Truthfully, $5 is nothing to scoff at. That's $5 someone took out of their pocket and handed over to us because try want us to succeed. It is the most concrete way they can show us support and that means a lot to me. I am truthfully grateful for any donation. The person who donated it chose to remain anonymous to the world, although we know who it is from because they sent us a message, but I am sad that they want to remain anonymous because I would love to be able to thank them publicly!
The best thing that has come out of my sharing my blog, so far, is that a friend from childhood shared her story with me and said she feels less alone in knowing my story. That's pretty amazing and wonderful and although it sucks that she has gone through hell alone, I'm happy that she knows there is someone else out there going through it too. I don't have any friends IRL, they've all lapped me and have moved on to find friends with kids or spend time with one another, so it's nice to know someone IRL who understands that.
I am, however, disappointed with myself because I feel like a failure for only raising $5. Was I not self deprecating enough? Should I have spammed Facebook? Emailed my blog and campaign to my entire address book? I keep telling myself that I am not a failure, that it's has only been one day since I began my fundraiser but still, I can't help feel like I fail at everything right now. And I'm scared. Scared that we are losing time by my going on BCPs that might be all for naught if we can't raise the money for IVF. I'm scared that we will fail before we even get the chance to try.
Oh no! I can't believe the only contribution was FIVE dollars!!! I haven't seen the blog/site itself, I've only read the content you posted here but could it be that the site isn't clearly showing that the whole point of this is to donate/raise money? Did you ever specifically come right out and say: "we need X amount and we don't have that so we need your help, can you please donate"? I think it's nice that at least SOMEONE donated so i don't want to scoff at that but ummm, 5 bucks? Did you make it known exactly how expensive IVF is? Oy. I'm sorry, I really hope the money starts pouring in... In the meantime, I'm very glad you got support from people.
ReplyDeleteOk, I am so glad it's not just me and I am just being ridiculous by thinking that it is nuts that we only got one donation for $5! DH said I was being unreasonable to expect people to pull out their wallets the second they read the blog! I feel like I tried, tactfully, to be clear that we are trying to raise money but maybe I didn't?
DeleteCongrats on that $5!! It's $5 that you didn't have before. And I'm happy that you've gotten support so far. If you'd feel comfortable sharing, I'd love to see the public blog :) Wishing you the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Packer! It's true, it's more than we had before and it is nice to have something! The blog is at: http://thequestforbabylane.blogspot.com
DeleteI will happily take any advice! I would, however, prefer to get it on here or through a pm on Fb, since I'd like to keep these two blogs seperate :)
I am sorry your first day ended with only a $5 donation, but don't lose hope just yet. Every year I walk for MS and I fundraise as part of the process. I push hard on the fundraising -- e-mails to family and friends, FB posts, etc. I have found that EVERY year people wait until the last minute to donate. People are always so amazing and donate, but I have found that they usually wait to do so until they start coming up against the deadline. So, I have faith that people will contribute, it just may take some time for it to pick up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just glanced at the blog and it seems the "Donate" link is kind of buried in the rest of the text. Maybe you could make a bigger heading for "how can you help" or something that would draw people's attention more. Or on your FB posts, post the link to the donation site instead of the blog. That way it is crystal clear what you are looking for. The donation site links to the blog so if they want more info they have access to it. Just a thought!
Good luck! I hope you are able to raise the money you need!
Thank you for looking at the blog and giving good suggestions! I linked the donation site to FB and got another donation, so that was a great idea. I am also doing to try and rework the blog and add another post about donating and our time frame.
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