bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

American Apparel Wins Our Microfinancing Campaign Contest!

As the product of immigrant(s, depending on how far you want to go back), we are very tuned in to this issue. (Er, especially when American Apparel is blogging about it.) Our American heart breaks a bit when we see countries of other nations waved at pro-immigration rallies in San Francisco, but—er, not so much "but" as a semi-colon—were moved by this:

"Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience."

We love that photo so much we had to post it four times. (It is also quite small.)

This is also our way of saying that American Apparel won the giant microfinancing campaign contest! As soon as the money clears through the system (PayPal users, you'll know what we mean here), we'll be back to announce the recipient of our micro-ly financed loan—made on behalf of the Bunnyshop community. Hurrah to every single person who clicked.

Previously:
Our Amazing Microfinancing Success!
The Bunnyshop Microfinancing Campaign, Continued

Amazing Amazing Micro-Financing Success!

We totally did it! As of this morning, we've officially raised $150 for our microfinancing pick, just by everyone being totally amazing and clicking away. To recap, we had everyone vote on the favorite brand:

American Apparel
Marc by Marc Jacobs

And by—everyone must be so weary of hearing us explain this—clicking on a link on the next page, we raised some money—$150.04! (Or, less confusingly, by clicking on any of the Google text links roughly to the left of this post.) We are going to do this one more day—we're sure we can make it up to $200. This is who we'd give the money to if we could today. (We hedge because she's probably going to be fully financed in about 20 minutes—this shit moves fast!—and we're not going to have the money through the Google system for a bit. But we're going to choose someone equally amazing, deserving, and, er, subject-appropriate in the dyeing-clothing way.

So very last time (for this round): American Apparel or Marc Jacobs? We can say the tides have turned—and at the moment, MJ is kicking AA's ass.

Above: Marc by Marc Jacobs Margie velour shorts, $98

The Bunnyshop Microfinancing Adventure, Continued

Holy crap! We are more than halfway to our $150! We raised another $40 yesterday—all from just a bunch of clicking. We don't want to annoy anybody, but there are two ways to contribute to our week-ending goal—which we are now praying we will be able to make before our Sunday cut-off. We know we can do it!

Two ways:

1: Simpler: Just click on one of those Google ad links roughly to the left of this post

2: Slightly more complicated: Vote in our Google search poll. But the key key key thing!

2A: Vote by clicking for your favored brand:

Marc Jacobs or
American Apparel

2B: The key part! Click on one of the links on the next page. Otherwise, it doesn't count. Just do it super quick and we will have our $150 soon! And we will be able to help fund Leah's Ngeta Group, and their efforts to make a living selling clothes in Tanzania. (Constant readers will notice that the don-ee changes every day—this is because the previous have been funded before we had a chance to. We are torn between "Curses!" and, of course, "Good for them!")

Finally: We will announce our final total, and the winner of our favored brand, on Monday!

Above: Marc by Marc Jacobs aviators, $98

The Bunnyshop Hearts Microfinancing Campaign!

OMG! We made $45 yesterday! Right out of thin air! Now so that might not seem like very much, but all it took was a bunch of clicks and we're almost 1/3rd of the way to our $150 goal. We're supporting the micro-financed loan—to be honest our heart broke a little bit when the woman whose clothing business we'd hoped to support already had her loan funded—but then we were like, wow! This shit moves fast. And, er, not to begrudge her success because we were busy being petty.

Anyhoo! We have a new recipient, and a new plan: We're raising as much as we can through the weekend, and then sending it off. We're hoping to support Tecla's Bustani Group, though if their loan's funded by Sunday, all the better, and we'll move on to our next intended target.

How it works! We're doing this as a poll \ funding exercise:

1: The easiest way to do this is to just click on one of the Google ad links roughly to the left (and maybe slightly above or below) this post

2: Alternately, our poll! Vote for your favorite brand, American Apparel or Marc Jacobs, by clicking on one of the other—and then the key key key thing, click one of the links on the search page. We will go batshit with joy if we can beat our $45 one-day record.

So! Is it ....

American Apparel or
Marc Jacobs?

And let us say that at the moment, AA is kicking MJ's ass.

Marc Jacobs or American Apparel?

Last year, we lived in an amazing apartment in the Mission in SF, with three amazing roommates, one of whom went on to drive us to Mongolia, from London. Part of that trip involved raising a whole shitload of money for Mongolian peoples, and when we told our roommates that we were going to do our fundraising through BS, one of our other roommates (otherwise an exceptionally lovely person) that we had overestimated our audience's propensity for giving to fashion blogs. Ha ha! He was wrong, and Bunnyshop readers raised a fucking shitload of money for Mercy Corps Mongolia, and the fixing of Mongolian tents (we're guessing) and clean drinking water (we're saying with authority) and all that.

Now, we are no Natalie Portman, but we are motivated, because this is, after all, a site dedicated in many ways to the buying of $200 dresses, although we know that that is hardly the sum of our community's interest in the world around us. So now we have a scheme (one of many): We never pimp our Google ad search service even though it should be a money-generating thing, because we are always annoyed when people ask us to do that. But! We have been trying to think of a smart way, and a smart thing to do things for, and our answer is: microfinancing of small businesses in poor places! And we have found our recipient, from the organization Kiva ("loans that change lives"). Fatuma Kilasi owns a shop in Tanzania, and is hoping to get a loan to buy more clothing for her store. She has, we have learned, repaid an earlier loan. Other people have raised $300 of the $450 she's requested, and we desperately, desperately want to supply that other $150.

So this week, we are doing this all no-cost for everyone: We get a small amount (very small, but it adds up) every time someone clicks on the result of a search in our Google search box. Here's what we'll do: every day this week, we're going to highlight two searches—today, for "American Apparel" and "Marc Jacobs"—two of our most popular search terms. (Tragically, and perhaps unbelievably, our top two are "Shamwow" and "camo wedding dress"). The key key key thing: once you click to the search results page, click one of those links that shows up. That's it!

We've already heard this is a ... non-optimized plan—which okay, maybe it isn't, but we've never been that bothered by non-streamlined-ness. (We have built our empire upon it, wethinks.) If half the people reading this click twice, we'll have that money by the end of the week. We know we can do it!

So please use your clicks to vote for your favorite, and in the meantime, we'll be raising money for a lovely little clothing store in Tanzania—and remember, the money comes in when you click on the link on the search results page.

1. American Apparel
2. Marc Jacobs

Above, our choice: the AA baby rib tank, $14

Hurrah!

 

PS! We're going whole hog on this, so clicking on any of the ads in the Google ad box in the lefthand column will accomplish the same thing. We'll keep everyone posted on how much money we're raising!