The TPU Christmas 2010 charity thread

[qubit]

I wish to help out charities of all sizes this Christmas and hope I can make a small difference.

Apart from making the usual donations, I will display a clickable logo of a good cause in my sig, so that people can donate if they can. This logo will change to a different charity every few days.

With the volume of people that look at TPU, including non-members that find forum posts through a search engine, I hope that some of those clicks will turn into donations.

I have started with the Cancer Research Institute in memory of our great TPU forum member, Loonym, who sadly passed away from cancer recently:



Fellow forum members are most welcome to:

- Copy my sig as their own, to increase exposure and therefore donations
- Create their own charity sigs
- Post any other charity ideas on here, large and small
- Post their own threads on a charity theme or idea

CHARITY UPDATES

10DEC10




18DEC10




20DEC10



.

[stinger608]

I think this is a great idea, however I think that someone, with authority, should contact the sites to put together a TPU donation place. Not that it really matters, but many of the members here may wish to be noted that they seen or donated from TPU. Just a suggestion of course.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by stinger608

I think this is a great idea, however I think that someone, with authority, should contact the sites to put together a TPU donation place. Not that it really matters, but many of the members here may wish to be noted that they seen or donated from TPU. Just a suggestion of course.

Sounds good to me. However, I'm not quite clear on how this would work.

Do you mean something put on the actual charity site itself that would register a donation from a TPU member? If so, I think that would work, because as more people donated, people wouldn't want to be seen as the ones that didn't donate. On the flip side, people shouldn't be pressured into donating, either. I'm not against it, though.

[Completely Bonkers]

I'm all up for charitable donations and esp.cancer research. However, do we know of any other - more efficient - cancer research organisations? This one's annual report makes for depressing reading: http://aboutus.cancerresearchuk.org/.../cr_049662.pdf

esp. p38, research grants of 159 million out of total income of 515 million = 31% The rest of the money is spent on collecting that money, salaries, bonuses, pensions, "expenses", the purchase of "accommodation" for directors, "buying other charity companies", purchase and investments in non-charity companies (WTF!), awards to inventors who are also employees (WTF?), and overheads.
p40, the number of people on salaries over $100,000 before bonuses and beneifts

[qubit]

@CB: Yeah, most charities are pretty inefficient like this. It seems the bigger they are the more bureaucracy gets in the way. Kinda like the diminishing returns you get when increasing the number of cores in a processor...

On balance though, they still do a lot of good, so I don't think that should put one off from donating. If there's another charity you prefer - and it could be for any cause - then by all means donate to that one.

[jasper1605]

Awesome idea qubit; I am very much a fan of this idea. A suggestion for an area of research donation would be mental health (I don't know of a specific one so I won't suggest anything). There is a massive depravity in funding in mental health yet it is a very prevalent and varied disease.

[qubit]

Unfortunately those with mental illnesses bad enough to institutionalise them are often abused by those very institutions, because they're helpless to defend themselves and no one believes them. I'm sure there are charities that work against these kinds of abuses and perhaps they should be donated to?

[qubit]

Hi people, this thread seems to be languishing in a dark corner. If I could interest just a few of you to help out, then that would be worthwhile.

[jasper1605]

what did you have in mind for helping? I'm pretty useless for the next 2 weeks w/ finals and such looming but after the 16th I am done with classes!

[qubit]

Just what I put in the OP, really. Mainly, if more forum members were displaying a clickable charity logo, it might generate more clicks and hopefully more donations to these charities.

I thought I'd get more feedback on here too. However, hundreds of people have looked at this thread now and there have been hardly any responses. I guess the idea just didn't fly.

[jasper1605]

As i am a sig noob, can you update the first post as to how to copy the image/link to put in my sig?

[qubit]

Originally Posted by jasper1605

As i am a sig noob, can you update the first post as to how to copy the image/link to put in my sig?

I'd rather not change the OP, so I'll tell you here:

- Right click my sig picture and save it to your Windows desktop

- Click on Quick Links in the dark bar at the top of the forum web page
- Click on Edit Signature in the drop down menu. You can now edit your siggy
- In the Signature Picture section, click the Browse button
- Find the sig picture on your desktop and upload it. It will take a few seconds
- It should now be displayed within the forum signature editor on the web page. Note that the forum only allows one picture per signature
- To insert the picture into your signature, click the blue Insert Signature Picture link. [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] is then inserted into your signature. This displays the signature when previewing or once you have saved the completed signature
- Click the Preview Signature button. You should see the picture at the top of the browser window
- You can now edit your signature to your preference. Put in text, links and formatting to your preference. Don't make the signature too deep though, or the mods will ask you to shrink it a bit. I'm not sure what the limit is. Anyone?
- Click the Save Signature button when you're done. Your new sig will now appear under every post you have made!

To make the picture clickable:

- Open two browser tabs
- Find the desired website/web page
- Put your desired URL from the website in the copy buffer (highlight URL in the browser address bar, right click and click Copy, or just do ctrl-c on the highlighted URL). Heck, if the URL is very simple, just type it straight in
- In the other tab, go back into the forum signature editor
- Highlight [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] and click the Insert Link button on the forum signature editor. The Insert Link button is a blue globe with a link symbol underneath. Just hover your mouse over the symbols if unsure which one it is
- Highlight the text in the box (to overwrite it) and press ctrl-v to paste in your link
- Click OK.
- Save your signature

Incidentally, all I did to create that picture, was to save it from the Cancer Research website and used Nero PhotoSnap to shrink the size down a little to fit the size limit specified by the forum. Click on it and you will see the full size version on their web page.

[jasper1605]

Thanks bud, I'll get that updated into my profile once I finish typing about Jackie Robinson and Mohammad Ali and the effect they had on the color line in sports in the 1940s-70s!

[jasper1605]

Strange issue? I followed the top half of your steps but it says that I'm trying to upload 2 pictures. I cleared everything from my sig other than your picture just to see if it was something I had already, but it gave the same result. Suggestions?

edit: it is fixed and working. Thanks for the walkthrough

[qubit]

Ok, people, it's time to promote a new charity: The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).



If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cruelty to children in any form, from parents shouting at little kids in the street, to the dreadful abuses one hears about on the news.

The NSPCC work hard to stop all this.

Please click on the logo and donate if you can.

[jasper1605]

lol at your update reason for spelling being misspelled

I'll update after I finish my history of genetics discrimination paper this time!

[qubit]

Originally Posted by jasper1605

lol at your update reason for spelling being misspelled

Ya goode innnit? I always spell it that way for the laughs.

Originally Posted by jasper1605

I'll update after I finish my history of genetics discrimination paper this time!

Thanks very much, but while you're welcome to do so, you don't have to feel obliged to change it in line with my sig. Feel free to either stay with it or change it to another charity of your choice.

[qubit]

Ok, next charity.

Cruelty to animals must be stamped out out too and while there are hundreds of worthy animal charities around, I think PETA make a very real difference, due to their high profile.

Please click on the logo and donate if you can.

[jasper1605]

K gang, here's my update on charities:

I'm going with 20 liters which started through my church (Mars Hill) in Grand Rapids in an effort to provide water to families without access.

Scary fact, 1 in 8 people do not have access to clean water. That's roughly 750,000,000 human beings. Without water.

[qubit]

Next update. Anyone that loves cats will appreciate this one.



jasper, I like your choice. Yeah, water is essential to all of us. Nice one.

[Kreij]

I think that giving to charities is a selfless and honorable act. Thanks, Q, for starting this.

I do believe, however, that people should be knowledgeable about the charities that they plan to give money.
Not all charities are equal. You can go to Charity Navigator to get evaluations on almost all charity organizations and a break down of how the money is used so you can best decide to whom you would like to donate your money.

Merry Christmas, all.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by Kreij

I think that giving to charities is a selfless and honorable act. Thanks, Q, for starting this.

I do believe, however, that people should be knowledgeable about the charities that they plan to give money.
Not all charities are equal. You can go to Charity Navigator to get evaluations on almost all charity organizations and a break down of how the money is used so you can best decide to whom you would like to donate your money.

Merry Christmas, all.

Thankyou very much for the kind words, Kreij.

Your link handily answers Completely Bonkers's question in post 4.

Cats Protection happens to be my favourite charity, simply because I love cats and they do a lot of good work for them and don't just pocket the money. However, there's thousands of other equally worthy charities (and some perhaps more worthy) out there and if one starts to look at them all, then you just feel overwhelmed for which one to give to.

In fact, my next one might be Victim Support, a charity that looks after victims of crime. I have actually been burgled twice but stupidly have never gone to them. I think I should do that and at least advertise them in my sig.

[Kreij]

Cats are a pain in the ass.
I've had cats all my adult life and will probably always have one or two becuase I like them, but they are still a pain in the ass. lol

This Christmas season pick someone to help. Whether it be a charity or someone in your neighborhood who is having a hard time or just someone you want to cheer up.
It does not have to be money or gifts, it could just be a few minutes spent with them.
It's not what we have or who we know ... it's who we help in life.

Again, thanks Q.

[qubit]

Cats a pain in the ass, huh? I don't think so...

Look, I've never seen these cuddly, sweet-natured creatures ever be difficult, ever. Fine examples of their high class behaviour include:

- Giving a cat a pill. Some fine examples here (YouTube) and here
- Stuffing it into the cat carrier to go to the vet
- Cat walking all over your keyboard or book as you're trying to concentrate. Removing it doesn't help. No no, this never happens
- The pungent odour of cat wee all over the house, with no apparent source. Cat nowhere to be found, but looks obviously innocent once you track it down
- Cat bringing home half dead mice and birds as "presents" for you



And the selfless act of helping. Yeah, it's strangely satisfying, innit?