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In case you missed the first (October) 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
- 1) The readers - Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
- 2) Charitable organizations - If you've read my blog before, you know that I'm a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I've decided that each month going forward, I'm going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is how the process will work:
- After each calendar month passes, I'll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
- I'll post the giveaway (similar to this post you're reading now), and you'll have approximately 2-3 weeks to enter.
- Once the giveaway is over, a grand prize winner will be announced, and that winner will then select what charity they'd like to have 5% of my blog income sent to. Pretty cool idea, right?! I'm excited just thinking about it! I hope you are too.
So, that's the overall flow of things. Let's get in to the specific details for this month's (November) giveaway.
Details of November 2011 10% Blog Income Giveaway
- $201.40 total blog income to give away - $101.40 to My Personal Finance Journey readers and $100 to the charity selected by the giveaway grand prize winner (see bullet point below for additional details on how the charity selection will work this month).
- $101.40 in prizes available to two readers is broken down in the following way -
- 1) Grand Prize = $75 Amazon Gift Card or $75 cash via PayPal (since I just found out that international readers cannot buy much on Amazon).
- 2) 2nd place prize = $26.40 Amazon Gift Card or $26.40 cash via PayPal.
- This month's giveaway is also to celebrate 1) the coming of the Christmas holiday season (I'm requesting that entrants leave a comment below this post about their number one Christmas wish list item) and 2) the launch of the monthly free My Personal Finance Journey Intelligent Financiers Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter will be to give out exclusive personal finance, intelligent investing, and frugal living tips beyond what's shown on the main site and conduct newsletter-subscriber only giveaways.
- Charity selection for November's give back -
- This month, I wanted to try something different for how we select the charitable organization that receives the 5% blog income donation.
- Instead of having each entrant specify any charity in the world, the goal for this month will be for My Personal Finance Journey to develop a relationship with one of the 10 charities listed below. The Grand Prize winner will select which of these 10 organizations receives the donation on behalf of the blog.
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia
- Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge
- The Nature Conservancy
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
- Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle
- United Way Thomas Jefferson Area
- Sexual Assault Resource Agency
- Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA
- Alzheimer's Association of Central and Western Virginia
- All of these charities were selected because 1) they are high quality organizations who do very good things and 2) they all have a significant presence/office in the area in which I live and operate this website (Central Virginia).
- I have contacted the local offices of these organizations and told them that they are part of the 10% blog income give back in November. After the Grand Prize winner is selected and the selected charity announced, I hope to be able to visit the local office of the organization, meet their staff, and present them with the money personally.
- It's been very fulfilling developing a relationship with the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through the MS150 fundraising bike ride I do each year, and I'm hoping that this experience will be just as awesome! I look forward to seeing which organization is selected.
How to Enter the Giveaway - Deadline to Enter is Midnight, November 30th, 2011
Like last month, I've decided to use the new RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the November giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prizes. Since this month marks the 2nd month of the launch of the new My Personal Finance Journey Newsletter, I'd like to get as many people signed up as possible, so spread the word!
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 7 entry points multiple times. You can also retweet the giveaway once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the winner.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the "I Did This" button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on November 30th, 2011 (~2.5 weeks from today). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winners will be contacted via email to receive their prize and select this month's charity organization for the donation.
