I had trouble loading the linked page. Could someone post a brief detail of the charity here?

(For those who've missed it, the link is just below the Newest Mixed Quizzes box on the FT Home Page.)

It is what it says, to raise money for water in areas which have poor water supplies.

http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=28173

Thank you Sue. That reminds me of one of the great water enjoyment scenes ever put on film, the "Happy Talk" swimming one from "South Pacific". A bit of the lyric is a propos: "...if you don't got a dream, how you gonna make that dream come true?"

I'm generally skeptical of many charities and their ability to do real long-term good, but I found the approach that this one took to be very efficient and novel. So, I've put up a charity page to see if we can garner any interest.

I like the idea of there being a water well out there providing some villagers with clean water that exists only because of the visitors of Fun Trivia.

One of the returns I got for a google search on 'charity: water' was this:

careers. | charity: water
software developer. As Software Developer for charity: water, you'll mainly architect and create web applications. You'll improve on our code and help devise ...
http://www.charitywater.org/about/jobs.php

Well, they need staff as well, don't they? I don't think this will be an overpaid job...

Yes, and all of the expenses of the actual corporation itself are paid by private donors. 100% of public donations go directly to the water projects.

This is excellent, I love the project idea. And it looks like we are already off to a great start.

I think you should somehow draw more FT users to it, as currently (correct me if I'm wrong) we only have one line of text on the main page about it.

There is also a thread in the FunTrivia Lounge.

In just two days we have over 10% of our target.

We'll see how it goes. I'd like to keep it unobtrusive and quiet, as I'm not certain how most people would react to feeling like a charity is being thrust upon them.

Will funtrivia be donating any or matching donations?

I think its a great idea by the way I hope we get all the way and do donate enough.

I donated the first $200 myself to get things rolling.

I took the plunge (sorry for the water reference, pun intended, obviously), too, Terry. What an admirable charity.

Update regarding our charity:

http://www.funtrivia.com/bb.cfm?action=details&qnid=27376&boardid=1000000

FunTrivia will be sending out Gold Membership gift certificates to anyone who is able to donate $50 or more.

Thanks for all of the support so far!

The Conservative team is issuing a challenge to other teams to contribute to this fund. Several of you have already given and some of you can but have put it off until later. The people need water to live, think of this the next time you get a fresh drink or take a bath or wash your car. Let us help the cause that our leader, Terry, has already checked out and show our support for this cause. Thank you and know how much you are appreciated for doing this.

I had seen your team had done that. I posted on my team board earlier today, in hopes that those who might not have seen the charity will at least see my post. :-)

Thanks for all the help in spreading the word regarding the water gifting.

Thanks, Salami_Swami, I have high hopes that other Team Leaders will do the same. As Dee posted above, we are CHALLENGING other teams to Match or Beat the total of our team for donations to this great Fundraising Project of building a well & helping 250 people be able to have fresh water. Honestly, this site ought to be able to raise 5 times that much money. I see as many as 5500+ players playing at any one time here. As I told our team THE CONSERVATIVES, $5000 is only 500 people giving $10, but with Terry's new generosity of the Gold Gift Certificate, it is also just 100 people giving $50.

THE CONSERVATIVES is a Small team, so surely some teams out there can Match or Beat our totals. By the way, once you've clicked to the donation page, you are on Charity: Water's website and can go through it all looking at their organization, job opportunities, purpose, etc. I especially recommend their BLOG & the story of Rachel, the 9 year old girl who wanted people to donate to Charity: Water instead of give her presents for her birthday a little over a year ago & how because of certain events has now had at least $1,500,000 given. Brought tears to my eyes.
Anyway, I'd sure like to see Funtriva folks give well over $5000 to this project!

~~Tiny

Me too. I hope my post will get the llamas involved. They like a little competition... ;-)

It looks like we're at 40% of our goal! A little competition is a good thing and there are no losers!

Was so in hopes that many would jump right into this fundraising effort. Going to that site (that's where you go when you hit the link to donate) and going to Charity: Water's blog is really inspiring. Maybe posting the link to that blog on your team message board might draw some more interest. I think I will try that.
http://www.charitywater.org/blog/

Rachel's Gift, one year later, especially touched my heart. I actually think I saw this story when her parents were on TV.

~~Tiny

I'm a little disappointed too, if everyone donated the price of a coffee, imagine how much we'd raise.
42 donations so far, out of thousands and thousands of possibles.

I think you all need to remember that many people donate on a regular basis to many charities - some may even already be supporting charities that provide wells and clean drinking water.

It is a great charity but a lot of people don't like feeling like they are being pushed to donate when they are just visiting their trivia site for some fun.

The link is there - people who are humanitarians will visit of their own accord and donate if they so choose - others never will no matter how many places you write it.

Thanks for saying what I have been thinking. I have already overspent my charitable donations budget for this year, and really can't afford to be "guilted" into donating to another one. I'm sure there are others here in the same boat.

I didn't mean to make anyone feel uncomfortable.
It's just such a fundamental right that so many are denied.

I'm sorry for anyone that might feel uncomfortable, too. Suppose I didn't think about it because I never feel guilty when I don't want to give to any particular charity. My spouse & I give 100s of dollars through our church & some other organizations on a lower middle class income. We've previously given toward water filtration projects in S. America through our church.

Our budget is tight enough that I don't spend money on being a Gold member. I will have been a Gold twice when I take advantage of the current gift from Terry for donating (which I didn't know about when I chose to give) and when a teammate gave me a gift certificate. However, when we see an opportunity to help & feel in our hearts that it is something worthwhile, we trust the Lord to help us have the money to give & He does. We just don't put any limit on our charity because we borrow it from some place else in our budget if necessary (like our budgeted $20 every 2 weeks for eating out).

I don't believe any of us wants anyone to give out of guilt (and I KNOW Terry doesn't, as he's already said so!), so anyone who thinks that way needs to just realize it isn't true & do whatever their heart tells them to do... that is, give or not give. That's their privilege & their right. This won't cause me to keep trying to get people to take a look at the need & the opportunity because I think each of us should make decisions one way or another, rather than go about our merry ways or busy lives or overwhelmed personal existances & avoid helping out of not knowing the need & the special opportunity to give.

God bless all who have given toward their own personal charities & walked in generosity however they are led as well as those how have chosen to give to this project.

~~Tiny

Mine was easier, we had a compulsory water meter fitted 6 months ago and our bill went down because we conserve resources. So I put the difference into the pot for the charity.
I agree that I was thoughtless, we have so many chuggers (charity muggers) round here, and half a dozen donation bags through the letter box every week. I too have no problem saying a guilt-free no. So apologies again.

We have hooked up with a school in Africa and have been sending money and supplies there. It may not be as basic a right as clean water, but as a retired teacher I believe strongly in a right to basic education.