Update: I’ve heard back from 90% of the people who donated to #LettingGrow, all of whom have said they don’t want me to ask Cancer Research to return their donations. Given how overwhelming the response has been, and the difficulty of getting a refund for people, I’ll only now do so if asked specifically. I hope that’s OK!
It is with huge regret that I announce that I cannot continue with my #LettingGrow campaign. I had fully intended to not cut my hair or beard for the entirety of 2013 but, for reasons personal and professional, I shaved my hair and beard last night.
I am looking into ways to refund everyone who so kindly donated to Cancer Research UK. However, JustGiving makes it extremely difficult to do so:
Online Giving – we run and maintain a website that processes donations on behalf of the charities featured on it. For this service, and the support we provide to them and their supporters, charities pay us a transaction fee of up to 5% on the donation. Because we promptly pay donations to charities, we regret that we can only refund a donation if the charity expressly requests it, and they can pay us back. Please get in touch with the charity first.
During the period of growing my hair and beard, I learned many things about myself and others, not least that:
- people are much more likely to strike up random conversations
- international travel is a lot more difficult when you look significantly different from your passport
- I should have talked through my plans my nearest and dearest before taking the plunge
A sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated. I pledge to refund everyone who donated, even if it means it coming out of my own money.
A lot has changed in both my life and the world at large since January 3rd, 2010, the date when I hit publish on a post marking the first in a series entitled Things I Learned This Week. The structure of the weekly roundup, however, has remained similar with its rationale pretty straightforward: I get a chance each week to read and review the links I’ve collected and curate something of interest to others. Everyone wins.
Originally, I used this blog to post the weekly roundup and diligently produced TILTW for the whole of 2010 before declaring a hiatus. When I resurrected TILTW in April 2012 it was in the form of an email newsletter (which has now grown to a subscriber base just shy of 400).
I’ve linked to all 100 TILTWs below for the sake of posterity, if nothing else. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those who have have expressed their pleasure at the newsletter either by hitting reply when the email lands in their inbox, or via various social media channels. That always makes me smile! 🙂
If you haven’t yet signed up for TILTW you can do so below. The newsletter arrives in your inbox every Sunday morning (UK time).
>>>Sign up here <<<
List of all TILTWs
Originally, I thought that other people might like to create their own Things I Learned This Week. I’m not precious about the name and would welcome more curated content! Feel free to riff on the idea. 🙂
Image CC BY vxla
This week I’ve been at the Mozilla Foundation All-Hands in Toronto, during which (amongst other things) we:
- Brainstormed
- Laughed
- Planned
- Discussed
- Welcomed
- Collaborated
- Partied
- Ate
- Drank
- Were merry.
I really am fortunate to be surrounded by such amazingly talented, yet humble and welcoming people! Next week I’m taking the week off work to be with my family while schools are on a half-term break where we live.
