Charity Case

Warning: This post is egotistical and self involved. I'm a "blogger." What'd you expect?

A couple of very generous people on Twitter suggested I take sponsorships for Macdrifter.com.

@macdrifter Seconded. RT @potatowireRegarding item number one, you should set up a sponsorship program. I like to pay for good writing.

— The Mindful Bit (@themindfulbit) February 23, 2012

That's pretty awesome, right? So I got to thinking about it. I've said before that this site is a hobby. It does cost me some money to run, but spread over 12 months, it's not much. I've occasionally included affiliate links, but honestly, that's a pain. Since my Simplenote blog posting system came online, I post a lot from my iPad and iPhone. It's tough to lookup links on the go.

I also don't do real advertising right now.¹ Marked is an awesome application. I want it to do well, so Brett makes it more awesome. I try to spread the word in my little corner of the inter-tubes.

So what should I do? Well, I decided to include a donations page. The page serves two purposes.

First, it's a little perpetual soapbox for me to push my moral agendas. I've included several charities to donate to. I don't look at outbound clicks and I don't track the charity donations. I think donations should be private. I did go to a good amount of work to research the charities.² I've provided links to their ratings where possible. I endorse all links on the page. They are not random or sponsored.

Second, the page provides a way for readers to directly support Macdrifter.com. I do this with other sites I like. I'm a Shawn Blanc member and I make anonymous donations to many other sites. It makes me feel good.³ You don't need to donate to Macdrifter.com. This site is self sufficient. I'm an incredibly fortunate person. If it makes you feel good, then I greatly appreciate the kindness.

If you do support the site directly, you might get me to spruce things up a bit more around here. I've put off hiring a real designer (i.e. someone with taste) and engineer (i.e. someone that actually knows something about programming) to change things around here. What you see now is hand-crafted by a one-eyed color-blind chimp (i.e. me).

Mostly I want to say thanks for the awesome people that come through here. Macdrifter.com has given me access to brilliant strangers and Internet heroes. It's totally worth the price.