December 17, 2011 07:55 AM UTC

What's the best-written ask you've seen this holiday season?

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• by: DanleySteel

‘Tis the season!

As Tom Lehrer put it:

“It’s always seemed to me, after all, that Christmas, with its spirit of giving, offers us all a wonderful opportunity each year to reflect upon what we all most sincerely and deeply believe in.

I refer, of course, to money.”

So: what’s the most effective fund-raising ask you’ve been hit with this holiday season, and what made it special? (My favorite so far this season is after the fold. I like the attention-getter it has, the way it concisely states the unique contribution of the cause, and closes with a direct ask and a thank you. I’m always amazed, but I never fail to get at least one fund-raising letter each holiday season which doesn’t tuck a “thank you” in at the end.)

I could wait for this diary a couple more weeks. But then we’d all be without the perfect opportunity to plug our favorite charities just as other people are thinking of opening their wallets.

And there are no shortage of fascinating opportunities to make a difference with some cash–and no trivial amount of well-dressed scams and flashy money-pits as well. I want to know where all y’all recommend giving…

From Wikipedia author Aniruddha Kumar

I can speak Hindi, Urdu, English, Sanskrit and Moroccan. But I can’t read what’s on my computer screen.

Being blind online means I have to listen to all the text — including ads. That’s one of the reasons I rely on Wikipedia so much. It doesn’t waste my time by making me sit through advertising like almost every other website.

Wikipedia is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It takes the concept that everyone has a basic right to information and makes it into something real — a tool that’s free for anyone to access, even blind people like me, and completely neutral.

When I first found out about Wikipedia — that I could be part of this amazing collective project — I knew I wanted to contribute. And I’m asking you to join me.

Will you support Wikipedia with a gift of $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford?

Wikipedia gets almost as many visitors as huge sites like Google and Facebook, but it operates on a tiny fraction of their resources. And it depends entirely on donations from readers like you.

Instead of ads, Wikipedia has a community of millions of volunteer editors double-checking every word and citation. I’m so grateful for them – their work makes learning online possible.

The philosophy of Wikipedia is to make a sea from drops. And it applies to everyone who contributes, whether a few edits or a few dollars.

Thank you,

Aniruddha Kumar

Wikipedia Author