First Post

Hello and welcome to my account of what will, hopefully be a successful journey to a very ambitous target. Me - why am I doing this... My name is James and I am 26 years old. Since I was a small boy I had always said that I wanted to be a millionaire before I was 30 years old. I didn't really know why but it seemed a good way of sounding interesting, it showed ambition and drive plus I always thought that having that much money would complete me somehow. I suppose that I have grown up a bit and have learned the truth in the “old adages” that friends and family are most important. But I have also learnt that establishing any sort of career and financial position takes hard work, dedication and time – let alone accruing a net worth of £1million. However, I am stubborn as hell – so I have decided to see if I can raise £1million for Children’s Charaties before I turn 30 instead. How? I don't plan to run! This is a massive target and I don't plan to run, walk, eat, lose, play, sail or take on any physical challenges in the pursuit of this target. Instead I plan to make this an experiment in new methods of fundraising. The "economic crisis" has caused the public to cut back on charitable donations as people need that "just £1 a month..." for the mortgage payment or to put food on the table and many charities have not been able to convince them otherwise. To be honest I haven’t decided on how to even start on this task all I know is that the project’s aim is to raise money for a number of different Children’s Charities as this will throw it open to world forum. I have been a voracious “shadower” and sometimes contributor to the online world. This is my first blog as I have never felt that I had something worthwhile to say – this has definitely changed now. As a result this project will look to use as many internet tools as possible to essentially “Open Source” everything from fundraising ideas all the way through to meeting and converting potential donors into donators. When this is completed we will have a great case study, not only on charity but also on the power of online community building.