Looks like all engines are go for First Book as our official charity.
As far as I'm concerned, it can start any time and run through the end of the year.
I created a team page under the name "Hatrack Charity Drive" but don't get it confused with the other team name that looks nearly the same. It must be from a previous year. This year's will be under my name, Adam.
Follow this link and hopefully it will take you to the donation page. Just click "General Team Donation" in the window off to the right and it should let you donate under our name.
Happy giving, everyone!
PS My thanks to scholarette for doing the first phase of this. I've been crazy busy this month and wouldn't have even been able to set up a survey.
PPS Let me know if there any problems. I'm thinking we should still have people email the charity email I set up just to make sure all the donations are accounted for, unless anyone disagrees, or maybe just for a week until we're sure the system is working without any snags. I set up an email account at hatrackcharitydrive@gmail.com. Feel free to use it.
[ January 05, 2010, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: Lyrhawn ]
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
wasn't one of the great things about First Book that you could set up a virtual book drive with them? I think we should be able to set up a page so that when someone makes a donation it counts towards the "Hatrack" total, and they'll provide a link we can go to and see what our running tally is. This way you don't actually have to collect money from anyone Lyrhawn.
Another fun thing we can do because we'll be doing it this way is try to get friends and family members to donate as well and count it towards our total.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I don't see a place to register a page for Hatrack. Can anyone direct me?
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
It looks like they use a third party to handle the functionality. Or, at least the url is not a first book one, but it seems to still be first book.
I'd browse their FAQ a bit to make sure that's what we want, but I think it is.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I looked through the site and it appears that starting a page through the link Strider posted is the way to go. We can register Hatrack as a team and everything will be handled for us. Sounds like a winning plan! Last time I donated in the name of my kids' teachers and printed out an acknowledgement form and gave it to them inside a Christmas card - it was so well received I had some teachers in tears.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Page is set up, and there's a link in the OP. Let me know if there are any problems.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I donated with no problems. Thanks for setting it up!
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I wrote to First Book to close down last year's team page (the one I set up). They wrote back that they are working on it, and in the meantime have changed the team title to add "CLOSED" to it to discourage donations.
Actually, it looks like they removed it already! The final total from last year was $730, so I'm pretty excited to see that we've already gotten over halfway there!
-Bok
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Nice work already people.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Is there a deadline on this? We'll be contributing before TOO long, but we don't want to miss it.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I would say to the end of the year. If anyone wants to keep it going a week into January, that's fine, but after that, it stops being the the "Holiday" drive.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
The following summarizes your contribution: Total Contribution Amount: $20.00 Reference ID: 104132043 Team Credited: Hatrack Charity Drive
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
For some reason, their web site is having trouble accepting my debit card. I'll keep trying.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Apologies if I've missed an update in the last couple days. I've been pretty busy this past weekend. I'm back on top of it now!
Posted by Armoth (Member # 4752) on :
How much have we raised in previous years, just out of curiosity?
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
i remember posting a thread last year trying to rally some donations to try to reach $1000. we must've been close enough to that figure that I thought we could do it.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
We've been over 1000 at least once. Last year we hit somewhere around 700, but most of the difference between this year and last is my missing matching donation...
-Bok
Posted by malanthrop (Member # 11992) on :
I made my contribution...not sure if it'll be attributed to Hatrack. Strange site to navigate.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Mal, I didn't get an email with anything from you, but if you want to email me your donation contribution confirmation, I'll change the total.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
Lyr, just sent an email through hatrackcharitydrive@gmail.com
Posted by malanthrop (Member # 11992) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Mal, I didn't get an email with anything from you, but if you want to email me your donation contribution confirmation, I'll change the total.
I forwarded my contribution receipt to hatrackcharitydrive@gmail.com. I'm not really interested in making sure everyone knows what my contribution was but wonder if Hatrack is credited.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Weird, there must have been a backup in the system or something. I've checked a couple times today and it only just popped up sometime in the last few hours, but the time stamp is from earlier today.
Anyway, the updated total should be accurate. Thanks you guys!
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Hey guys, finally made my donation, sorry for the delay!
It updated straight away on the team page.
mal, it doesn't seem like your contribution was attributed to our team. But since this is a "virtual" book drive I don't think it matters. Your money went to first book, and so we still count it towards our total contribution.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I'll keep updating this through January 5th, unless there are are any objections, I think that's a fair time to end the drive.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
Ali and I had a chance to contribute, it should be on the page soon.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
One week to go people. Let's push it over a thousand!
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Thanks for everyone here who is donating. I know that not everyone can, and no one should feel pressured to do so, but I am really proud of being a part of this community.
It really feels like we pull together for things like this, and makes me remember the sense of community we used to have around here. It's good to see it is alive and well, despite the obvious changes.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Just to re-iterate Kwea's post... Thank you everyone, I'm always impressed by the generosity of this forum's users. It's why I'm still hanging around 10+ years later.
Also, thank you to Lyrhawn and scholarette for organizing it this year! You guys are great!
Happy new year everyone!
-Bok
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Yeah, great job everyone! I'm proud to be a part of this.
And checking our tally it looks like we got another $10 since Lyrhawn last checked! $825 total. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Sorry I was so last minute, I'm unemployed, (but thankfully that will be remedied soon)and I agonized over not being a part of this. It all came down to considering the awesome power of books to change lives, and it became an easy decision. My amount wasn't much, but my intentions were sincere.
I'm probably going to contribute every year somebody runs this from now on.
/sounding his own trumpet
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Sorry I missed that last $10. It looks like our final tally is going to be $825. If people want to keep this going for another week then fine, but if there is no objection, I'm not going to be checking for any more donations starting today. I think it's fair to say the holiday season, or at least, this holiday season is officially over.
Thanks to everyone who contributed and lent moral support to the endeavor, and thanks to scholarette for being my partner in crime.
I too am continually impressed by Hatrack's wealth of generosity in addition to its wealth of knowledge and experience. I wish everyone well in 2010. Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Would anyone be interested in joining a community effort for Haiti?
We did a community fund raiser for Indonesia after the Tsunami.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
I would be, depending on the org. Do you have any ideas?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
One tip for Canadians, the federal government has already announced that it will match individual donations. However, if you have an ING savings account, they will also match your initial donation, meaning that your donation will essentially be tripled.
Worth a thought if you fall into both of those categories.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
This is a great idea. I have already donated through other groups or I would join you.
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