Tag Archives: charity

Team #GFGS Raises Over £1,000 for Oldham Cats

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Back in 2013 I launched a secular fundraising initiative and named it ‘Good For Good’s Sake’. The idea was a simple one; we would use our online presence to raise some funds for charitable causes. Why? Because it would be a good thing to do. And because we could.

After raising a combined total of £25,775.83 for Red Nose Day, WaterAid and Doctors Without Borders  in year-long campaigns, I decided to turn our attention to a smaller, feline-focussed charity – Oldham Cats, for 3 months. I’m very pleased to say we raised an incredible total of £1,008.00 for this wonderful Cat Rescue.

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Me (left). Fundraising Secretary, Samantha (right)

Our goal was to raise enough money to supply a much-needed replacement laptop for the Oldham Cats’ office. Well, we raised enough for the Laptop and a new laminator. I’ve also been informed they have some funds left over too. The team (comprised of animal loving volunteers) send their gratitude. Oldham Cats were kind enough to ask me to present the new #GFGS funded items to Fundraising Secretary, Samantha.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this campaign. You have made a massive difference to a great cause. Your generosity continues to amaze me. Samantha told me she was touched by all your lovely comments on the Just Giving page. I told her what a compassionate bunch of people you are. I’ll leave you with a sneaky selfie with my favourite (sleepy) resident, ‘Ginge’.

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You can read all about the great work Oldham Cats do at http://www.oldhamcats.co.uk/. You can donate to them by visiting http://www.oldhamcats.co.uk/support-us/. You can keep up to date on all the Oldham Cats residents, and send them some love on Twitter @OldhamCats.

Stephen Knight is host of The #GSPodcast. You can listen to The Godless Spellchecker Podcast here, and support it by becoming a patron here.

Team #GFGS Does it Again! Over £3,000 Raised For MSF!

msfTeam #GFGS’ yearly charity fundraiser has finally come to a close, raising an incredible £3,002.80 for Médecins Sans Frontières.  This brings the total amount Team #GFGS has raised for charitable causes to £25,775.83.

A gigantic thank you to all those kind enough to donate, support and be a part of something worthwhile.  I continue to be astonished by the kindness and active nature of those I’m fortunate enough to interact with online. I’ve no doubt this amount will help towards improving peoples’ lives.  Isn’t that good?

MSF is a wonderful global cause.  Please see their website to get a glimpse of the vital work they do and consider supporting them again in the future.

Once again, this goal was achieved because a small number of compassionate people agreed that doing something good was worthy for its own sake, regardless of whatever we believe (or don’t) about anything else.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I’ll see if I can arrange for a downloadable certificate and update this blog post accordingly.

Who’s up for a new challenge for 2015? Have a fantastic new year!

One Final Push For The 2014 #GFGS Charity Appeal

https://www.justgiving.com/Godless-Spellchecker1/

https://www.justgiving.com/Godless-Spellchecker1/

Back in 2013, I decided to launch a charitable fundraising initiative named ‘Good For Good’s Sake’.  The idea behind Team #GFGS is a simple one; regardless of what you do or don’t believe about anything else, all that is needed to do good is to agree that doing good is worthy for its own sake.  Gods, scripture and ancient tablets are not required to appreciate the importance of our fellow primates’ wellbeing.

Witnessing the good will and compassion emanating from a large number of atheists & humanists I interact with online, convinced me that this shared camaraderie could be harnessed into achieving something good together.  And you’ve proved me right time and time again.

Our first fundraising drive for Comic Relief raised £10,930, which put us at number 6 in the top ten UK fundraisers.

We followed this up with another drive for WaterAid.  Surely we couldn’t better our last effort, could we?  Well, we did, raising an incredible £11,843.03.

This was accomplished without any media attention or corporate backing whatsoever. Furthermore, no attempts were made to indoctrinate or demand acknowledgement of a specific worldview. We simply just wanted to do something good.

This brings me to our third and current fundraising effort for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).  The target amount1 is currently set to £2,000.

We’re within touching distance of this amount, but the fundraising will end Christmas Day 2014.  If you’re yet to donate and wish to be a part of something good, now is the time to do it!  Any amount is welcomed, and you can donate a number of different ways.

Donations can be made via PayPal, Credit or Debit Card, or by Texting2 from your mobile phone.

Just giving

Click here to donate

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Donate Via Text by following the above instructions

 

Thank you for all your support for Team #GFGS over the last two years.  Your generosity and passion is truly astounding!

  1. Update 03/12/2014 – The original target amount has been reached!  Given we seem to like a challenge, I’ve increased it to £2,250. 10/12/2014 – The target has been smashed yet again! I’ve increased to £2,500. Update 17/12/2014 – The Target has been smashed once more.  The new target is £3,000 Fundraising closes on 25/12/2014
  2. Please see the texting FAQ to ensure your country and network is supported to avoid any unwanted charges

The Christmas Shoebox Appeal Is A Manipulative Indoctrination Campaign.

OCC

Christmas is coming, which means it’s almost time to dig out that awful sweater, retrieve the decorative tat from the attic and pay tribute to everyone’s favourite magical zombie Jew-God. This has something to do with sprouts too, for reasons unknown.

However, unlike Jesus, one thing guaranteed to return is the Christmas Shoebox charity appeal (AKA ‘Operation Christmas Child’). This appeal usually makes itself known via your offspring’s school, your place of employment or various other local establishments such as pubs or supermarkets.

Operation Christmas Child’ is a seemingly commendable endeavour whereby the general public are asked to fill up empty shoe boxes with unwanted toys, which the charity then transports to children in less privileged regions.

For anyone in possession of a pulse – this will understandably feel like a worthy cause. But are you aware of the charity’s robust ideological goals and troubling behaviour?

Read more

Team #GFGS Returns – Let’s Do Something Good Again!

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Would anyone like to help me do something good again? Back in 2013 I launched ‘Good For Good’s Sake’. This came about after being overwhelmed by the level of compassion & activism displayed by those that engage in the online ‘atheist community’.

I strongly felt that if this shared camaraderie could be channelled in a charitable context, we could really help some people who needed it. As atheists we share only one thing for definite; absence of belief in gods. Our politics, cultural backgrounds and our world-views may differ. Some of you may think Michael Bay makes good films for instance. BUT. There’s one thing I feel we could all agree on: the only thing required to be good is the recognition that it is good for its own sake. We don’t do good for the promise of eternal life, or post-death reward. We don’t do good because it is a doctrinal imperative. We do good because we have empathy, and as conscious creatures, we have concerns for the well-being of our fellow primates across the globe.

With this in mind, Team #GFGS has raised a staggering £22,773.03 for charitable causes so far. We’ve done this by ourselves, without media or corporate backing. Without promoting an ideology, or indoctrinating as a condition of our good deeds. A small group of people, in an even smaller pocket of the World Wide Web came together to achieve something that will make a positive difference to many people. That has to be good, right?

This brings me on to our third charitable drive. Are you up for the challenge? I’ve decided to choose Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Many of you will be familiar with what they do already. For those that aren’t, please see the below video and their website here.

MSF is an entirely Secular charity that delivers emergency medical aid on a global scale to those who need it the most, regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. As with the last fund-raiser, this one will also end on Christmas Day 2014. Be a part of something important.  You can donate online by clicking ‘Sponsor Me’ below, or text ‘GFGS50 £5 (or any amount) to 70070. Spread the word where you can. Please keep an eye on my Twitter feed for updates. If you wish to hold an event for Team #GFGS to raise some money, please let me know!

Be good,

GS

Special thanks to @Wavish for the #GFGS logo

Click to be part of Team #GFGS

Team #GFGS raises £22,773.69 for charity in 2013

Image Created By @Wavish

What a year!  Team Good for Good’s Sakes’ WaterAid fundraising finally came to an end on Christmas day, finishing on an astonishing £11,843.03, smashing our £11,000 target goal.

This also completely obliterated our previous £10,930.66 record for Red Nose Day earlier in the year.  This brings the total amount raised for charity by Team #GFGS in 2013 to an incredible £22,773.69.

This was achieved because a significant, but by no means huge, group of people decided that contributing to charitable causes was a worthy idea for its own sake, regardless of what you do or don’t believe about anything else. This was done without media, financial or corporate support of any kind.  That’s incredible, and I think everyone who played a part should be proud of themselves.

WateraidTotalWaterAid is a fantastic organisation.  I need not waste your time explaining why access to clean water is such an imperative, so please visit them to see exactly how they will use the money to do good. From setting up sustainable water access in the poorest of places, to creating communities which are educated and trained in the skills required to maintain that infrastructure. Please consider choosing WaterAid should you be considering a charitable cause to fundraise for in the future.

I honestly didn’t think we could surpass our Red Nose Day efforts.  It’s such a pleasure and privilege to be continually surprised by the passion, intelligence, activism and good humour of those that engage with my Twitter feed.  Thank you.

A massive thank you to everyone that donated money and shared the fundraising page around. I’ve no doubt what we have achieved here together will help change lives for the better.  And why would we like to do that?  Because it’s a good thing to do.

I don’t really think about my Twitter shenanigans much further ahead than the present. This is due to understanding that my digital lifespan is also finite, with a limited shelf-life and therefore I don’t take it for granted that people will always be interested in what I have to say.  It’s for this reason that I am cautious about making plans for another charitable drive so soon, but if I’m still around in April and people are still interested I will consider setting up another cause for us to get our teeth into.  Up for the challenge?

Obviously, I understand the chances of reaching these heights again in 2014 are unlikely.  But I said that last time too.  And I’d be ecstatic to be wrong again.

Have a great New Year. Be Good

GS

Download Certificate (PDF)

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