A Time To Give Back
written by John Chow
The More You Give, The More You Get
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I am a firm believer in you get what you give. Giving doesn’t have to be about money. It can be your time and experience. One of the reasons I created this blog was to give my knowledge and experience so I can help others be successful online. One of the ways I did that was by doing a case study to show how income on a blog is made.
The blog made $352.94 in September, $1,361.64 in October, and $2,139.93 in November. I have received $1,714.58 so far, which represents the income for September and October. Money from December will be received in the New Year. This blog was never intended to make any money and I have stated that I would donate what money it made to church and charities.
I have decided to donate the income from the blog to my church and other charities. John Chow dot Com is my personal blog and making a profit from it just seems strange to me. Please note, I am not downing anyone who makes money off his or her personal blog - I think that is great.
Today, I made good on that statement by donating $1,000 of the blog’s income to the Immanuel Christian Reformed Church. My wife and I attend this church. It is only a few blocks from our home and we have been going to this church since moving to our current location.
I am also making a $500 donation to the Union Gospel Mission. Union Gospel Mission exists to offer hope to the hungry, hurting and homeless. In 1940, the Mission began as a small soup kitchen. Since then it has grown dramatically to meet the needs surrounding us. Many people who have walked in the corridors of loneliness, hopelessness and despair have found UGM to be a place of new beginnings. In addition to helping those in need, the UGM provides a hot Christmas dinner for someone who is hungry. When I was told a complete dinner cost only $2.29 per person, I just couldn’t believe it (considering how much I spent on my last dining out trip). The blog’s $500 donation will help feed 218 people this Christmas.
Another $500 will be donated to UNICEF Canada. UNICEF was created by the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1946 as a temporary organization called the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to respond to the suffering of children in European countries devastated by World War II. In 1953, UNICEF was made a permanent arm of the UN to address the plight of children in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Its name was changed to the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Donations to other charities will be made on a case-by-case basis. If you would like to recommend a charity please do so in the comments.
Moving Forward
I have decided to handle the blog’s income a little differently from now on. Instead of giving all the money to charities, it will be divided between a trust fund for Sally and charities. Some would say that is a bit selfish of me but hey, as Ed has stated, I am the root of all evil. Besides, the blog donations are on top of what I already give to church and charities.
When I started this blog, I never dream it would help feed the hungry or help children around the world, or provide a secure future for my daughter. I have all you readers to thank for this.
Thank you.
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What about the “Buy Juan a beer fundation”? j/k
Great job John, I think the trust fund for Sally is a must. Keep up the good work
As evil as you may be, you are a good man, John Chow. Never doubted it!
You’re a good man John. That sounds like a great way to spend the money your site earns.
Thank you for doing what you do, you site has been a great source of information and ideas. Some of your advertising ideas have even helped increase what I make from my ads.
Thanks again John, keep it up man!
Soultrance
http://www.dingorue.com
Good man but yes, at times, very evil!
Investing is not selfish. It’s insuring the future. Much of charity is relief and not investment. You’re doing both and that’s a great thing.
Congratulations on your success, John!
haha i never clicked your ads because i thought the money would go to you…
This is very noble of you. I’m glad you’re giving back.
http://www.stylepit.com
The income from your blog is well deserved money, and anyone that blames you for how you spend it is either a hypocrite or a saint. I’m glad to see you donating the money to charity, but I would never blame you for keeping it.
For an evil, evil man, you seem like a pretty good guy. Donating anything is admirable.
Very nice of you to do that. Not many people out there advertise what they make on their blog and then donate proceeds to charity.
Hi John,
This was a very classy and respectable move by you. I only recently started reading your blog, so I missed your original statements about the blog.
I read your post about the resturaunt the other week and to be honest it troubled me, and seemed a bit excessive. However, this gesture made me realize that I was wrong about you.
Once again, way to go. I applaud you!
John, it is always nice to pay it forward and be in a position to give back to others in need. If you are ever at a point where you are looking for an additional charity, I would like to recommend the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.
http://www.jdrf.org/
Hi John,
It’s great to hear that you are donating your blog income to charities. You are also donating your experiences and knowledge to others who could learn from your success.
In terms of recommending a charity, I would suggest a scholarship. It’s easy to setup a scholarship and doesn’t require a lot of financial commitment. All you have to do is to contact the university that you would like donate the money to.
Who knows, your recipients may become the next Larry and Sergey, who will create innovations such as AdSense to help more web publishers and yourself.
Hey John nice of you to give back a little, and congratulations on your success. One question, this giving back is also tax detuctable correct?
Foro de Dominios - Yes, donations to registered churches and charities are tax deductible.
Brian - That is a great idea! Thank you. I will look more into it.
Everyone else - Thank you.
I totally don’t blame you for setting up that trust fund. As far as other charities to consider, I give regularly to the United Way. They serve sort of like an umbrella organization, helping provide funds to smaller, lesser known charities and non-profits.
It is said that “Giving is more blessed than receiving”. You are a honest and nice man. Ditto to Paul’s comment. May God bless you and your family!
John - My Dear Husband.
I cannot stop crying today when I read your post. I read your post again and again. It makes me think a lot about us from the day I met you three years ago. You have come a long way from donating the smallest amount of money from your wallet to what you give today. You now help the people you uses to make fun of. I was really touched today. I just realized how much you have changed. I really appreciate what you did today. You made me so proud and made me the happiest woman in the world today. You asked me before; did I make right choice to marry you? I can answer very clearly, I did. If I had to do it all over again, I would still choose you. I believe you are the leader of our family and will be a great leader in the future too.
Your wife Sarah
That church’s website hasn’t been updated in 2 years! I wanted to see why the call themselves a ‘reformed’ church… does this mean they used to be a church for another religion?
Hi John, I was so touched by your loving/giving action today! When your beloved wife Sarah told me that you donated $1000 to your church today, I couldn’t help thinking John has been chosen by God as a helper to the poor! I believe God will reward you and your loving family with more blessings in the New Year!
John
There is a foundation called the akshyapatra foundation in India, you can see details at
http://www.akshayapatra.org/
They are doing great charity work
Do have a look.
Thanks
-TP
well john chow, this is amazing what you are doing !!
Great work !!
I know exactly were you are coming from, to really have a quality of life or journey people need to contribute beyond themselves, bottomline this is how man grows!
I admire your value system, I hope all learn from your actions,
I think when you give one time you recieve twice.
That brings me to a church where the Ministry Team at this church work for nothing…They feed and shelter and share the love of god on a daily basis.
If you want to make a difference read this blog..
http://alanwestgate.blogspot.com/
If you want to pay for hot water or maybe some socks or
medical this would help a average hundred elderly homeless a night.
http://www.westgatetabernacle.org/
John Chow: Child of the 80’s, Root of All Evil, Panda Slayer, and now CRUSADER FROM HEAVEN~!!!
Hey John,
I’m glad to see you lived up to your word about donating the proceeds of the site to charity! Putting some of the money from the site towards your daughters future is NOT selfish at all! You’ve gotta take care of your own first!
FrugalTrader
http://www.MillionDollarJourney.com
[...] Pague o dízimo Posted under Geral, grana - Dez 11th, 06 I have decided to donate the income from the blog to my church and other charities. John Chow dot Com is my personal blog and making a profit from it just seems strange to me. JOHN CHOW [...]
So I guess we can say that by Digg.com banning you they’re stealing food from those who need it most.
To create better future we MUST invest in our children’s future i.e. education in their IQ as well in their EQ(emotional quotient)!!
Good thing you invest in your children, like any responsible father should!!! Also you MUST tutor her how to make money, how to spend money AND how to depend on her self where ever she is and how ever she is, because only a responsible, educated, KIND, and most of all HIGLY INFORMED AND REALIST (with a twist of DREAM-SEEKER character) can construct a world where there will be less and less of mediocrity and total global poverty.
I don’t have much cash if any at all — all my time and money is invested in my on-line ventures that WILL (with help of higher Force
) bring me a lots of money so i can help other people who were in situation much worse than i am now.
I can only tell you this, you are not a billionaire nor a multi-millionaire (yet
), so you should beside of your children take one or several children under adoption (your self or via proxy - i think there are special villages where abandoned children are taken care of by proxy mothers), that is the only way to go - to give them an COMPLETE education.
Only thing that bugs me is that there are so many poor children in your countries, your towns and you seek to help children who are ONLY IN AFRICA, now that is not right… (you will rant on me i know) but why did Madonna or other celebrities adopt local kids??? even by proxy..???? You must invest LOCALLY to get GLOBAL RETURNS…..
I must say after all the bad things I’ve heard about you this definately makes up for it
Well I am kidding about the bad things actually.
Good to see someone give back.
Cheers to you Mr.Chow!
Now how many posts/emails are you going to get from people asking for ‘charity’ from you?
It’s nice to hear that people actually hold truth to their words.
But the real question is, will you be using those charity donations as income tax deductions come April?
Cheers to you!
Very kind gesture, John. Now, if I can only get my blog to generate those kinds of revenues, I’m all about philanthropy.
John,
I really think your action is very noble.
To be honest I doubt that myself, and most people, would be able to donate such an amount of money.
Hi John, there is no god … you can trust me.
Hi John, I’ve only been following your blog for about a month and must have missed the original post about donating to charity.
I think it’s great what you’re doing. Keep up the good work, and thanks for all of the great advice!
What you give is what you get, you give your time, you get people’s time, you give money you get money.
You are a good man, John.
You`re a good man, John.
Great respect for keeping up what you said about donating money. Keep up the good work!
Wow that’s really nice of you John.
I’m selling my PS3 for $1 on eBay to make someone Christmas better this year. I am even going to hand deliver it to the winner.
http://www.onedollarplaystation3.com
Ouchs
As everyone said, John, you’re a good man.
In regards to the $1 PS3 by OnOuchs, you said you paid $750 to cut in line for a PS3 at London Drugs yet your receipt shows Futureshop?
I’m confused. Did LD even have PS3’s for sale I know they have them on display, but for sale??
Very nice. I am glad the income will be helping people out.
good man good man you are john. Merry Christmas
Good work John. Nice to read that you are donating to charity. I too had taken a similar approach with all donations that I received through my blog
It’s definitely nothing compared to what you have been making. But that little goes there
Hey Tyler,
LD did sell the PS3. I bought the PS3 from London Drugs and the two games and extra controller was bought from Future Shop.
Don’t let him fool you. This man kills BABY PANDAS!
[...] John Chow é um blogueiro que está ganhando bem, talvez o suficiente pra viver de um blog. Ele conta em seu blog que ganhou US$ 355 em setembro, US$ 1362 em outubro e US$ 2140 em novembro. Mas John é um sujeito caridoso e ele escreveu que nunca foi sua intenção fazer dinheiro com o blog: [...]
John,
I read your site fairly regularly and am pleased to see such a non-typical take on blog revenues.
It is really refreshing to hear that a) you decided to donate money to some good causes, and b) you actually made money and made a donation.
[...] Some may recall my post about donating the blog’s income to charity. It seems my donation has not gone unnoticed at the Union Gospel Mission. Not only did I received a thank you letter from them, but they also issued a news release about it. UGM offers Chow a huge thank you for his kind donation – his donation marks the first time in UGM’s history that a blogger has been recognized as a donor. [...]
John,
Since you are accepting nominations, I’ll toss in my favorite charity - Celiac Disease - it’s something my kids have, so it is personal for me.
I’ve done a number of zany fundraisers and awareness projects. Since it is the holiday season, you can see the “Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease” at http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/christmas_webcam
The beneficiary is the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research - read more at:
http://www.celiaccenter.org/news_xmas.asp
You are ruining you reputation as the “root of all evil” by donating to charity …
Best Wishes and Merry Christmas to ‘ya,
alek
For someone that is the “root of all evil”
[...] I logged into my TD bank account today and noticed that the balance on my Visa card balance seems lower than it normally is at this time of the month. Checking into it further, I noticed that an extra $5,000 payment was made to it. My first thought was, “Maybe this is me getting back for giving to charity?” [...]
[...] Anyway, once I got past that, the review is the easy part. John Chow dot Com has been in my Google Reader list for around three months. He caught my sight first with his Google Whore list. I thought he is just some skank who try to create some linkbait post to attract traffic. I was wrong. On getting to know him more, he is one of the early comer to the Internet scene, Google’s top earner, entrepreneur, supports charity, and eats in an expensive restaurant with his family and only the girlfriends he wished to marry. That earned my respect, especially the last part. [...]
[...] Contrary to my preconceived expectations, nearly every post on JohnChow.com is a well-thought out experiment on backlinks, downlines (AGLOCO), paid reviews, page rank, content or adsense optimization, or more digg bait. As a trained chemist and nerd of the 3rd order, I can certainly respect a good experiment. As a full time non-profit fundraiser, John also scored major points in my book by giving away much of the money his site earned over the course of 2006. [...]