Worldbuilders 2014

It’s that time of year again, folks. Time to make the world a better place while winning fabulous prizes.

Worldbuilders-Logo_Web_Smaller

Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves out of poverty and starvation. For more than 60 years, Heifer has promoted education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry all over the world.

They don’t just keep kids from starving, they make it so people can take care of themselves. They give families goats, chickens, and sheep so children have milk to drink, eggs to eat, and warm clothes to wear. They provide communities with clean water to drink, building materials to improve homes, and business training to help families become self-sufficient.

goat 4

(Are you ready? I’m so ready. Let’s do it.)

We’re always looking for ways to improve the fundraiser. So while much of Worldbuilders is the same as last year, we have some things that are entirely new, and some things that have changed a little.

So even if you’re a Worldbuilders Vetran, you might want to look at this blog closely so you don’t miss the new coolness we have waiting there.

As always, you’ve got three different options for donating:

  • Option 1: The Lottery.

This is the option most of you will want. It’s quick, easy, and tax deductible.

You just hop directly over to the page we’ve set up on Team Heifer, and donate.

When you donate on that page, two things happen.

1. You’ll move us closer to our stretch goals (shown below).

2. You’ll be entered into the lottery.

For every $10 you donate on our Team Heifer page, your name will be entered into our random drawing for all the swag that’s been donated. Thousands of books, comics, and games. So if you donate $30, your name goes in three times. Donate enough for a goat ($120) and your name goes in 12 times.

What’s in the lottery? A lot. So much that if I showed it to you all at once, its combined awesome would cook your brain like a toad thrown into the sun.

So, for everyone’s safety, we’ll be posting up a new blog every weekday until the end of the fundraiser on December 8th.

You can see *all* the books currently in the mix on our snazzy Lottery Library page.

Or you can check out the individual blogs here:

Note: We’re doing something new this year. Thanks to our sponsors like Cheapass Games and Mayfair, we have a more games in this year’s fundraiser. A lot more. We know some of you aren’t big gamers, so you’ll be able to select whether you want to win books, games, or books AND games.

Screen Shot 2014-11-09 at 9.17.18 PM

That way everyone gets what they like best.

Stretch goals.

To encourage donations, we’ve brought members of the geek community together to do whimsical things as our donation total grows. There will be music, poetry, cosplay, puppets, and so, so much more…

Upcoming stretch goals include:

We’re recruiting folks for new stretch goals every day, so keep an eye on this list, and the Worldbuilders website under news for updates.

One of the new things we’re doing is letting y’all decide which direction these stretch goals will go. For example, donors get to vote on which animal I’ll kiss when we beat last year’s donation total.

Screen Shot 2014-11-09 at 9.17.34 PM

Personally? I’m hoping for the goat.

People donating will also get to decide what Neil Gaiman will read when we hit $600,000:

Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 2.58.01 PM

Here I’m torn. Part of me wants to hear Neil say, “Goodnight Nobody,” while the rest of me dearly wants to hear him say, “Let the wild rumpus start!”

Either way, I’m going to have a new ringtone.

Note: Worldbuilders ends December 15, 2014 at 11:59 pm UTC-11. To be eligible for the lottery, you must have made your donation on the Team Heifer Page before then.

  • Option 2: The Sure Thing

For those of you not interested in the lottery, or if you’re just interested in doing some Christmas shopping early, we have a well-stocked store, lovingly named The Tinker’s Packs. We’ve got t-shirtsposters, and other coolness available for purchase.

We also have foreign editions of many titles, donated and signed by the authors. These are hard to find in the US.

All proceeds from everything sold in our store go to Worldbuilders, of course.

Additionally, this year we’ve published another calendar featuring the art of the wonderful Karen Hallion.

KHCalendarSpread_1024x1024

(Click to embiggen)

You can see many more pictures of the calendar in The Tinker’s Packs.

We’ll be adding new items to the store throughout the fundraiser, so keep an eye on the blog. If you’re worried you might miss some of the coolness, you can follow the Tinker’s Packs on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll post updates there whenever something new happens.

  • Option 3: Auctions.

Sometimes we get donations that are really cool…. but only for a select group of people. Some people would squee with delight at winning a portal gun, but other people, (sad, unhappy people) have never played Portal, and just don’t care.

The same thing is true with action figures, musical instruments, manuscripts, or other collectables.

So we put those things up for auction.

We have professionals willing to read and critique your manuscripts. We have signed art and rare books. We have the chance to win cameo appearances in comics and get your name into upcoming books.

We auction these things off as well.

All our current auctions are over on the Worldbuilders eBay page. Keep an eye on it. We’ll be adding stuff all the time.

  • NEW THIS YEAR – Option 4: A Partnership with Powells.

We show off a lot of books during the fundraiser, and over the years I’ve heard many people mention they do a their holiday shopping based off the books they see here. Or, if you’re like me, you use Worldbuilders to add to your ever-expanding must-read shelf.

So this year we’re doing something new.

If you see a book in this year’s fundraiser, and think to yourself, “I’ve got to have a copy of that….” you can follow this link, buy it from Powells, and they will donate 7.5% of the sale directly to Worldbuilders.

This applies to *anything* you buy from Powells. Not just books we’re featuring in the fundraiser. If you follow that link and buy stuff, not only are you supporting one of the coolest independent bookstores around, but a hefty piece of that money will go to making the world a better place.

You can also find the link in the navigation widget at the end of each of the blogs:

Look at that, all fancy and clickable.

Important Links and Contact Information

We’ve tweaked our website, since last year. And Worldbuilders also has a Facebook page and a Twitter account for those of you who like to have the internet injected directly into their veins.

If you have a question that isn’t answered here, you could check out our handy FAQ.

Need to contact The Tinker’s Packs? You can e-mail them here: orders [at] thetinkerspacks.com

Want to donate something to Worldbuilders? Help us spread the word? Do a stretch goal? Drop us a line here: donations [at] worldbuilders.org.

All right folks. Are you ready? I’m so ready.

Let’s do this thing.

pat

P.S. Just in case you missed it, here’s one more link to our Team Heifer donation page.

This entry was posted in Worldbuilders 2014By Pat27 Responses

27 Comments

  1. tasslefizney
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:04 AM | Permalink

    Hello! I love that you and Powell’s have embraced each other, easily my favorite bookstore and my favorite author! Can the donation be made somehow if you purchase something at their physical location, or online only?

    • Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:31 AM | Permalink

      That’s a great question. We’ll look into it.

      • Amanda
        Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:01 AM | Permalink

        We asked, and they currently don’t have the capability to do it if you just walk into the store.

        The good news is that during the checkout process online, you can opt to pick it up at your local bookstore if it’s in stock there, and that will apply.

        • tasslefizney
          Posted November 10, 2014 at 6:06 PM | Permalink

          Thank you both for the quick response!!! I’ll have to use that option before we go down to Portland next time!!

  2. RachelCarlton
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:11 AM | Permalink

    Mr. Hearne. Dance practice begins now. I foresee zippered clothes and eye makeup in your future. Who will play the part that Ola Ray did? Ms Dawson? Wes Chu? Brian McClellan?

  3. Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:19 AM | Permalink

    Strongbad out of retirement AND Sykes committing Batsu?!

    Oh yes, count me in.

  4. Neville Longbottom
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:55 AM | Permalink

    I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and our tabletop games convention was two weekends ago. It’s called “The Battle in The Bosque.”

    This means that it’ll be right before Worldbuilders starts next year. I’ll be signing up to host some of the games I win by throwing *a lot* of money into the lottery this year, and specifying that I’d like games.

    And you can bet that my players will be hearing more than a little about Worldbuilders.

    CHAAAAAARRRRRGE!!!!!!!!!

  5. rbratches
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:15 AM | Permalink

    Where can we find last years stretch goals? I seem to remember something about a more detailed map of Temerant…

    • Posted November 10, 2014 at 12:05 PM | Permalink

      That’s one that we’re still working on. Nate and I have both been busy with various projects, and I don’t want to half-ass it, as when we produce it, it will be cannon….

      • Prufrock
        Posted November 16, 2015 at 3:28 PM | Permalink

        Just wanted to bring this one to the front again, in case it was buried in the depths of all else that needed to happen. This was the stretch goal I was actually excited to see…

  6. lovelylass987
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:46 AM | Permalink

    Donated.

    Myke Cole Reviews Hedging His Bets.

    I happen to love Mina Carter, but I can’t wait to watch this. It’ll be like that time SparkNotes released SparkNotes for Twilight.

    I think I want that even more than I want Neil Gaiman to read Jabberwocky, which is a statement indeed.

  7. racethemusic
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 12:38 PM | Permalink

    I used to work in the fundraising department at my alma mater and it was never this exciting! I know a lot of work went into that lottery list and I’m impressed with the creativity (but not surprised by it, knowing who it’s coming from)

    I’m torn between Fox in Socks and good night Moon. I would love a new way to read these to my kids!!!

    Thank you for bringing attention to the families in the world who could use a helping hand.

  8. tabtastic
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 12:49 PM | Permalink

    I hope that everyone I know wants books for Christmas this year, because that is definitely what they will be getting. And since it is all going to such a good cause, it doesn’t make me at all selfish or sadistic for wanting to see our good Sir Rothfuss perform “The Song of Tom Bombadil” in yellow boots and a blue jacket, right?

  9. Knightrous
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 2:00 PM | Permalink

    Hmmm, slight problem with their new website, only supports US or Canadian addresses, will have to contact them in case it causes problems with making donations.

    • Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:08 PM | Permalink

      We always contact our international winners to confirm addresses.

      • Knightrous
        Posted November 11, 2014 at 1:05 PM | Permalink

        Seems it’s just on the account page that they’ve done it, which is weird in light of this email I just received:

        Dear Adam,

        Thank you for contacting Heifer International.

        We are encouraging our international donors to contribute via wire transfer or via webchat where you can speak live with one of our representatives.

        For wire transfers, please use the following information:

        Account Title: Heifer Project International
        Account Number: 004163432278
        Bank Name: Bank of America
        Bank Routing Number: 026009593

        And if you would like to place a donation via webchat, please go to http://www.heifer.org/gift-catalog/give-where-needed-most-donation.html?isource=HIHBJ13DN0001 and scroll down to the bottom- on the right you will see a blue button that says “CHAT NOW.”

        I hope this helps, and please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

        We appreciate your support!

        Kind regards,

        Christina
        Donor Services Representative
        Heifer International

        Anyway, went back to the Worldbuilder page and just dropped in my $30 for this year.

  10. flotiste
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 4:27 PM | Permalink

    You have Paypal this year?! Bless your fabulous beardedness, and have $50!

    • Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:07 PM | Permalink

      Yeah. We made great efforts to have it this year….

  11. klbailey
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 7:03 PM | Permalink

    Tried to donate but it keeps saying “please enter a valid phone number”. I’ve tried doing my number on its own and with the international code at the beginning and neither works (I’m in Australia).

  12. vwinner7
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 7:36 PM | Permalink

    I notice that there are things on the blog list such as jewelry from Badali that don’t fit into either the ‘Books’ or ‘Games’ category. Will those only be up for auction? Otherwise, how do they fit into the lottery choices?

    Thanks!

    • Posted November 10, 2014 at 11:07 PM | Permalink

      Yup. Auction. Other stuff will be available in the store.

  13. Davina
    Posted November 10, 2014 at 10:23 PM | Permalink

    Hi Pat, I noticed previous years on the donation page when it asked for the amount, it mentioned which heifer animal you were donating. At that time i could only afford $20 which it said donated chickens, but if someone wanted to donate say $100, i would put in another $20 if i knew i was donating a goat (which i knew by reading the fundraising page where it said donate a goat and get 12 entries = $120 but most people probably don’t read all that). Just a thought :)

    • Posted November 14, 2014 at 11:52 AM | Permalink

      Yeah. We’d like to get that in there too, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to implement it this year…

  14. firebird
    Posted November 11, 2014 at 7:47 AM | Permalink

    I posted this link to my Facebook and told all of my family and friends that if you’re going to get me a present then I can’t think of a better gift to receive then a donation to charity. I think that might be a great way to boost donations.

  15. Nico
    Posted November 11, 2014 at 9:48 AM | Permalink

    I’d recommend anyone to follow the link from Worldbuilders to the Heifer website and watch the video they have in the front page there, thought it was very inspiring!

  16. gman
    Posted November 15, 2014 at 1:51 AM | Permalink

    Hi Pat,

    Any chance of getting a review for children’s books? Looking at the folks listed I didn’t feel any of them lined up in that category.

    I’d love to gift that to a special someone.

  17. Prufrock
    Posted November 20, 2015 at 10:45 AM | Permalink

    Testing this

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