Our Blog

Benj and Jessica launched a nonprofit. Follow our journey as we built a 501(c)(3) and a web site, and now usher in an endless stream of worthy charity nominees and monthly grant winners!

Shortcuts: News | Winners | Nominees

300 Donors

300 Donors

We reached the 100 donor mark during our first month of operation back in September 2016. We reached the 200 donor mark one year later in September 2017. And that's where it stayed for 2018 and 2019, with our new donor attraction rate in rough equilibrium with our attrition rate.

Now, in early 2021, we have crossed the 300 donor mark. 🥳

Sea Change OBX, named the winner one year ago last week, ushered in a new era. An era of nominees encouraging their own networks of donors, members, and followers to join Charitocracy and vote. In fact, the past twelve months have been largely dominated by winners that won by introducing new donors to Charitocracy. And that goes for our most recent February 2021 winner, too!

Another driver of new donors has been our new OBX site. While most OBX donors were already USA donors, we've also attracted some newcomers to this regional spin-off. If you haven't already thrown a buck in the OBX pot, come join us in the voting over there each month, too. Or you can redirect some/all of your current monthly USA donation over to OBX, no additional charge. Adjust your monthly donation here.

Statistical breakdown of 300+ donors

For those who are curious, here's the break-down as of today:

  • USA-only donors: 241
  • OBX-only donors: 19
  • Donors to both pots: 50
  • Total USA donors: 291
  • Total OBX donors: 69
  • Total donors: 310

Where we go from here: 400!

There's nothing stopping us from doing it again in the next 12 months! The #1 thing about Charitocracy that donors like most is how they can amplify their donations. Even at the $1 per month level, their donations when combined with everyone else's add up to over $1000. And when nominating their favorite cause, or "cheerleading" for one particular nominee they feel strongly about, it becomes a real easy sell to attract friends and family.

You invite all your friends with easy to generate social media and/or email invitations. Your friends chip in as little as $12 for the year, and vote for your cause. Once there's a couple dozen of them, you're in a very strong position to have those donations amplified, easily by an order of magnitude. Never mind the next 11 months and beyond of voting in other great causes to win monthly grants!

Do I hear 500? Benj needs a haircut...

I've been saying for a while now that once we hit the 500 active donor mark, I'd be open to cutting my long hair. And perhaps even cutting my hair to a style selected by the most successful Charitocracy recruiter helping to hit the 500 mark!

We've been keeping track of referrals since the beginning, so if you don't see someone listed in your Giving Tree branches that you recruited, or you don't see your recruiter as the root of your tree, give me a yell and I'll patch it up so you get due credit.

But first, see you at 400! The sooner the better.

Nice try, but no. Benj's new hairstyle must involve *less* hair.

February 2021 winner Glimmer of Hope Foundation

Charitocracy's 54th check to February winner Glimmer of Hope Foundation for $1299

We have good news about February winner Glimmer of Hope Foundation, right after this quick update...

300

By the end of 2016 we had 200 donors. That magic number saw us through 2017, 2018, and 2019. We'd attract new donors at a rate roughly the same as our attrition rate, plus or minus about 10%. Then came February 2020!

Stay tuned for a blog post dedicated to this milestone. But spoiler alert: thanks to a combination of aggressive (and successful) recruiting campaigns by several nominees over the past 12 months, including this winner below, and the rollout of our new OBX site, we've surpassed 300 donors! Next stop: 400?

February 2021 winner Glimmer of Hope Foundation

Last night we named Charitocracy's 54th monthly winner. Congratulations to Glimmer of Hope Foundation, nominated by donor pottspac1@gmail.com. They show girls and boys their strength and beauty by donating bald dolls and giving HOPE to those battling childhood cancer. You can find their website here.

Now you have a week to further sweeten the pot with a special one-time donation of any amount, which we'll add straight to the check we write to Glimmer of Hope next week. And feel good about your part in our collective $1299+ grant to support their ongoing work.

Have a great March, stay safe, and be sure to log into Charitocracy to update your votes or nominate a new cause!

Spotlight on nominee Glimmer of Hope Foundation

nominee Glimmer of Hope Foundation

Next in our series of posts about new Charitocracy nominees, we have nominee Glimmer of Hope Foundation, nominated by donor pottspac1@gmail.com. They show girls and boys their strength and beauty by donating bald dolls and giving HOPE to those battling childhood cancer. You can find their web site here.

A few words on Charitocracy

Firstly, for newcomers: here's how it works. Donors pool their monthly contributions, as little as $1. The cause with the most votes each month wins the pot. No matter how much or how little you contribute, each donor at Charitocracy gets one vote. This is where charity meets democracy. So please share this post (see social sharing icons at top of post) and ask your friends to join us and vote! That's how we spread the word and, as a result, grow the monthly pot. The bigger the pot, the bigger our positive impact on the world!

About nominee Glimmer of Hope Foundation

Our Beliefs

In a world where people are too often judged for their outer appearance, we aim to make children, teens, and young adults battling cancer feel beautiful in their own skin. We donate bald American Girl dolls of 4 skin tones to girls battling cancer or hair loss. Every girl or boy deserves to have a doll that looks like THEM. Representation is everything. At Glimmer of Hope we value loyalty, love, diversity and kindness. Once your child is gifted a doll or care package, you become part of a family, our “Glimmer” family.

Our Services

Doll Donation

We donate bald American Girl dolls to children battling cancer and hair loss worldwide. We also donate “look alike” dolls or dolls with hair to children battling cancer that have not/will not lose their hair.

Care Package Donation

We donate care packages (typically a $250-$500 value) to boys, teenagers, young adults and children that may not want a doll. These care packages include anything from makeup, to toys, diapers, clothing and much more. Each care package is curated specifically for the child based on their likes.

Meal Donation

We sponsor meal donations for the Izzy Room (Izzy Foundation) for the oncology floor at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island (Floor 5). Each meal donation provides enough meals for all of the patients and staff on the fifth floor.

So please visit the page of nominee Glimmer of Hope Foundation to vote for, like, or discuss this cause! And check out this video of Braylee unboxing her doll: