I did it! Gifting support is turned on and seems to be working great. Please test it to make sure. 😉

Jessica and I are nearing the end of our 10th anniversary beach vacation. She's been very patient with my time on the laptop finishing Charitocracy's gifting system. It reminds me a bit of when I wrote a tech book during our honeymoon cruise... She's probably used to me by now.

I still have a PDF waiting in the wings, which I intend to attach to Charitocracy gift code emails once it's ready. It folds into a little paper gift box, since some folks want a physical "thing" they can give. All I need to do is write the code to personalize it with names and gift codes. Reply if you think you'll want one! Maybe I can finish it on the plane ride home tomorrow?

I'm writing this here so you can hold me to it. That might be the only way to ensure it gets done. I will put a gifting system in place in time for the holidays, for some definition of holidays. Maybe New Year's?

You may have noticed your new Giving Tree, the ability to make friendships, or the invitation email system, where you can easily invite friends and family to join Charitocracy. You probably haven't noticed there are now 10 donation levels to replace the previous 4:

1. Crystal: $1/month
2. Ruby: $2/month
3. Bronze: $3/month
4. Emerald: $5/month
5. Silver: $7/month
6. Sapphire: $10/month
7. Gold: $20/month
8. Diamond: $30/month
9. Platinum: $50/month
10. Arkenstone: $70/month

Crystal and the gemstones are shown first, so as not to intimidate newcomers with so many choices. Clicking a "more options..." link will reveal the rest. If you've been meaning to bump up your level now that you've gotten the hang of Charitocracy, say from $1/month to $2/month, feel free!

All of these recent changes have been prerequisites to the gifting system I'm working on. Charitocracy would make a great gift for your loved ones. It's the gift that keeps on giving all year! Want to get your children involved in philanthropy? This will be a great way! Looking for a last-minute gift? Well, I hope so, since that's probably when I'll be done coding it all up...

Stay tuned and cheer me on, this is going to be a lot of work! But I'm committed now. Charitocracy will make a great New Year's Day MLK Day Valentine's Day President's Day April Fools Day gift?

At 3am on Giving Tuesday, I completed the new invitation system. Hours ahead of schedule! Look for the Invite link in the menu when you're logged in at Charitocracy. You simply enter a friend's email address, customize the message if you like, then click send! When your friends sign up -- which if they're as smart and kind and attractive as you they surely will --they'll automatically become branches in your Giving Tree!

Since Thanksgiving we've had days for shopping in chain stores, for shopping in local stores, and for shopping online. Today is the day to give. Here are 3 concrete ways you can do that at Charitocracy!

1. Sign up if you haven't yet, as little as $13/year! But if you have, then consider sweetening the pot with a one-time donation of any amount, or upgrade your monthly donation.
2. Invite 5 friends. (That number is arbitrary. Go for 10!) How big can you make your Giving Tree grow on Giving Tuesday? Customize the message a bit so your friends will feel you, not just hear you.
3. Share this blog post! Whether you're on Facebook or Twitter or some social medium that's all the rave with the kids, get the word out about Charitocracy! It's pretty cool, right? Tell people about it!

I've been sacrificing a lot of sleep to get these latest features done: friendships, activity logs, privacy settings, and now invitations. But that's not the end of it! There's one more I hope to get done next month, and it's... bigly. More on that next time. But right now we need to focus on getting as many new Charitocracy donors signed up today, and just in time for the November pot to be awarded!