FA+
Shop
Extra Life - MASSIVE SUCCESS! What I owe...
11 years ago
Wow... I can't believe how huge of a success this event was. Locally, we had a whole team working here to make multiple streams, including lots of challenges, coop, competition, and general silliness. And across the country, we had many joining in the 
furs-for-life team as well! We raised a crazy $8,038 as of this moment! I just... can't... I don't have the proper words for how this makes me feel. To see such a massive success, and to see so many people coming on board together for this is just astounding. After about 3 years of work to make Furs For Life a big thing, we nearly doubled everything the group has raised over years, in just a couple days! Moreso, having others wanting to join in... it's amazing. I definitely cried a few times just thinking about it all, really...
Also, it was FUN! And kind of painful with some of those dares, haha. But really, the core of how I want charity and fundraising to be... is that I want it to be fun. I want people to feel good about it and get excited. And I think this time it really felt that way. To everyone who participated, watched, donated, spread the word, or even just put up with how much I was spamming about it... THANK YOU. I really can't thank everyone enough. <3
To see the saved stream: http://www.twitch.tv/wolfpuptk/b/581739532
I'll be making a highlight reel, too!
And hey, you can still donate till the end of the year!
http://www.extra-life.org/participant/wolfpuptk
Now, I do owe a few things. Rewards, dares, etc. The stretch goals were ones I wasn't really expecting to hit, so they're gonna be the last ones delivered, so I can, like... not ignore my job and not get fired. Here's a list of what I'm doing:
Digital rewards:
There were 6 winners drawn from the artist raffle. I'm working on contacting them all and assigning them to the artists they pick! Should only be a few days until winners are in contact with their respective artist. The timeline of the actual art is up to the artist's schedule, but probably a couple weeks at most.
Physical rewards:
Pawtographs, FFL tokens - will compile list of eligible people, gather addresses, then mail everything out en-masse. Probably will be able to do these by Thanksgiving.
Fursuit Cuddles: Yup, that was a reward. I'll be contacting anyone who got these directly, and we'll work out some mutual convention we are attending. :)
Group Fursuit Dance Video: Making choreography takes a long time. Hopefully around Xmas!
Sailor Moon TK: This one wasn't actually supposed to happen, geez! Yonoa will be making the outfit for this, but is currently working on a project out of state. We may need to wait for him to return, which is a bit after MFF. I also need to make sure that I get high quality photos. I'm not gonna use a simple point-and-shoot here. The likely date for this one will be between Xmas and right after FC.
furs-for-life team as well! We raised a crazy $8,038 as of this moment! I just... can't... I don't have the proper words for how this makes me feel. To see such a massive success, and to see so many people coming on board together for this is just astounding. After about 3 years of work to make Furs For Life a big thing, we nearly doubled everything the group has raised over years, in just a couple days! Moreso, having others wanting to join in... it's amazing. I definitely cried a few times just thinking about it all, really...Also, it was FUN! And kind of painful with some of those dares, haha. But really, the core of how I want charity and fundraising to be... is that I want it to be fun. I want people to feel good about it and get excited. And I think this time it really felt that way. To everyone who participated, watched, donated, spread the word, or even just put up with how much I was spamming about it... THANK YOU. I really can't thank everyone enough. <3
To see the saved stream: http://www.twitch.tv/wolfpuptk/b/581739532
I'll be making a highlight reel, too!
And hey, you can still donate till the end of the year!
http://www.extra-life.org/participant/wolfpuptk
Now, I do owe a few things. Rewards, dares, etc. The stretch goals were ones I wasn't really expecting to hit, so they're gonna be the last ones delivered, so I can, like... not ignore my job and not get fired. Here's a list of what I'm doing:
Digital rewards:
There were 6 winners drawn from the artist raffle. I'm working on contacting them all and assigning them to the artists they pick! Should only be a few days until winners are in contact with their respective artist. The timeline of the actual art is up to the artist's schedule, but probably a couple weeks at most.
Physical rewards:
Pawtographs, FFL tokens - will compile list of eligible people, gather addresses, then mail everything out en-masse. Probably will be able to do these by Thanksgiving.
Fursuit Cuddles: Yup, that was a reward. I'll be contacting anyone who got these directly, and we'll work out some mutual convention we are attending. :)
Group Fursuit Dance Video: Making choreography takes a long time. Hopefully around Xmas!
Sailor Moon TK: This one wasn't actually supposed to happen, geez! Yonoa will be making the outfit for this, but is currently working on a project out of state. We may need to wait for him to return, which is a bit after MFF. I also need to make sure that I get high quality photos. I'm not gonna use a simple point-and-shoot here. The likely date for this one will be between Xmas and right after FC.
Making charity FUN! 
See you at MFF I hope!
what games do you play on your channel? (when you're not doing Extra Life, because I can never seem to watch the streams in time. I just never know about it in advance)
Games: smash, probably mario Kart, any Wii U games I can play, Minecraft, Warframe. so mostly Wii U and PC games)
http://www.charitynavigator.org/ind.....6#.VFAeAhnn_qB
The CMNH is one of the highest rated charities on this site, based primarily on responsible and transparent uses of their funds. They raise about $33m per year. Not starving for cash, but mere pennies compared to charities like the Red Cross (who also does great things), that pulls in 100x the funds. This network supports over 170 hospitals. That's means an average of about 200k per hospital. Most of these hospitals also conduct research for cures, in addition to direct treatments. For such massively expensive operations, that's hardly "rolling in it", and they have plenty of room to expand.
If you have any charities you've done fundraising for, donated to, or are otherwise committed to, feel free to suggest them without the snarky attitude and I'll look into it.
Childrens hospitals are at the absolute bottom of the list of charities that need money from my point of view. The new children's hospital built in Phoenix in 2010-2011 was probably the fanciest, nicest looking building in the entire metro area, with its dazzling night light display, and pristine architecture.
http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-c.....ital-entry.jpg
It's extremely easy to get people to do fundraisers for them if needed, which will always happen if they are even close to getting in a pinch, and then the fundraisers are always hugely successful. Even furries, which are not known for their wealth, suddenly became huge philanthropists in this case.
I've given thousands of dollars to charities over the years, mostly back when I was still in college, I donated money to 501c3 charities which were related to life extension research. I stopped doing so because those companies were often mismanaged. One of them falsely claimed to be doing research in one area, and then used the money to fund a pet project that the company founder was involved with. That same company had their money embezzled by a different employee at another point.
But if I were to be in your shoes, and I wanted to pick something that I believe would benefit the world the most, and not something that can simply raise the highest dollar amount and look good on a resume due to the "aww" factor. I would instead focus on charities that are doing research on curing specific diseases, like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, Scleroderma, Lupus, etc. I would avoid companies dealing with Cancer, HIV, or other common diseases that are already well-funded.
But hey, I accept the possibility that I am wrong about this and that it is indeed difficult to raise money for kids hospitals, but based on my experience in life and what I have seen, I don't believe that to be the case. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck and hope your future fundraisers are successful.
I've decided a while back that I don't want to focus Furs For Life on any specific set of charities anymore, and rather, let it be fluid with any worthy cause. (Originally it was ONLY Red Cross, then Red Cross and Child's Play, then CMNH, etc), so honestly, whatever strikes me as a good cause or a good way to raise money for said cause, is something I'm likely to do with.
I'm totally looking forward to maybe joining you guys for next years'! :)