21 Dec. Deadline for Menu for Hope Raffle

If you haven't donated yet, the deadline for participating in the Menu for Hope raffle is drawing near. As my raffle prize (code UE21), I'm offering a copy of Veganomicon and a six-pack of organic, raw agave nectar.

I know Amazon.com says they're out of stock on the agave nectar, but have no fear, if you are the winner of my raffle prizes, by the time the winners are announced on 9 January 2008, the agave will be in stock.



One of the questions I get a lot is "How much of my money actually goes to those kids in Lesotho?" Well, to quote Pim, the grand mistress of the Menu for Hope,

For every $100 donated to Menu for Hope, nearly $87 goes directly to the school children and farmers in Lesotho.

Here's how we came to that number:

0% go to Menu for Hope management
We don't take any cut at all from this. All the bloggers participating do it for free.

7% go to The UN World Food Programme
The WFP uses no more than 7% of their total funds raised each year for their operational overhead. You can see the entire 2006 operating report for yourself here.

Firstgiving 7.35% 6.35% go to Firstgiving
Firstgiving, the online fundraising company we use to manage Menu for Hope donations charges a service fee of 7.35%, which covers credit card processing, hosting, security, administrative, service, and all other services they provide.

Donors can make an online donation with a credit card. Firstgiving collects and processes the payments and, at the end of the campaign, transfers the donations in one lump sum to the WFP. This is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The bloggers never touch the money. The WFP don't waste overheads on processing mini-donations, the majority of which were between $10-$50, that's a whole lot of tenners to make up 60K.

Last year, Firstgiving was kind enough to donate back 1% of the total amount we raised back to the campaign. This is in lieu of a discount on their already small fees, so, basically, Firstgiving only charges our campaign about 6.35% fees! Thank you so much Firstgiving!

The rest, 85.65% ~86.65% goes to the children and the farmers. You can meet them here.

Knowing that so much of my donated money goes directly to the targeted folks is one of the key reasons I participate in this raffle. You can see what I bid for here.

To find out exactly how to participate, please see this post.