3 Ways to Be Amazing, Get Free Stuff, Have Your Portrait Drawn and Fund a Small Business
09. Dec, 2009 
30 Comments
Want to be amazing this year? Me too. Want to get free stuff? Well read on… (Don’t forget to read to the bottom to find out how to call my bluff).
ONE
We’re building a school in Cambodia. You know, like, a whole…. school. A bunch of travel bloggers have gotten together and donated stuff to be auctioned off. Not crappy stuff either. Try a 5 night stay at a swanky hotel in Costa Rica ($2746) or a private photo shoot with a Seattle based photographer ($110), or an iPod Touch, or a Tahitian Pearl ($200) or Free Tuition to a Travel Writing School ($350) or a fancy Ukulele ($590)
All you have to do is donate $10. And you get to pick which prize you’re competing for. So if 10 people bid on the iPod, you have a 10% chance of winning it. It’s a blind auction, but from last year’s event, I’ll tell you a little secret: I bet there is at least one item (or more!) that has zero bids on it.
Pick Your Prize(s) Here
I’m doing my part too… I got the awesome folks at Digital Foci to donate a free Photo Safe II, which is this great little device that lets you dump all of your photos directly from your digital camera’s memory stick, so you can keep taking pics while you travel– without having to bring your laptop with you. This is a genius idea, especially if you’re traveling to parts of the world with slower internet speeds (I have personally watched in horror as I tried to upload a few pics to Flickr and had the entire upload fail to complete after 2 hours because of slow speeds and connection hiccups).
Or if you just want to get this cool device straight out, you can always buy it direct:
- Product link: http://www.digitalfoci.com/photo_safe.html
- Price: $149 (160GB), $199 (250GB) (For this auction, it’s the 160GB model)
- Company: Digital Foci (www.digitalfoci.com)
- Toll-free order number: 1-888-NOW-FOCI (1-888-669-3624)
- Where to buy: www.digitalfoci.com, www.amazon.com, www.adorama.com, www.bhphotovideo.com
To get the Photo Safe II or any other the other very generous prizes, you have to start here.
TWO
My husband is a classically trained animator. That means he can draw Tigger from scratch, running around just like you see on TV. He’s also a little crazy, since this whole I’m-gonna-be-a-Dad thing. So he signed up for a race this January in the UK. It’s called the Tough Guy Race.
So what does that mean? He’s pimping out his art skills to raise money for charity. So every time you donate, he’ll draw you a picture, based off of any photo that you have. You give money and you get free art.
For this charity fundraiser, he’s done people’s avatars, anniversary presents, a couple as their favorite characters, Christmas presents for the grandparents, pictures of people’s kids, their dogs, their cats, banners for a blog, logos for companies, a business card for a nutritionist, and an animated video introduction for a certain travel blogger (not me).
If you can think of a reason to have a professional artist create some vector art (the kind you can resize however you’d like) then hop over to his site and make a donation. $35 gets you a basic head shot (like the one above), $50 gets you two and for custom work, shoot him and email and tell what you need. He’s very flexible.
To see more samples of his work go here
The money goes to Free Arts NYC, which is a ground breaking program in New York that is getting kids into free art classes. It’s important to him, as a working artist, because without that early expose to drawing, he would have never found his career.
And the Tough Guy Race? It’s in the UK, in the freezing cold, running 8 miles through barbed wire, fire (!), electrical wires, mud, horse poop, up walls, under tunnels, and crawling on your hands and knees. He’s video blogging his progress and the event, but to get a sense of the absolutely stupid stuff they have these people do, watch this ESPN coverage of last year’s event. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
THREE
Now what if there was a way to give money, but not actually give it? You know, you want to give, but wouldn’t it be nice if in a year, you got all of it back? Have you met Kiva.org? They do micro-loans to people who really need them. You donate your cash, they use the money to bankroll their business and after a period of time (set in the initial request) they pay you back.
Plus, these kinds of programs really work. They help people do simple things like buy a tractor or put in an irrigation system that takes them from being subsistence farmers to being able to send their kids to school. It’s not a hand out and there’s a huge rate of pay backs. It’s working. The best part, for you dear philanthropist, is that you can pick how much to give and who to give it to. Warning: you may end up spending way too much time reading these stories and their plans for your cash. It’s amazing and inspiring. Go to Kiva.org now.
Be Amazing
You didn’t think I’d let myself off the hook, did you? Ok here’s the deal. For every comment below I’ll donate $1. Tell me which of the three charities you like me to donate to (and if you pick #1 then tell me specifically what prize you want me to pick). I’ll donate according to whatever gets the most votes. If my donation gets a prize, I’ll randomly pick someone from the comments to win it.
Your Job:
1. Go to
2. Leave a comment and I’ll donate $1 to the charity of your choice (from the above three, you tell me which one.)
3. If I win any prizes, I’ll pick someone from the comments as the winner.
Go husband! The Tough Guy race is an amazingly hard thing to do. I’m far too much of a wuzz to even contemplate it.
Great post, I enjoyed this a lot. Hope you get a lot of traction for Passport with Purpose, let’s get that school built.
Jack – eyeflare travel´s last blog ..Covent Garden, London
Thanks, great info!
(Please give to DrewGilbert.com)
Great stuff, Christine. Thanks for alerting us to 3 great ways to give. Please send $1 to PWP. Thanks!
Gray´s last blog ..Dueling Piano Shows, Part II: Salute Lounge
You are SO good!! How ’bout a buck to Kiva?
Are you going to be in the UK with your husband? We’re in Scotland for a few months, and we could hook up!
Brenna
Brenna´s last blog ..Video Blog: Christmas Time is Here!
What better time to leave my first comment…
$1 to Drew please!
Kiva please
I’m really a fan of the enabling others to help themselves model. It has more beneficial ramifications than I think most people realize. Thank you for doing his!
Shawn´s last blog ..Après un An à Montréal
I absolutely LOVE Kiva. Give them some money, and tell your husband he’s crazy, but awesome!
Colin Wright´s last blog ..How To Be As Awesome And Buff As Colin
Please give to Kiva.org.
I’m heading there right now to give some lovin’.
What a great post. Seems like things are going well for you and hubby. Best of luck to him in that race!
Carolina´s last blog ..7 Ways to De-Stress
Wonderful! It must feel great to give back.
I donated to #1 above. So, with that, please give $1 to Passports With Purpose. Thanks!!
Nate´s last blog ..Are You Sleepwalking Through Life?
#3 please… I will be giving to Kiva too… I’m a big believer in microeconomics.
Great post, and very fitting as its that time of the year where people spend and spend and spend…i think its so great for you to give people cool ideas of what they can do. I think i’ll join the bid thing. a costa rica getaways sounds rrrreal awesome
I have donated to microcredit but not to Kiva. I donated to wokai.org (Wokai – chinese (phonetic sounding) meaning “I open”) , a chinese-based microcredit which loans to farmers, small entrepreneurs, etc. i just made a small contribution to a farmer in mongolia and as you said- its a wonderful gift to ourselves!
good luck to your hubby for the race!
Passports with Purpose – I’m all for new schools whenever possible. And I put in my entry already for the Belize resort – small, non-commercial and a great reef – what more could anyone want?
I would love for you to donate a $1 to Kiva. I have read in many places that it is especially helpful for women in developing nations who want to start their own business and not be fully dependent on men. I love anything that empowers women, especially in countries where being a woman is not very easy.
Emily´s last blog ..Photo Spotlight: Florence’s San Lorenzo Market
Great info….yes I did spend ALOT of time checking out the kiva.org site. Amazing….now I just have to decide……maybe I will do several and spread it around. Thanks for the info, I’ll put it to good use.
#1 Please – so cool to be building a school in Cambodia.
Very nice art. And how cool is your husband for running in the tough guy Race! Tell him I send my best of luck – fabulous art, too!
Money Funk´s last blog ..I’m Selling Everything Update.
Passports With Purpose! Building schools is one of the most important things I think anyone could do for Cambodia after the genocide. They killed 1/4 Cambodians and almost all of them were the educated class (teachers, doctors, lawyers exc exc) and now the society is left uneducated and in need. Great cause!
I use a an item like Photo Safe as well when i travel. Being able to dump your files on an iPod size gadget is awesome when in countries that have little to no technology. Great travel item for anyone not wanting to lug a laptop around 24/7.
T-roy´s last blog ..Faces of Peru: 011
very cool!
jessiev´s last blog ..Guitars for a good cause: auction through Dec 17th benefits PeaceJam
I think they’re all great causes – but up to Christmas I’m supporting Passports with Purpose & my prize is a Flip Video Camera – Read about it here
http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/passports-with-purpose-flip-video-camera-giveaway/
and here
http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/photogear-travellers-passports-with-purpose/
Heather on her travels´s last blog ..Great photogear for travellers to be won at Passports with Purpose
This is great. Thank You for this opportunity to give!
Tell you what, you give $1 to Kiva & I’m going to give $20 to PWP. Yay!
I vote for Kiva.org! Giving micro-loans to people in developing countries helps those people make an independent living and contribute to their local economy.
Cool, Christine! I’m donating to PWP, so feel free to place vote there! Good luck to your husband-I’m miserable just thinking of that!
Cherrye at My Bella Vita´s last blog ..Moore n’ more about People, Places and Things, December 2009
What a wonderful idea! Passports with Purpose, please!
Lin´s last blog ..Wandering Seafarers
#1 please, and pick the Fuji Instax Mini and film.
My vote goes to Kiva! Their model is unique and I love how much they try to connect he donor with the individual or group of people in need. Micro loans really can have a huge impact on people’s lives!
Alesha´s last blog ..EcuatoriGringa: @bostonita lol I think that would be awesome!!
What a difficult choice! But I love travel (wish I could be doing more right now:) and love education projects, and am a blogger, so $1 to PWP please!
Cheers from Barbados!
Finola Prescott´s last blog ..Dance Out There Needs Your Support
Please give to kiva; a great organization. And, I always enjoy your posts whenever I have a chance to stop by. Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much for an awesome blog post, so inspiring!!
I think whichever you choose to donate your money to it will serve a great purpose, but personally I think you should go with number one, donating money to building a school in Cambodia.
And go for the price “Three Nights at an Aqua Hotel in Waikiki”!
merry christmas!
Sofia´s last blog ..p1080533
Thank you so much for an awesome blog post, so inspiring!!
I think whichever you choose to donate your money to it will serve a great purpose, but personally I think you should go with number one, donating money to building a school in Cambodia.
And go for the price “Three Nights at an Aqua Hotel in Waikiki”!
merry christmas!
Its great that you are doing this. I would love if you donated $1 to Passports With Purpose. Thanks
I love this Christine! Thanks!
Please give to DrewGilbert.com