Why isn't there a donation link on the front page?

September 3, 2005 3:45 PM

Why isn't there a donation link on the front page? Something Awful has been raising $3 grand for the Red Cross every hour.
posted by keswick to feature requests at 3:45 PM (32 comments total)

Metafilter doesn't care about black people.
posted by Stan Chin at 3:54 PM on September 3, 2005

More like MeFi doesn't care about poor people.
posted by keswick at 3:55 PM on September 3, 2005

Let's not get started on the jews, either.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 4:14 PM on September 3, 2005

Maybe link to a list of trustworth charities instead, since the ARC has gotten millions already and they certainly don't have a monopoly on disaster assistance, nor have they historically had the greatest ethical practices.
posted by cmonkey at 4:20 PM on September 3, 2005

Are people who want to donate having trouble finding somewhere to do it? It's not that hard.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:06 PM on September 3, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

Was there not a donation link for the tsunami?
posted by keswick at 5:11 PM on September 3, 2005

More like keswick wants everyone to see a running tally of the donations from the community he belongs to.

I'm with ThePinkSuperhero, its not that hard to find a place to donate.
posted by geekyguy at 5:58 PM on September 3, 2005

You guys are douchebags.
posted by keswick at 6:01 PM on September 3, 2005

The Interdictor - blogging from New Orleans, these are the guys who host SA forums, right?
posted by dabitch at 6:07 PM on September 3, 2005

It's not that it's hard to find where to donate, ThePinkSuperhero. When a community makes a point of donating money as a community, it tends to encourage everyone to play their part. I think it's a good idea, and I'm holding on to a donation until tomorrow morning in case mathowie gets something together.
posted by ori at 6:45 PM on September 3, 2005

No more worries, kids. I just posted an FPP for Operation Blessing.










I keed, I keed.
posted by mullingitover at 6:46 PM on September 3, 2005

Dropcash, perhaps? (though paypal will take a cut of the donations, so maybe that isn't the best idea.)
posted by shoepal at 7:02 PM on September 3, 2005

Ouch, why all the protests to this idea? A lot of people might not think of habitat for humanity, for example.

Also matt could put up something encouraging people to email their schools to take on visiting students and profs, or encourage their companies to employ refugees for year-long terms.

Also we could take up a fund for Jabbor Gibson.

There are many ways mefi could help people think of uncommon ways to help - since you are correct there are a number of rather obvious (albeit, of course, highly valuable) organizations.
posted by lorrer at 7:05 PM on September 3, 2005

Habitat for Humanity seems like the best place to send my $20. A sidebar link to the best discussion of donating seems appropriate, but an official site charity strikes me as unnecessary.
posted by mediareport at 7:06 PM on September 3, 2005

Fark has raised $30k. (not endorsing a MeFi sponsored drive or Fark)
posted by shoepal at 7:24 PM on September 3, 2005

update: PayPal has frozen the SA account. Expect PayPal to bogart the money.
posted by keswick at 7:44 PM on September 3, 2005

PayPal has frozen the SA account.

Really? Wow. Perils of rushing in, I guess.
posted by mediareport at 7:49 PM on September 3, 2005

Good point, I'll add something right now. I downloaded a nice badge last night but didn't put it up before I went to bed.
posted by mathowie at 7:57 PM on September 3, 2005

Also matt could put up something encouraging people to email their schools to take on visiting students and profs, or encourage their companies to employ refugees for year-long terms.

Anyone that wants to help make a resource page for hurricane victims, please use the mefi wiki and post a link to it here, and I'll gladly link to the page on the front page.
posted by mathowie at 8:05 PM on September 3, 2005

Oh, and I decided to link directly to charities, instead of tracking it myself and donating.
posted by mathowie at 8:06 PM on September 3, 2005

I could see why paypal would lock accounts, as it seems that random-community.com asking for hurricane relief donations that the owner swears he will give to the red cross sounds kind of fishy to an outside organization handling payments and trying to keep down fraud.
posted by mathowie at 8:14 PM on September 3, 2005

Yup, paypal has frozen the account. They'll now have to wait 180 days to help the red cross.
posted by delmoi at 8:31 PM on September 3, 2005

Wait 'til the goons find out where PayPal lives.

There'll be hell to pay.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:32 PM on September 3, 2005

Anyone who wants to help local orgs, who already know and have been working with these communities for years and are well positioned to assess and respond to needs, should check out this pdf , provided by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
posted by cushie at 8:33 PM on September 3, 2005

yeah, we'll take pictures of paypal's house.
posted by keswick at 8:34 PM on September 3, 2005

I could see why paypal would lock accounts, as it seems that random-community.com asking for hurricane relief donations that the owner swears he will give to the red cross sounds kind of fishy to an outside organization handling payments and trying to keep down fraud.

I can understand that, still, it seems like they could have at least tried to get a hold of Lowtax. We're talking about $22,000 here. They could have prevented withdrawl and sent the money to the red-cross directly.

Oh well
posted by delmoi at 8:36 PM on September 3, 2005

They'll now have to wait 180 days to help the red cross.

That's just... wow.

In totally unrelated news, God was dumped by his long-time girlfriend. I hear he's not taking it too well.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:40 PM on September 3, 2005

Correction:

In totally unrelated news, God was dumped by her long-time girlfriend. I hear she's not taking it too well.

-Ed.
posted by loquacious at 9:00 PM on September 3, 2005

So who got dumped? Clapton or Morissette?
posted by ?! at 10:56 PM on September 3, 2005

update: PayPal has frozen the SA account. Expect PayPal to bogart the money.

I'm not in the least suprised. (But saddened)
posted by dabitch at 12:10 AM on September 4, 2005

Springsteen fans have been organizing charity drives for several years now. Rather than collect the money themselves they ask that people donate directly to the appropriate charitable organization and include the phrase "Bruce Sent Me" on their check or in the comment field for an online donation. The current "how to help" thread provides some good info for the current crises.
posted by caddis at 6:32 AM on September 4, 2005

?! -- Dave Coulier, actually.
posted by cortex at 8:17 AM on September 4, 2005