Give It Away Now

(or where I ask chili peppers style “How come everybody wants to keep it like the kaiser?”)

(double aside today – this is a longish post and if you don’t read it far enough down to get to the crux – here it is – Give some money to charity! Now, read the post!)

So, I think most of you reading this are either making money online, or trying to make money online…..for different reasons: Upstart Blogger is putting his earnings away to ensure his families’ financial security, The At Home Couple are sick of working for someone else and don’t want to waste their lives for a “shitty pension and a cheap gold watch” …..ClogMoney just wants the fame, fortune and groupies that come from celebrity blogging. Normal Joe blogs because he want’s to work for himself and ensure his financial freedom….Wordvixen wants to be a professional freelance writer….BrilliantJeni actually makes full time income online.  Griz also makes a lot of cash with his make money online for beginners blog (in fact, Griz is my inspiration when it comes to using free resources to make money online).   I’m doing it because with rising prices, I need some extra money to help cover the cost of childcare; my day job just doesn’t pay enough after my mortgage, energy bills and food.

Anyway, I know we all want the money; most of us want to be filthy rich. And, of course, the economic crisis is in the forefront of everyone’s minds lately.  We are all worried about money. Here’s something to put it in perspective though; I’ve seen various different versions of the stats (some higher, some lower), but they all go something like this:

If you have a roof over your head, keep your clothes in a closet and your food in a refrigerator, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population. Furthermore, if you actually have a bank account, then you are in the wealthiest 8% of the world’s population. Re-read that.  You are wealthier than 92% of the world.

Christmas is just around the corner and I’m wealthier than 92% of the world…..so are you…..I know I could use every extra penny this year, especially at this time of the year, when our rampant consumerism seems to take over and we are cajoled, coaxed and manipulated into purchasing a shitload of stuff that we probably don’t need.

I’m not making a truckload online yet….currently I make between 50cents and 1 dollar a day online from adsense on a different blog. Not a lot of money – at most, $30 a month. Still that 30 bucks will send my child to nursery for a half a day….hmmm probably less than half a day…..not the point – Here’s the rub (and I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of doing this) – I’m going to donate everything I earn online in October and November to charity (that’s going to come somewhere between 30 and 60 dollars for 2 months). And I’m challenging every blogger who is making money online to match me (or if you earn less than I do, to pledge the 2 months of online income). Think about it – a lot of you make considerably more than 30 dollars a month online….many of you are making in excess of 100 dollars a day from your online ventures, so matching my charity contributions is going to cost some of you less than a day’s worth of income. I know you may be counting on that day’s income, and I feel you – like I said, I need the cash for childcare….this little shindig is going to send me further into debt, but that really is not the point – it will be temporary – it will hurt a little now, but I (and you) will still be wealthier than 92% of the world next year, and we will all make more cash.

If every blogger who makes money online gives the same amount as I do to a charity of their choice, we can make a huge impact. I don’t care who you chose to support, just give a little back, that’s all. My personal charity of choice happens to be Care for the Wild – ’cause I like wildlife, but maybe you want to give to Cancer research, or World Vision. It doesn’t matter.

So what’s the plan? Post something on your blog – challenge all your MMO readers to give it away! I don’t care if you link me up or not – I’m not all that interested in cheap traffic tricks, but the opportunity for this to spread to every MMO blogger virally is huge. Make a post about it. Pledge your cash.  I’m going to link up every blog that I find who posts the challenge to their readers. Can’t say fairer than that. Oh, and if you thought of the idea before me – hit me up and I’ll link you up.

Edit……I’ve set up a page for everyone who is involved in some sort of giving it away.  Go check them out on Charity starts online.