How to Donate

I clicked through the donation process last night on the Extra Life website, and I realized some people may have questions or concerns.  It is not entirely trivial, so this blog serves as our "how do I donate?" FAQ.

Q) I really want to support Children's Medical Center.  How do I sponsor your team?
A) Right now we are looking for donations, plain and simple.  We need financial support leading up to marathon day October 20th.  Here is how to access the donation pages.

Scott has a donation page here: Scott's Page
John has a donation page here: John's Page

On either of these pages, you will see a big blue button that says "SUPPORT ME!"  One is found on the right of the screen and one in the middle.  A sample image of the button is below.  When you find this button on our pages, click it to get started.

You may have also noticed we have a team tracking page here: Shoot Many Bad Guys .  This page is a tracking page for how John and I are doing.  If you want to donate from this page, click on John's name or my name at the bottom of the tracking page.  Do not click "Join Team" unless you plan on gaming with us for 24 straight hours in October. =P

Q) Okay I clicked "SUPPORT ME!"  Is the rest of the process difficult?
A) It is not too difficult from here.  You will see some suggested guidelines on donating for our charity.  There are options to give a one time gift or to give monthly gifts for a set number of months.  You are welcome to choose either.  Also you do not have to choose from the preset $12, $25, $50, and $100 levels.  There is a free form, text entry option as well to donate whatever you can at the bottom of the amount list.

You can allow people to see your email/info if you want to be recognized or remain anonymous if you prefer.  You can also select to leave a message to the fundraiser or any donors viewing our pages.  Those options are up to you.

Once you have set your donation and recognition details, all you have to do is enter your billing information.  Children's Miracle Network stands by its website as a secure place to donate funds.  They utilize https protocol and have a privacy policy; both good things.  You may choose to donate via PayPal or any major credit card vendor.  If you choose PayPal, it will prompt you to access PayPal and confirm the funds.  For credit cards simply enter your info on the page.  When you are done click through to the Next Step.

Q) What else do I need to know?  Is this donation tax deductible?
A) Yes, once you enter your details and click through to confirm your donation, you will be given a receipt.  I believe the receipt will go to your email address or you can print the confirmation screen.  Either way use this during tax time if you would like to claim the charitable donation then.

At that point you are done, and we are extremely thankful for your generosity.  If you have any other questions feel free to contact me.  I have comments enabled on this blog post for folks to ask questions here or find me via whatever channel you usually get in touch with me through.

Thanks.
- Scott

What's in a Name, the Introduction

Welcome to the blog!

I decided to set this blog up to follow the Shoot Many Bad Guys team as we work towards raising money for charity and performing in gaming marathons.  I am excited about bringing content to our friends, including YouTube clips, games we are currently playing, and most importantly how to donate to the causes we support.

For the introductory blog, I wanted to talk about our name.  Our name is a pretty cool mash-up of two things that make me smile, video games and my son.  My wife deserves credit for helping me put two and two together.  A favorite game of mine to play is Shoot Many Robots for PC by developer Demiurge Studios.  Now my son is pretty fond of robots, so he prefers shooting just the "bad guys" as he puts it.  In fact my son was playing Pew Pew 2 from developer Jean-François Geyelin on my HTC One X when he shouted "SHOOT THE BAD GUYS!"  My wife looked at me after that and said "hey what about Shoot Many Bad Guys for a team name."  I called John to tell him, and we both agreed it was perfect.

Our objective as a team is to raise money for charity.  More specifically in the near term we want to raise money for the Extra Life 24 hour gaming marathon this October 20th.  All proceeds go to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, and our funds in particular will go to Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX (http://www.childrens.com/).

To donate, navigate to either of our donor pages or the team page on the Extra Life website as seen below, click the blue "SUPPORT ME!" button on the page, and follow the donor instructions:

My Team (Scott, Joshua) - http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=34293
John's Team (John, Pat) - http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=34302
Shoot Many Bad Guys Home tracking page - http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=9160

Donating is secured by the foundation, and again all proceeds go to the hospitals in need.  Gaming is fun alone, but it is even better when for a great cause.

As we approach October 20th (1 month away!) I will post information on the games we plan on playing as well as our stretch goals.  Our team goal right now is $250 overall, but I know we can do better than that.  If we do better than that, John's team and my team might do some goofy stuff in front of a camera for YouTube.  Everyone likes a laugh right?  Well help us beat our goal!

Until next time.
- Scott