Philanthropy
jstemwedel | October 1, 2007Maybe you remember that fund-raiser we did for DonorsChoose last June. We're kicking off another today. But this time, it's not just ScienceBlogs bloggers -- partners like Google, Yahoo!, Six Apart, and Federated Media are watching the efforts across the whole blogosphere to see which blog has the most generous and engaged readers.
But before we get to the frenzy of competition, let's start with what matters: the school kids yearning to learn.
As I wrote last year:
Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the…
jstemwedel | September 29, 2007Mike Dunford just passed on most excellent news: Six Apart is giving away $30 gift certificates for my favorite philanthropic organization, DonorsChoose. Here are the details:
We've got a challenge for the entire Movable Type community, and for the blogging community as a whole. Starting this Monday, October 1, Movable Type bloggers will have the chance to participate in the Blogger Challenge -- it's a campaign to help support education, powered by our friends at DonorsChoose.org. ...
We're so excited about this that we're distributing philanthropic gift certificates you can use to help…
jstemwedel | September 7, 2007The school year just started again for my kids, and it's pretty hard to escape the conclusion that as public school teachers are being asked to do more, their resources are dwindling. During the summer, the school mailed out the (extensive) lists of basic school supplies needed by kids at each grade level -- the basic stuff, like crayons and pencils and paper, that during the last millennium when I was in grade school were included in the classroom funding like desks and electricity.
It strikes me that as a society, we need to revisit our funding priorities. But in the meantime, there are…
jstemwedel | December 8, 2006(This might not be the best title, since I feel like I've gotten to know a bunch of you here through this here series of tubes!)
It's the holiday spending season, and I wanted to point you toward a use of your money that won't translate into more toys on your floor. You can sponsor a runner in this Sunday's Honolulu who is running to support TAPS, an organization providing support to the families of those who die on active duty in the armed forces. TAPS is accepting general donations, but you can also sponsor a particular runner on Team TAPS.
Mike Dunford (from whom I found out about this)…
tqa | July 3, 2006
The ScienceBlogs Bloggers' Challenge was wildly successful, raising well over 30,000 dollars in 15 days to fund education projects at individual schools. The challenge here at The Questionable Authority was also successful, bringing in a bit over $650.00, meeting the goal that I set.
Thanks to all of the donors to both my own little contribution and to the broader challenge.
jstemwedel | July 2, 2006Between the moment the drive kicked off on June 15 and the moment it closed last night, here's what generous ScienceBlogs readers accomplished:
195 of you made donations.
Together, those donations added up to $16,097.27.
You also helped 4 of the 19 challenges meet their goals, securing an additional 10% of the totals raised in those challenges ($841.53) from DonorsChoose.
Thus, with the $10,000 match from SEED, you've raised $26,938.80 to help students and teachers get what they need to make education happen.
That's pretty awesome! We thank you and the teachers and kids thank you.
Don't…
jstemwedel | July 1, 2006The Evolgen bloggers challenge has been meet. More science for the kids!
Three more challenges may still be do-able and there are 7.5 hours left. Tell a friend.
jstemwedel | July 1, 2006The Questionable Authority bloggers challenge has been meet. Children in the Bronx will be getting their science on!
Four more challenges are in striking range and there are 11.5 hours left. Go the distance!
jstemwedel | July 1, 2006The Stranger Fruit bloggers challenge has been completed!
Now on to the other five that are still in reach. You're on a roll!
jstemwedel | July 1, 2006ScienceBlogs readers have raised $14,913.09 to help science teachers get the materials they need for engaging explorations of magnets, marine biology, electricity, and evolution. You've helped fund classroom equipment and field trips. You've helped stack the deck toward a future where fewer people are scared by science and more people are involved in conversations about science.
But we have the rest of today to do just a bit more.
DonorsChoose is generously rewarding bloggers who meet their Bloggers Challenge goals with DonorsChoose gift certificates worth 10% of the total amount they raise…
jstemwedel | June 29, 2006It's been two weeks since we kicked off our first ever ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose drive to raise money for math and science classrooms. In that time, 172 generous readers have donated a total of $13,685.14 and SEED has kicked in $10,000.
But there are three days left of the drive, and I know you all have some greatness left in you.
Here's the deal: Of the 19 blogs participating in this drive, only Pharyngula reached its challenge goal. This would be no big deal if we were just concerned with interblog bragging rights. But, there's more at stake here: the good people at DonorsChoose are…
jstemwedel | June 25, 2006This time they're going after Tara. So sad that a fundraiser would inspire such an underhanded attack. Someone must be feeling very desperate!
* * * * *
Reading Aetiology was fun -- but suddenly I was washing my hands obsessively, sending back rare hamburgers at restaurants, and turning down rest-stop guitar-string tattoos. My friends want to know what happened to the happy-go-lucky guy I used to be.
That blog turned out to be a vector of buzz-kill.
I plan to protect my kids from the germ theory of disease.
jstemwedel | June 24, 2006Sad to report, the Sb/DonorsChoose anti-biology attack ad seems not to have been an isolated incident. My anonymous source discovered another such ad, this one targeted at the brain sciences crowd.
What has become of our sense of scientific unity? Can we pull together despite attacks like the one reproduced below the fold? Does this mean that Karl Rove is actually taking an interest in the sciences?
"She looked at me like I was a rat waiting to be run through a maze. She grabbed her clipboard and started reading me the consent form. But ... I couldn't tell whether she was really…
jstemwedel | June 23, 2006
I should have known it would come to this.
A week into our ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose drive to raise money for schools, the warm spirit of pan-science-harmony has started to erode.
An anonymous source has come into possession of the text of an attack ad targeting our biological brethren and sistern. I hate to even give a story like this oxygen, but in the interests of full disclosure, I reproduce the ad below the fold.
"If it's green and wriggles, it's biology."
"Biology is just stamp-collecting."
"Biology is the 'science' with the greatest preponderance of women."
"If biology were a real…
jstemwedel | June 20, 2006Because I know some people in these parts like numbers, I thought I'd give you a few stats for the Sb/DonorsChoose bloggers challenges currently underway.
At last count, we've gotten $12,325.59 (not counting the $10,000 match from SEED) from 152 generous donors -- that's an average of $81.09 per donor. (Potential donors, don't be put off -- as little as $10 can make a big difference when you're combining forces with other donors!)
You've heard by now that the Pharyngula challenge already wrapped up. Those unholy, soulless, pirate zombies dug deep and ended up funding 313% of PZ's goal.…
jstemwedel | June 19, 2006I swear I'm putting up a couple posts today that have nothing to do with the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose drive to fund science and math classrooms. However, there have been some developments since the last update, and I thought you ought to know about them.
Although PZ Myers and his minions met the goal of the Pharyngula challenge days ago, it shambles on like a zombie, now at more than 250% of the challenge goal. Way to go, unholy army of the undead!
ScienceBlogs readers have so far donated $10,307.86 to the drive. Among other things, this means we've secured the entire $10,000 that SEED…
jstemwedel | June 17, 2006We kicked off the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose drive just over 50 hours ago. Since then:
ScienceBlogs readers have made donations totaling $8498.73
SEED is matching that $8498.73, and will match up to another $1501.27.
Doing the math, your donations plus SEED matches means at least $16, 997.46 will go to help teachers and students. But, we're going until July 1, so I know we can do better than that!
Dave and Greta at Cognitive Daily are sweetening the pot even more -- they'll kick in their own money to add another 10% to any amount you donate to their challenge. (Don't forget, that gets…
jstemwedel | June 16, 2006Since we kicked off the drive yesterday morning:
ScienceBlogs readers have made donations totaling $3784.30
Our beneveolent overlords at SEED have put up as much as $10,000 to match reader donations*. That means that so far, SEED is kicking in $3784.30 to match what you all have donated. And, if readers can collectively donate another $6125.70, SEED is committed to matching that as well.
So far, exactly 13 readers who have made donations have forwarded their email confirmations from DonorsChoose to sb.donorschoose.bonanza@gmail.com to enter the drawing for fabulous prizes at the end of…
jstemwedel | June 15, 2006Just a quick update on the progress of the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon:
At last check (as I'm composing this post), across all the Sb blogs participating in the challenge, readers have donated more than $3000. That's a strong start, readers!
The bloggers at The World's Fair are going to try to get you to donate to their challenge by promising, for a donation of $10 or more, to publish a science haiku of your composition in The Science Creative Quarterly. Is that fair?
If you would like to help a particular geographical region, it's worth combing…
tqa | June 15, 2006
Pick a Scienceblogger - any Scienceblogger - and you'll find someone who loves science, and thinks that everyone should be exposed to it. That's one of the reasons that we spend time hammering out these posts. We also, as a group, have this funny belief about science education. We think it's important. We think that it's a good thing for children to learn about the way their world works, and we're all for anything that helps with that.
That's why there are, as you may have seen on the main Scienceblogs page, a whole bunch of us clamoring for your money right now. We're embarking on a…