sure, January was a long time ago. I’m behind on the updating you with my round up of where we gave for month 11.  My excuse is that I’ve been busy planning some pretty amazing things for when we finish out final month of our one year of giving away 10$ away every day.  And that day is coming oh, so soon! The most important thing is that even when we’re too busy to write, we’re never too busy to give.

Stay tuned. Big things are on their way in the world of #give10. In the meantime, check out the 31 causes we supported in January:

• Maitri Hospice San Francisco
• Child to Child Network
• Verite
• Children’s Organ Transplant Association for Addi’s Liver Transplant
• Mending Kids International
• Food for the Hungry - Emergency Response
• Wellspring Living
• Ayuda
• Green Gecko
• Miracle Feet
• MAP International
• Thrive DC
• International Elephant Foundation
• Merlin UK
• Medical Teams International
• Hands On Atlanta
• Hope Mob
• Skateistan
• Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh
• 2 for 2 project- down syndrome
• Literacy Bridge
• Braille Institute of America
• ELIC
• Asia Foundation- Books for Asia
• Marshall Legacy Project (Dogs for Demining)
• Innocence Project
• World Bicycle Relief
• 100 Friends
• Global Voices
• Global Agents for Change
• Round It Up America

Did we miss your favorite cause? Let us know what it is.

I’ve spent much of my January pondering and planning the goals I’ve set to GROW in 2012. I’ve also spent the entire month in countries where the lunar  New Year is more than just a day for dim-sum discounts in your nearest Chinatown. Goals have been on my mind, and the endless rhythmic chinese drumming in my street reminds me constantly that the moments are passing.

In my own annual plan, the letter R in g.r.o.w stands for RISK. Someone wise said “He that is overcautious will accomplish little.” (This person was Friedrich von Schiller- I have no idea who he is but I think he sounds pretty smart). I’ve decided that I want to risk more this year, because it’s obviously as essential to growing as air and water.

One of the books currently stacked on my nightstand is “The Ten Commandments for Business Failure” by Donald Keough, former President of Coca Cola. The other day I was flipping through a chapter on the fear of taking risksand these words jumped out at me.

Just look at the old maritime maps with their ominous areas labeled ‘terra incognita’ – territory unknown- sometimes embellished with even more threatening warnings, such as ‘Here be dragons‘. Who would want to take a risk sailing into such places.

While I’m a big fan of sailing and venturing all over the geographic map, I realized recently that I’m not such a big fan of failure. I don’t fail with enough fanfare. The risks I do take are cautiously calculated. I do math well enough to know that I’ll likely wind up winning.

As I think about new years and dragons and my desire to seek broader horizons in the rest of 2012, I decided that I’m going to have to sail boldy into these unknown waters. And as the drums echo in the streets this week, I’m not thinking of the acrobatics of the dragon dancers. I’m dreaming of the dragons lurking in unknown, magical places of terra incognito. That’s where I’m going.

I hope it isn’t bad Chinese luck, but this year I plan on slaying some dragons.

Dragons beware. This may be your year, but it’s mine too.

What risks are you taking in the year of the Dragon?

PS. If any dragon slaying knights in shining armor want to apply to accompany me on this voyage, you’re invited to come along. But the journey is Bring Your Own Fortune Cookies.

Maybe it’s weird that I remember this. Truth is, landing that day at London’s Gatwick changed the course of my life. In a way, that first stamp was a stamp of approval on my dreams to experience as much of this amazing world as possible.

Sure, I look a lot different today then I did two passports ago. I’m much older, wiser, and way more travel savvy. And I’m thrilled to say I’ve been chasing my dreams since that moment without looking back.

So, what did I do to celebrate? I crossed a border and and got a celebratory stamp in my passport of course. 012612.

Where were you 19 years ago today?

Did you do something today to chase your dreams?

For the the past 315 days, I’ve been giving away 10 dollars a each day to support lots of amazing causes. I only have 50 days left to give, and now it’s time for you to join me.

Last March I started the #give10 project as a personal experiment because I felt overwhelmed and disillusioned with the growing world of charities. I wanted to see if giving really does make a difference. It’s been more awesome than I ever imagined.

Over the past 10 months so many of you have messaged to say you’ve been inspired by #give10. You’ve matched my donations to causes you’ve like, you voted for your favorite projects every 100 days and a couple of you have even tried it out for a month or so yourselves.

Now that we’re down to the final fifty days I have an idea:

Starting on January 11, I want you to join me  for the rest of the adventure.

What’s in it for you? You get to change the world, inspire yourself and inspire others. (and get an amazing start your 2012)

What’s in it for me? Absolutely nothing. (I’m doing it anyway)

Giving is great. Yet, I know our budgets and timetables aren’t all the same.  So, like any good marketer, I’m giving you three options for how you can join me in the 50 day countdown fun.

Option 1: Be a Daily Do-Gooder

You match my daily give10. I’ll do the legwork to find and post a project each day. You follow me, click on the donation link I provide and give 10$.

Option 2: Be an Independent Giver

You commit to giving 10$ a day for the next 50 days to whatever causes YOU choose. One cause a day, 10$ day, 50 days.

Option 3: Delegate your Do-Gooding

You like the idea, and you have money but no time? You give me your money and I’ll give it away. I’m not a charity or a foundation, but I’m honest and will directly give your dollars away every day to the cause I post.

I’m betting most of us could give up a coffee or two and make one of the above options work, but should you have a legitimate reason you can’t, I offer a bonus plan.

BONUS Option: Choose your own adventure

Giving something some way is always better than giving nothing, and a micro-giving revolution has to start somewhere. The most important thing is deciding today that you will give over the next 50 days, and making it happen. Mix and match from the giving options above, then tell us what you’re going to do so we can cheer and follow!

If you’re reading this after January 11, don’t fear. It’s never to late to start giving.

How to sign up: No registration required, just leave a post in the comments and let us know that you’re joining the giving fun, so we can cheer and follow.  And use the #give10 hashtag when you give and tell others about it, so we can spread the spirit of generosity even further.

If you want to know all the places we’ve given so far? Search this handy roundup list. And if you know a rocking project that isn’t on this list yet, tell us now so we don’t miss out on supporting the cause in our final fifty days.

And if 50 of you join the giving fun, well, I might even do something crazy to celebrate.

50 Days to go. Who’s in?

Of course December was a big giving month everywhere, so it’s no surprise that things have been crazy in the #give10 universe. Not only did we have Christmas giving to do, we celebrated our 300th day of #give10 and waded our way through our first ever year-end giving mania. There was lots of learning in December and some more detailed posts of our 2012 plans are on their way, but for now here’s December’s highlights:

Goodbye 2011

When you give to 306 causes in one year, the end of the year delivers mayhem to your mailbox – both virtually and physically. Donation requests started flowing into the mailbox before the turkey was on the table in November, and by new years week I was getting nearly 300 extra emails a day to remind me to give last minute tax deductible donations. I’ll give you a peek soon at both the insane and interesting things that came in my mailbox from address labels to native american wind catchers. Stay tuned.

Celebrating 300 Days

We celebrated our 300th day of giving on Christmas and nearly 1000 of you took some time during your holidays to vote for the cause you found most inspiring during our year to date. Marbles4MS was our big winner and took home the $300 bounty as our last donation of 2011.

Giving is Contagious

In my first #give10 report, the $310 giving lesson, I mentioned that early on, I’d discovered giving was dangerously contagious. While many of you have matched our donations over time, this month we had one brave #give10 follower take on the challenge and give her own 10 bucks every day in December to the causes she cares about. We’ve got a guest post on deck for next week to hear why Molly over at A Foreign Land decided to join the #give10 movement and learn what her experience was. Don’t miss it.

And finally, here’s the list of our final 31 #give10 donations of 2011. We’ve only got two months left. Did we give to your favorite project yet?

(Did you know that you can always see the full list of where we’ve given to date in our google tracker here. And don’t forget to like our Give10 Facebook page if you haven’t yet. That’s where we are tracking the progress of all our donations.)

December giving

Let us know what cause you want us to consider for our final months of giving in the comments below and we’ll be sure to check them out

1. The Conservation Fund

2. Everyone Deserves a Roof

3. Village Focus

4. Khanta Bopha Childrens Hospital, Siem Reap

5. Tegu- 6 dozen trees in Honduras

6. A-21 Campaign

7. Passports With Purpose

8. Agape International

9. Sisters of the Road

1o. MCC (Mennonite Central Committee)

11. Camp Interactive

12. Locks of Love

13. Angel Tree

14. Toys for Tots

15. Hope Runs

16. Trees for Troops

17. Food For Life

18. The Voice Project / Amplify Peace

19. SET and SCAD, Bangkok

20. Global witness

21. Slavery Footprint

22. Rockpointe Church support to a family in crisis

23. Destination Paradise

24. Global Soap Project

25. 300th Day Christmas giving bonus- Marbles4MS

26. Solar Project Koh Tatong

27. Dining for Women

28. City Kids Wilderness Project

29. Samaritan Air

30. Wish Upon A Hero

31. Move for Hunger

Thanks for everything in 2011, and wishing you an AMAZING 2012!

In the Christmas giving spirit, and Give10’s 100 day tradition, we asked you which Give10 project you wanted to see get an extra $300 donation.

Over on our Facebook page, you nominated six inspiring projects from our first 300 days of giving, and from boxing day until New Year’s Eve the Give10 community voted to select the winner.

All I can say is WOW! More than 950 of you voted. Two very awesome projects, on opposite sides of the globe, Marbles4MS and the Lamba School Playground Challenge were neck in neck through the last hours of 2011.

While, truly all of the six nominated projects are winners for what they do, Marbles4MS rallied hard to keep its lead, and took home the 300$ just before the clock struck midnight in New York. Congratulations Marbles4MS!

The Inspiration of Marbles4MS

Just a few weeks before our Christmas nominations took place, Cecil, a blogger over at istoryaa posed this question Facebook:  “Is there one person who helped change your life, perspective or direction this 2011? ” I thought about all the interesting people and projects that passed my way this year, and my response was this:

“There’s a kid name Connor who raises money for MS because he wants to help find a cure for his mom who has the disease. In all my giving 10$ this year, he’s one that’s really inspired me in my mission to help everyone believe that giving a little together can make a big difference.“

I’ve never met Conner personally. I discovered his project on Twitter, and sent him 10$ day 136 of the Give10 project. Over time I’ve watched the updates his dad sends, and I’ve come to believe that he is a pretty amazing kid.

Connor saw a problem in his world that he wants to make better, and he’s using the skills and resources he has as a six year old (with the help of his awesome family) to do what he can to make a difference. If only we could all believe in the possibility of change and act on it with the hope of a child.

While Give10 started as my own experiment, over the past 300 days it has transformed into a movement to spread this same message: Each of us can make a difference for causes we care about, no matter how big or small our bank account is.

Connor inspired me this year, and I was excited to press the DONATE button on the Marbles4MS webpage to give the winning donation as my very last donation of 2011!

The Other Winners

Funny thing is, Cecil, the blogger who asked that question on Facebook, is pretty inspirational herself.  She’s also the founder of the Lamba School Playground Challenge, our runner up project that managed to get nearly 400 votes campaigning from their mobile phones in a remote Philippine village on New Year’s Eve. While they didn’t win this time, we surely haven’t seen the last of them. In fact, we’re already working on a plan to help make sure they get that playground built in 2012.

Truth is, all of the projects that were nominated are pretty awesome, led by some insanely inspiring people, and worth learning about. Here’s there links so you can check them out, and see if you want to give10 yourself to any or all of them in 2012:

Marbles4MS

Lamba School Playground Challenge, Philippines

Chab Dai, Cambodia

Welbodi Pediatric Clinic, Sierra Leone

Children’s Voice, Congo

Destination Paradise, Belize & the world

Thanks to everyone for your votes and for the part you played in making the world better in 2011.  Happy New Year!

Who inspired you in 2011?

PS. If you’ve discovered the Give10 project through the 300 day giving contest, and are wondering what we’re all about, read here to see how it all started.

We raised $5000 for the Sak Saum micro-giving project.

In our first ever multiplying awesome 38 day fundraiser, you gave over $2500 for Sak Saum’s trafficking prevention outreach project in Cambodia. And because every dollar was doubled by a matching grant from The Antioch Group in DC, Sak Saum is getting a $5000 check to fund 25 anti-trafficking awareness events in some of the poorest areas in Cambodia. Thanks to everyone. Whether you gave 10$ or more, bought an awesome Sak Saum bag or helped spread the word, you proved that small acts of generosity make a big difference together.

100 days and counting down!

November 21 we reached another #give10 milestone- just 100 days left in the year of giving. Of course 100 days is still quite a lot of giving opportunities remaining, so be sure to let us know what must-support projects we shouldn’t miss in the home stretch. Also stay tuned because we’re getting close to our 300^th day, and we’ll be doing some special giving to celebrate.

Thanks & Giving on the go

November was spread across a couple of continents and so many time zones that I’m still a bit confused on which day we gave to whom. I had a blast traveling through the USA, enjoying being grateful with friends and family, and gave to many projects in my own hometown neighborhoods. And in honor of being in the US, I even tried out some old fashioned check-book giving for a few weeks. Can I also mention that I’m grateful for my dad who collects my junk mail from the 265 organizations now sending me marketing letters? More coming soon on #give10 perspectives from the home front.

Supported another 30 amazing & world changing projects

1. Friend in Need

2. Challenger Center

3. Thailand Flood Relief Fund Global Giving

4. Willing and Abel

5. American Diabetes Association

6. Columbia Road Health Services

7. Helimission

8. Little Lights Urban Ministries

9. Operation Christmas Child

10.Wounded Warrior Project

11.National Ovarian Cancer Coalition

12.Chattanooga Food Bank

13.Movember

14.Help Portrait

15.Make Work Grant Chattanooga

16.Changents

17.Be the Match

18.World Toilet

19.Hug Wraps

20.Sama Source

21.Cuban Artists Fund

22.Fabretto Children’s Foundation, Nicaragua

23.Legacies of War

24.So Others May Eat

25.United Way Lee County

26.Atlanta Mission

27.Easten Congo Initiative

28.Gateway Atlanta

29. Plant with Purpose

30. Fly Greener

Where are you giving this month?

One might think that after 246 days of giving it would be getting difficult to find world changing projects. But I think we’re just beginning to uncover the most innovative and inspiring stuff out there. In fact, I’m more excited to be giving now than I was in March when we started the giving experiment with our first 10$ donation.

Here’s the list of all the awesome world and neighborhood changing projects we supported in October:

1 Room to Read

2 Lamba Central Playground Project

3 A Liter of Light

4 Dental Aid

5 Sak Saum Village Outreach  / The Antioch Group Lockard Grant

6 Gentle Barn

7 Lowcountry Pregnancy Center

8 @The________Andy running for Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC)

9 Race2Raise Funds for Children

10 Team Challenge for Chron’s & Colitis

11 Robin Hood Foundation

12 Women’s Education Project

13 More than Me Foundation

14 Mpwer Approach

15 HALO trust

16 Girls on the Run DC

17 The Wish Project

18 Akili Dada

19 Krochet Kids International

20 We the Readers

21 Metropolitan Ministries Tampa

22 Operation OF

23 Bookshare

24 Cottage by the Sea

25 Living Water International

26 Living Classroom

27 Open Equal Free

28 Global Giving Turkey Earthquake Fund

29 Thailand Flooding Relief

30 Nature Conservancy

31 Martha’s Table

Want to nominate a project to receive a donation? Just let us know who know that’s making a difference!

Where should we #give10 in November?