Over the Edge: Fundraising for NY Special Olympics

As many of you may know, I have recently joined my friend, Kevin Marshall, in an effort to both raise a whole bunch of money for the NY Special Olympics, and have ourselves thrown off the Crowne Plaza in Albany NY. (And by thrown I mean, in harnesses, and we get to rappel our way down.)

Anywho... donations have been moving along nicely, but it is now our goal to be the NUMBER ONE fund-raising team. Instead of the number two spot, which we now
occupy. So we're asking your support!

Kevin has promised his those donating to him various promotional give-aways for certain levels of donation, and I thought I would do the same for those donating to my campaign!

In order to sweeten the pot (quite literally) I will now beg for donations by bribing with baked goods. That's right, I will bribe you (or your office, or team or what-have-you) with tasty, tasty baked goods for your donation.

- For a $50 donation, I will bake & send you 2 dozen cookies of your choice
- For a $100 donation, I will bake & send you a cheesecake or pie of your choice
- For a $250 donation, I will make & send you you one baked good or 2 dozen cookies of your choice every week for a month!


CLICK HERE TO DONATE!


- The rules -
1) - When you make a donation - use your name & amount - so I can verify that you get delicious baked goods. Also specifying the kind of baked good you would like in your name on the donation - that would be helpful!

2) - Cheesecakes are kind of not-so-mailable. And I hear the United State Postal Service really doesn't want me mailing them. So if you're long distance, please choose cookies or a pie.

3) - If you have already donated one of the said amounts - just get in touch with me to arrange for baked deliciousness delivery.

4) - If you have already donated $20 and donate another $30 - that counts! Just get in touch with me when you make a second donation to arrange for delivery of tasty baked goods.

5) - I reserve the right to take up to 2 weeks to get your baked goods to you. Because if a LOT of folks donate at once, while I'm an awesome baker, I really can't envision making more than a few baked goods in one evening. I have a job and such y'all.

6) - You can also COMBINE efforts. Say you make a $10 donation, and convince 4 people in your office to do the same. ... Just let me know everyone's name and what office you're at - and your office gets cookies!

- The Options -
Cookies I am capable of making
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Scotchies (Oatmeal butterscotch cookies)
- Mallo-mar cookies (they have marshmallows in em)
- Peanut butter cookies
- Sugar cookies

Cheesecakes I am capable of making
- NY Style Plain Cheesecake
- Pretty much any BERRY cheesecake (straw-, blue-, rasp-, black-, etc-berry)
- Chocolate swirl cheesecake
- Butterscotch or caramel swirl cheesecake

Pies I am capable of making
- Chocolate Pecan Pie
- Apple pie (regular or dutch version)
- Peach pie
- Pear pie

Also, I can make brownies if you do not prefer cookies or a cheesecake/apple pie combination of deliciousness called Apple Torte.

*** Feel free to ask me to make some crazy baked good of your choice that you do not see on the list - I'll let you know if I think it's possible, or if it's something out of my skill range ***

http://2011.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=438626&lis=1&kntae438626=D6152B3E019F4D6CA211EBE41A04C17C&supId=331656705

Similiar tragedy, less giving...

In an article posted yesterday, by the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, it was laid out that Western donors are giving less toward the most recent world tragedy than they have toward other world catastrophic events.

The reason? The most recent catastrophe occurred in Pakistan. It seems that one week after launching fund-raising efforts to help the victims of Pakistan’s recent devastating floods, a coalition of Canadian charities raised only $200,000 for the region. While some might say that this is a substantial fund-raising effort, it pales in comparison to a week after the tragedy of January’s Haitian earthquake, when more than $3.5-million had been raised in the same time period.

More glaring proof can probably be found in the fact that I can't recall having seen a single television commercial here in the U.S. about the floods. When the earthquake occurred in Haiti, you couldn't watch television for more than 10 minutes without seeing at least 3 commercials detailing how you could help. Text message donations were made available, where one could donate $10 by merely texting the word "Haiti" to a certain number. But for Pakistan, not even a commercial with a mere mention of a group, that one could look up, if one were even interested in helping.

If you are interested, I've just discovered you can donate $10 to Pakistan flood relief by texting "SWAT" to 50555. Or, you can check out Save the Children, which is coordinating relief efforts. Or, if you prefer UNICEF is also sponsoring fund-raising relief efforts.

And quite possibly the most offensive part of all this business are the comment's left on the article published by the Globe and Mail. How people can find derogatory things to say and reasons not to donate to needy children is absolutely beyond me. People are people, regardless of where they are hurting, and you can bet that the people who make decisions to start or continue wars, are not the same people who are starving and homeless due to this tragedy. That's like stating that one should not have helped Katrina victims because Americans stick their nose in everyone's business.


------------------ CHART COURTESY OF THE GLOBE AND MAIL--------------------------------

How far the fundraising for Pakistan is lagging

	Total Funding as of Aug. 16/10	Affected population	Funding per affected person
Pakistan floods	$229-million (U.S.)	14 million	$16.36
Haiti earthquake (2010)	$3.3-billion (U.S.)	3 million	$1,087.33
Kashmir earthquake (2005)	$1.2-billion (U.S.)	3 million	$388.33
Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami (2004)	$6.2-billion (U.S.)	5 million	$1,249.80

Spare Change Charities part Deux

Alright friends, I am not giving up on this idea, just putting it on hold while I sort some things out with it. But a lot more goes into it than I hoped. I need to do several things.

1 - find two other directors to start this thing up with me
2 - write articles of incorporation
3 - hold an organizational meeting
4 - create by laws
5 - file with the state
6 - apply for tax exempt status
7 - figure out the money part
8 - start a records book
9 - open an account with a bank
10 - open an account with paypal

I think I will get started on the Articles of Incorporation after I'm complete the resource of whether a charity that raise money for other charities will meet all of the federal and state rules.

Spare Change Charities

So oftentimes in my life, I feel like I am not doing enough good. And I really would like to set up something called Spare Change Charities... but my legal skills are not good enough to know how to go about setting up a not-for-profit. Basically all I want is a paypal account, where people can send spare change, and then I can cut a month check from that account to the specified Charity.

Basically, I was thinking that it would work with people just donating their spare change at the end of each day/week/month/year ... whatever they wanted to commit to. And each month we would pick a different charity to which the grand total would go to.

Say your bank account has $1000.46 cents in it at the end of the day. You could donate your spare change each day, or at the end of each week, each month what have you.

But I'm thinking if I wanted to try this, I could dig myself a big whole if I went about it wrong. And I really don't want the IRS chasing me down for crimes committed on good intentions ... so if anyone has any suggestions as to how to go about this endeavour, that would be AWESOME!