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DonorsChoose '09, Week 5 Update!

Susie Ochs — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:32:13 -0500

So like I told you in the Week 4 Update post, HP decided to chip in big-time in this year's DonorsChoose Social Media Challenge. They wound up giving even more than their original pledge of $200,000, I believe in the neighborhood of $250,000. Yeah, a nice chunk of change. A whole ocean's worth of clams. More dough than a Wonderbread factory. You get the idea.

And our share of that HP money, based on our own donations, came to (drum roll!!!), $1,821. That money has been added to our Giving Page's total, which is one reason that total is so very awe-inducing. The other reason, being, of course that YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME.

But the HP money hasn't actually been distributed to the projects yet. That's where you come in. At some point, people who donated to our Giving Page will receive electronic DonorsChoose gift cards in their email. The cards can be used on ANY project at DonorsChoose.org. (I'm not positive if everyone who donated at any point in the month will get a gift card, or only people who donated before HP's cutoff of Sunday October 25. I'll try to find out.)

Those gift cards might not land in your inboxes until after the Social Media Challenge ends, which happens this Saturday, Oct 31, at midnight. But if anyone would like to donate to a project on our Giving Page before the Challenge is over, and then you forward me your receipt (again, by Saturday at midnight West Coast Time), you'll be entered in the Week 5 drawing for a Brenthaven messenger bag -- all the details of that are in the regular Week 5 post.

I am so incredibly proud of our total so far. And grateful to everyone who's been so generous. And humbled by the profound effect our donations will have on the students and teachers who benefit from them. DonorsChoose simply rocks.

Oh, one more thing: If you need a little inspiration, or just a smile and a boost, head to our Giving Page and scroll down to the projects that have been fully funded. Click on one or five, and read the thank-you letters posted by the teachers. They are so heartfelt and heart-warming -- I think you might enjoy. I know I did.

Thank you to all.

DonorsChoose '09, Week 5: Win a Brenthaven laptop bag!

Susie Ochs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:13:34 -0500

You guys! $1200! Well, OK, $1,198 as of this writing, but that's virtually $1200, just a measly $2 away. I set our initial goal for this year at $1,000, so we have surpassed that handsomely, and I am busting with pride, and we still have a week to go.

Last week we got matches from myself and from amazing reader Greg (thanks again, Greg!), and we learned that HP was fixing to chip in big, big bucks (and no whammies) to the Challenge participants. I haven't heard yet when we'll get our share of HP's dough -- I think it might take a few days; they are giving away $200,000 after all. But if you have donated already, stay tuned and when I hear more about details about the HP money and when we'll be getting our gift cards, I'll let you know.

If you haven't donated already, you've still got time! The Social Media Challenge runs through the end of October, which is this Saturday. (Halloween on a Saturday, those are the best years ever.) Our fabulous Giving Page still has lots of worthy projects on it. And you're still eligible to win prizes when you donate to one of those projects, and then forward me your email receipt (susie at maclife dot com).

This week you could win a Brenthaven messenger bag that was custom-designed especially for me at this past January's Macworld Expo. Brenthaven makes some nice bags -- this one has about 15 pockets, a padded section for your 13- or 15-inch laptop, and includes the optional Bicycle Commuter Kit.

If you created this custom bag on Brenthaven.com it would cost you $139.90 before tax and shipping, and you wouldn't even get one this cool. Why not? Well, the design I picked out at the Brenthaven booth on the Expo floor is just so limited-edition, they don't sell it. It's one of a kind. The nice lady had to ask her supervisor if they could even give it to me in the first place. Yeah, that's just how I roll. Here's a picture.

The outside is a lovely brown with a cool gold bird design. The bird's red eye is embroidered.

And the inside of the flap is a khaki color with a repeating, geometric blossom design. The flap is even reversible!

The front flap is reversible, and if you hate the completely rad design that I picked out for this bag, you can always buy a spare flat right from Brenthaven, starting at $29.95. Between the original reversible flap and the new reversible flap, you'd be able to create four looks. Pretend I'm Tim Gunn for a second so I can tell you it's "stunning."

Anyway, this bag is this week's prize, and I'll stuff it with magazines and software and other SECRET GOODIES OF MYSTERY before I send it to you, too. You're welcome.

So please, please, please, before the deadline of 11:59pm Pacific time on this Saturday, October 31 (see offical rules on the FAQ), please donate $1 or more to any project on our Giving Page, and forward me your receipt and I'll enter you in the contest. So far our donations have helped 1,192 kids, which is pretty amazing. I mean, that's more people than went to my elementary, middle, and high schools combined. I applaud your generosity.

Let's bring it down the stretch. Thanks to DonorsChoose, the lovely souls at Brenthaven, and of course to you.

DonorsChoose Week 4 Update!

Susie Ochs — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:08:44 -0500

So yes, as it stood yesterday we were at $700, and naturally the week 4 drawing is still open.

Awesome Mac|Life reader Greg has awesomely donated once, and yesterday he pledged to me, even more awesomely, to kick in another $100 if we can raise our group total to $900 by the end of the month. That would, of course, get us to $1,000, which was our goal. Yeah, my iPhone's got a calculator on it. Anyway, that is so awesome of Greg I just don't have the words. (That's why I've overrelied on "awesome," you see.) As of right now we are at $735, so we've only got $265 to go to get to Greg's magic number. You've got nine days people, get on it!

But call me Susie Jiller-Schobs, because I've got one more thing.

OK, there's this company HP, they make printers and monitors and stuff, and I think some computers that don't run Mac OS X. And they are generous and rad, so they are donating $200,000 to DonorsChoose. And they're doing this by giving out DonorsChoose gift cards to the participants in the Social Media Challenge (which is what we've been doing all month with the Giving Pages and all). And they're splitting up the money based on how much each Giving Page has raised.

(Is your jaw on the floor yet? Mine is.)

And so far we're at maybe half a percent of that total, so I'm hoping we'll get about a thousand bucks in DonorsChoose gift cards to spend. YOU GUYS, the people who donated to projects on our Giving Page, will get the gift cards. Which means you'll get to choose which projects that HP's money will go to. Dudes, I know we are Mac people through and through, but come on -- how cool is that?

Here's the thing: We have until THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, AT 11:59PM to get our total up for this HP money -- the bigger our total, the bigger slice of pie we'll get. HP has put up $200,000 in all, and we want to get as much of it as we can, right?

So please, please, please, if you were at ALL on the fence about donating, I truly hope this lights your fire enough to make a donation by Sunday. Go to this page, pick a project to support, give as much as you can -- any amount helps, even $1! -- and feel good about yourself. Then forward me your receipt (susie at maclife dot com) and I'll enter you to win the week 4 prizes, too.

Feel free to email with questions. I am so, so excited about this. Let's dig deep and help some kids. This school right here needs a MacBook? I say we make it happen!

Thank you, truly. Your generosity is most humbling and awesome. Thank you.

DonorsChoose '09, Week 4: Win Travel Accessories for your iPod and Mac!

Susie Ochs — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:54:44 -0500

It's week 4, and we're knocking on the door of $500. So many of our projects (So! Very! Many!) have been fully funded. I could add some more, but it's so tempting to just focus on knocking out the ones we have left. If you've run into a DonorsChoose.org project that you'd like to see added to our Giving Page, just email me at susie at maclife dot com and I'll put it on there. Otherwise, it's time to get cracking on the Mac-, iPod-, reading-, and writing-related proposals on our page right now...

At the beginning of last week we were hovering at a little under $200, and I challenged you to get it up to $250, at which I'd throw in a $50 match of my own funds. Well, I went away for a couple of days and when I came back our total was $333, so I kicked in $65 to fully complete the Math Journals project and bring our total to $398. Since then you guys kept going, knocking out the entire Dodgeball project and getting our total up to $479 as of this writing! That's outstanding progress for one little week!

So how about another match? Yes, I'm willing to put my money (well, OK, my credit card) where my mouth is and lay it on the line for DonorsChoose.org. If our total rises to at least $600 by the end of this week (that's midnight Pacific time on Saturday), I'll donate ANOTHER $50. That's how much I love DonorsChoose and want to inspire more giving. My holiday-gift budget will be a little shrimpy this year, but who cares as long as we help this SoCal elementary school get a new MacBook.

PRIZES! You know the drill: To enter, just give $1 or more to a project on our Giving Page, then forward your emailed receipt to me at susie at maclife dot com to be entered in this week's all-new drawing. The prize pack for week 4 is jammed with clever accessories to help you travel around with your Mac, iPod, or iPhone, including:

> RadTech BT500 Rechargeable Bluetooth Mini Mouse, a pocket-sized mouse for when your trackpad just isn't cutting it.
> Agent18 StandHear, an adjustable travel stand with built-in headphone splitter for your iPhone or iPod touch (or other iPod-sized devices)
> Griffin Technology PowerJolt SE, a convenient car charger for your iPhone or iPod
> Kensignton Nightstand Charging Dock for iPhone, which keeps your iPhone or iPod touch charged while letting the device act like an alarm clock.
> And a Mac|Life T-shirt

Week 4 Prize Pack! You know you want it!

That's ALL going to ONE winner, so make sure to forward me your entries for your chance to score big. The deadline for the week 4 drawing is 11:59pm Pacific time on Saturday, October 24. Official rules are on the FAQ page, and you can email me if you have any questions.

PS. Big congratulations to our winners so far! In week 1, Clement won a Snow Leopard Family Pack. Week 2 we sent the iHome iP71 speakers over to Stephen. And Kimberlee won the week 3 drawing, landing a $25 iTunes Gift Card and copy of The Sims 3. Congratulations and thanks to all of them! Don't you want to be like them? Dig deep and donate today. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

DonorsChoose '09, Week 3: Win a $25 iTunes Gift Card and The Sims 3!

Susie Ochs — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:29:37 -0500

It's Week 3 of October, so we have this week and then two more weeks to go. So far we've teamed up to support projects reaching 176 students, which is awesome. We're fourth on the leaderboard of Tech Blogs, and I'm so excited about the projects we're backing that I'm ready to throw down a challenge: When we get our total to $250, I'll kick in a $50 match.

We already knocked out the "Legos Help Our Egos" project (and let's all take a second to smile about how STOKED those kids are going to be the day those LEGOs show up, amirite?), but the Giving Page still has some fun, worthwhile stuff on it. In fact, I just added a few more things because so many of our projects have been completed -- the Tech Blogs group as a whole has thrown in, oh, THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS so far, which is just...oh my gosh. It's huge.

So thanks for your support so far, and chip in a little more so we can get to the match -- this is my own cash here, my second donation, money I might otherwise blow chasing Robbie's dream of 31 tacos in a month. Which is noble, sure, but it's just not quite as important as picturebooks for kindergarteners, is it now?

Oh, and other than the match, your donation this week will enter you to win a fabulous prize, namely a $25 iTunes Gift Card (which is a $25 value!!! Free shipping!!!), plus a brand-new copy of The Sims 3 (it's a hybrid disc that can run on Intel Macs or Windows XP/Vista), plus a Mac|Life T-shirt (men's or women's sizes, not sold in stores, be the first on your block to have one). To enter, just forward me your donation receipt (susie at maclife dot com) before the deadline of 11:59pm Pacific on Saturday, October 17. Go ahead and shoot me an email if you have any questions.

Now go forth and do good, you attractive, brilliant do-gooders. Thank you.

DonorsChoose '09, Week 2: Win the iHome iP71!

Susie Ochs — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:46:11 -0500

Look, times are tough. I know this. People are out of work, the people still working are facing budget cuts, furloughs, and salary reductions. It seems like everyone, everywhere is struggling to get by on less.

So why am I asking you for money? At a time like this, donating money?

Yes.

See, it won't always be this way. We're survivors, we bounce back. Economies are cyclical, and that cycle will go 'round -- that's what cycles do. But children, children are linear. Today's public school children won't be able to turn back the clock and relive their school years in a more properous time. They're kids now. They're sitting at their desks as we speak.

So we should help them. And the best way to do that, I believe, is to help out their teachers, those dedicated public school teachers who are determined to give them the very best educational experience possible, even in the face of budget cuts, bigger class sizes, outdated supplies, not enough books and chalk and paper to go around.

And if you think about it, the teachers who submit projects to DonorsChoose.org have got to be some of the best teachers in the country, right? They're going the extra mile, coming up with creative and fun ideas to keep those squimy little kids engaged in learning. They're seeking out creative ways to fund those ideas, because they're not going to take "Sorry, it's not in the budget" for an answer. They care too much to be hearin' that.

So I'm asking you, in this ridiculous economy, to try to spare a few bucks for the kiddos. Please, pretty please. You won't regret it.

If your kid's teacher has a project on DonorsChoose.org, or you're a teacher with a project up there, or you saw a project from your hometown or just something that speaks to you, email me the link (susie at maclife dot com) and I'll add it to our Giving Page.

And oh yes, prizes!

Aside from a tax deduction, an extra spring in your step, and much thanks and appreciation, you just might win a sweet prize. Last week, Clement Ho won a Snow Leopard Family Pack. Congrats!

This week, everyone who donates at least $1 to a project on our Giving Page, and forwards me their email receipt (susie at maclife dot com) will be entered to win the iHome iP71 Syncing/Charging iPod/iPhone Computer Speakers, which retail for $129.99. I reviewed them in the October issue of Mac|Life and really enjoyed having them on my desk. You can keep your iPod charged, sync it up with your Mac, and rock out to some great tunes all at once. They're especially tasty for watching movies. Big thanks to iHome for generously donating the prize.

The deadline for forwarding me your emails is 11:59pm PDT this Saturday, October 10. Official rules are here. Any questions, just email me! Thank you in advance, and gooooooo school.

The iHome iP71 -- will it look as rad on your desk as it did on mine? Donate, win, and you'll find out.

DonorsChoose Challenge 2009!

Susie Ochs — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:48:27 -0500

It's time for the DonorsChoose Challenge! Last year, our Giving Page raised nearly $900, affecting 560-plus students. That's incredible! I know this year we can break $1,000. That's less than the cost of a MacBook!

DonorsChoose.org is an incredible website, letting public school teachers submit project proposals -- anything they need that their schools can't afford to buy for them. If any of you know a teacher, you probably know that this lack of adequate supplies can be a HUGE problem, especially now, with budget cuts affecting schools around the country.

Typically a teacher's choice is to shell out their own hard-earned dollars for these extras or simply go without, but DonorsChoose adds a third option -- asking others for help. Donors (that's you!) choose a project to fund -- part or all of it -- and when the project is complete, the teachers get their stuff, the kids get an awesome educational experience, and the donors get adorable thank-you notes and photos from the happy classrooms. It's been one of my favorite sites, and charities of choice, for years.

Each October, DonorsChoose.org runs a Social Media Challenge, letting bloggers and websites and whatnot set up a Giving Page of project proposals to sponsor. Their readers (again, that's you!) donate to the projects, and DonorsChoose tallies the totals on this leaderboard, for bragging rights and warm, fuzzy feelings, and that sweet sense of self-satisfaction that unites us as users of the Macintosh. (Hee!)

But there's more in it for you besides a chance to be generous, a tax deduction, and the awesome thank-you notes you'll get. I'm holding five drawings, one every week in the month of October, for fabulous prize packages. All you have to do to enter is donate $1 or more to a project on our Giving Page, then forward me the email receipt (susie at maclife dot com). I will email back to let you know you're entered (and tell you how AWESOME you are for donating), and your name goes in the drawing for that week. See the updated FAQ (which holds the official rules) for more details.

WEEK 1 PRIZE: Snow Leopard Family Pack! A $49 value, the Family Pack will put Apple's newest, raddest OS on up to 5 Macs (Intel only) in your household. Remember, this is a short week, so enter by this Saturday to be eligible! The official deadline is 11:59pm PDT on Saturday, October 3, 2009.

I've updated our FAQ for the 2009 Challenge, and our new Giving Page is live. Any questions? Just email me. Now go forth and give!

DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge 2008: Top 10 Reasons to Donate

Susie Ochs — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:40:07 -0500

Well, we're almost a week into the month of October, and the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge is underway and picking up steam. You can read about the Challenge here, visit our very own Giving Page, get your FAQ on, and peruse our ever-growing list o' prizes.

But here is where I try to INSPIRE you all to give as generously as you can, which I realize isn't easy to do in these turgid economic times. Maybe a top 10 is in order? Beautiful.

From the home office in South San Francisco, hugging the picturesque San Francisco Bay and just a stone's throw from lovely Candlestick Park, here are the TOP 10 REASONS YOU SHOULD GIVE TO DONORSCHOOSE AS PART OF THE BLOGGER CHALLENGE.

10. PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES: Think of this like a raffle of sorts. Instead of buying a $10 raffle ticket, you're chipping in $10 (or any amount you choose, really) to a school that could really, really use it, and you can then enter our prize giveaway where you might get a $500 piece of software (cough, cough MICROSOFT OFFICE '08) for your trouble.

9. HELP A FELLOW MAC|LIFE READER! "Mr. D.," a second-grade teacher in Los Angeles, heard me talk about the Challenge on our latest podcast, and he wrote to say he LOVES DonorsChoose, and has submitted his own proposals in the past and had them funded. He's got three unfunded proposals on the site right now—a couple of Flip Ultra cameras for his kids to use, some special books for his students who struggle with reading, and some fun buzzers he can use to play Jeopardy with the class to review for tests. We've added them all to our Giving Page, so please check them out! (And don't hesistate to email me at susie at maclife dot com if you have suggestions for other proposals we should fund.)

8. MAC PRIDE, BABY: MacLife.com is currently way, way down on the leaderboard of Tech Blogs. Don't want to see AllThingsD's or Engadget's readers out-give you? Dig deep, my friends.

7. EVEN MORE PRIZES: I just heard, just now while I was writing this blog post, that we're getting more prizes donated by our amazing advertisers and generous tech companies from all over. Scosche is sending us some sweet earbuds and an iPod/iPhone charger for your car—very generous of them; Scosche stuff rules. Booq is providing some fancy Mamba Sling bags, as stylish as they are well-made and functional. We appreciate the support!

6. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING ARE OUTSTANDING: As of this writing, we've got at least a few dozen prizes lined up, and you know how many donors we have so far? Two. Two donors. And one of those is your faithful scribe here, and the other just happens to be one of my coworkers. And neither of us is entering the contest, so we can save the prizes for you. Therefore, enter! The odds are in your favor! (But to enter, you have to donate. Read the FAQ for more.)

5. I AM SERIOUSLY BEING CRUSHED BY PRIZES HERE, PEOPLE: I was just handed some MORE. Gorgeous laptop covers by Isis Dei, and protective hard cases from Speck Products and Axio. If you have a laptop, you should donate to the Challenge and you could win it a fancy outfit.

4. CHILDREN ARE AWESOME: And their teachers are doing some really cool stuff with them thanks to these projects. Read DonorsChoose's blog for some inspiring examples.

3. MICROSOFT FREAKING OFFICE: We recently gave away not one, not two, but FIVE copies of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, Special Media Edition, to the winners of one of our famous back-page Win contests. This software suite costs a cool $500 in your friendly neighborhood retail location, so giving away five of them was quite a thrill for us. And I felt kind of bad emailing the good folks at Microsoft to beg another copy to use as a prize for the Blogger Challenge. But the angelic Microsoft Mac Business Unit peeps not only said "Sure!" but they might toss in some hardware (mice, keyboards, etc.) as well. Stay tuned for more prize updates as we receive them, but already I must say...WOW.

2. YOU WILL BE IN A GREAT MOOD: for the rest of the day after you toss in a few bucks to help the children. Giving is wonderful for the soul; it really is.

1. EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS: I know it's rough out there right now. My rent just went up again, I can't afford plane tickets to visit my parents for Christmas, and it seems like everything (except RAM and hard drives) is getting more expensive all the time. Who can afford to save the world, am I right? See, that's the beauty of a project like this Blogger Challenge: We're working together. Sure, my donation isn't huge, but when we all chip in, we can accomplish a lot.

Thoughts? Feedback? Questions? Joining hands for a rousing chorus of "We Are the World"? Hit up the comments. Then hit up our Giving Page, and let's rock the Blogger Challenge together.