Confused about the 36-Hour Challenge, which starts Tuesday March 27 at 6am and goes through Wednesday at 6pm? Wondering what all the hype is about? And how you can help HSOSC?

Frequently-Asked Questions

What’s it all about? The 36-Hour Giving Challenge is an online giving event inspiring donors and citizen philanthropists to learn more about the nonprofits and causes in Southwest Florida they care about most.

How was HSOSC chosen to be one of only three historically-focused nonprofits to participate in this event? In order to participate, we had first to receive the honor of being invited by the four foundations. Then we had to prepare and submit in acceptable format multiple documents designed to make the operations of the Society transparent to donors. This involved many weeks of tracking down, organizing, and clarifying our mission, achievements, and expenditures. This was a herculean effort (imagine doing your tax return, times about ten!) which our Board worked on for months.

Do we have to donate a specific amount? We welcome any amount at any time, but in order to win matching funds, grants, and prizes, the minimum amount for the 36-Hour Challenge is $25. You may choose another amount, including a specific number meaningful to you ($83 because that’s the year you arrived in our area?)

Does the Historical Society get our donation, even if we don’t get any of the prizes? Yes, HSOSC will receive all monies donated in our name, whether we win any additional matching funds or prizes or not.

How much is this costing HS? The credit-card fee of 6% is deducted from all contributions, which pays for the processing of your gift. (So if you’d like to donate, say, $53 so HSOSC gets the full $50, that would be terrific!)

How has HSOSC gotten the word out? In addition to web site notifications such as this one, we have sent broadcast emails to all those who receive our regular notifications, we have promoted the 36-Hour Challenge on our Facebook page and our Twitter stream, and we have also spent around $500 sending a letter to all our members. That $500 was the only money we have invested in this campaign. (And if some lovely soul would like to donate that amount, please do it at 6am Tuesday and it will turn into $1000 for HSOSC!) The true cost is the time, talent, and thought so many of our volunteers have spent getting the word out, and we hope that you, too, can spent a few minutes using your resources and contacts to make it all worthwhile (read on...)

How can I help?  In addition to any donation you choose to make, you can help spread the word to those you know. If you maintain a personal, club, residents or business email list, that’s a great place to spread the word. If you are active in on-line forums or discussion groups, on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn, there’s more folks you can alert.

But I can’t ask friends to give money to my causes! You don’t have to! We can also win with a simple mouse click! All you have to do is ask your on-line acquaintances to visit, between 6am Tuesday morning and 6pm Wednesday evening, our profile page at The Giving Partner. Our profile Page is here: http://thegivingpartner.guidestar.org/NonprofitProfile.aspx?OrgId=1117166 We could win $5000 just for having the most unique clicks onto our page (hint: for this, a “unique click” is your computer, iPad, smart phone, Kindle, and so on, so if you have several devices, you could add several more clicks to our total any time during those 36 hours!)

How can I see how the Challenge is going? Check the results in real time at https://thegivingpartner.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html

Is donating on-line safe? Ultra-safe. State-of-the-art safe. Here’s what the highest level of security has to say about the secure site of The Giving Partner: “Clear skies! No tracking here.”

Is my donation tax-deductible? Yes, and you will receive a receipt for use in preparing your 2012 taxes next spring.

Will my name get on a list? The only people who will ever see your email address will be HSOSC, and that’s so we can acknowledge your gift. The four foundations and the financial processing service cannot see your address. And we, of course, never reveal, rent or sell your email to anyone. Never have, never will.

I’m not available Tuesday. Is it worth my while to donate Tuesday night or Wednesday? Absolutely! Not only will there be a random donor chosen every hour to have his/her gift increased by $250 (yes, even in the middle of the night!), but on Wednesday, starting at 1pm, there will be $18,000 worth of surprise prizes announced.

What if I just don’t feel comfortable with all of this? No problem. If you’d like your donation to count towards all the extra funds available, simply call Linda Garcia in the HSOSC office between 10 and 2, at 941-364-9076, and she will strategize your generosity. If you’d like to just write a check, we love you! Simply mail to HSOSC, PO Box 1632, Sarasota, FL 34230.

Resources:

We’ll will post, on our web site, a direct link to the HSOSC donation page at 6am Tuesday morning, as soon as it’s available (yes, that means a volunteer is getting up when it’s still dark out with the help of her alarm clock!)

Here’s all the prizes we can win, with your help! https://thegivingpartner.s3.amazonaws.com/prizes.html

Here’s where to follow the action on-line (active starting at 6am Tuesday March 27.) https://thegivingpartner.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html  Or listen to it on our local ClearChannel radio station!  On the radio, tune in to 107.9FM WSRZ or listen on-line at  http://www.iheart.com/#/live/641/?autoplay=tr

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