Permalink
Posted by Candice on
Tuesday,
October 20, 2009 at 1:28pm
We are thrilled that HP is sponsoring the DonorsChoose.org Social Media Challenge and helping dedicated bloggers and twitterers improve classroom experiences.
To kick off the Challenge, HP supported every single Giving Page with a $50 donation to a classroom project. This contribution really jump-started the contest and inspired other donors to join in the fun.
Next week, we will distribute the remaining $200,000 of HP’s contribution to all Social Media Challenge Giving Pages. But this time, the participant’s share will be calculated based on the percentage he or she raises by Sunday, October 25, 2009.
Tens of thousands of dollars for classroom resources are up for grabs, so if you are participating in the Challenge this year, keep those blog posts, tweets and status updates coming! Or support your favorite blogger or twitterer here!
Permalink
Posted by Katie on
Monday,
September 21, 2009 at 4:17pm
The philanthropic throwdown of 2009 starts in just 10 days… You can visit the Social Media Challenge to see how the competition is heating up!
As you start to think about engaging your readers and followers to help low-income students this fall, make sure that you set out to have an awesome time doing it. Here are some tips from previous challenges:
1. Embrace social media by blogging, tweeting and Facebooking about your Giving Page. We’ve got some cool tools you can use this year from your DonorsChoose.org donor account. Once you’re logged in, and you’ve clicked on your Giving Page, you can follow the links to post your Giving Page on Facebook.
2. Offer to do something wacky if your readers reach a certain level of donations. Check out last year’s blog post for inspiration, like how Finslippy offered to reenact Pat Benetar’s “Love is a Battlefield.” Which happened, by the way!
3. Say something feisty about the other bloggers in your Giving Group or about the singular awesomeness of your readers. A sense of competition, and of team pride, really helps to inspire donations.
4. Use the widget for your Giving Page. This widget will not only serve as a constant call-to-action for your readers, but as a public salute to the individual readers who have made donations through your giving page.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Social Media Challenge nears….
3) Find your image on your hard drive, and open it.
4) You will see that your picture is selected. Click “Upload”.
5) You will now see your image in the pop-up box. Click “close” in the upper right. Note that it might take 15 – 30 minutes for your photo to appear on your Giving Page.
Troubleshooting
Did you receive an error that your photo is too small?
- If so, you can visit www.resizemyphoto.com, for a three quick and easy steps to resize your photo. Select the “400 pixels” option.
When your photo uploads successfully, it will look like this on your Giving Page:
Do you still have questions? If so, ask them in the “Comments” field of this blog, or on our Contact Form.
So, you’ve checked out the Social Media Challenge, and you’re ready to throw your hat in the ring. Here are quick instructions on setting up a Giving Page:
3) Enter in the title, and customize your message for your readers and friends
4) Join a “Giving Group”, to join in the friendly competition!
5) Add a JPG or GIF image for your page. Your image should be at least 260 x 170 pixels high.
6) Choose which types of classroom projects you’d like on your Giving Page – whether you’re jazzed about Music & The Arts, Kindergartners, or projects in Arizona!
You should be all set! More questions? Ask them in the “Comments” field of this blog post, or on our Contact Form.
Permalink
Posted by Melanie on
Monday,
March 16, 2009 at 5:18pm
Last Friday, a tomato descended upon our Nation’s capital, taking photos with lacrosse players, bravely navigating the National Mall carousel, and getting snaps from well-dressed grannies on Constitution Avenue. Who was this vegetative wonder? None other than the Commander in Chief of the Tomato Nation herself, Sarah “Fruit not a Vegetable” Bunting!
Sarah first offered to don her lycopene-rich garb on the streets of the Nation’s capital if her readers would give to support classroom projects at DonorsChoose.org during our 2009 Blogger Challenge. Her efforts resulted in $111,352 being given to high-need classrooms across the country in less than 5 weeks! Thanks to the Tomato Nation and to their fearless leader, over 3,500 students have received the materials needed to grow in the classroom this school year!
Check out more photos of the Tomato tromping around Washington, DC, here.
Permalink
Posted by Candice on
Monday,
November 10, 2008 at 10:19am
Sadly, the Blogger Challenge is over for 2008, but we have to give some love to the knitting bloggers who participated. This crafty, tech-savvy, philanthropic group of bloggers really came through and showed their support for public school classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org! A few notable knitting blogs deserve special mention:
Redshirt Knitting who, before the contest even began, got readers in on the action by asking them to vote for the type of projects that should be funded and ultimately raised $685!
Knitting Curmudgeon blogger pledged to knit and wear a hideous camo hat if her readers met the KC Fiber Kids’ goal!
Not to be outdone, Go Knit in Your Hat offered to sweeten the pot by drawing a name for a free skein of BBF sock yarn from amongst the donors.
Everyone got into the spirit of giving and was excited to help out classrooms and teachers. Knitting blog leaderboard champ Rose-Kim Knits, whose readers donated $871, summed it up best: “I know that knitting has enriched my life. It gives me comfort, a community, a sense of accomplishment and mastery. It has given me a career and great friends. Imagine being able to give these things to children in need.”
With people like the above bloggers on board, there is definitely hope for these children. Thanks so much to all of our bloggers for getting involved and giving back!
Permalink
Posted by Alex on
Thursday,
October 16, 2008 at 11:08am
Below are a few of the bloggers that the DonorsChoose.org Atlantic Team has been working with this fall. We hope that you enjoy visiting their blogs, and their DonorsChoose.org challenge pages, as much as we do!
BlabberMouse: A fabulous and fun blog to read, with occasional pictures of really cute kids and their really cool mom (although she would yell at us for telling you that it was a blog about kids). You can see her “Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now…” challenge.
Early Education is the Key: Tracey Bryant Stuckey is a teacher certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. When she was a public school teacher, she was an avid user of DonorsChoose.org. Now she runs a company called Wiggle Giggle Learn, and she teaches other teachers to use DonorsChoose.org! Check out her DonorsChoose.org “21st Century Students Brought to you by the Little Guys” challenge to contribute.
Ed Cone.com, Word Up: Ed Cone lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, and writes for a wide variety of newspapers. He thinks that great schools are the best economic development tool we’ve got. You can visit his “Greensboro Online” challenge to fund North Carolina classroom projects.
Miss K: Miss K is the creator of Aromaleigh Mineral Cosmetics. She and her INCREDIBLE readers have already reached more than 1,800 students. Visit her “Beauty is More than Skin Deep” challenge to contribute.
Mothers in Medicine: Mothers in Medicine is a group blog by physician mothers, who are on call every single day with their two distinct patient populations. You can visit their “Mothers in Medicine Give Back” DonorsChoose.org challenge, which is supporting projects that promote learning about health, science and the body.
Try Harder: Carrie is a wonderful writer, and her blog is always entertaining. You can join her in supporting low-income Philadelphia classrooms (where she is from) at her “Try Harder – for the kids!” challenge.
Permalink
Posted by Alex on
Wednesday,
October 1, 2008 at 6:18pm
Today is DAY ONE of the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge – a friendly challenge to see who in the blogosphere can best mobilize his/her readers to support public school classroom needs. The overall competition is sure to be fierce, and as expected, the first day has brought to light many battles of note.
One such battle worth highlighting is the Battle of the Craigs: two men sharing the same name – Craig Newmark. Sound familiar? It should. Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist is going head-to-head with his namesake, N.C. State economics professor Craig Newmark – both longtime DonorsChoose.org supporters
Who will rank supreme and earn the rights to (you guessed it) his own name for the next 12 months? Only time will tell. You can follow the match up and help determine the REAL Craig Newmark, by checking out each man’s Giving Page:
Now because this is a blog, I can say: back Carolina Craig!! I’m not only one of two DonorsChoose.org employees living in the Carolinas, I’m also an N.C. State grad. There, you have my bias.
Permalink
Posted by Charlotte on
Wednesday,
December 5, 2007 at 7:35pm
Internet history has been made. During the month of October, more than a hundred bloggers inspired their readers to give $420,000 to classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org, reaching 75,000 students from low-income communities.
Winners: By raising $139,509, Tim Ferriss, creator of LitLiberation, won the Google Award. By mobilizing 1,099 readers and reaching 15,953 kids, TomatoNation won the Yahoo! Award and Six Apart Award. Five blogs came up with especially creative ways to inspire giving, thereby earning the Federated Media Award.
Permalink
Posted by Tatiana on
Monday,
October 8, 2007 at 12:31pm
The Blogger Challenge is on! And bloggers all over the country are giving it their all to show that they have the most concerned and generous readers. We can’t contain our excitement about the range of amazing ideas getting posted on the Blogger Challenge:
From a blogger who promises to “sell” his blog (Uncertain Principles) to a blogger who will jaunt around 30 Rockefeller in a tomato costume (Tomato Nation).
Six Apart is so excited about DonorsChoose.org that they gave out $30 gift certificates to anybody who asked for them! Check out their announcement of the news on LiveJournal and Movable Type. 431 eager citizen philanthropists have already chosen classroom projects to fund with the gift certificates they requested!
