Posts from DonorsChoose

IRL is short for "in real life" as if there were anything other than real life.

I am always energized when the online world connects with the real world. We had a Meetup last night for people who gave to the AVC/Gotham Gal Donors Choose 50th Birthday campaign.

379 people donated to the Donors Choose campaign. Of them, 168 signed up to attend the Meetup last night. We didn't count people on the way in, but it sure felt like most of those 168 people showed up.

And of course, many of them are regulars here at AVC. I met people for the first time who have been reading this blog for six or seven years. And I met people for the first time who are some of the most frequent commenters here. I am not going to name names because I'd leave someone out and they'd feel dissed. So I'd just like to say it was so great to meet all of you.

Many times people say to me "I feel like I know you" because of this blog and Gotham Gal's blog and all of our other online activities.  But I also feel like I know so many of you from reading your thoughts day after day after day. Making that IRL connection seals the deal and the online friendship gets stronger and better. That was the big takeaway from last night's event. Thanks to all of you who made the trip, whether it was a subway ride or a cross atlantic flight.

AVC regulars have probably noticed that the Donors Choose widget is gone from the right sidebar. That's because the month of August 2011 has come and gone and the Fifty For Fifty campaign is over.

It was a smashing success.

365 people donated a total of $54,028 (as of right now) and helped over 10,000 students by funding programs that connect these students' families to their classrooms.

10,000 students is a lot of kids. And these are mostly kids who need some help. Their teachers thank you, I thank you, the Gotham Gal thanks you, and I sure hope their families thank you.

There's a meetup for everyone (all 365 people) who gave to this campaign as well as me and The Gotham Gal and some folks from Donors Choose on November 9th, from 6pm to 8pm, at the USV Event Space. The Meetup page is here if you'd like to attend.

Finally, I promised to post a list of all donors along with their Twitter handles. I will do that once I get the list from the Donors Choose team.

In closing, I just want to say that the outpouring of support on this campaign is deeply appreciated by The Gotham Gal and me. We could not have asked for a better 50th birthday present. Thank you.

Last night we passed our goal of raising $50,000 for teacher's projects that bring families closer to the classroom. The Gotham Gal and I are delighted. This has been an amazing gift that all of you have given us. Almost 10,000 students and their families will benefit from your generosity.

This is the fifth monthly campaign that this blog community has done via Donors Choose. In past years, we've raised about $20,000 each year from about 200 donors. This year, we raised more than $50,000 from 314 donors (and counting). That's a big step up!

We will leave the Giving Page and blog widget up for the remainder of the month. Hopefully we can raise a bit more for classrooms. At the end of the month, we will wrap this up, I will write a final blog post with the stats on the campaign, and I will list all the donors and link to their twitter handles if we have them.

On November 9th, from 6-8pm in the USV Event Space, the Gotham Gal and I will host a meetup for all the people who donated in this campaign plus some of the wonderful people from Donors Choose who make it possible to do this. We will get a Meetup page up shortly so people can RSVP for that event. It will be limited to those who gave in this campaign.

I talked to Charles Best, the founder and CEO of Donors Choose, about this campaign last week. He said that there are only a few other communities in the world that can rally around a Donors Choose campaign like this. This is a special place and you are special people. I am so gratified to be the "bartender" of this joint.

On August 1st, we launched the "Fifty For Fifty" campaign to raise $50k for classroom projects that bring families closer to the classroom.

Twelve days in, we've raised just over $27,000 from 137 donors.

That's better than half way to our goal which is fantastic.

I'd like to thank all of those 137 people for their generosity.

And in an effort to encourage more of you to participate, a few updates are in order.

First, The Gotham Gal and I will be doing a meetup in November in NYC. Anyone who gives to the campaign will be invited to attend. This will be like the meetups we've done for past Donors Choose campaigns but we'll host it in the USV event space instead of the public school cafeteria where we've done the prior ones. I will be back with a specific date for the meetup in a few days.

Second, I am going to blog the names and possibly twitter handles of everyone who gave to this campaign. I will wait until the end of the campaign to do this. If for some reason you don't want to be listed, let me know.

Bringing families closer to the classroom is such an important part of education and I'm super pleased that we've already raised $27,000 to fund those efforts. Please consider joining the campaign and getting us to our goal of $50,000.

Rachel Sklar is one of the women leading the charge on #changetheratio, a cause I am totally and completely behind. She's also the editor at large at Mediaite and the founder of Charitini.

When Rachel saw that we are doing the AVC Donors Choose Meetup tomorrow (wednesday) night, she figured she'd tie that into her own Donors Choose Birthday Campaign and do an after party she calls the "Follow On Round". I like that name and the idea.

Here's how it works. If you want to come to the after party (whether or not you come to the AVC meetup), you need to donate a minimum of $20 to one of the classrooms on Rachel's Donors Choose Giving Page. That's it. Then you are then on the list.

The "follow on round party" will be from 9-12 tomorrow (wednesday) night at The Red Room at the Merc Bar in Soho. The bar is open from 9-11 thanks to sponsor Jess3 (a data viz agency). The event is also being supported by BirchBox, Rent The Runway and Fashism (all women-run startups) and they will be taking donations at the door via Square.

Here are the details:

It's December 1st. November sure went by fast. And so the annual AVC Donors Choose campaign is over. And the results are in:

We raised $22,400 for classrooms where young women learn science and technology. But because of the HP Match, that will actually be $45k.

More importantly we will impact the lives of 8,543 young women (actually way more because of HP). That's a lot of young women. Maybe one of them will go on to start an important tech company. Maybe one of them will go on to teach other young women. Maybe one of them will go on to get a nobel prize. Whatever happens to these young women, I am incredibly proud of this community's generosity. Thank you.

One hundred forty seven people have donated to the Donors Choose campaign we are running this month here at AVC. That's incredible to see. With five days left, we are on pace to raise $20,000 from about 175 people. Here is how we've done in prior years.

So this is likely to be our biggest year ever and that's before the HP Match which will double the amount we raise for classrooms where young woman learn science and math.

As many of you know, we are going to have a meetup to celebrate this campaign. It will be on December 8th at 6pm at Washington Irving High School right off Union Square in NYC. The meetup is open to anyone who gives to the AVC Donors Choose campaign.

Here's the Meetup.com page for the event on December 8th. Please go RSVP if you plan to attend. We will have the list of all the donors at the event so you need to be on that list in addition to RSVP'ing.

I hope to see you there.

I got some great news about the Donors Choose Campaign we are running this month here at AVC.

HP will match every dollar we donate in this campaign. They did that last year as well so this is two years in a row that we've been able to leverage HP's generosity for the benefit of teachers and students.

It's a good opportunity to remind everyone that we are focusing this year's Donors Choose campaign on math and science education for young women.

And finally, I'd like to remind everyone that all contributors to this Donors Choose campaign will be invited to a Meetup I am hosting in NYC on the evening of December 8th. Here's the giving page if you want to make a donation and come to the meetup.

I hope we can get a representative from HP to attend the Meetup.