Justgiving's blog

Gemma's Appeal

Gemma Adams' parents have set up an appeal to raise funds for Ipswich Children's Hospice in her memory. Gemma was one of the five women killed in Suffolk this month.

Support their appeal:

Hair Today...

It's a funny old time of year. Nowhere's open to buy a sandwich, the daily commute is almost pleasant and we get to play with all of our new toys.

However today has just been weird so far. From time to time, we get some odd things in the post, things like Star Trek boxsets and letters pleading for funds from people who think that because we're called 'Justgiving' we're some kind of grant-giving organisation. This morning I found this waiting for me:

No way. So we give it a squeeze. Hmmm feels hairy. What was inside?

Yep. Looks human. The Geiger readings were low, so no Polonium 210 is involved. The only clue was scrawled on the inside of the envelope:

Not quite sure what we need the luck for. We've also not figured out how to add it to a fundraising page either.

Jules being the intrepid detective that he is, noticed its Thai origins and found this article. We're still very, very confused.

Happy Christmas!

Well, we're all off to drink too much red wine and eat too much turkey. Thank you to everyone who's read this blog in 06. Have a very Happy Christmas and we'll see you in the New Year.

You really shouldn't have. No really, you shouldn't...

And so following on from yesterday's images of destruction from the office party, it is perhaps timely to reflect on the secret Santa "gifts" that were distributed beforehand.

As usual, there was a somewhat interesting range of presents given out amongst the team at JG towers, ranging from the imaginative (er, a box of biscuits) through slightly left field (Lego fridge magnets anyone?) to the downright cheeky (Chelsea shirt for a West Ham fan and Man U calendar for a Liverpool fan).

To the right is a very, ahem, flattering picture of me (on the left) sporting my special gift, alongside our Product Manager Will. Yes, that old cliché of a Christmas gift of safety goggles and ear protectors (not the rubbish cap, Ed.).

Um, Santa, if you're out there. Why? Answers on a Lapland postcard. Or you could just leave an anonymous comment. You just may have won yourself the coveted title of most random JG secret Santa gift 2006. Previous winners have been lemon curd and a padlock. Not to mention my personal favourite of a £5 lottery ticket (the limit was £10! Cheapskate!).

What rubbish did you get from your secret Santa this year? Leave a comment and let us know!

Holding back the tears

Ok, so we've already seen a picture of our Systems Development Manager Jason hugging his new best friend - the lampost - at last night's Justgiving xmas do.

Here's another corker. This one was taken earlier in the night and shows Jason (30) holding back the tears after being told that Santa Claus does not exist.

Oh come Jase, we were only joking - course there's a santa.

Hangovers

Jason.

'nuff said.

Widgets arrive in time for Christmas

We've just released our brand new Justgiving Widget! For the uninitiated, widgets have been all the rage this year and will continue to dominate webby stuff in 2007.

Basically, instead of a rather boring hyperlink to post on your blog, you can now put one of these:

This is Ben's page, and if Ben were the sort of chap to have a blog (he works in finance so he doesn't) then there it would proudly sit as an indication of how his progress is going.

Want one? Click on the 'Promote this page' link under the thermometer on any fundraising page and you'll get the html code you need. If you're a pagebuilder then you'll find out more about the Widget by logging in to your account.

Party!

Excitment and donning of glad rags aplenty as we gear up for our Chrimbo bash at Meza in Soho tonight. Incriminating photos of the ensuing shenanigans will be posted for your amusement when we've recovered tomorrow (or the next day, depending on levels of sambuca consumption).

In the meantime, here are the odds on who's most likely to get drunk and make a fool of themselves:

Tim        1/2
Molly       4/6
Jason      7/4
Neil         3/1
Ben         4/1
Tom        8/1
Chris       40/1
Derrick    50/1
Zarine     1,000/1

Bunny Christmas

If you've left it too late to get the chrimbo cards in the post, never fear. The makers of the new Miss Potter movie starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor have created a cool viral e-card you can send instead.

The card features a painting of some flopsies by the real Beatrix Potter and invites senders and recipients to donate to their favourite charity via Justgiving instead of spending cash on paper cards and postage.

Check it out here.

Mmm...doughnuts

If Homer Simpson was ever to undertake a fundraising challenge, this would be it. 

Starting at 10:30am today, Rahma has pledged to polish off 100 dougnuts in a feat of sponsored munching even Springfield's finest doughnut destroyer might balk at.

"I will attempt to eat as many doughnuts as is humanly possible, and believe me, I can tuck them away," says Rahma. "I will then have a rest and possibly a sleep, probably some water and maybe a trip to the loo.

"The remaining doughnuts will then pose a further challenge to me. Because even if I manage to eat MOST of them at 10.30 I will have to have eaten ALL of them by the end of the day."

Now that's hardcore. The gorging's for a good cause of course. Rahma's raised a fiver per doughnut so far for Leukaemia Research.