August 7, 2003 | Read Time: 2 minutes
With bleary eyes and more than a little coffee, bloggers stayed up all night on July 26 to raise money for charity.
A Web log — often shortened to blog — is an online journal that is frequently updated with news, opinion, photographs, or other content. Last month, more than 400 people who run such Web sites participated in Blogathon 2003 by updating their sites at least once every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. They collected sponsors who pledged money to the blogger’s favorite charity. In all, more than 3,100 donors pledged a total of $101,857.
Donors send their gifts directly to the nonprofit organizations. “Because we’re on the Web, we have to be very careful about trust,” says Cat Connor, founder of the Blogathon.
Ms. Connor, a Portland, Ore., resident, says that she doesn’t know how many donors make good on their pledges. However, she believes that the follow-through rate has increased since the first Blogathon in 2001, as the event has become more organized and bloggers are working more closely with the organizations for which they’re raising money.
The idea for the Blogathon grew out of Ms. Connor’s own site, Frytopia. A few months after she started it, a friend suggested that as a stunt she should update the site for 24 hours straight. Ms. Connor did, and decided that the next time she would blog for a good cause — and that she wouldn’t do it alone.
The first official Blogathon in 2001 drew more than 100 participants who raised more than $20,000 in pledges.
Ms. Connor compares her brainchild with sporting events designed to raise money for charity. “I’m not a bicycler or a runner. I’m not going to go out and do the Portland Marathon or anything, but this is something I can do,” she says. “And I thought, There are a lot of mouse potatoes who are sitting in front of their computers, and this is something they can do.”
This year, Ms. Connor raised more than $700 for Modest Needs, a nonprofit group that provides small one-time grants to people who need help covering unexpected expenses.
Many of the participants in Blogathon 2003 found creative ways to pass the time.
A blogger in San Francisco wrote from the road, showing visitors to his Web site “the world of those who aren’t as fortunate as most of us are.” Among his stops: a local emergency room, an impoverished neighborhood in East Palo Alto, and a needle-exchange program. He also talked with a homeless man and striking workers, and wrote about the work of Doctors Without Borders, for which he raised $3,432 in pledges.
For more information: Go to http://www.blogathon.org.
