MLP Forums Charitable Event - Brainstorm Thread!

[Maxwell 25]

we could make a my lil, pony fund raiser

[Fluttercolt 5]

I want to participate, but I don't have any means of doing any of those things! I wish I had a scanner to upload my Fanart in! (Which emoticon is rage?)

[St. Pinkie 118]

Heh. I can't draw to save my life, but I don't mind bringing a ponified Christmas spirit to my University Brony group and the Marelaysian Bronies Society. I have drawfriends there

 

Some drunk brony suggested after our meetup yesterday that we ponify a nightclub. Somehow, that sounds so crazy that it just might work...

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

I think a quick update is in order here: getting in touch with the secretary of BC Children's Hospital is proving to be extraordinarily difficult, as she gets off work at 4 and I get off school at 3. I don't have an email to reach her by, either - only a phone number.

 

I'll keep you guys posted.

[Zoop 8,384]

Well, you've got to admit.

 

It makes sense to make giving to charity as difficult and problematic as possible.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

Whaddaya know - she just called me back! MEGA UPDATE TIME!

 

After a good chat, I found that they'll happily accept any money and toys we can get for them. However... sadly, posters or anything else creative are gifts they'd like to stay away from. The reasons I got for that are as follows:

• wall space in the hospital is limited, and they already have trouble putting their own bulletins and such up
• artwork is very personal, and they don't want to make people who aren't into My Little Pony look at pony posters all day
• they don't know which patients are MLP fans, so handing out smaller items like postcards would be a complicated process
• all artwork that does go up in the hospital needs to be approved by a committee

They don't want us going through the trouble of designing original posters and putting money into getting them printed, only to have them stopped at one of the above four steps. Same would probably go for anything else creative.

 

Now, what is cool with them is the following:

• new washable toys (MLP or otherwise; must NOT be used)
• iTunes gift cards in $10 or $20 denominations (apparently these are in really high demand)
• anything else listed on the attached wishlist (quite a few expensive electronics there - they're looking to get a stolen Xbox 360 replaced, by the way)
• and of course, money

They would also prefer to receive the package by December 9, and December 16 at the absolute latest so they can have time to inspect and wrap all the gifts.

 

The secretary told me that although they'd like to stay away from ambitious posters and such, gift tags are one thing that I could ask the MLP Forums artists to make - they would need about 30-40 of them. Not specifically pony-themed, though.

 

However, Nico's idea on a previous page to take artwork commissions and send the proceeds to the hospital would work around this issue brilliantly. How many of you artists would be willing to do that?

 

---

As for physical items, I'm gonna check out my local Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and a few other shops to see what MLP toys they carry and how much they cost. I'm also going to allow you to ship toys to me to include in the package, provided I can get a PO box or something.

 

If you want to give an iTunes gift card, I would strongly suggest sending the money for it via PayPal with a note that it's for a gift card, and I'll purchase the card from Future Shop. This way, we can avoid shipping costs and delays. Money itself will be accepted via PayPal, too, which I'll pass on to the hospital in the form of a check when we're done.

 

I've set up a new PayPal link for the purpose of this event. So if you want to donate money towards the cause, do it here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=donations%40mlpforums%2ecom&lc=CA&item_name=BC%20Children%27s%20Hospital%20%2d%20Christmas%20Fundraiser&currency_code=CAD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

 

(note that these donations are for the hospital, and are completely separate from donations towards MLP Forums)

CL Wish List 2011.pdf

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

"...and they don't want to make people who aren't into My Little Pony look at pony posters all day"

"they don't know which patients are MLP fans..."

I don't see how either of these would be an obstacle to non-pony works.

The rest apply for artistic works in general, but even then... most of it still doesn't add up.

 

 

- "wall space in the hospital is limited, and they already have trouble putting their own bulletins and such up"

They don't have to put up on the walls, they could hand them out directly to the children. Not even copied, a different work for each.

That would give the kids a reason to come out, gather, and chat. Maybe even redistribute the works, seeing they know each other better than we do.

 

- "artwork is very personal"

Excuse me, but it doesn't have to be. Look at Katy Perry's song Firework: it has a large enough spectrum to cheer up people in many different contexts, as illustrated by the clip.

So... I'm going to put my heart and soul into improving the mood of a child, whose identity may be unknown to me but who still deserves better than mass-produced money-eater... and it'll be turned down for that very reason?

 

- "all artwork that does go up in the hospital needs to be approved by a committee"

But then, why not tell us about the requirements? If they're gonna turn down the suggestion from the start, why would they have that committee in the first place?

Don't they wanna be bothered to see anything artistic? Do they hate art so much, that they're looking for reasons to dissolve the committee and do something else?

 

 

This all sounds like lame excuses to discourage potential artists from contributing in a non-material manner.

In my case, it has failed greatly.

[TallBrony91 28]

I think doing something for a Children's Hospital is a amazing idea and I will be happy to lend a hoof with giving some money plus also, if it is ok with you Feld I will try and see if I can order a few games as well from the Canadian Amazon website and send them over to your place, I can try and see if I can buy one or maybe a couple of games.

 

All in all I am so up for this, so expect money from me very soon. ^__^

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

Sucks about the artwork issues :/

 

Anyways, I just donated all the profits I made off my redbubble t-shirt sales so far. It was just October's sales so if November's comes in on time (should be in a couple days), I'll donate those too.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

New thread's up, Please move all discussion about this event over there now - this topic will self-lock in a day or so.

 

This all sounds like lame excuses to discourage potential artists from contributing in a non-material manner.

In my case, it has failed greatly.

 

Well, if they say no, they say no. I'm afraid we'll have to content ourselves with that. However, one way the artistically-minded could still contribute is by doing commissions and asking the fee to be sent to the fundraiser instead of them. Fluttershy suggested this earlier in the thread, and it sounds like a good compromise to me.

 

I think doing something for a Children's Hospital is a amazing idea and I will be happy to lend a hoof with giving some money plus also, if it is ok with you Feld I will try and see if I can order a few games as well from the Canadian Amazon website and send them over to your place, I can try and see if I can buy one or maybe a couple of games.

 

All in all I am so up for this, so expect money from me very soon. ^__^

 

Sounds great! We'll talk it out via PM. Though I would like to say, if you're going to be ordering video games and shipping them to my place, it might be better to send me the money and I can go pick the video games up with it myself. Saves both shipping time and costs.

 

Sucks about the artwork issues :/

 

Anyways, I just donated all the profits I made off my redbubble t-shirt sales so far. It was just October's sales so if November's comes in on time (should be in a couple days), I'll donate those too.

 

Awesome! The first donation towards the event.