[Edit: This is the Worldbuilders Fundraiser for 2010. The current Worldbuilders for 2013 is here.]
What’s that you say? You’d like to make the world a better place while simultaneously winning fabulous prizes?
Well today is your lucky day.
Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. All over the world Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry.
They don’t just keep kids from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink, warm clothes to wear, and eggs to eat.
This year we’ve got a couple different options for donating.
This is the option most people will want. It’s simple. You hop directly over to the page I’ve set up at Team Heifer, and donate.
When you donate using my page at team Heifer, two things happen.
1. Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation. That means your ten-dollar donation becomes fifteen dollars. If you donate two goats, it becomes three goats. And so on.
2. You’ll be entered in the lottery.
After the fundraiser is over on December 13th, we’ll have a random drawing for all the swag that’s been donated over the last couple months. More than a thousand books, comics, DVD’s and assorted cool miscellany.
[Edit: The end of the fundraiser is now noon on Dec 17th (12:00 PM, pacific standard time.) If you want to know why, you can read the explanation here.]
For every 10 bucks you donate, your name will get entered into the drawing once. If you donate thirty bucks, your name goes in three times. Think of it as buying tickets, if you like.
We’ve had *way* too many books donated for me to post them all up at once. So I’ll be putting up a new blog full of donated books pretty much every day or two, just to keep people from being overwhelmed with all the awesome.
Make sure to check back often to see the new cool.
- More Signed Books [Posted Nov 16th]
- Books from Del Rey and Spectra [Posted Nov 18th]
- A Plenitude of Signed Books [Posted Nov 24]
- Books from DAW [Posted Nov 27th]
- Still more Signed Books [Posted Nov 29th]
- Graphic Novels Batman and Robin, Gaiman and Girl Genius [Posted Dec 3rd]
- Yet even still more signed books [Posted Dec 5th]
- Webcomic Deliciousness [Posted Dec 7th]
- Audiobooks, BBC, Unicorns and Felicia Day [Posted Dec 8th]
- Books from DAW and Penguin [Posted Dec 14th]
- A touching story and a gift from Gaiman. [Posted Dec 15th]
- Books and an Interview with Jerry Holkins from Penny Arcade [Posted Dec 16th]
- Final Day, Final Goal, Final Donations [Posted Dec 16th]
Last year, readers and geeks of all creeds and nations donated over 125,000 dollars to Heifer International on our team page. With help from a few sponsors, Worldbuilders matched 50% of that, bringing our total for the year to over 190,000 dollars.
Personally, I think we can do even better this year.
Nov 13th – Worldbuilders begins. Nov 17th – $10,000 raised. Nov 23rd – $25,000 raised. Dec 1st – $50,000 raised. Dec 9th – $100,000 raised. Dec 14th – $128,926 raised. (Last Year’s Total Beaten! Woo!) Dec 16th – $150,000 raised. .Our last goal, the goal that I really don’t know if we’ll be able to meet, is going to be 166,700 dollars.
Again, it’s a rather odd number. But if we raise that much it means that after Worldbuilders makes its matching donation, we will have raised a quarter million dollars this year.
I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it. But I’m excited to try…
[Edit – The donation thermometer doesn’t work any more, but in the end we raised more than $192,000. It was awesome….]
You can use this link to check out the Team Heifer page and make a donation.
Option 2: The Sure Thing.
Or, as I like to think of it, the Christmas Present Option.
For those of you who aren’t interested in the lottery, I have some stuff you can just buy. All the proceeds go to Heifer International.
Here’s a link to our new store. Lovingly named The Tinker’s Packs.
- NOTW t-shirts. [Posted Nov 19th]
- Worldbuilders T-shirts. [Posted Nov 22nd]
- Portugese books from Gailivro. [Posted Dec 13th]
- Foreign translations from Katherine Kerr. [Posted Dec 13th]
Last year we did a few auctions and they seemed to work out pretty well. So this year we’re continuing in that fine tradition, auctioning off some of the rarer and more specialized services people have donated.
We’ve got industry professionals willing to read your fledgling manuscript and give you feedback. We’ve got a limited edition Stardust ARC signed by Neil Gaiman and a copy of The Gathering Storm signed by Brandon Sanderson and the production team at Tor. We’ve got rare manuscripts, computer software, a signed Brett Favre Jersey, and much more. Stay tuned for details.
You can see all current Worldbuilders auctions here.
- Professional reading and critiques of your manuscript. [Auction over.]
- Signed, Numbered ARC of Stardust, signed by Neil Gaiman. [Auction over.]
- First edition The Gathering Storm, signed by Brandon Sanderson, Harriet Jordan, and many others. [Auction over.]
- A copy of Spectrum 8, signed by 52 contributing artists. [Auction over.]
- Girl Genius 1-9 signed by Phil and Kaja Foglio. [Auction over.]
- Original page art from Red Robin # 16. [Auction over.]
- Signed Brett Favre Jersey. [Auction over.]
- Signed Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian and Wendy Froud. [Auction over.]
- Vintage Film Cell from The Last Unicorn: Schmendrick. [Auction over.]
- Vintage Film Cell from The Last Unicorn: Unicorn at night. [Auction over.]
- Vintage Film Cell from The Last Unicorn: Unicorn close-up. [Auction over.]
- Named appearance in Schlock Mercenary Comic. [Auction over.]
- Guest appearance in Real Life Comic. [Auction over.]
- Signed Alera Map and Copy of First Lord’s Fury. [Ends Dec 17th]
- Children’s books and a Signed Copy of The Last Unicorn. [Ends Dec 17th]
- Signed Original Manuscript from Katherine Kerr. [Ends Dec 17th]
- Personalized books from Christopher Paolini. [Ends Dec 17th]
Lastly, I’d like to ask everyone to please read the instructions/directions carefully before they donate.
I know you’re excited. I’m excited too. We’re going to raise some money, make the world a better place, and end up with big warm fuzzy feelings.
But here’s the problem. If you’re *too* excited, you’ll end up clicking buttons all higgledy-piggledy, forgetting vital steps and leaving things out. (Especially when buying things with Paypal) Then you’ll send me an e-mail that says something like: “I’m sorry, but I forgot to include my shipping address/t-shirt size/signing instructions. Could you please fix it for me?”
I know I’m bound to get one or two e-mails like this. No biggie. But each one is like a cold drop of water eroding my warm fuzzy feeling. If I get, say, a hundred, I’ll have no warm fuzzy left at all. I’ll be left with nothing but a cold prickly feeling.
You don’t want to give me a cold prickly, do you?
I’m sure you don’t. And I’m sure that you’ll read the instructions carefully.
Have questions? Most of them are probably answered over in the FAQ. (Even if your question isn’t answered, I talk about Batman a bit, so it won’t be a complete waste of your time.)
Lastly, just in case you missed it, here’s one more link to our Team Heifer donation page.
Let’s do this thing.
pat
36 Comments
Woo! I haven’t even finished posting the starting blogs yet, and we’ve already got a donation!
I’m so excited to launch this year’s fundraiser. I look forward to it all year long…
Looks like I timed it right and am your first donor! Woohoo! Anyway, don’t know if there is a way to do this, but what if you created a way to recognize people who got the most other people to participate in this effort. I traditionally post this on FB when you launch and I’m sure other people do too. What if, for every 5 people who we brought on that donated, we got another chance at the lottery? Might require an extra line on your donation page at Worldbuilders to say “who did you hear about this fundraiser from?” Just a thought. Good luck in reaching the goal and thanks for being a do-gooder!
That would be cool. Unfortunately, I don’t have that much control over the donation page.
Thanks for jumping onboard early, and thanks for helping to spread the word….
The second prize link (•Hundreds of Books from Subterranean Press
) doesn’t work. Thought you might like to know.
Good luck with the fund-raising!
Thanks much. Fixed now.
Well I donated $50 first time- sadly I just bought a Kindle so I can only throw $30. :-( Well- that might be a chicken or something…
Just want to let you know that the link to the FAQ in this article is broken. Worldbuilders is awesome.
Good lord. Can you tell that haven’t had enough sleep lately?
Thanks much. I’ve fixed it.
Sorry, If that came across as too critical, it wasn’t supposed to. Everything that you are doing is really great! Good luck finding some sleep, I think you deserve it.
Hooray! I love you, Santa!
I’m 0 for 2 in the drawing, maybe this will be my lucky year. Or not. Either way works for me. It’s nice just to be able to donate to a worthy cause. Having a chance to win something cool is an added bonus. It’s so cool what you do here Pat!
I feel like half a jerk even asking this, but here goes. My father is well-nigh impossible to shop for, so it’s occurred to me that I might like to give a Heifer donation in his honor for Christmas (and he’s a veterinarian, so it feels like an appropriate charity). If I donate through Worldbuilders, is it possible to get a card or whatever Heifer does that says it’s in his honor?
Yeah. We have those cards, and can send them out to you.
Let me think for a bit, and I’ll figure out the best mechanism for getting people these cards. Maybe we’ll put them in the store or something….
I’ll post up our solution in a future blog. So keep your eyes peeled.
Huzzah! My family has been waiting for this! The first year, we could only donate bees. Last year, I struggled with unemployment, but scrounged up for some rabbits. This year, with my sweet job as an Army civilian, we’re donating a goat! Next year… A heifer!
Another huzzah! I was just talking about this the other day. I help moderate a community forum for a game and last year the forum administrator and moderators sponsored a holiday raffle where folks could enter to win a prize if they made a post showing they had donated to a charity. I always like to list worldbuilders in our suggested charities because then folks get two chances to win something (making them more likely to participate) and you get more donations (the real bonus). Good luck this year, we’ll do our best to send more donations your way :)
I’m enjoying sitting here, refreshing the page every 20 or so minutes, and watching the amount donated grow :) It’s grown by around $30 every 20 minutes so far. Awesome job, everyone! :D
I’ve just placed my own order in for a College Survival Guide. Can’t wait to read it! It’s the only published work of yours that I don’t yet have.
Pat,
I love that you chose Heifer International. It is one of the NGOs that actually helps people raise their standard of living in a small yet concrete way. I’ve seen a lot of NGOs that create dependence in the country especially here in Haiti (where I’m at now).
I love the fact that you promote building people up rather than just giving them food, money, or houses.
Without giving it too much word diarrhea, you rock and it I love the fact that you promote a NGO with consideration. Heifer is my favorite and if I had a top 10 list it would be one there.
A huge fan,
That’s so nice to hear. I always get a handful of messages from people saying, “Meat is Murder!” Or “Animals damage the environment!”
It’s really disheartening. Thanks for reminding me that people out there do get why Heifer is the best at what they do.
i am sooo happy you are doing this again. and i have a job this year so i am so going to donate. ^_^
You’re doing a great job, Pat!!
This is the first year I am able to participate (didn’t read you’re blog last year) and as soon as I get my paypal stuff working, I’m going to donate! I am sooo excited!
Hey LaMiss,
Unfortunately, Pat says in the FAQ that he doesn’t accept paypal. You can use a credit/debit card, or mail him a check. It’s awesome you’re willing to donate :) I don’t want you to get everything all set up, and then wind up with a cold prickly (to use Pat’s language!). Cheers!
So, not only am I planning on donating through your page, your page from last year got me to look into this charity, deem it worthy, and pass some money to it through my company’s annual charity drive this year(they match 100%, so yay for doubled donations).
You’re a good man, Mr. Rothfuss.
I think it’s awesome that you are doing this! When I got married, we set up a charity registration and registered for animals from Heifer (along with some other charities). We were very excited to get some goats and chicks! :) We’ve also gifted animals in the past. Great charity!
You keep mentionning, Pat, that you and Jim Butcher have some kind of huge issues…I’m getting more and more curious. What did he(/you) do that there is such a “hateship” between you? I went through all of your archives and didn’t find any explanation – or did I miss it?!
Of course, if you can’t or don’t want to tell, that’s understandable, too.
Keep up the amazing work!
Here is the tragic tale:
https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2007/12/what-should-i-do-4-homestar-runner-and-friends/
Basically, Pat was throwing a hissy fit. :)
I was happy to read about this charity happening again when I just checked out your blog, as I donated last year and will donate again this year.
Regarding the books that get donated as prizes, can people who are not based in the US win the prizes? As I am over across the pond in Aus.
Either way I will donate but I was curious.
Anyway keep up the good work and I look forward to your next book :-)
Seems like a pretty rad charity to me. Thanks for turning me onto it!
Looks like we’ve made it past the $25k goal. Honestly, just thinking about that kind of money floors college-student me a little bit. I may be paying the thousands to be in school, but it’s still a hard number to think about raising for something.
On a separate note, awesome call on the extra T-shirts, pushed in for one as soon as I saw the post this morning.
So there I was, just finished entering my details and the amount to donate, and all I could think was “I wish I could donate more”. So I doubled my contribution. Thank you for reminding me that I can do more with my money than just buy stuff I don’t need.
I would love to donate, but finances are unusually tight this year. I do have a couple questions though.
With the Tinker’s Pack items, are they going to be available for an extended time? (I would think so, but am asking to be sure)
I realize this question is not as financially stable, but if I bought a shirt in the early part of next year, cold the funds be set aside for next years fundraiser? (the idea of a slow trickle of continued donations throughout the year)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Is there a way to specify what you want your gift to be? If I remember last year you could choose a dollar amount, or you could select that you wanted to donate a chicken or goat or whatever. Is that option gone?
I posted a followup but didn’t hit the Reply button, so this is actually Part II. :) Here is a link to their financial reporting page where you can see for yourself where the money goes. As I said, this charity really does put most of the donation directly into aid. Better than most.
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201468/
@Phaz, in all truth, you don’t actually get to pick an animal. You specify how much you want your gift to be, and you can think of it as corresponding to a goat, or chicks, or whatever. But you are not actually buying one specific goat for one particular family. You are paying administrative fees (remarkably low – this is a very lean charity) and other maintenance stuff too.
Just go ahead and think of it as furry creatures, though. It’s more fun that way.
Just donated! I’m so glad I followed Sam Sykes’ link through to here…
I think it’s impressive that you! When I married, we set a record for registered charities and fresh animals and other charitable organizations. We were very happy to have a goat and several chickens get! We also have a talented pet in the past. Sounds great!
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