It is with great happiness that we can announce Fandom Rocks has met its goal for the first campaign. Tonight, donations have pushed the total to $2000 — and we still have a little over a week to go! Thank you to everyone who has donated, shopped in the store, and helped spread the word. The campaign would not have been a success without the involvement of all the fans and supporters.

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Lawrence Community Shelter distributed their press release for the donation ceremony today:

“[Fandom Rocks] will present a donation to the Lawrence Community Shelter on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007, at 12:30 pm on the front porch of the Lawrence Community Shelter, 214 W 10th St, Lawrence, KS. Fandom Rocks has been collecting donations from Supernatural fans from all over the world for two chosen charities, the Lawrence Community Shelter and SOS Children’s Villages. The charity campaign began June 18, 2007 and culminates September 1 with a goal of $2000.”

You can view the full press release here. It is not too late to join Dana in Lawrence, just let us know to look for you!

As described in our earlier update, Dana will be traveling to Lawrence to present the Lawrence Community Shelter with 50% of the funds raised during our first campaign. Here is the rough schedule for the weekend:

Saturday, September 1st

• Arrive in Lawrence around 3PM
• Check into the hotel
• Visit the local area and have dinner with fellow fans

Sunday, September 2nd

• Go to the Lawrence Community Shelter around 12PM
• Present the funds to the Board of Directors at 12:30PM
• Tour the shelter immediately after
• Go to the soup kitchen at 1PM; help serve and meet with shelter guests
• Visit with LCS staff, Board of Directors, and guests
• Visit the local area, possibly Stull, with fellow fans

This is a great opportunity to meet our fellow Rockers face-to-face and learn how our campaign will empower the mission of the shelter. Do you have ideas for other local sights we could visit? Leave a comment! Will you be there? Let us know!

Don’t forget we have until September 1 to reach our goal. We are only $200 away. That means we would hit the target if:

10 fans donated $20 by skipping the mall this week
20 fans donated $10 by skipping a movie this week
40 fans donated $5 by skipping Starbucks just once this week

We can do it.

Fellow Supernatural fans, we have just two weeks left for our first Fandom Rocks campaign, and so far, we feel we can call it a great success. Here is what you have helped accomplish in our first two months:

• Creation of Fandom Rocks website, Livejournal community, CafePress store, MySpace group, and Facebook group.
• Affiliation with various Supernatural communities and web sites, including Supernatural Underground.
• Press release on Fandom Rocks distributed by one of our chosen charities, Lawrence Community Shelter.
• Lawrence Journal-World newspaper interview with one of the Fandom Rocks maintainers.
• Initial $1,000 contribution goal met in just under one month.
• Written communication with Kim Manners, Eric Kripke, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki informing the Supernatural cast and crew of Fandom Rocks.
• Face-to-face discussion with Jensen Ackles regarding Fandom Rocks and its goals, as well as confirmation of receipt of the Fandom Rocks letter.

We currently stand at 83% of our raised contribution goal of $2,000. With the matching funds during this last month and Dana’s pledged donation to cover Paypal fees, we have just over $1,700 to divide between Lawrence Community Shelter and SOS Children’s Villages.

We aren’t done yet! We still have until September 1 to meet our goal, and we’re anxious to prove what we’re made of! Help us reach that goal by donating in this last push before September 1!

As maintainers, we’re very proud of the work we’ve done behind the scenes, and especially proud of our fandom for stepping up and making this group venture a successful reality. Everything Fandom Rocks has accomplished so far, all our hard work, is about to pay off. It will be time to celebrate!

We are inviting our fellow Supernatural fans and Rockers to join us as we present funds in person to the directors of the Lawrence Community Shelter.

(more…)

This past weekend, what can only be described as a perfect storm of fans descended upon San Diego for the annual event known as Comic-Con.

Supernatural fans were out in abundance — nearly 2000 fans attended the discussion panel — and one particular fan braved the question microphone to help deliver the letters from Fandom Rocks to Eric Kripke, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki. Yes, the letters with your personal notes have been delivered.

It’s hard to imagine being more excited and pleased that the Supernatural family is now 100% aware of the work and support all of the fans have been putting into this campaign over the last two months. If you see Roz or Rae, be sure to give them a thumbs-up and thanks for helping deliver the letters.

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As of today, we have exactly one month until Campaign #1 ends. When we started Fandom Rocks, we set a modest goal of raising $1000. We met that goal within one month.Now, the final goal for this campaign is $2000, and we would love to meet that, too. Thanks to all of you, we have raised $1418 – 71% of the goal.

During this last month, August 1―31, Fandom Rocks plans to boost your donations and purchases in the following ways:

1. We will match the $1 donation from all store purchases. This means each item purchased will actually turn into a $2 donation.
2. We will contribute $1 for every $10 donation made through Paypal. This means a $10 donation will actually be $11, and a $20 donation will actually be $22, and so on.

Don’t forget, Dana has also pledged to contribute the amount Paypal has removed for fees.

Feel free to share the news about the last month of the campaign on your blogs, journals, and web sites. With all of the Supernatural fans involved, we know we can reach this goal.

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Last, but definitely not least, the charity poll for Campaign #2 is now live on the web site. Voting is a quick and easy way to get involved in Fandom Rocks! You may only vote for one charity, and the top two charities as of September 1st will become the beneficiaries of the second campaign.The poll choices come from previous comments and discussions. If you have another charity that is a valid registered organization and that you feel deserves our support, you can add an answer to the poll. Please comment or contact us if you have questions.

Have a great week!

The one month marker for our first campaign has come and gone. Today, we have a brief update for you.

First, we are pretty sure everyone knows we made our first goal of $1000 — and then promptly passed it. Congratulations! As of right now, the donations and store purchases add up to a total of $1373! Based on a poll in the LiveJournal community, we are going to make the final goal of the first campaign $2000.

If you haven’t donated yet, please don’t let the fact we reached the first goal stop you now. We have a new goal ahead of us, and we are confident we can reach it by September 1st.

Second, it is almost time to start voting on the next two charities. In order to give everyone adequate time to research charities and then vote, we would like to post the poll here on the web site starting July 27th. It would run until September 1st. The poll choices will include all the previously mentioned charities, and you will have the ability to nominate charities as well. Be sure to research your nominees. They should be a registered non-profit in the US or UK.

To look up registered UK charities, visit the Register of Charities.

To look up registered US charities, visit the Internal Revenue Service.

To look up registered Canadian charities, visit Revenue Canada (English, French).

Lastly, if you are going to send a note in for the Comic-Con letter, you have until the 19th. So far, we have half a dozen notes, which is fine, but we want to make sure everyone who has donated or made a purchase in the store gets a chance to send in a brief note if they wish.

Okay, that’s it — spread the word, send in pictures of your Fandom Rocks shirts, and have a great week!