this to turn out to be a mistake. But instead, I think maybe I just fainted a little from the awesome…
Wow. Everyone bought the awesome.
Damn dusty office…
It’s my third year doing this with Ms. Rocking the Tomato Nation, and I’ve forgotten how much was raised each year. Is there a from-the-beginning list? Not to add more work to your plate — and not to take away from the INCREDIBLENESS that is this year’s fundraising awesomeness. Did you know about the HP money when you set the goal??
I love the challenge because it keeps giving little hits of awesome long after the initial donation. Thank you notes? Awesome. When my company match comes through and I’ll get a gift card to donate? Awesome.
Also, 997 donors? C’mon, there must be 3 more people out there who haven’t yet searched the couch cushions for some spare change to get us over the 1000 donor mark.
Amazing!!! Way to step up HP! I guess I’ll forgive you for my crap-tastic work laptop that I have to use a knife to open because the latch has NEVER worked.
I’d like to mention that my hometown has a population of about 6,000. The readers, the staff, me. you, Sarah, Awe-tern, and the collective Awesome has helped almost seven times as many children as there are people in my whole fucking hometown.
I’mma go dress the baby as a tomato.
AWESOME. *sniffle*
Wow!! That is awesome… We are awesome… You, Sars, are AWESOME!!!! Awesomness all around.
Well that answers my question about the money. But guys it’s not even over yet! I can’t wait until we all get our gift cards and can go on a project funding blizkrieg.
Thank you to everyone. I love being a part of this every year.
The name says it all.
Thank you all for being so awesome and for making this most amazing miracle possible. Tomato Nation rocks!
I’ll drink to that.
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!
So I told my Kaplan class about the drivebecause this news is. way. too. awesome. BET RED.
Need to fix something for you:
“$264,705 is not an error.
997 donors. 41,379 students reached.
Tomato Nation readership lifetime total: over half a million dollars.”
And there are still four days left!
[marine on the beach-head voice] Go go go go go go go GO!
Oh. Wow. That is…amazing.
WHOA. Holy shit balls. I was also waiting for it to be a clerical error. Wow.
We need a new word for AAAWWWSSSOOOMMMEEE. It’s like awesome, to the power of awesome, carried out exponentially to the moon and back.
And also? We’re not done.
::clinks glasses w/ Sars:: Well done, Cap’n.
(Ted Nugent called, he wants his shirt back.)
WOW. Just… I’m dumbstruck. And teary.
One donor closer to 1000 and $40 closer to the film-making lab– I just found out I had $20 in my Paypal from an e-bay purchase that was refunded.
I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop all afternoon, but – nope. Not an error. What amazing news! SQUEE!!!!!!
My retired teacher Mom turned 60 today. She taught French and Special Ed for 32 years. Though I’ve already donated for her birthday, I think she’d like me to throw some cash at the project for autistic kids.
“Also, 997 donors? C’mon, there must be 3 more people out there who haven’t yet searched the couch cushions for some spare change to get us over the 1000 donor mark.”
*coughs* I just became donor number 998.
Oh wow! Now, can we get to 1,000 donors? That would be a nice, round number to look at with a (weepy) smile on my face.
Rock and Roll!
Wow. I am in complete awe at the fundraising prowess that has been shown around here. And, as the Director of Operations for a non-profit, wicked jealous. I mean, damn. Half a million bucks? It’s almost unbelievable. Y’all are some good people.
41,379 students reached…that’s my favourite part. Also, there’s now a total of 1000 donors to the Bet Red page!
Eureka! moment as to why the match from HP was so much higher than we all thought it would be — they didn’t count their own $50,000 or so starting seed of $50.00 for each giving page established on the first of the month.
That makes the math work out — take that 50G out of the 300G that was the total balance at the end of Sunday and it leaves 250,000. We had 130,500 of it. That’s 52%, not 43%, and that 52% of 225,000 is $130,000.
Awesome doesn’t begin to cover it.
Oh. Wow. Sniff. Between the amazingness that is Bet Red and the cuteness of that little baby cherry tomato and the awesomeness that is this community, my Kleenex box is certainly getting a workout.
Rock on. This is how you change the world.
That is absolutely AWESOME. There’s no other word for it.
I tried to be 998 but the computer threw a hissy fit. I’ll do my bit to bump up the donors later
Sitting here… slack-jawed… tears running down my face… So amazing. So awesome. So humbled to be a part of this. AND I got my origami crane in mail today–it doesn’t get any better. Thank you Sarah D. Bunting and all of you kind, funny, crazy people of Tomato Nation.
Holy c**p!! I…we…wow. Dusty…husband confused, no sad movie on…
WOOHHHOOOOO
That is all..for now.
To completely steal Linda’s tweet: HOLY SHITBALLS!!!
I believe that I pushed us to donor 1001 :-). Technically, I’m double counted from an earlier contribution, but I’ll take what I can get.
Absolutely amazing fundraising! Woo-Hoo!
@Maria: My NAME is Ra-MON. As you can see right here.
@rab: Thanks for doing the math. Now I don’t feel weird about getting credited for it. (…FIFTY-TWO PERCENT? a) that’s MORE THAN HALF and b) that’s how many cards in a deck! Synch!)
Origawesome: n; an art by which the potential awesomeness of individual persons is conjoined and folded in upon itself to create freestanding, three-dimensional forms of awesome; an instance of this art, esp. to benefit 41,379 public school students. See also Nation, Tomato; cf. “shitballs, holy”
1002 donors on the Bet Red page as I type this.
I got my origawesome crane today too :) He’s perched on my bookcase with the Tomato Nation swag….. Very proud to be a part of this group.
(jaw drops) Ho. Lee. SHIT.
Can anyone mathy take a guess at what percentage of each donated dollar HP is then matching? I…just…wow.
I am damn proud to be part of The Awesome of 2009, and I want a t-shirt to that effect. Proceeds can go to DC, or to sending Sars, Amanda, and other personnel to a spa or something. Either way is good.
Okay, I have goosebumps. Those are some big ole numbers.
I think I need a glass of wine. Red, of course, because RED ROCKS.
(But without John Tesh.)
Alright, I’m not even making sense to MYSELF anymore, but… yay!
What is that Margaret Mead quote? “Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
We’ve changed the world a little bit for over 41,000 students. Wow.
So, if we made around $130,000 by Sunday night, and HP matched us $130,000, then it seems we should each get a giving card for right around, maybe a little under, the amount we donated, Is that right?
@Amie: I was thinking the same thing. Here it is:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does.”
What are the odds that we hit 275K by the time this is over? Whatever they are, I’ll take ’em.
@Sars: You have lovely hands. Do you moisturize?
This is just simply amazing… and awesome. Well done, and I am so proud to have been a part of this. Thank you for putting this together, Sarah and the Awesomest Intern.
And we haven’t even allocated the HP funds yet…. WALLS will come down as the AWESOME goes through the ROOF. When we allocate those funds, I think we should be sure to expand the Bet Red Challenge site so we keep up with accurate numbers of students reached.
Oh, by the way, the Adam Lambert challenge – $241,641 since August…
@Maria: Get a watch that works.
Holy fucking shit! I’ve had a really awful day, you guys. My father-in-law needs a lung transplant, and they thought they had a match last night, and it fell through, and now we’re playing the horrible waiting game again.
But I logged on tonight and remembered why I have faith in the world (and in the Nation). Thanks to all of you, and especially Sars and Amanda, for reminding me what people can do when they work together. I really needed that.
It’s very dusty in here.
To quote Archimedes: Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
We, the army of awesome, are that lever and you, Sars, are the fulcrum on which we rest. World, prepare to shift big-time (and BET RED!)
SO DUSTY.
…perhaps it would help if I repainted my room. I hear taupe is very soothing.