When Ben Kuchera was ushering me into his previous post as gaming editor here at Ars Technica, he urged me to do things my own way. But there was one tradition that he was adamant I continue when I took over his role: the annual Child's Play charity drive that we've been running on the site since 2007.
I was a little nervous about taking over such a large and noble undertaking, worried that I might come up embarrassingly short of last year's record $26,000 charity haul. Luckily, my nervousness was misplaced, as you readers proved your generosity again and again. All told, this year's Child's Play drive raised $28,713.52 worth of toys and games for sick children in hospitals around the world. Good job, guys!
I'll admit it's been a decent amount of work tallying up all those entries, picking and informing the winners chosen for our massive pile of swag, and preparing all those prizes for shipping. But whenever all that effort feels monotonous, I just look at that number, think about the giving spirit of all those readers, and imagine the kids whose hospital stay will be made a little easier.
We're already gathering swag for the 2013 giveaway, which will be taking place sometime in December. Here's hoping we can beat $30,000 next time around!
Some stats regarding the 2012 drive (and past drives), for numerically inclined readers:
- 2012 Fundraising total: $28,713.52
- Number of individual donations: 454
- Average donation: $63.25
- Median donation: $20
- Most common donation: $5 (86 donations)
- Top single donation: $5,000 (!)
- Donations of $1,000 or more: 4
- Donations of $100 or more: 43
- Donations of one penny: 1 (-_-*)
- Total Child's Play donations from Ars Technica drives since 2007 (approximate): $117,713.52
- 2011: $26,000
- 2010: $24,000
- 2009: $17,000
- 2008: $12,000
- 2007: $10,000
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