DonorsChoose: Two New Incentives

The DonorsChoose fundraiser is winding toward its conclusion, which means I need to find some new way to raise money for a final push. So, here are two new offers, one for high rollers, one for small donations:

Incentive 1: Guest Post: Taking my cue from the Seed overlords, we'll add a random element to this, to enable small donors to take part. So, any new donation this week (from Monday Oct. 22 through Friday Oct. 26) will get you a chance to win a guest-blog post on this blog. This is distinct from the "Buy This Blog" incentive, in that it's not you choosing a topic for me to write about, but you writing whatever you like, and getting it posted here on ScienceBlogs. To enter, forward me your confirmation email from DonorsChoose (with the date included) by Sunday the 28th. The winner will be chosen by random draw, and announced next Monday.

Incentive 2: Dog Dialogue: I'll throw in one auction-style item, as well. The person who makes the largest total donation between Monday the 22nd and Friday the 26th (either a donation to a single proposal, or the sum of multiple smaller donations to different proposals) wins one original Emmy dialogue post on a subject of their choosing. Again, forward me your confirmation email from DonorsChoose, with the donation amount included. Entries must be received by Sunday the 28th, and the winner will be announced on Monday. The subject can be anything you want-- a topic in physics or some other science, a political issue, the proper way to cook squirrels-- and I'll write a conversation with the dog on that subject, in the style of our earlier conversations.

So, if you've got something you'd like to say to my dozens of readers, or something you'd really like to hear my dog's opinion on, make a donation and forward me the confirmation email.

(I'm married to a lawyer, so you just know there are going to be terms and conditions below the fold...)

Conditions for Guest Post: The "guest post" option will be accomplished by having the winner write out the text of the post, and send it to me, after which I will post it here. The post should include all the HTML code needed for things to work properly, and any image files you would like included need to be sent as well, so I can upload them-- I don't believe in hot-linking files on other people's servers.

As for the topic, at the end of the day, this is still my blog, so I reserve the right to refuse to post any article that I find objectionable. I'll give a lot of leeway on this-- I let the vast majority of "Uncle Al's" comments stand, after all-- but I'm not going to post racist rants, outrageous quackery, or naked pictures of Supreme Court justices just because you contributed $10 to DonorsChoose. If I find an article objectionable, you'll have the opportunity to revise and resubmit until we arrive at something we both find acceptable.

Conditions for Dog Dialogue: These can be really difficult to write, so I'll ask the winner to submit three potential topics, and write on whichever one I can make a good dog conversation out of. If the largest donor chooses not to select a topic, the honor will pass to the second-largest donor, and so on, until somebody finally wins, so even if you only give $10, you've got a chance.

All confirmation emails sent to me will be considered as entries for both incentives, unless you specify otherwise (for example, if you have a much more popular blog than mine, and don't feel a need to post anything on ScienceBlogs). Entries will be checked against the donor lists on my DonorsChoose page, so don't think about changing date stamps or dollar amounts on some previous email, not that any of my readers would be that much of an asshole.

If nobody enters, I reserve the right to extend the contest, or just make up a couple of winners, and write any damn thing I please.