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The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of February!
In case you missed the first (October), second (November), third (December), and fourth (January) 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 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/profit 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. Once the giveaway entry window ends, I'll send out the money to the blog reader winner(s) and personally drop off the charity donation.
- So far, I've been very happy with the success of the October, November, and December 2011, and the January 2012 10% income give backs.
- In October, $205 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, GreenPeace.
- In November, $201.40 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. If you're interested, you can view the details of me going to drop off the check at the Food Bank by clicking here.
- In December, $74.52 total was given away, with $38 given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In January, $196 total was given away, with $96 given to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
So, that's the overall flow of things and a brief recap of what's happened so far with the give back initiative. Now, let's get in to the specific details for this month's (February 2012) giveaway.
Details of February 2012 10% Blog Income Giveaway
- $141.20 total blog income to give away - $71.20 to a My Personal Finance Journey reader and $70 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).
- $71.20 in the form of one prize available to one reader as follows -
- 1) Grand Prize = $71.20 Amazon Gift Card or $71.20 cash via PayPal.
- The personal finance topic I want to place in the spotlight for discussion in the giveaway comments this month is if and/or how people are carrying health insurance coverage these days.
- Recently, I wrote a post about the various options for obtaining health insurance coverage aimed at helping the millions of Americans who are having trouble affording regular health insurance, but yet do not make a small enough income to qualify for federal assistance programs for families below the "official" poverty level. This post was inspired by me hearing about several of my own friends who are facing this very dilemma, and I felt very strongly about trying to help figure out what options they had available.
- As such, I'm requesting that entrants leave a comment below this post about either #1 or #2 listed below:
- 1) If you currently have health insurance coverage, what type of coverage do you have/where is it provided from (independent plan, employer plan, etc), and whether or not it is affordable.
- 2) If you do not currently have health insurance, what are your barriers from obtaining it? What options have you looked in to for getting coverage that either worked or didn't work?
- Because of the success experienced in the November-January give backs with building relationships with local charitable organizations, I've decided that for February, we'll keep how we select the charity that receives the 5% blog income donation the same as last month. Continue reading below for more details:
- 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 7 charities listed below. The Grand Prize winner will select which of these 7 organizations receives the donation on behalf of the blog.
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia
- The Nature Conservancy
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
- Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle
- United Way Thomas Jefferson Area
- 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 February. 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, February 29th, 2012
Like last month, I've decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the February giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
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 and/or share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites 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" or "Enter" button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on February 29th, 2012 (a little over 3 weeks from today - the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winner (one with the most points accumulated) will be contacted via email to receive their prize and select this month's charity organization for the donation.
