Community Profile

Welcome to the community for the Hugh Laurie Birthday Charity Drive!

What's this whole thingummy?

Inspired by the stellar success of the rsl_bday_drive a handful of fans have gathered together to initiate the hl_bday_drive - a charity drive to join the forces of different communities and fandoms around the actor Hugh Laurie for a good cause. Considering the sheer force of nature that fangirls and fanboys can sometimes be, we also thought a fresh wind in the fan communities would be welcomed during summer rerun season.
In raising money for Save the Children, we want to give the fans and ourselves the opportunity to celebrate Hugh Laurie´s 50th birthday on 11th June, 2009.

'Save the Children'? Spiffing idea!

Save the Children is a charity Hugh Laurie has supported for a long time, he still donates his share of the Band from TV earnings to it, and it has received four out of four stars Charity Navigator.

Here's more:

Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world. In order to continue to accomplish sustainable change, Save the Children has identified the following four Priority Goals for children. Here are just some examples of ways that, with your help, we have accomplished these goals in the communities we serve.

1. Children are protected from harm through physical and psychosocial assistance.
Save the Children provided emergency assistance to 3 million children and families in 26 countries in 2008, including cyclone-devastated Myanmar and hurricane affected areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

2. Children learn and develop with age-appropriate care and education.
In the last year, we expanded the number of early childhood programs to more than 6,200 sites in over 15 countries, including 60 in the U.S.

3. Children are healthy and well-nourished.
In 40 countries worldwide 9 million children under 5 die each year. Our community-based model for health care delivery is helping to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children who might otherwise die from treatable or preventable causes.

4. Children thrive in food-secure and economically viable households.
To help adolescents transition from school to the workforce, we have initiated training programs in 10 countries, and made loans for youth-led businesses.

By tailoring our programs to achieve one or more of these goals we have evolved into an effective international relief and development organization, providing communities with a hand up, not a handout.

I say, and why would I want join into the whats-it?

Because fandom then becomes more than squeeing, flailing, discussing and crafting things among like-minded people (as fun as that may be!). It´s easy as this: Fandom gives back and tries to express its thankfulness to one of the persons who so often brings us joy and entertainment.


Hullo?! And what's with that bally money?

Donating is very easy. We have set up a Firstgiving page here. Firstgiving is an independent platform for raising funds online, which is endorsed by Save the Children for online fundraising. The handy thing is that we don´t have anything to do with your money, it goes directly to the charity and where it belongs. Here's an article that goes more in-depth about Firstgiving from Forbes magazine.

How to: when you are on the Hugh Laurie Charity Drive Firstgivings page you simply click the orange "Give now" button, enter your details and the amount you wish to donate. Credit cards accepted. If you have difficulties donating, you can contact cadeira and she'll try to help you because it's likely her fault in the first place for not being clear on how to donate properly.

So, again in short:

1. Go here.
2. Click "Give now."
3. Enter the amount you want to donate. Enter a name that´ll appear in the donor list. Leave the "Matching gift" box unchecked. Enter your details. Click "continue."
4. Check the entered details and confirm them.
5. You´ll then get a receipt.

Special note: Firstgiving deducts a small transaction fee of 7.5% to process online donations. To quote them, that covers "securing and hosting the site so you can take comfort in leaving your credit card details, vetting 501 (c) nonprofits associated with GuideStar, processing your donations securely, providing exceptional support - when you contact us, you speak to real people (we are fundraisers and donors, just like you!), and ensuring the transfer of money raised to the nonprofit."

While not ideal, Firstgiving is legit and we feel that the small administrative costs are worth it for both ease and security. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email support@firstgiving.com, or contact the Firstgiving staff here.

There is a FAQ page in which other payment possibilities can be found. If you have questions, email us at hughlauriebdrive@gmail.com!

Other stuff

Layout by: thefulcrum, edited by bananacosmic

Original F.A.Q by poorfrances, edited for hl_bday_drive by cadeira

Hosting of our graphics by the generous jane_hidell