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Thanks to ALL of you, we've already reached our initial goal of $2,500 - with a full three weeks left in the campaign!

Special thanks to @bwrestler15, @JaysRcrak, and @lobotomybeats  for generously offering BONUS donations for every $1,000 we raise together from here out.  We're just $325 shy of $3,000 - and our next bonus.

Forgive the delayed reply on this, I had to check in with Room to Read to be certain about how this works.

As it turns out, there's more fine print on this than I'd thought when I was initially briefed on it.  Whenever we make a community contribution, we always try to time it to coincide with matching grants whenever possible.  Our last couple of Room to Read contributions were matched dollar for dollar as part of large corporate challenge grants.  

In the process of planning this year's contribution, this opportunity was presented as a possibility for us and I was apprised of the basics.  It's not quite as straightforward as other matching grants, given that there are extra hoops to jump through, but obviously it offers a great deal that conventional (and all our previous) group fundraisers lack.  Already, we've saved 3%+ in transaction fees AND qualified the organization for a chance to win $5,000 extra. 

It IS true that Room to Read will need a total of $5,000 to qualify for the match from Skoll.  

Here's the good news:  they already had $1,160 to start with when we began our campaign, and we're only $1,200 or so away from clearing $5,000.  We're on pace to do this.  

Here's more good news:  at the moment, there are only SEVEN organizations qualified for the $5,000 bonus - and up to 20 can win it.  It's possible that many will rally to meet the criteria, but what could at worst have been a 1:3 chance is now looking pretty good.  I'll update you guys next week when the winners are announced.

Here's some even better news:  soon after we launched, a sponsor expressed interest in making a contribution of their own in support of our efforts.  It will be timed to help us out with next week's challenge goal.  

And here's the best news of all:  Room to Read currently has a challenge grant in place as part of their Destination Literacy campaign.  I'm told that all of the contributions made through our fundraising page will qualify for this as well.  So, potentially, we're actually looking at TWO matching opportunities for these funds!!

Here's the bottom line, though:  whatever the actual match from Skoll winds up being, we'll make it right regardless.

With all of the previous group fundraisers, we've matched all member contributions ourselves with a community donation funded by our ad revenues.  No matter what, we'll announce a 2014 Room to Read donation from NikeTalk at the conclusion of this campaign, and the amount will reflect the generosity demonstrated by our community through this fundraising effort.  

Plus, Room to Read will also be eligible for that 15th anniversary vote I mentioned earlier, and at stake there is one $10,000 contribution and one $5,000 contribution.  (And such a contribution would be eligible for the Destination Literacy match, too!)

So, if this is something you guys feel really strongly about, we can make a HUGE impact together. 

Congratulations!

Are you still encountering this?

It doesn't count towards NikeTalk's total, but it DOES count towards Room to Read's total - and that's the most important thing.  If you visit our fundraising page and check "the team", you can see the combined impact for everyone currently raising money for Room to Read.  You're not the first NT member to have yours count in a separate category, but we're all working together to raise money for this cause.  

The Social Entrepreneurs Challenge ends December 5th.  

 

You donated to the wrong team, you did it anonymously, and you didn't indicate your account name in the comments section as specified?