By all accounts the DonorsChoose blogger challenge is doing extremely well - it took them just six days to reach $130,000 in donations, which will provide nearly 10,000 students from low income families with books, art supplies, technology, and other resources they need to learn.
Donations thus far coming through TechCrunch have put us in second place in the Technology group.
Now, helping needy children is great and all, but I hate any list that I’m not leading. In this case, Fred Wilson (a venture capitalist and part time blogger) is kicking our butt. That has to end, and I’m willing to pay to do it.
Some bloggers are pulling stunts like saying they’ll shave their head if they meet a certain goal, etc. Since I can’t talk Heather, our CEO, into shaving her head, we’re going to just pay to get what we want. For every dollar donated up to our goal of $25,000, we’ll match the donation dollar for dollar. That includes existing donations.
Donate to DonorsChoose here, and we’ll match your donation. So help the children help TechCrunch get to the top of the list.
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Nice Mike! I think your matching is a great way for you to show that it’s not just for publicity. You care and have some skin in the game too.
Matt - I care deeply, very deeply, about making it to the top of that list.
@Mike: I don’t buy it… I think you’re really a big softy.
I like Fred, I’m going to go give at his blog.
Is this the same donation deal as the one that the winner gets a lunch with Jerry Yang - the one Kara wrote about today? If so which one of us gets the lunch if we help you win?
Erik - cool. you just saved me some money.
Allen - i have no idea. if there are awards, and we can give them away, we will.
Fred vs. Mike - maybe a match for BloggerMania II
Fred is a mets fan so he already has one negative going for him.
The problem is, as everyone knows - Fred Wilson secretly hates children.
Michael,
How much would we have to give to get you to shave your head?
Mike - why not just donate the $25k up front? I mean, is this about the list, or is it about helping needy kids? I am sure that $35k will go a long way, whether your readers donate their portion or not.
Whoops - meant $25k up there, not $35k
@Andru: $50k > $25k
Wow, both Fred Wilson’s donors and TC’s donors average about $400 per donation. That’s impressive.
Great stuff Mike.
Unrelated:
The ServerBeach.com ad served below this article (free iPod with hosting) leads to a downed ServerBeach corporate site. Firefox is “Waiting for http://www.serverbeach.com ….” now for 10 minutes (even with refresh).
Umm, thanks SB but I think I’ll pass on your fantastic hosting (oh sweet glorious irony…)
TC is leading the students affected column. That’s something Michael!
Thats a significant achievement. Congratulations !!!
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
You should remind your readers that works at Microsoft (and probably Google?) that they can get MS to match their donation as well.
Nicely done, MA!
Screw the kids!
I’m getting a new yacht that can fit my other two inside of it. Yeah!
Matching is a great way to encourage donations.
I hope this isn’t some kinda’ scam.
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
You know, if just one percent of our feed readers gave $10, that would be $60K right there. Plus our $25K match on top of that. Come on, what’s $10?
a “match” would be $60K, unless there was something I missed about a limit on matching. i’ll donate cash or buy all your drinks for the night anytime, but the process of donating is too convoluted and/or i am lazy. i know the answer and don’t even care…
Erick - your top-down math sounds like a typical web 2.0 business plan.
there are other things worth shaving
Mike
I am in silicon valley tonight
If you’re game, I’ll buy you dinner and explain the tricks I’ve used to kick your butt on this (so far)
Fred
I’ve always suspected Heather of harboring a bias against shaven-headed people.
With the exorbitant prices already we pay in school taxes, this is just ridiculous. They did this 40 years ago and they didn’t need any donations. Now we pay more than ever and they do?
I call bs.