Friends In Need
Above: The artist formerly known as “the foster cat” supervises yet another productive day at TN HQ.
October draws nigh, so it’s time for an update on the annual Tomato Nation/Donors Choose fund drive, as well as headlines from a couple of other fund-raising endeavors. Read on!
Donors Choose
I’ve decided to postpone our big annual drive until March 2011. Donors Choose is changing their own approach to the October challenge, which is part of it (and I’ll know more about that by the middle of next week). Mostly, though, it’s that you guys put together $314,000 during last year’s contest. Three hundred fourteen THOUSAND DOLLARS. In a recession. And the giving page currently stands at close to four hundred thousand…never mind your lifetime total raised as a readership.
It’s obvious that, together, we can do this. We’ve done it, against all odds, again and again. The issue is one of management; many many “proper” non-profits with proper tax exemptions and proper office space don’t clear as much money in a whole year as we do in a single month every year, and they have dedicated staff, dedicated software, and so on and so forth. I have The Greatest Intern Ever Told, and she is formidable, but I could barely pay her at all, much less what she’s worth, and for the month of October and another fortnight on either side, we both kind of had to live in the spreadsheet — I couldn’t take on other jobs for two months. It was worth it…but it can’t continue.
I love doing the contest, I am fiercely proud of you guys, and I think there’s a better, more efficient way for us as a community to raise money, bring attention to worthy causes, and help each other out. We’ve done smaller-scale bursts of love and money before — helped out homeless and ailing pets; done donation trades on breast-cancer runs and AIDS Walks — and maybe breaking it down to monthly drives on a smaller scale is a better idea.
I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
I also apologize for the sixes-and-sevens-y A.C. jaunt. We didn’t have much filming leeway when we got there, which I should have done a better job of planning for. I should have done a better job of planning, period, but Mr. S and I looked at the calendar and went, “Shit, it’s been 10 months? All right, we’d better go,” and just kind of helter-skeltered on down there without much of a plan. But we got some sweet footage, we’ll make a sweet video, and if you missed it, well…let’s just say the revitalization of the Atlantic City boardwalk is…not complete.
And now, moving on to a couple of those bursts and love and money I mentioned before…
Piggy Banks for George Mark
Reader Tylia G. sent me an email last week about a fundraiser she’s putting together. Here’s her story:
I’m wondering if you’d be generous enough to post this on your website. I’m trying to start a fundraiser/contest for a beloved charity of mine called George Mark House in San Leandro, CA, and I know you have some very generous wonderful readers who might be willing to spread their love and their pocketbooks just a little bit. George Mark House is trying to reopen their doors on October 4th and I’d like to make sure their doors reopen without a hitch, which is why I’m doing my fundraiser in September. Any posting or linking to my little fund-raising efforts would be appreciated.
I probably haven’t given you the hard sell for why you should post this on your website so please give me an opportunity. My son passed away in April, ten days shy of his second birthday. This organization helped him and us on more than one occasion, up to and including providing a loving place to have his services. I’m merely returning the favor. I’m calling it Piggy Banks for George Mark, and I’d be grateful if you and your readers would be willing to save up their loose change and donate it. You can read all about it in the post linked above but I just want you to know how much this would mean to me coming from you. I’ve been a fan for a number of years (I still have my GBC t-shirt hanging lovingly in my closet and everything) and I’d be more than appreciative if you’d be willing to post this.
I won’t just post it; I’ll donate the proceeds of my next trip to the TD Bank change sorter. Readers, if you can help, please do.
AIDS Walk DC
The tomato will ride again in Washington, DC the weekend of October 2, when my AIDS Walk team once again gears up to kick AIDS and HIV in the balls. Hard.
If you live locally (or not…hell, I don’t), consider joining Team Supersnack; we’d love to have you. If you don’t feel like walking, I feel you, but maybe you could throw me a donation, because check it out: if you make a donation to my fund-raising page, hold on to your receipt until it’s time for your AIDS Walk (or Crohn’s fun run, or Jump Rope for Heart campaign) and forward it to me. The first ten (10) receipts I receive will get a $20 donation back from yours truly. Expires August 1, 2011.
Tags: AIDSWalk friends George Mark House sites Team Supersnack tiny grey cats
I think having smaller challenges is a great idea. There are so many worthy causes out there that also deserve a little tomato lovin’, and you could basically become your own Donors Choose.
I’m sure a bunch of people on here do business on etsy or eBay or wherever; perhaps we could have garage sales with part of the proceeds pledged to charity? That way, we’d also be helping each other out with our side-hustles.
“you could basically become your own Donors Choose”
Did you ever in your wildest dreams of starting this little fund-raising idea that you would hear that and it would not be hyperbole?? Damn lady. You have done some serious good! And we have too but where would we be without you? Just a nebulous group of people who appreciate good writing and smart humor wishing we knew a place we could all go and say, “Yes! Exactly that!”
I love Elizabeth’s idea of us etsy guys doing our part. In October I have a fundraiser for the Atlanta food bank with my yarn sales. I’d love to be a part of whatever ideas we come up with!
Here’s to the TN!
Tylia, I looked on your blog and your son Ukiah was beautiful. I’m so sorry. I will definitely be putting money aside in the next month for George Mark House.
Sars, I don’t know, I might be in the minority here, but… I think that more people are willing to dig a bit deeper, or kick in when that’s hard to do, when a huge group is working towards a big goal. There’s the cameraderie of it, and the pride of being part of something so huge. I think some of that is liable to get lost if you split fundraising up into more, smaller events. But I’d be curious to hear other people’s thoughts (or particularly experience) around that.
I have also donated to various things thru your website. As a matter of fact, I just rec’d a $10.00 gift card from DonorsChoose, in honor of my birthday, to be used however I wanted on their site. After watching the coverage of the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I picked a school in New Orleans. And I will continue to give to schools there. I had no idea that things were still so bad. Getting better, but still bad. I would like to suggest donations be made to the charity of your choice in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.
Thanks Jessica and to everyone who has looked up my info and donated already, or is rounding up the troupes to donate. Every little bit helps.
Thanks.
@Lynz: I suspect you’re right. Unfortunately, it takes over my life for two months, and I need to find a way to control that and the expenses if I’m to keep operating on that scale. It can be done, but I need a few more months to get set up.
Chiming in to agree with LynzM. I know it’s a huge undertaking and changes are needed to make it manageable again, but I think having it as an annual event generates a more invested and enthusiastic participation.
@Sars – I can only imagine the challenge. Maybe the TN could chip in and put together a “salary fund” for you, and/or assistant(s) to help out, during that time?
Chiming in to agree with LynzM and K. Is there a way we can help? I run a nonprofit, so I know that dealing with volunteers can be…less than optimal. But maybe you and the Amazing Intern could come up with specific volunteer job descriptions; let us apply to help the Nation help others!
I absolutely love the Donors Choose Challenge. It’s been so fun to participate and chip in and work together with a whole group of people I don’t know for a common goal. I’d love to see it continue. I’ve got a birthday gift card and several months worth of monthly withdrawals that I’ve been saving.
Fall is when teachers need their projects funded. Projects funded in the spring would have to be saved for the next school year, so the current kids wouldn’t get to benefit.
I’d also love to see if continue for a deeply personal reason – just TODAY I got hired as a first-year teacher at a school in Chicago with 96% low-income students, and I was thinking “I can’t want to put together a couple ‘Donors Choose’ grants to get things like books and science equipment for my classroom during the big October Challenge.”
I think that Lynn’s “salary fund” idea is a great one, and I’m sure many people would be willing to chip in, if it meant keeping the October Challenge.
I’m interested in all your comments, and I’m taking them under advisement, but for the purposes of clarity: a large-scale challenge like the one we’ve done the last few years is not happening in 2010. (I may organize a smaller effort; we’ll see how the meeting goes.)
There is a way to split off resources for me that won’t require you guys to chip in extra, but it can’t be marshalled before next year — and again, the issue is not just the money, or the money I don’t make when I’m working exclusively on this. It’s the time I’m not working or pitching freelance, unable to cover my tasks at the studio, etc. Yes, I can deputize some of you to help me out; setting that up also takes time.
Projects funded in the spring would have to be saved for the next school year, so the current kids wouldn’t get to benefit.
And we didn’t get to projects posted in April of this year, either; in the end, we can’t help everyone.
As I said, there’s a way to do this, but it’s going to require an infrastructure, and that will take some time to build properly.
Sars, it’s cool. I will support your amazing Donors Choose thing whenever it happens. If this is where we are posting things for Friends in Need, though, I also want to link back to a Vine from last month: https://tomatonation.com/vine/the-vine-july-28-2010/ and repost something something that, with your permission, I posted then (in a subsequent Vine thread). Nothing much happened with it, I think because everyone had moved on to newer and hipper Vines. The letter I was posting about was Foot’s; Foot has cancer. I know there isn’t much that the Tomato Nation can do for Foot, but there is stuff we can do for others: donate blood, join bone marrow donation registries, give to the George Mark House, etc.
Here is what I posted (on the July 30 Vine, about the July 28 Vine):
I’m going to hijack this vine thread. I apologize for that, because there is some awesome discussion going on; I hope it continues. But with Sars’s approval, I am starting a Tomato Nation bone marrow registration and blood donation drive.
The last vine’s first letter really struck a chord with me, as I recently lost a beloved aunt to cancer. Reading Foot’s letter, I felt again the same helplessness I felt while watching my aunt die – a bad thing is happening, and there is nothing I can do. I donated blood, I joined the bone marrow registry, I gave to the Komen Foundation and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and I hoped that these little things might help someone.
I wish there were something I could do for Foot, something we could do for Foot. Of course, there isn’t. But the Tomato Nation could have a registration drive for the bone marrow registries (this page has a list of registries in many different countries: http://www.matchdevan.com/where-to-donate). Who knows; maybe we could find a match for Krissy: http://www.teamkrissy.com/.
So I wish the best of luck to Foot, and I promise to spread the word to at least five about the unofficial (but Sars-sanctioned, via email) Tomato Nation bone marrow registration and blood donation drive. If you are in, please pledge to join a registry in your country (if you can), or to donate blood (if you can), and to spread the word. Let’s get the power of the mighty Tomato Nation behind this, and hopefully we can make a difference!
Go ‘maters!
Sars, I was thinking about this last night: do we have to create a new infrastructure for you from scratch? Isn’t there an existing infrastructure that we can take advantage of — namely, DC’s?
IIRC, this got started when the TN DC fund drive was one of a series of blogger challenges all occurring the same month — hence the timing in October — and we ended up running rings around everyone. I would think that TN doesn’t belong in that category anymore; if nothing else, other blogs might get discouraged if it’s hard for them to show up on the leader board.
So perhaps there’s some way to move the TN challenge more under the DC umbrella? Instead of being another blog under the blog challenge in October, give us a dedicated month in, say, April. And instead of just Amanda the Awesome Intern Who Comes and Gives Without Taking, DC assigns a couple of its interns to your control, and those guys (and you too, I’m not sure) get paid out of the DC administrative kitty. And then y’all get the access to the DC infrastructure rather than having to create your own tracking system from scratch.
This may not appeal to you at all because it might mean a degree of power-sharing you’re not comfortable with. And now I see that they last ran the Blogger Challenge in ’08, so maybe I’m completely off case. But the image I have is of you and Amanda frantically emailing back and forth with Zack and the other DC folks, and if all those forces could be joined for increased awesome powers, maybe that’s a solution.
(And speaking of DC-contest-related things, I hope the Family Stupidhead and any tomato-y toddlers are doing well; totally understand if TN is not the place to share their pics.)
I agree that wanting to be a part of a community coming together to pull off something BIG and challenging is a big reason why I, personally, participate in the DC contest each year. I would be a lot less likely to participate in more frequent, smaller fundraisers, even if for a really good cause. Of course, I understand that whatever form the next contest takes needs to work for you, and I support 100% whatever steps you need to take to make that happen, whether its soliciting funds to pay someone to support the management of the fundraising drive (I bet a lot of us would be willing to donate a small amount, which would add up), or organizing the DC infrastructure to support the TN challenge, or whatever ideas may be percolating in your own brain. Thanks again for all of your hard work organizing this challenge in the past, and I totally respect whatever your decision is going forward (even if it involves opting out of the fundraising game entirely, you have certainly done more than your share already).
I’m sad to hear we won’t have a contest this year, but it just won’t be October without Donors Choose so I’ll go ahead and donate anyway. Thanks for the good times, Sars, and thanks for bringing Donors Choose to the attention of so many people. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
This is great news: http://www.donorschoose.org/blog/2010/08/30/claire-giannini-fund-to-donate-over-1-3-million-to-fund-every-donorschoose-org-school-project-in-california/
(Sorry, don’t know how tiny url works).
Man, I knew that wrangling Bet Red couldn’t be easy, but I had no idea it was that much of a beast. It just goes to show how much people miss of things going on behind the scenes (I work I.T. so I know how that goes), and I’m glad to know about it now. It’s pretty awesome of Sars and the Greatest Intern Ever to do all that and I always thought it was fun, but frankly, I think I’d prefer more smaller fundraisers- especially ones that maybe Sars could just post up about but wasn’t necessarily in charge of running. I love helping kids and won’t be forgetting about Donor’s Choose, but there are a lot of worthwhile orgs and spreading the love always makes me feel better.
Also, during the Challenge, I always feel the need to go a bit crazy to jump the numbers and end up eating Ramen for a couple weeks because of my crazy need to help out. Donating a little at a time each month would end up with me spending more money to help out, but would also mean I could do it a little at a time rather than all out once a year. I donate to a dog rescue once a month and it’s nice because it’s easy to just build it into my monthly budget, or just go without a trip to the movies or dinner to make up for it.
I’m with Wendy. Thank you to Sars for introducing me to Donors Choose; I’ve funded a couple of projects on my own and told some local folks about it too and it’s awesome. I can certainly see the advantage of a “big event” to get people ramped up, but I’m just as likely to check out smaller events, and if I feel an attachment to the cause/organization, I’ll keep donating when I can whether an event is in play or not.
Dayna – thanks for the link; that’s awesome! My toes are curling up in happiness thinking of all the books 1.3 million dollars will buy for California kids.
Also, tinyurl is really simple. You go to tinyurl.com, and in the middle of the page there is a box, above which it says “enter a long url to make tiny”. Copy and paste your url into that box, and hit the button that says “make tinyurl”. Out will pop a tinyurl, which you can copy and paste into your comments here at tomatonation, or your emails, or wherever else you like.
Wehaf,
It is very good news for the kids here in California. I grew up here and when I was going to school (I graduated high school in 1973) there was never any lack of…anything really. Sufficient books, desks, supplies. We went on field trips, had music and arts classes, etc. It really breaks my heart to see how badly public education has to struggle in this country.
And thanks for the tiny url info. I really had no idea where to look to figure this out. All of a sudden they just appeared all over the internets. I thought maybe it was a secret or something! Ha!
I completely understand why Sars is pulling back this year. I’m the president of a small animal rescue nonprofit (in my spare time, hah), and, folks, it is HARD to run charity fundraising events. Even small ones take time and energy to make happen; I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like to run the Donors Choose event.
It’s good to see that people are willing to help volunteer to make the event happen. Good volunteers who are willing to work are worth their weight in gold. (The biggest problem facing my group right now is that we don’t have enough volunteers–it’s what might ultimately cause us to fold.) But coordinating volunteers is a job in itself.
Everyone who is disappointed that the Donors Choose event won’t happen this fall–go ahead and donate anyway! You’ll still get the thrill of helping some classroom full of kids. Or how about volunteering with an actual charity in your community? I bet you can find some that are desperate for help and would greatly appreciate the assistance. Honor Sar’s hard work over the past few years by volunteering your own time for a cause!
I know I’m also coordinating my own fund-raising efforts right now (Piggy Banks for George Mark House everybody!) but wouldn’t it be great if we did a Tomato Nation, Donor’s Choose web ring? Part of the fun of doing the DC challenge (other than making Sars walk around in a tomato suit) is to watch the proposals get funded. It’s harder to do that when you’re donating twenty bucks and waiting for the proposal to pique some one else’s interest.
I think, if we’re good enough about coordinating it, one of us should pick a proposal, post it on our sites, blogs, facebook, twitter and otherwise and tell every one about what we’ve just donated too? If we all pick one, let people know we picked one and ask them to donate it, we could still pick up momentum.
I’m busy with Piggy Banks for George Mark, but once September’s over, maybe I’ll post a DC proposal on my website.
Imagine my surprise when I saw San Leandro, my hometown, as a location for the George Mark Center. I just lost my father last week, and he was an active member of the SL community, and would have been proud to support such a cause. I’ll be sure to make a donation in his honor.
Oh wow, Annie F. I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. A donation made to George Mark House would be a fitting tribute.
Just chiming in to thank Sars and The Great Intern Caper for all the hard work on this contest over the years. Though I’d miss a big annual event, I would absolutely contribute to smaller monthly projects, be they through Donor’s Choose or other, reader recommended/requested causes. I have faith in Sars to come up with a plan that is both engaging for us readers and workable within her own life schedule.
Count me amongst those who didn’t realize how much work this was for you. I would love to have the drives, because it is an awesome, breath-taking endeavor and floors me every year to be part of something so selfless and so much bigger than myself.
I’m curious about what particular tasks take up the most time. If they are at all delegatable (…I think I just made that word up), I would happily volunteer for a portion. But if holding together all of these moving parts is the bulk of the work, well, rats. Your sanity and a life outside of a spreadsheet are much too big of stakes.
I had a very productive meeting at DC on Monday, and it looks like the fine folks at DC HQ can provide some resources for me — cover some postage, furnish some spreadsheet/org help — and with enough planning, things should go fairly smoothly.
I believe we’ll do a mini-challenge in October, just to beta-test some things, and then head into a larger challenge in March/April.
Sars – that’s great! Any chance you’ll be asking for project suggestions for the beta-testing? I have an awesome one that I’d been saving to send to you, and I was disappointed to hear that there wasn’t going to be a big challenge this year.
@Wehaf: No doubt. Watch this space.
Sars, it sounds like you have it covered with the DC folks, but in case it doesn’t work out, I have a suggestion. If it’s a pain in the ass to keep track of everyone…don’t keep track. Instead of spreadsheets, how about everyone who donates can leave a comment on a single post. One comment per person, no matter how many donations they make, and no anonymous comments. Any time you want to hand out a prize, pick a random comment (or let a fuzzball pick one,) and have the winner send you confirmation that they donated to the TN challenge. If they can’t confirm (or donor’s choose can’t confirm,) no prize. keeping track of 20 winner addresses seems like a lot less work for the awesome intern than keeping track of EVERYONE.
It’s honor-system-y, but I think the TN fan base is unlikely to go to great lengths to scam the system (and you could also have a rule of one prize per winner.) And if even that’s a pain…skip prizing! I love the challenge, and I think many, many folks would participate regardless of prizes.
Anyway, kudos on all the work you’ve done over the years. How many thousands of happy and enriched kids served now? So awesome.
Sars – like a hawk, I will.
Just wanted to post some quick updates to the Piggy Banks for George Mark fundraiser. First, the total is up to $50 right now, which, as far as I’m concerned, Woooooo!
Second, there’ll be so prizing updates soon. I’m also adding daily content to my blog about George Mark House, so give my blogs a peek for updates:
http://rosaryproject.blogspot.com/
or
http://bloodymunchkin.blogspot.com/
Thanks again Sars for posting this on your website.
@Sars YEAH! I am so happy to hear the Tomato Nation will be participating with the October DonorsChoose drive. I was just introduced to DC last year and have absolutely fallen in love with it since. Please tell us if you need any help or really anything and we will be there for you as much as you are there for us.
Just updated the prizing page with a pair of knitted gloves from a TN Reader, among other things. Did I mention that Tomato Nation readers are the most awesomely generous people ever?
Check it out here:
http://bloodymunchkin.blogspot.com/2010/08/piggy-bank-prizing-and-administration.html
Thanks you guys!
I’m with @Sigrid – the DC challenge for me was never about the prizing. It’s nice, and it can certainly lead people to donate to one project over another, but for me, and I suspect for others, the biggest draw is watching all those projects get checked off the “to be completed” list and moved over into the “fully funded” column.
I’m thrilled to hear there will be a mini-challenge come October, as I’ve been saving up my monthly donations, and I’ll make sure to hold some in reserve for March/April. Please let us know what we can do to help.
I missed this memo somehow but popped over to this section of TN tonight because with TV season starting up (and the folks on ‘Survivor’ as clueless as they always are), my brain was all, “oh hey, it’s almost time to Bet Red.”
I’ve been donating since we started this fun and my birthday is in October and I was all geared up to “donate” my birthday to the cause this year.
A little sad to hear that it’ll be DC-lite, but totally understand that the behind-the-scenes work can’t continue to consume your life.
That said, my $.02 is that I don’t care about the prizing at all if that would cut down on the work. I’ve given several dozen times during the campaigns, never won anything, and never even thought about it. I just love coming to the site obsessively all month and seeing the totals go up, up, up.
Looking forward to whatever awesomeness we get up to whenever we get up to it.
Dear Tomato Friends,
I’m a DonorsChoose teacher who has benefited from Tomato Love in the past. Last year you bought me $499 worth of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax for my high school rhetoric students. I’m sad that you won’t be participating in the challenge this year, but I totally understand. That’s a lot of work.
I also donated to several DC projects via the tomato challenge last year and actually won a big ol’ Archie McPhee prize which I also used with my students. You brought sunshine to my classroom, and I am forever grateful to all of you.
Kisses,
Kelli Krieger
Union-Endicott High School
Endicott, NY
Heads up, guys. I’ve been making automatic monthly donations to Donors Choose to stock pile credits for the TN challenge and just found out that my account credits will “expire” and/or the staff at DN will allocate my credits as they think best at a certain time. I’ve contacted DN and asked that they hold off on the expiration/allocation, but wanted to post in case others have been stockpiling as well in anticipation of the TN Challenge and were unaware of this.