I'm sitting up late this evening trying to think of an inspirational way to end this year with some grandiloquent statement about our growth and the great job everyone has done this year. I don't know; maybe it's the glow of the Christmas tree behind me, or the eggnog recipe I've been experimenting with… but, really, anything I can say here can only lessen the outpouring that comes following this…
Greetings to the Stack Exchange Moderators, In a yearly tradition at Stack Exchange, we set aside this time of year to make sure we are "giving back" to effect positive change in the world. As a moderator, you play such a crucial role in our success, and we would like to include you in that effort. As a small gesture of thanks, we would like to make a $100 donation to charity on behalf of each community moderator. The link below leads to a brief form where you can select which charity you wish to receive the donation. Select Your "Giving Back" Charity It is my hope that, together, we can continue this tradition year after year — and with 220+ moderators, that donation will only continue to increase. So, thanks to everyone who participated in Stack Exchange. Thank you for generously contributing your time, your passion, and your leadership, all of which made these donations possible. - The Stack Exchange Team
We started with 12 moderators, then 130 — and now on behalf of the 228 moderators of Stack Exchange, we made a donation to the following charities this holiday season:
- Unicef — $2,800
- Doctors Without Borders — $10,900
- Wikimedia Foundation — $7,000
- Amnesty International — $2,100
We also want to give back to the people, tools, and projects that inspired us and helped us build this Stack Exchange Q&A network:
- W3C Consortium — $1,000
- WordPress Foundation — $1,000
- WikiMedia Foundation — $1,000
- CentOS — $1,000
- Linux Foundation — $1,000
- Internet Archive — $1,000
- Creative Commons — $1,000
- DotNetOpenAuth — $500
- OpenID Foundation — $1,000
- OpenSTV — $1,000
- Lucene.Net — $1,000
- Electronic Frontier Foundation — $1,000
The notes returned in kind -- the notes of "thank you" and heart-warming well-wishes -- are a great way to end the year knowing that sometimes you just get it right, and that what you do matters. Let me end this year by extending a sentiment from the "giving back" letter to you, the users of Stack exchange:
Thank you for generously contributing your time, your passion, and your knowledge, all of which made this fantastic resource possible. Cheers! - The Stack Exchange Team
Coming up next: 2012. Stay tuned.