Since this site started we’ve given a total of $1,385 to five different charities (and we will shortly donate another $400, let us know who we should donate to on Twitter). I give a lot more to various charities through my own personal donations throughout the year, but I consider the $1,385 that has been donated as a donation from this site and as extension this sites readers.
That being said, it’s never something that readers have got particularly excited about. Every month I ask for charity suggestions and if I’m lucky I’ll get one or two short replies. I thought I’d ask my readers whether they’d prefer that some (or all) of that money be given away in the form of competitions instead.
If we do decide to funnel this money into more reader competitions we will try to keep things interesting rather than running the same style of competitions found on other blogs. We will also to try to award lots of small prizes, rather than just one main prize.
I’ve included a poll below and I’d appreciate if you could take the five seconds to answer it. I’d also appreciate if you could expand about why you voted like you did in the comments below. If we decide to continue to make site donations, what do you think could be done to make the process more interesting and engaging?
Note: This will in no way, shape or form change what I do in terms of my own personal charity donations which accounted for almost 15% of my generous salary last year. Everybody should give what they feel is appropriate. There are also a number of credit cards that have category bonuses for charity contributions.
In your poll I answered some of each because I didn’t want to feel like a hypocrite. If you have contests I will enter them. But when you took my suggestion and donated to Charity:Water, that felt really good. Because whatever I can do to get more funding into the hands of my favorite charities feels good. And I like the idea of belonging to groups of people who try to make the world a better place. So I am super psyched that some of the funds from the blog have been going to charity. Some of my other favorite 4 star (according to charity navigator) charities are
Doctors Without Borders
Vitamin Angels
Conservation International
Environmental Working Group
Flora and Fauna International
Human Rights Watch
If we were voting I would probably vote for Doctors Without Borders this month. Thanks for so much great info on the blog.
I think offering a poll will be a good idea to get more readers engaged with the charity donations, keep your eye out for it!
Small contests for readers ($50 or $100), the rest to good charities (like St Jude). Thanks!
Do the giveaways, or competitions as you call them, if you are looking to buy website clicks. Your content may keep them coming back, but in the end many individuals are just going to hop around for the chance to win something free.
If you do decide to give away items, might I suggest Amazon giftcards. I do not think that has ever been done before.
Personally, I think this site does enough to help readers earn and save money. I haven’t really seen the Twitter questions about charity lately, but when I did, I always responded. Ultimately, whatever ends up happening I still love what you do here.