Our month-long drive with DonorsChoose to raise funds for public school classroom projects has been under way for almost two weeks now. At the moment, the ScienceBlogs leaderboard show a total of $15,890 from 121 generous donors, benefiting 6,971 public school students.
That’s pretty good work so far!
Of course, there’s also the matter of how the ScienceBlogs bloggers who have mounted challenges are doing in their competition to demonstrate that their readers are the most generous. So let’s check in on the horse race.
Category Archives: Philanthropy
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: A big shout-out to HP!
About 5 hours ago, “HP from Palo Alto, California” just rocked our world (and helped a bunch of public school classrooms) by plunking down $50 on each of the 13 challenges mounted by ScienceBlogs bloggers in the DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge. That’s a total of $650!
I’m thinking there’s a good chance that the “HP” here is Hewlett-Packard, in which case “Yay!” for the historic high-tech firm finding the ScienceBlogs challenges and supporting them unprompted. But if “HP from Palo Alto, California” is an individual donor, here’s a big “Yay!” for that awesome act of individual generosity.
Either way, HP rocks (and should totally claim a chemical structure sampler from me if one is desired)!
UPDATE: HP seems to have donated $50 to every challenge in the whole drive — making this a huge total donation indeed! Go HP!
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: day 7 progress, and prizes!
Today is the one week mark in our month-long drive with DonorsChoose to raise funds for public school classroom projects, and it is no surprise that ScienceBlogs readers have been generous in their support. As I write this post, the ScienceBlogs leaderboard indicates:
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: Day 4 update.
Here’s a quick update on how the ScienceBlogs contingent is doing in the DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge.
Since we kicked off the challenge on Thursday, three more blogs have mounted challenges:
A Blog Around the Clock (challenge here)
Christina’s LIS Rant (challenge here)
Thus Spake Zuska (challenge here)
And, as I type this, 61 ScienceBlogs readers have donated a grand total of $4,784, funding projects that will reach 1,329 students.
Of course, there are more students to be reached. If you’re the kind of person who likes to give a project the last chunk of change it needs, here are some projects that are within $100 of completion.
PETA has a bone to pick with DonorsChoose.
I don’t usually go looking for a fight, but there are some cases where I’ll make an exception.
You know, of course that I’m a big fan of DonorsChoose. And you’ll recall that PETA’s tactics make them a problematic organization as far as I’m concerned regardless of what your views on animal welfare or animal rights might be.
So, when PETA takes a swing at DonorsChoose, of course I want to jump in off the ropes and swing back. What’s PETA’s issue with DonorsChoose?
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: Helping kids at the cost of a little dignity.
At Uncertain Principles, Chad is motivating his readers to donate to his DonorsChoose challenge by offering a big reward:
Last year, I famously got $6,000 in contributions by offering to dance like a monkey, but I’m not sure what would follow that. So,
What should I offer to do if I manage to reach the overall challenge goal of several thousand dollars in total contributions?
I’m obviously not going to do anything illegal or immoral, but I’m willing to sacrifice a little dignity for a good cause, as you can see at the link above. So, what can I offer to do that would get you to donate money to help school kids through DonorsChoose?
It looks like the discussion of Chad’s big reward is still ongoing. (I’m rooting for a recreation of a great dispute in physics with hand puppets.)
But Chad is not the only one with a DonorsChoose challenge to fund, nor is he the only one willing to put his dignity on the line to help public school students get the resources and experiences they need. So let’s talk about what you’d like me to do.
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: Did I mention fabulous prizes?
You already know that we’re working with DonorsChoose to raise some money for public school teachers who are trying to give their students the engaging educational experiences they deserve (and who, owing to dismal state and local budgets, need our help more than ever). You also know that our benevolent overlords at Seed will be randomly selecting some donors to receive nifty prizes (details about this to be posted as soon as I get them).
Of course, helping public school teachers deliver the education their students deserve is it’s own reward, but that doesn’t mean you might not want a little something to recognize your donation. So, as I did last year, I’m going sweeten the deal by offering some incentive to everyone who donates to my challenge.
Because money seems to be tight for almost everyone, I’ve knocked down the level of some of the donations needed to get particular thank-you swag, and I’ve added a “crafty” new incentive this time around. Here’s what you can get if you donate to my challenge:
DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: raising our own classroom stimulus funds.
Around this corner of the blogosphere, folks frequently bemoan the sorry state of the public’s scientific literacy and engagement. People fret about whether our children is are learning what they should about science, math, and critical reasoning. Netizens speculate on the destination of the handbasket in which we seem to be riding.
In light of the big problems that seem insurmountable, we should welcome the opportunity to do something small that can have an immediate impact.
During the month of October, a bunch of us ScienceBlogs bloggers will be participating in the annual DonorsChoose “philanthropic throwdown for public schools”, which this year they’re calling the 2009 Social Media Challenge. (You may recognize it as the Blogger Challenge of yore.)
Help a charity, get a ScienceBlogs blogger to shave his head.
Over at Starts with a Bang, Ethan Siegel lays it on the line:
I have a challenge for everyone who reads this.
Donate at least ten dollars (or ten euros, or ten pounds, or whatever’s the closest equivalent in your currency) or volunteer at least four hours at whatever charitable organization you choose.
When you do it, leave a comment at the bottom of this post, telling us:
- what you donated/volunteered to do,
- what organization you donated to/volunteered for, and
- why you chose that organization.
When I get 100 unique comments from people who have done this, I will shave my head.
If you take a gander at the pictures Ethan has posted, you’ll see that a fully-shorn head will be a big change for him.
Let’s help his scalp see daylight. I’ve just given some money through DonorsChoose to help a classroom in a high poverty school in Northern California to buy some microscopes. But the comment count on Ethan’s post hasn’t hit 20 yet — far short of what he’s asking before the head gets shaved.
Don’t forget, you don’t have to donate money — if you donate four hours of your time to a charitable organization, that will count, too.
Stepping away from silence.
This month, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Dr. Isis are spearheading a blogospheric initiative to call attention to a continuing epidemic of mass rapes in Liberia even six years after the end of its 14 year civil war, and to try to do something about it.
Last month, Nicholas Kristof described the situation in the New York Times, touching on the particular case of a 7-year-old rape survivor named Jackie: