We Need Your Help

I have been volunteering on ProgressiveU for about a year and a half now, and have been a member well over 2 years. I started in the competition just like the rest of you, but stayed due to the great ideas I found here. I've made some wonderful friends over the past couple years on the site, many of whom I would like to remain friends with for life. ProgressiveU has helped me through some difficult times, and I want to help it thrive.

Unfortunately, that is getting more and more difficult by the day as our funding dries up. Over the past few months, we have instituted many ways to get our members involved in the process. We opened a ProgressiveU store on Zazzle, we joined GoodSearch and GoodShop (the former of which is free, but still helps us in the long run), we have done cellphone fundraisers, and we have applied for several grants to help us continue giving out scholarships.

If we don't get a solid source of funding, the Fall 2008 scholarship competition may be our last. So, we are starting an experiment. We have signed up for Fundable, which allows us to raise money based on donations. If we don't meet our goal, no one gives anything. But if we do... we get more funding to give out scholarships.

In this vein, we have created an online fundraiser to help raise funds to award student bloggers for their hard work and dedication, both to ProgressiveU as bloggers and to the wider communities that their ideas and input have benefited. Our preliminary goal is quite small. We would like to raise at least $200.00 (plus $21 to cover the fees associated with the fundraiser) to provide gift certificates to those students and we hope you can help. Anything raised over the $200.00 will be put on reserve for future Blogging for Progress scholarships.

We're asking that everyone who is able pledge at least $10.00 to the fund. If the $200.00 goal is not met by January 19, 2009, no one will be required to contribute anything. If, however, the goal is met, everyone that pledged will contribute their pledged amount to the organization and those gift certificates will be purchased and delivered to deserving students.

In order to do this, we have set up a collection page at Fundable. You can view it and make your pledge at: http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-12-29.8838634107

If you cannot afford $10.00 right now, there are other ways to help us out. I hope everyone at least considers using GoodSearch.com and selects ProgressiveU as their nonprofit of choice. You can do it at no cost to you, and it helps us out in the long run. If only 100 people do two searches a day through GoodSearch, we can raise over $700 in the course of one year. It is powered by Yahoo, and functions the same as any other search engine. If you use Firefox or Internet Explorer, you can add toolbars to your browser to make it easier to use this tool. Just imagine what would happen if all 50,000 members did one search a day.

If you have less than $10 to give, please consider donating directly through PayPal (see the block in the sidebar). Perhaps you have a Visa Gift Card that has a small balance left on it... not enough to do you much good, but enough to help us out a little. You can also, of course, ask your friends and family to help out a little. Maybe your Great-Aunt Muriel gives horrible birthday presents, so you can ask for a donation on your behalf instead. Have an old cellphone? Pass it along to us. Any help whatsoever is appreciated.

Please, even if you can't contribute yourself, pass along the information so we can reach as many people as possible.

If you have any questions, you may ask them here or you can email the ProgressiveU Directors (Naomi Leger, Art Morgan, Fallon Glenn and Michelle Knoll) at info@progressive.org.

Thanks in advance from all of us at ProgressiveU for your support!