2024, Baboon Achievers, The Baboon Congress

Budget Surplus

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For the first time ever, we ended up with a budget surplus on the Trail!  THANK YOU.  

It’s not enough that I will be sending everybody a check for two dollars and sorry but I don’t want to set the money aside and remember to deal with it next year.  No Verily Bank of Minnesota.

So I decided to donate the money.  Took a couple of days to think about it and decided to send it to Project for Awesome 2024.  P4A is the brainchild of John and Hank Green, aka The Vlog Brothers.  It started as a YouTube kind of stunt – people were encouraged to make and upload videos for charity over a 48-hour period to see if they could overwhelm the algorithm and pop to the top. 

It works like this.  P4A runs for 48 hours (noon on Friday to Noon on Sunday) once a year.  Various YouTube creators take turns “entertaining” on a livestream to collect the money.  Hundreds of folks upload videos that advocate for their favorite charities and these videos run throughout the 48 hours and are voted on.  Fifty percent of the money is split between Save the Children and Partners in Health (both favorite organizations of the Green brothers).  The other fifty percent is split between the 30 videos that garner the most votes.  This is serious money – it’s the 17th year for P4A and this year they raised $3.5 million dollars.  All the perks are donated by the various creators and the parent company of P4A (The Foundation to Decrease World Suck) covers the shipping so there are hardly any administrative costs.

I’ve been following John and Hank since 2007 and have donated personally many of those years as well, so I feel comfortable that the project represents the kinds of things that we espouse on the Trail.  I thought about throwing it open for suggestions but then we’d have to have a run-off election because it wasn’t enough money to be able to give some to all of our choices!

If I HAD asked for suggestions, what charity would you choose as a favorite?

24 thoughts on “Budget Surplus”

  3. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I always plug the same thing: the 4H scholarships in my parents’ names for 4H kids attending Iowa State University. This is the first year for the one honoring my mother’s teaching career.

    Jacque

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  4. Thanks, VS, for putting the excess cash to better use than we would have done as individuals with an extra $2.

    Of course, my number one charity pick is Big Brothers Big Sisters. Secondary to that these days is any charity that helps people get into housing. We have a charity down here called Transitional Housing of Steele County that helps homeless people find affordable housing. It also helps people with “housing insecurity” who may be having trouble with paying increased rent or facing eviction for some reason.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  5. Thanks for donating the extra funds, VS. I think you did a great job.

    I tend to donate to large organizations like TPT, MPR, The Nature Conservancy, or Audubon. They really don’t need my little donations though. I think it just covers the cost of all their mailings. Your choice is thoughtful and well-considered.

    My other choices are to local organizations, such as community arts and music promoters like Rock Bend Folk Festival, WTIP.org, and the Northfield Arts Guild. I also like to donate to River Bend Nature Center in Faribault. I’ve spent hours hiking there. My choices wouldn’t be the best ones for this group because we are so diverse and global now.

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    1. I did think about Rock Bend because it is near and dear to several of our hearts here on the trail, but I didn’t want any of the non-Twin Cities baboons to feel left out

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  7. It’s between Alzheimers research and affordable housing. I should say dementia research in general… And when it gets cold and windy, I just can’t imagine what it must be like to have no place to go that feels safe.

    I’d also like some kind of research into what makes a person with many millions or billions of dollars not understand that they have enough.

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  9. Thanks, VS, for donating the surplus to a worthy cause.

    My suggestion would probably have been either the ACLU or Planned Parenthood. My reason being that our civil rights in general, and women’s rights in particular, are under grave attacks all over this country at the moment.

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  10. We donate to some theaters, plus Planned Parenthood and some local disability organizations.

    I’ve made donations lately to The Sisters of St. Francis. We’re not Catholic, but I’ve worked there lighting a few things, and I know a few of the sisters and I want to support them.

    You made good choices VS. Thanks for doing that!

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  11. I would be remiss if I didn’t include Charlie Brown Bird Rescue.

    The shop where I purchase all the food and toys for The Birds has a basket where I can buy stuff for donation to Charlie Brown.

    It is surprising how many people surrender birds. It is likely they saw a YouTube video of a bird talking or doing tricks and spontaneously decided to get one without any research. Some birds outlive their owners. I’ve taken care of that by having money set aside for my “kids” being adopted.

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  12. I try to do about 2/3 local and 1/3 national/international.
    local is food shelf, Lutheran Social Service Mankato, VINE, and Connections Ministry, and the campus food shelf. Because Salvation Army has but requirements on those who wish to use their shelter, 5 downtown churches have started a program that welcomes all without requiring them to, for instance be dry and attend a Bible study. It is only for the winter months. It has found a place after using the churches, (oh, how terrible that was, those people in OUR church). That is Connections Ministry. Campus food shelf may sound odd, but think about it. My granddaughter helped started one at her college.
    I give to Doctors Without Borders. My eye doctor is one of them. The Lutheran churches ,some of them, have a large international program and our church teams with one community and hospital and school in Africa.
    Clyde

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  13. One of my great frustrations is choosing from all the many crying needs. Political/social cultural/the arts nature/climate change, etc. I decided a decade ago to focus on first needs: food, housing, safety and protection. I forgot to mention Red Cross and the local women’s and family shelters, which are very good places and well used, sad to say.

    Clyde

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  14. Let me add I am very grateful for those who focus on the other areas. I do donate to liberal candidates as I bet we all do. When Sandy managed the money she took joy in giving small amounts to many many charities. I write large checks to a few. Who knows which of us is right. Having received two medical bills in the last two days and having made five appointments in the last two days, I think I have to declare myself a charity for a bit.

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