November 12, 2012

SpoFi Holiday Giving Project: One World Futbal: Inspired by images of Darfur child refugees playing soccer using trash instead of a ball surrounded by barbed wire, amid hovels made of plastic, cardboard and sticks Tim Jahnigen developed a ball made of a closed-cell foam that makes it durable, doesn't need a pump to inflate and has a "cap" that allows the ball to re-inflate, even if punctured.

Since so many of us are soccer fans I thought we might band together to buy a few balls for the project as a group holiday project. The cost is $25 per ball and I'd like to try to raise $500.

posted by billsaysthis to culture at 02:13 PM - 22 comments

Notes:

0) I haven't thought of a mechanism for collecting the money and am open if someone has a better plan, though I can probably do it through PayPal or WePay, and I'll eat the fee to withdraw the money. 1) I checked with rcade before posting this. 2) If we buy more than 10 to give away the price goes down to $19 per ball so we can send even more for our money.

My wife and I will put in $50.

posted by billsaysthis at 02:16 PM on November 12, 2012

Spofi did a donation a few years ago for a college football player, what did we use that time?

posted by tommybiden at 02:40 PM on November 12, 2012

Count me in. Isn't there a charity kickstarter-style site for this kind of thing?

posted by rcade at 02:46 PM on November 12, 2012

I'm in.

posted by bperk at 06:15 PM on November 12, 2012

I did some research and found that while there are several 'kickstarter for charity' websites all are for non-profits looking to raise funds for themselves WePay has a more generic donate type page (the overview video shows raising money to help a family hit by disaster) but the fees seem high to me.

As best I can see PayPal (sadly-ish) has the lowest 'person to person' fees. If trust is a question for anyone I'm fine with rcade (for instance) being the cash recipient.

posted by billsaysthis at 06:25 PM on November 12, 2012

I'm in but would it be possible to just mail you a check?

posted by DudeDykstra at 06:43 PM on November 12, 2012

In. I can talk to the other board members of my club to see if they want to chip in as well.

WePay actually looks to be the same or lower than PayPal. PayPal is 2.9% + 30. WePay is the same as PP for credit cards, but only 1% + 30 for payments from bank accounts. It looks like if you set up a WePay Page for people to donate from it's a flat 2%.

posted by goddam at 06:50 PM on November 12, 2012

If trust is a question for anyone I'm fine with rcade (for instance) being the cash recipient

I know a guy, you might know him too -- lives at 227 W. Vatican Parkway, wears a funny hat to parties sometimes -- anyhow, he might have a slightly different opinion of rcade's integrity and trustworthiness.

Kidding aside, I would be interested in donating once you figure out the best way to collect.

posted by holden at 09:48 PM on November 12, 2012

I'm in.

Speaking of the foam ball technology, I once picked up a ball in a Jakarta sports shop for my daughter. It was just a standard junior size 3. We had it for about 3 years and it never needed inflating. It's probably still as hard as nails in my storage boxes somewhere.

posted by owlhouse at 12:25 AM on November 13, 2012

So you're saying you have size 3 foam balls that are hard as nails?

Quite the Stud arnt we!

posted by Folkways at 08:28 AM on November 13, 2012

I'm in, and I will round up some non-spofites as well if we can find a way to work this. Good on ya, billsaysthis!

posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:24 AM on November 13, 2012

I'm in.

posted by yzelda4045 at 01:49 PM on November 13, 2012

Count me in.

posted by BornIcon at 03:22 PM on November 13, 2012

I'm in.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 05:12 PM on November 13, 2012

I'll join in, too.

posted by bender at 10:39 AM on November 14, 2012

Okay, I'll set a WePay page shortly and post it here. Thanks to all!

posted by billsaysthis at 12:34 PM on November 14, 2012

Count me in as well.

posted by offsides at 01:07 PM on November 14, 2012

Okay, the SportsFilter for One World Futbal page is live and ready to take your dosh!

rcade, can we get a sidebar link?

posted by billsaysthis at 04:26 PM on November 14, 2012

Nicely done. So is it cool to send the link to family and friends?

Kinda reminds me of the days of fund raising many moons ago in elementary school where the student raising the most money got a cheep trinket for their efforts.

posted by Folkways at 11:19 AM on November 15, 2012

Yes, can we share the link? I have soccer-loving friends who would probably like to donate.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:44 PM on November 15, 2012

I've put it on my facebook. Hopefully I have enough friends who haven't all become cynical old aid workers.

posted by owlhouse at 09:34 PM on November 15, 2012

We're up to $150 (plus my $50), woohoo! thanks all, and let's keep it rolling.

posted by billsaysthis at 04:12 PM on November 20, 2012

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