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When I first started Books For Soldiers, fundraising was an easy enterprise. All I had to do was push out the monthly newsletter and getting all the bills paid was a cinch. In 2007, things fell off a cliff. Securing private donations became problematic, corporate donations completely dried up – all we had to pay the majority of our bills with came from our grants. After September of 2008, things got worse as the grant money got smaller and smaller. In fairness, they got worse for everyone, not just BFS. Battered women shelters closed along with many other local non-profits. Now as the economic crisis has continued, I spend at least 30 hours a week fundraising and I am not doing well. We are around $80,000 behind for the year. On an annual budget of $120,000 we have historically shipped somewhere between $2.6 and $3.1 million in aid to deployed US troops. Not too bad! But something has to give. Last week I read the story of The Oatmeal creator wanting to build a “Goddamned Tesla Museum” via the crowdfunding site Indiegogo. Most people have heard of Kickstarter and Indiegogo is about the same but with more flexibility. The biggest difference for me is that Kickstarter does not allow for non-profits. So, well, I love Indiegogo! Last night I tried the service out. I put together a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to see if I can use it to save BooksForSoldiers.com. Check out our campaign page HERE.   Click To Enlarge Here is another promotional article for Books For Soldiers shot last fall, this one for the Steve Jobs Memorial Issue of People Magazine. Last year, I posted Dot, the world’s smallest stop motion animation. Well today, here is the largest! Enjoy! Kids these days and their digital gear… Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo. South by Southwest Homesick Blues This video from 1989 is extremely depressing. Herein is covered every single problem we are dealing with today; a decay and disrespect of science, abuse of natural resources and climate change. I dare you to watch and not shake your head. The thing that I come away with the most after watching this video is how the spikes are from cities that have wired populations or top heavy with college students. From Jer Thorp, an artist from Vancouver, animating what it would look like if the 1,200 new exoplanets discovered by the Kepler orbiting telescope were in one single gigantic star system. Amazing. Kepler Exoplanet Candidates from blprnt on Vimeo. |
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Copyright © 2001 - 2013 By Storm Bear - All Rights Reserved. |
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