I am often asked "What's the deal with the contests, giveaways and charity drives?"
Well, those of you that know me know that I have done countless giveaways and contests over the past 20 years as a way to give back to my readers, the community and the folks that support me by visiting my website daily. Why? Because, in a nutshell, without you, none of this would be possible. And, if you are in a position to give back, why not?
Think about it like this: How much high-end computer hardware does one household really need? When I get the latest and greatest, I bump my hardware down to my son and his hardware goes to my wife. Beyond that, it starts to pile up. Why let perfectly good hardware go to waste? So, a couple times a year, we build as many computers as we can for charity.
Also, my job puts me in a position to where I can get my hands on some really cool stuff for contests and giveaways. Companies get exposure for sponsoring our giveaways and contests, I get traffic to my website and you guys get some really cool prizes, so it works out for everyone involved. The kicker is....there have been more than a few times (a lot) where something I was giving away was actually better than what I currently owned. 😀
Finally, I personally feel like donation drives are a great way for all of us to get together as a group and raise money for charity.
I am simply using these giveaways as an incentive to get people to donate. Most of us do not have large sums of money sitting around and, as an individual, $5 doesn't seem like much but when we all get together like this we can really make a difference and have some fun at the same time.
Sure, I could certainly auction most of this stuff off and donate the proceeds to charity but where is the fun in that? Plus, I know that by doing it this way, whatever I am giving away is going to a good home, not just some random stranger on eBay.
TL;DR I love the feeling I get from giving stuff away / helping others.
Anyhow, that is it in a nutshell. Thanks for reading. Sorry to ramble on.