Busy times, but help is needed
May 13th, 2008 by MarcHey everyone,
As I am sure a lot of you recognize, I haven’t been active in the past month or so. I have been extremely busy with work and graduate school endeavors. I have a lot of the new site done with, but haven’t had the time to complete it and let you guys play around with it. I am happy to see the site still alive and members still showing their support and donating to worthy charities.
I know all of the visitors to this site have kind hearts, so it goes without saying that most of you know about the horrible disasters that have struck both Myanmar and China. Now is a time to help international charities in any way you can… whether through Vote4Cause or not. I heard a story on the radio this morning about UNICEF trying to get money to rebuild schools in Myanmar. The point is that it would provide some semblance of a return to normalcy to the population that is suffering in the wake of the disaster there.
I hope everyone can take a moment to donate whatever they can. For more information, visit the Red Cross or UNICEF.
Marc
May 14th, 2008 at 2:15 am
May I add Doctors Without Borders?
Only 20% of the people who really need help are being reached right now .
Rebuilding schools etc.etc. will be very important in the near future. But for now food, drinkwater, tents and medicines are paramount importantence to prevent the loss of even more lives.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
altruism:
regard for others as a principle of action.
unselfishness: concern for other PEOPLE.
marc, your suggestion that folks here offer help
to devastated people has fallen on deaf ears.
this would have been a wonderful oppertunity
to come together to make a difference for PEOPLE
who are in great need.
very sad statement about those here.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:08 am
This is reason why “animal people” stick with the animal groups, because there are so few of us in the grand scheme of things. And Animals always get the short end of the stick. The “human” charities are always well supported,maybe not enough, but in the grand scheme of things, way, WAY beyond anything animal groups ever get.
American Charities Raise $33-Million for Asian Disasters
Posted: 20 May 2008 07:51 PM CDT
The Chronicle of Philanthropy released the first real fundraising numbers on the pair of recent natural disasters in China and Burma.
“American relief groups have raised at least $32-million for victims of the China earthquake and the Myanmar cyclone. The groups say about $16-million has been donated to each cause.”
May 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH U ALLEY. 100 PERCENT, ALL THE WAY ! VOICES FOR THE VOICELESS WE WILL ALWAYS BE, FELLOW ANIMAL ADVOCATE AND ACTIVIST, PEACE RIV.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
some revenue statistics: charity navigator
petsmart charities: $20.423,278
national antivivisection society: $3,886,570
animal welfare institute: $3,324,275
friends of animals: $4,881,819
american society for the prevention of cruelty
to animals: $78,544,143
humane farming association: $2,609,945
peta: $31,053,316
internation fund for animal welfare: $19,767,150
humane society united states: $124,891, 122
short end of the stick??
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
YEP, SHORT END OF THE STICK ! BESIDES, I AND I AM SURE MANY OTHERS AS WELL HAVE FOUGHT FOR CAUSES OTHER THAN ANIMALS ON HERE. BUT IT SEEMS THAT ANIMAL CAUSES SEEM 2 BE AMONGST THE MAJORITY OF CAUSES 2 CHOOSE FROM ON V4C. SO WAT CAN WE DO ? IF THE FEW OTHER CAUSES THAT ARE’NT RELATED 2 ANIMALS CAN’T GET ENUFF SUPPORT 2 WIN, THATS NOT ANIMAL CAUSES OR THIER VOTERS FAULT. IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH. IF THEY R SO IMPORTANT, THEY WILL GET THE SUPPORT AND WIN, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:08 am
2006 Charitable Contributions by Type of Recipient Organization
(in billions) Total CONTRIBUTED $295.02 100.0%
Type of organization Amount contributed Percent of TOTAL donations
Religion $96.82 32.8 %
Education $ 40.98 13.9 %
Human services $29.56 10.0 %
Health $ 20.22 6.9 %
Foundations1 $29.50 10.0 %
Unallocated giving $26.08 8.8%
Public-society benefit $ 21.41 7.3 %
Arts, culture, and humanities 12.51 4.2 %
Environment/animals $ 6.6 2.2 %
International affairs $ 11.34 3.8 %
NOTE: All figures are rounded. Total may not be 100%.
1. Estimate.
Source: Giving USA Foundation/Giving USA 2007.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 am
Thank you Alley. That small percentage (2.2%) for animals AND the environment is SO sad. I think hrh has made a sad statement about his or her self.
I thank Alley for this great quote that describes the “affliction” that those of us concerned with the most helpless in our society are cursed with. I know the world would be a MUCH better place if hrh and others would come down with this also:
“To perceive this and to do something to change it in personal and public ways is to undergo a change of perception akin to a religious conversion. Nothing can ever be seen in quite the same way again because once you have admitted the terror and pain of other species you will, unless you resist conversion, be always aware of the endless permutations of suffering that support our society”
—– Arthur Conan Doyle
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
RITE BEHIND U PAM…I think hrh has made a sad statement about his or her self. EVERYONE’S TRUE COLORS EVENTUALLY COME OUT..AS ALOT HAVE ON RECENT ROUNDS WITH NON PROVOKED HARRASMENTS AND ATTACKS . THATS Y SO MANY SAID THEY R LEAVING OR AFRAID 2 SPEAK FOR FEAR OF BEING CRUCIFIED FOR THERE RITE 2 VOTE FOR WAT THEY WANT 2. A SAD COMMENTARY FOR ALOT ON THIS SITE .
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
no need to go all holier than thou.
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:36 am
YES. SO PLZ STOP IT, TIME 2 PACK IN THE SOUR GRAPES, OR THROW THEM OUT.
May 25th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
hrh, I do not really think it is fair how you only cited animal charities in your “short end of the stick”…”argument”. If only charities relating to people were listed, it would look like people got all of the money. I think Alley’s list was more honest in that it listed every type of charity instead of singling out only one type. “Animal people” love people and animals. We are all people, after all. Personally, my love of animals goes along with my love of the environment, and I believe at the rate we’re going…humanity’s consumption of animals is having a serious and obvious negative impact on the environment. I care about people. I care about people getting sick from eating animals–sick and tortured animals that should never have been fed to them in the first place. I do not eat animals, but if I did, I would want them to be healthy and not kept in such brutal conditions. Anyway, getting back to the environment…it’s all connected to what we consume. Not just animal-wise, but electricity-wise, obviously. I’m sure you’re an intelligent person who obviously cares about this world we live in. Just think about how it’s all connected before you accuse people of being “holier than thou.” Not to sound as such, but here is a nice quote from The Buddha:
“We inter-breathe with the rain forests, we drink from the oceans. They are part of our own body.”
And here is another quote, from Immanuel Kant:
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
May 26th, 2008 at 8:28 am
@ Alley. Are these figures for the US only or Worldwide? I would REALLY be interested to know that.
Thank you
May 26th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Marena these figures are for U.S. only…because I work in the nonprofit world in the U.S. I follow these trends…and evey year, animals do get much, much less that any human charities. If local or state governments cut budgets, one of the first cuts usually goes to animal control.
I think (dont know for sure–but knowing how people generally feel about animal issues) that world trends may follow the same pattern.
alley
May 26th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Marena I have not read this yet…But it looks pretty interesting. I found it while looking for International trends in giving.
I hope this link works. If not, let me know. I dont think it answers how much is given to each cause, just giving in general.
http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/International%20%20Giving%20highlights.pdf
May 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
The biggest chunk of the U. S. donations, $96.82 billion or 32.8%, went to religious organizations. The second largest slice, $40.98 billion or 13.9%, went to education, including gifts to colleges, universities and libraries.
About 65% of households with incomes less than $100,000 give to charity, the report showed.
“It tells you something about American culture that is unlike any other country,” said Claire Gaudiani, a professor at NYU’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and author of The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism. Gaudiani said the willingness of Americans to give cuts across income levels, and their investments go to developing ideas, inventions and people to the benefit of the overall economy.
Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7%. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73%, while France, with a 0.14% rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Hi Marc.
Thanks for fixing all yesterdays errors and starting the NRDC pledge drive.
But I was very disapointed to see all yesterdays votes go up in vain. After many hours of voting Canine Companions for Independance had a lvery comfortable lead of a few hundred votes. After them came the Buffalo Field Campain.
Is it possible to add yesterdays votes to the round, if you still have them somewhere. Or 2/5 of the votes, because yesterday the time was 2 minutes, and now it is 5 minutes again.
May 29th, 2008 at 2:03 am
CP suggested a while ago to only put the vote count of a round winner to zero, and let all others keep there votes. In that way it makes more sense to vote for organizations with less suportes as well.
Did you give that idea any futher thought Marc? How would you feel about that?
May 29th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
SOUNDS LIKE A FAIR IDEA 2 ME KAMILLA. WE PUT IN ALOT OF TIME AND HRS FOR SURE..
June 1st, 2008 at 11:12 am
Marc, it would be good manners to at least acknowledge the comments and suggestions made by all the dedicated voters who have posted here. We are all mature (in my case, elderly) people and a little show of respect would go a long way. We all have lives to live and workplaces to go to, but we still spend many long hours here to do our bit what the causes we each have chosen and I don’t think it is too much to ask of you that you check in here during each round and respond to the posts left for you.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm
THAT WOULD BE NICE MARENA. SOME FEEDBACK IS BETTER THAN A PHANTOM..HA HA. THAT WOULD BE U MARC.
June 6th, 2008 at 5:45 am
Marc,
I understand your life is very busy and managing vote4cause properly may be much more time consuming than you originally intended.
Therefore I would to know if you are still reading this blog and if it is usefull to make suggestions here. Because whenever we suggest something lately it stays very very quite….
It would be nice to get some more clarity about the future of Vote4Cause. Will you keep continuing the site? Are you planning any changes? Does it still give you some joy to work on it?
Kind regards,
Kamilla
July 13th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I have been a silent voter for months for various different causes, and have never joined in on the chat. Earlier today (Sun July 13th) I tried to register in order to defend Kelfresh’s comments on the Operation Smile site that hrh erroneoulsy referred to as a “rant”. I am assuming that no one is monitoring new registrations, as I seem to be unable to get my registration approved. I feel the great need to applaud Kelfresh, though,so am posting this at the blog site, since I can’t post on the actual OS site. If anyone happens to read this in the next couple of days, please feel free to post it to the OS site directly:
Thank you, Kelfresh, for saying what so many feel about CP’s ongoing obnoxious behavior.
hrh, you are chiding Kelfresh and defending CP, yet this is what you had to say about him on the Operation Homefront site less than 3 months ago:
………………….
by: hrh
cp:
thought i’d let you know that you
have totally successful at
turning me away from v4c.
it was not your business to air
someone else’s problem so publicly.
whatever enjoyment i had here is
gone, thanks to you.
flag as innappropriate | April 19, 2008
……………………
What, now that he is voting for a cause that you like, his irritating behavior is suddenly acceptable to you, hrh??
And now there’s a “German Clicking Team” whom he orders around like a band of robots. Good grief. Pretty creepy if you ask me. He “monitors” other groups every second of his waking life to see how many are voting against causes that he and “The German Clicking Team” are “protecting”. Again, how positively creepy. Get a life, CP, and let some other groups who you “have studied” but do not meet with YOUR approval a chance to get into the top 5 or even 10. Stop being such a control freak. I personally am now very turned off to any group you support.
You tried for months to order Marc around with all your whining and complaining, I feel that that’s a major reason he doesn’t bother responding to anyone, including voters trying to register to chat. Heck, I wouldn’t, if I was him!
Again, thanks Kelfresh, you speak for MANY, MANY voters, both present, and unfortunately, former.
July 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Well said, Chris S. Very well said!
July 28th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Animal ? That is a faked account for sure …
Chris S? Chris K? Most probably faked accounts as well. Nobody can know it. Every person can create dozen of account entrys. We know that the user Kelfresh is using more than one account …
What is the real message behind those personal attacks? Obviously to drive our group away from v4c. Bad luck for you! This will not work!
Every kind of personal attack is not in the sense of the v4c website. To a personal attack you can only answer in the way of a personal counter attack. This is not our style. So we prefer to stay silent voters. The chat function is too often misused.
Our answer is in line with the v4c sense: VOTE, VOTE, VOTE !!!
Thanks for keeping my team so motivated *LoL*
July 28th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Marc obviously has V4C on autopilot, as I still haven’t my registration to chat approved, and can therefore only post to the blog.
Very shameful of you, CP. I can assure you that I am an independent voter from Kelfresh, Chris K, Animal, and anyone else who you’ve accused of being the same person.
YOU seem to be the one who is “up” on how to open multiple fake accounts. Hmnnnnn, isn’t it terribly convenient that the “German Clicking Team” shows up en masse day after day, all at around the same time?????? Wow, that’s not too suspicious, is it, CP?
I wonder what your employer would think if they knew that you were so obsessed with V4C that you devote a ridiculous amount of your work day “monitoring,” clicking, and reading chat. It says a lot about your work ethic, and your ethics in general.
Really, CP, do yourself and everyone else a favor, and get a life outside of V4C. It has obviously taken over your life, and you and your, ahem, German Clicking Team, are being bullies to the site. It’s one thing to concentrate on one cause and run its total up, but to vote en masse for so many causes concurrently wrecks it for everyone else, which I guess is your goal since you seem so full of misplaced anger and revenge.
And hrh, you’ve done your share of spreading negativity on V4C, so stop with your phony indignation. In fact you were the one whining about CP way back in April on the Operation Homefront site — I believe you said “whatever enjoyment i had here is gone, thanks to you [CP]”. My, how ironic.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Hi Chris S,
what’s your problem ???
My team is in the same time zone. We are voting together before and after working and at the weekends.
In my office I’am voting (not every 5 minutes) but neither chatting or reading threads.
Don’t worry about my life. Fortunately I have a lot of friends who even give me a helpful hand for v4c.
Your friend Kelfresh and his followers are voting for OS, AS, Care, AF and BFC. We are voting for ASH, PCRM and NRDC.
HRH and I had some diferent point of views one time 3 months ago, but we have managed to overcome it.
You are not the policeman of v4c, my dear …
July 29th, 2008 at 7:16 am
A lot of people on V4C are in the same time zone. That doesn’t mean they coincidentally show up day after day after day at the same time en masse. Plus, “The German Clicking Team” seemed to suddenly assemble out of thin air, after months of you being on V4C for endless hours everyday. You were the one you said: “Every person can create dozen of account entrys”. That’s news to me. Precisely how do you do that, CP?
I don’t know Kelfresh, and Kelfresh doesn’t know me, so I don’t know why you are so presumptive as to refer to him and I as friends. I respect him for speaking out against your self-serving, self-important behavior. I am unable to get registered to chat — thanks in part to you, methinks, because of your constant complaining to Marc, who now seems to ignore this site — so I have never communicated one word to Kelfresh.
I have been voting for V4C for several months (although not every round, and usually only a handful of votes per day). In fact, I sometimes was voting for the same causes as you. Who, besides you, has had so many different run-ins with so many different voters at so many different points in time at V4C?
Like Chris K., I used to think that you had integrity, but you seem to take V4C far, far to seriously, and your competitiveness seems to have sent you over the deep end. You were the one who first started talking about “hate” and “revenge” on V4C. If you’re not reading threads at work, then how do you know to inform someone who has asked you a question that you’re in “quiet mode” at work?
You are TOO funny, CP, although I sadly don’t think you are trying to be. Of course *I* am not the policeman of V4C. You have self-appointed yourself to that position. I mean honestly, the day I first wrote to this blog, you were giving “up-to-the-minute” posts of how many people were voting at which site, what the running totals were, where you were dispersing your supposed “German Clicking Team” next, etc., etc. Creepy, creepy, creepy. Your latest obsession is now to write an essay after each round, telling everyone the final vote counts and the placement order of the groups that you were voting for. Who, besides you, cares?
Finally, I can assure you, I am not “your dear”.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:09 am
@ Chris S:
Feel free to think what ever you want … It’s not interesting to me. Place your hate postings here in the blog or whoever you want, you are just tiring.
An account is just a name. Like CP, Kelfresh, Chris S. But even if I can create names like CP1 to CP10 and register them all for chatting I still can vote only one time per 5 minutes …
Of course I have to feel responsible, that you can not register for chatting *LoL*
I feel free to post essays round after round how I like to do. I will definetly ask you or any other person here for permission.
“Finally, I can assure you, I am not “your dear”.”
Correct, you aren’t …
Discussion ended, because without any sense!
July 29th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I frankly don’t care what is interestingor tiring to you, CP. You myteriously came up with an instantaneous “clicking team” that appears to all come and go at very similar times, when for months this wasn’t the case. You’re the one who brought up the notion of false accounts, which you say are only for names, but depending on one’s knowledge of technology, it’s likely possible for someone to be able to rig the system for it to be able to vote several times in a 5 minute period.
Stop being so melodramatic. Anytime someone says something you don’t like or agree with, you call it “hate”. That’s ridiculous. As I said before, you are the one who first started talking about hate and revenge on V4C, and you are the one who has had multiple spats with multiple people on V4C. I hate to see how you deal with real life, if you have this much trouble on a cyber voting site.
You aren’t the only one responsible for Marc ignoring the site, I’m sure, but you certainly no doubt contributed to it as you tried to boss him around and tell him how to run his site so that it would suit you better.
Knock yourself out posting all the essays you want telling everyone exactly what positions the groups you voted for ended up in each round, complete with the accompanying exact number of votes, but I’m baffled as to why you would do so. It’s one thing if there was a close competition, like in the old days, and someone asks to know the final position that a particular group ended up in, but you seem obsessed with letting everyone know how YOUR groups ended up, round after round. Very odd.
“Discussion ended, because without any sense!” Um, there you go again, CP, being bossy and controlling……
July 30th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Wow, this is even going on here!! All I have to say is even if CP was cheating (which I’m sure he’s not) look at who contributes the most! I know not everyone has the money to contribute which includes myself but CP is the one who does even though he doesn’t have to! He comes because he cares and I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight with you.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Chris S …. may I suggest that you should try your registration again as this is an automatic process & I had no trouble at all Registering my Father this weekend just past.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:58 am
You know, IDC if CP wants to clone itself a billion times to carry out their personal anti-animal activist agenda. It realizes that the few hundred for charities it isn’t supporting are real and someone cares about them. Maybe someday it will extend its circle of compassion to include members of other species. If that ever happens, its enthusiasm and ability to exploit technology will be a tremendous asset.
IDK what harm it does to shamelessly promote its pet causes as long as it hasn’t learned a way to remove votes for my pet cause. Apparently it’s too much work for it to push EVERYONE who disagrees with it off the top 10. We can still win recognition for our chariites and trust that the CP virus will tire of this project.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’m sorry, Marc, but judging from the voting so far this week as compared with last week your site is being manipulated by one or more participants who have learned a way to exploit a cheat that I do not have access to. All things being unfair I’m done here.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m so surprised people are still paranoid about multiple-clicking.
As near as I can tell, some of us are joining forces for a cause, with the understanding that those clickers will help us on our cause in the future. I am personally glad to see a different charity win each week, and not the same one over and over. In a one week session, I myself have hopped between 3 different causes. Usually I am lining up with 1 of the top 2 in order to help my favorite win, and then I visit and click later on in other sites that I want to keep in the top ten spots or, in general, just keep on the list so as to raise awareness for them.
I have been treated rudely for expressing my opinions in the chat, but not by cp, hrh, or any of the people Chris mentions.
Too bad everyone is taking this so seriously. It is not as if there are HUGE amounts of money riding on it or anything. Also, I have noticed that sometimes the ones who are the most active in promoting their cause are not necessarily the same ones who are putting up any money. Although, in all fairness, maybe they just don’t have $10 to spare and this is their only way of trying to contribute to a charity. I don’t know.
In the spirit of charity, though, maybe our thoughts about others should be more in alignment….
rs