A little Blogathon F.A.Q.

While I was hoping to have at least a full month to push for pledges, it’s still better than the seven days I had to work with when I signed up for the ’05 Blogathon. But for those who are not up to speed on what exactly this event is, I thought it might be a good idea to do an F.A.Q to fill in the blanks for everyone. Now I know my favs are all up to speed on this since this is my third time doing this but this of for those who are new to the diary lately and are not. So here we go…

1. What is a Blogathon?

Everyone calls it 24 hours for change. That’s it in a nutshell but for a more detailed version, it’s a marathon for bloggers. For twenty-four straight hours, bloggers write one entry every 30 minutes, making it a total of 48 original entries on one day. Before and during the event, people have the ability to sponsor the bloggers with a lump donation or a per hour pledge. Last year 300 bloggers managed to raise over 100,000 dollers for various charaties and it was a lot of fun to boot! And for a third straight year, I will be blogging again.

2. Why do we blog?

Why not. Chances are I’ll be blogging that day anyway, so why not blog a lot and raise money for a good cause? I’ve always been a sucker for a good chairy event. When I was at Univeristy, I was always participating in events that would raise money for charity… and this allows me to do that again.

In 2005, my first Blogathon raised over $250 for Amnesty International. That wasn’t bad considering that I had only six days to work for pledges and was a very last minute add on to the event.

In 2006, my second Blogathon wasn’t as successful. I only managed to raise a little over $150 for The Hosptital for Sick Children. I however blame a lot of that year’s low number on the fact that the Blogathon site and mail server was messed up and/or crashed nurmerous times that month. A lot of pledgers never got thorugh and that was unfortunate.

This year, I’m blogging for another great cause: The Greyhound Protection League. I’ve always been a big animal lover, and of dogs especially. A few years ago, Ethan and I had the pleasure of attending a Greyhound picnic to raise money for the same chairty. We had a lot of fun and Ethan loved hanging around all those greyhounds. Since then I have been up to speed on this particular charity, and I think it’s about time I dedicated an entire blogathon to it…

3. When is the Blogathon?

This year, it’s being held on July 28th. It will start at 9am EST, and then conclude the next morning, Sunday at the same time. It’s an exhausting event, but is a lot of fun and worth the effort as every charity I have written for was worth staying up one night for.

4. Where does the money go?

Always a good question, the answer is directly to the selected charity. When the event is over, the sponsors will get an email with a link that will let them directly donate the money to the charity. Nothing comes through my hands or to the people running the event. That’s my favorite part cause I was never good with money… right to the charity people!

5. What can I do?

Sponsor me for this Blogathon and pledge a little deniro. It doesn’t matter if it’s $5 or $500… every bit helps. Afterwards your information will be deleted from the Blogathon server. They remove everything each year, which is true since I have to create new accounts every year.

6. How to I become a sponsor?

Go to this link to sign up to the website. Once you sign up, go to this link to make a pledge. I tried to do a direct link to sign up that takes you straight to the donation page, but that doesn’t seem to be working. So you have to sign up first, then directly go to the donation page listed above separately to make a donation. Sorry of this is a hassle, but the site has it’s bugs. If you have any other problems making a donation, let me know and I’ll harp at the site managers until it’s resolved. It doesn’t matter if it’s $5 or $500, every donation is appreciated and as I said for a very, very good cause.

7. Do I have to sign up to pledge?

It is preferred, but there is another option this year that wasn’t available for my previous Blogathons. The site has made a new feature called the ‘proxy’ pledge. That means I can put in a pledge on your behalf so none of your personal information has to be given out. If youw ant that kind of pledge, just leave a private note and I’ll put in a pledge under your name and that way you can pledge without leaving any information. When the event is over, I’ll just note those who left pledges by proxy to get them moving to make payment. I can do that for you if you’re really uncomfy with the idea of signing up.

8. What if I can’t make a donation?

Now I don’t want to put people on the spot. If you can’t make a cash donation/pledge, that’s fine. As much as I would love as many pledges as possible, I don’t want to bankrupt someone over this. For the last three years, I’ve always told people if you can’t donate any cash… donate an idea. Give a suggestion or a theme I can use for the actual event, cause when we get like sixteen to twenty hours into the event, that’s when the well runs dry. You can’t write the entries in advanced, but no one said anything about not being able to collect entrie ideas and store them away. Helping me finish the actual event will be just as helpful.

Another way to help is to mention us in your blogs and linking to us. Make a small mention in your own diary and help us drive in other pledges that way and that is just as helpful.

So that in a nutshell is what the Blogathon is and how it works. I hope everyone signs up and does what they can to sponsor me and the Greyhound Protection League! Help me make a difference! If you want more information or have a question I didn’t cover, feel free to leave and I’ll do my best to answer them. Until then, thanks for your support and I’ll be back later today to note and leave another entry…

Peter

This year, the blogathon is going to the dogs!

Click HERE to become a sponsor!