I'm obliged to hit you with this at least once per NaNo season: the appeal for donations. This is all me talking here, not another else involved in NaNo, so bear with me.
This institution doesn't run on pixie dust and magic (much as we try) - the website, the swag, the Young Writers' Program, and the charities all require some overhead to operate. If NaNo affects your life in a good way, I invite you to consider affecting NaNo in a good way... financially.
I understand that we can't all just empty our pockets for the love of NaNo, and some of us can't donate at all (in which case you should check out this page!). And just buying anything from the site helps, too! But there are always special incentives for donors.
Donors get some pretty awesome swag. Donating $10 gets you the spiffy halo next to your username in the forums. A cool $25 lands you the same, and some special-edition stuff: a NaNo postcard and "all-star" sticker, plus coupons for bookly-related things. Fifty bucks nets you the above and a listing on the site and a totally cool window cling (and not the one for sale in the store!), but those who manage to double that get all of the above AND a sweet, sweet NaNo poster that will later retail for $25-$35 itself on the site!
But really, the reason I donate, and the reason I invite you to donate, is because NaNoWriMo has literally changed my life. Sure, I finally wrote a novel that I said I'd write one day. And then I did it two more times. But more important than all that, I have made some lasting friendships through local NaNo events, and I wouldn't even have half the close friends I do now if not for this program. So donating annually is my "thank you" to the folks who organize this year to year.
Anyway, I won't press the issue, of course, but I certainly invite you to consider how much NaNo is worth to you, and give maybe at least a fraction of that to those who made it possible.
(Also, how cool is it to say that we're currently in the top 20% of most generous NaNo regions IN THE WORLD.)
Questions about donating? Want to sing the praises of NaNo? Share your thoughts here.
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54,135 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 04 46
Have you guys seen the "Donation Derby?" It compares region against region in donations. The regions of the world are divided into six teams. Currently, in terms of average dollars per person, our region is the second-best contributor to our team! Way to go guys!
(As an aside, I wonder why they divide money by "total" population of a region instead of "homed" population... we could all just "join" other regions without declaring them home, and totally dilute their contributions. Weird! But there's nothing like breaking a game with math, you know.)
Just a reminder that ten bucks gets you a coveted halo to wear in the forums and now makes the entire region look even more awesome... something to consider while you're snapping up your totally awesome t-shirt in the store.
1,965 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 06 17
I see what you did in that last post. Covet?
I always forget... does a T-shirt count as a donation?
----------Aubrey
http://star-shaped.org
54,135 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 08 44
Buying a t-shirt helps out the organization (whatever "profit" from the shirt goes toward other expenses), but it's not officially a donation. In order to get a halo, you have to get at least $10 for no reason (other than the halo, if that's how you roll).
54,135 / 50,000
Nov 19, 2009 - 12 43
Partially posting to bump this thread so it stays on the first page, but also as an alert that this coming Tuesday is 100K Day - not 100,000 words, but 100,000 dollars. The non-profit behind NaNo/the Young Writers Program/Script Frenzy is looking to raise that much money in a single day!
If you have yet to donate to the cause, I urge you to think about it. If NaNo has changed your life for the better, why not try to help the organization behind the curtain? All proceeds turn around to help run the program, the website, and the charity.
But, I'll step down from the soapbox. Happy near-end of week three, everyone!
43,501 / 50,000
Nov 19, 2009 - 19 40
I want to note for those of us who are too broke to donate (without mentioning names like mine...oops) about using www.goodsearch.com.
It's a yahoo search engine (so the results are okey-fine). You type in Letters under the "Who do you Goodsearch for?" box, click verify, scroll through the list to find Office of Letters and Lights, highlight it and you're good to go. So far this year, the site is donating almost $2000 to NaNo-awesomeness. I use it at work as my default search engine--verify info for the paper and raise money for my favorite non-profit at the same time? Life doesn't get much better than that.
So check it out, and search for the top ten most poisonous spiders of all times (hey, you never know when you'll need that kind of info for a future novel) while you're at it.
----------"The system gives you just enough to make you think that you see change. Then it sings you right to sleep and screws you just the same." - Ani DiFranco