DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: checking in on day 13.

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.

Most money donated:

1. DrPal's First Aid for Michigan Classrooms ($2,054)
2. Uncertain Principles Challenge 2009 ($1,929)
3. Dr. Isis's Sacred Temple of Giving ($1,851)
4. Abel Pharmboy's Giving What We're Abel ($1,737)
5. Geobloggers Giving Kids the Earth ($1,402)

Most donors:*

1. Dr. Isis's Sacred Temple of Giving (39)
2. DrPal's First Aid for Michigan Classrooms (20)
3. Geobloggers Giving Kids the Earth (20)
4. Sciencewomen's Books Challenge (20)
5. DrugMonkey Blog's Science-Up the Schools Challenge (19)

Largest average contribution:

1. Abel Pharmboy's Giving What We're Abel ($579.00)
2. Gene Expression For the Kids ($229.50)
3. Zuska's Kick-Ass Donor's Choose Challenge ($174.00)
4. GrrlScientist's Biology is Life Challenge ($164.29)
5. Classroom Science Around The Clock ($156.00)

Most recent donation:**

1. DrPal's First Aid for Michigan Classrooms (15 hours ago)
2. Dr. Isis's Sacred Temple of Giving (18 hours ago)
3. Geobloggers Giving Kids the Earth (18 hours ago)
4. Sciencewomen's Books Challenge (19 hours ago)
5. Dr. Free-Ride's "help-bridge-the-budget-gap" challenge (2 days ago)

If your favorite ScienceBlogs blogger with a challenge hasn't cracked the top 5 of these standings, kicking in a little money to that challenge (or spreading the word on Twitter or Facebook or FriendFeed or whatever) might help change that.

Looking at the Social Media Challenge motherboard for the larger picture on the competition between giving groups, that bunch of teachers is still in the #2 slot, while Tech blogs are currently in the #4 slot, nipping at the ScienceBlogs bloggers' heels.

Also, while the Discover Blogs are currently sitting at #6 on the big board, if you adjust for the number of blogs participating in the challenge, they are kicking butt (including, arguably, ScienceBlogs butt). The Cosmic Variance challenge has raised $2,821 so far, which is more than any of the ScienceBlogs challenges has raised.

You just know those physicists' and astronomers' heads are going to start expanding like the universe itself.

We know you Sb readers are the sharpest, most insightful, funniest, and most generous. Let's keep up the momentum here so the world knows it, too. Every donation to one of our challenges, no matter how big or small, is more evidence that you all want to help create conditions where the younger generations in the U.S. get the education they need to engage with science.

And don't forget, your donation can help score you some prizes! ***

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*OK, there's actually a three-way tie for second here, but I don't know an easy way to indicate that in a numbered list. Any HTML mavens with advice on that?

** Here again, a two-way tie for second place.

***To my generous donors: Now that papers are graded and my midterm is written, I'm digging in to those poems, chemical compound samplers, and basic concepts posts I owe you. The sprogs have already started on the artwork they owe to donors, too. Thanks for your patience, as well as your generosity!