Good morning Hank! It's Tuesday.
And I'm wearing a suit, which must mean it's time to talk about money.
Since 2014, all the ad revenue from this YouTube channel has been evenly split between our charity,
the Foundation to decrease Worldsuck.
And a fund that sponsors online educational content.
And through that fund we've been able to give grants to dozens of projects over the years.
I'll link to a few of the recent ones below.
But I mention this because submissions are now open for the next round of grants,
So if you know of a great EDU creator who needs a few thousand dollars to become an even greater EDU creator
Or if you are such a person
There is a link to apply in the doobly-doo below
Quick pause to note that Hank and I don't do this because we're like oh so noble or whatever
We do it because we can afford to - we have other jobs that pay well
like for instance did you know that my new book 'Turtles All the Way Down' is available in bookstores everywhere
And the New York Times just named it one of their favorite books of the year? Back to charity!
Right, so the other half of Vlogbrothers revenue goes to the Foundation to decrease Worldsuck
Which, despite its silly name, is a real charity
It is federally sanctioned, your donations are tax-deductible, all that stuff
And despite the so-called ad-pocalypse on YouTube
and broader challenges faced by the advertising-funded parts of the Internet
Vlogbrothers has had a really good year.
the foundation has about 125,000 dollars in the bank right now - 15,000 more than we did at this time last year
Largely thanks to the money we made helping distribute the excellent documentary KEDI
but soon we will have nothing in the bank because it will all be given away after the 11th annual Project for Awesome
A 48-hour live streamed charity extravaganza.
That begins at noon Eastern Time on December 15th
During the first half of the Project for Awesome, we raise money for pre-selected charities
This year they are Save the Children, which we've worked with extensively over the last decade,
and also Last Mile Health, an amazing nonprofit that trains and pays community health workers in Liberia
and during that part of the p4a every dollar you donate will count as much more than $1
Because Hank and I will match every donation up to $250,000
and donors to both charities will also match your donations, so your money will go a long way.
And then during the second half of the project for awesome we raise money for charities chosen by Nerdfighteria,
and this is where you can help raise money and awareness for your favorite charities.
Make a video about a charity you think should receive a grant,
upload it at noon Eastern Time on December 15th, and then people can vote for your charity at projectforawesome.com
Now you might be thinking 'I don't have many subscribers, no point in me making a video', but every year, charities get grants
thanks to brilliant videos made by creators with a few dozen or even zero subscribers.
Making a p4a video is also an excellent way to support a charity,
even if you can't afford to donate to it. As for how to make a good p4a video
I highly recommend Hank's guide which you can find in the doobly-doo below.
In the past, grants have gone to organizations from The Trevor Project to the Against Malaria Foundation
It's all up to you: your videos and your votes. Over the past 5 years, the Project for Awesome
has raised more than 5.8 million dollars for charities, and we're hoping to make this the best year yet
no pressure or anything... a little bit of pressure. It occurs to me that "no pressure or anything
- a little bit of pressure" is kind of my approach to everything. Okay four last things. One:
I will be in comments to answer any questions you have. Two: let us know who you'd like to see as Project for Awesome
co-hosts. Let us know if you have any perk ideas that would tempt your dollars toward charity, and lastly: if by some chance you want
to donate a lot of money to the Project for Awesome, like, say,
$1000 or more and you want to join the matching donation fund, email me with the subject line "matching" at hankandjohn@gmail.com
Thank You Hank, DFTBA, I'm going to take off this suit. I will see you on Friday