Did I say that there was no limit to my pandering in order to raise the most money of all in the DonorsChoose.org’s Blogger Challenge 2008!

I did, indeed!

Thus, this week, the Swisher boys make their annual appearance to deliver a pitch about why you should give early and often to fund technology projects for high school students.

Well, more a threat than the soft sell actually, since they just saw the new Disney film, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” and are clearly hopped up on tiny dog power.

The DonorsChoose.org’s Blogger Challenge started two weeks ago. And donations have more than doubled since last week.

At $7,970 from 23 donors reaching 674 students, BoomTown is now in the No. 1 spot.

(Take that, Fred Wilson!)

DonorsChoose.org is a charity that funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors.

You can click here to reach the giving page or use the widget on the lower right side of the ATD homepage or the left side of the main BoomTown page.

You better, as you will see from the Swisher boys’ video here:

It’s been just a week, and BoomTown is rocking out in the DonorsChoose.org’s Blogger Challenge 2008!

It started a week ago, with us featuring a video from my hell-froze-over dinner with Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang, who ably endured a meal with me in support of the kids who benefit from the unique charity.

DonorsChoose.org is a charity that funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors.

Last year, BoomTown did pretty well, raising $12,199 from 52 donors and impacting 1,940 students.

This year, just a week in, we are already at $3,617, from nine donors and impacting 348 students. That puts BoomTown in the No. 2 spot behind our archrival VC Fred Wilson (he is at $5,877).

That’s great, but I have a long list of technology requests in high-need public schools, so we need to get cracking.

You can click here to reach the giving page or use the widget on the lower right side of the ATD homepage or the left side of the main BoomTown page.

To get you inspired, the fine folks at JibJab sent me this deeply embarrassing video of me and Yang (well, our heads, actually) dropped into a promotional video for “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” which opens Oct. 24.

It’s painful to watch (most especially, Yang in a dress as Gabrielle), but it’s for the kids!

Also, there is no telling what low level of pandering–next week, for example, I plan on press-ganging my kids to help out–I am capable of to raise the money.

Here’s the video as proof:

If it’s Oct. 1, it must be time for the DonorsChoose.org’s Blogger Challenge 2008!

DonorsChoose.org is a charity that funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors.

Last year, BoomTown did pretty well, raising $12,199 from 52 donors and impacting 1,940 students.

But Tomato Nation’s Sarah Bunting ran away with the overall competition by raising more than $100,000 from almost 1,100 donors, mostly by promising to dress up like a giant tomato.

In the tech arena, venture capitalist Fred Wilson beat me–despite my best efforts, including the use of BoomTown’s progeny as props in shameless videos over the course of the competition–by raising $18,538 from 92 donors.

Both Bunting and Wilson were awarded lunch with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, the prize his company offered to the bloggers who garnered the biggest number of donors.

Since Yang was not talking to me last year, part of Yahoo’s crackerjack cave-dwelling press policy at the time, I tried but failed to capture the coveted lunch, so I could get a little time with the reluctant-to-speak exec.

But we do not give up at AllThingsD: The Yang pursuit lasted all year long. He finally relented in late May, after I cornered him onstage at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference and forced him to promise in front of an audience of more than 600 to have a lovely grilled cheese with me.

Yang’s price? That I donate $500 to DonorsChoose.org.

Thus, a deal was struck and, better yet, we ended up having a lovely dinner at John Bentley’s in Woodside two weeks ago.

Now I am back without an insane obsession, although I have my best begging tools at the ready–now both my kids can talk–and a long list of technology requests in high-need public schools.

You can click here to reach the giving page or use the widget on the lower right side of the ATD homepage or the left side of the main BoomTown page.

Time is of the essence! In the tech blogger space, Wilson is already up to his nefarious VC tricks. Worse still, the very sneaky Robert Scoble has entered the contest too.

I simply cannot get bested by a clown like Scoble, now can I?

(I mean, really, take a long gander at the frequently nude dude pictured here!)

I think I have just found my 2008 inspiration! Game on, naked boy!

Seriously, start giving until it hurts and then give more or I am in danger of being Scobleized.

Until then, here is a special video message from Yang himself, proof that determination and obnoxiousness always prevail:

Money quote: “Over the past couple of years, the nonprofit watchdogs that help donors have added more information to their sites, and they’ve increased the number of organizations they follow. Moreover, information about thousands of charities–including Internal Revenue Service returns and governance details–is now available free on the Web.”

See this chart below for some information on charity watchdog groups (click on the image to make it bigger):

We tried but failed to capture the coveted lunch with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, which was part of the October Tech Blogger Challenge for DonorsChoose.org.

Major lunchroom snub!

Tomato Nation’s Sarah Bunting ran away with the overall competition by raising more than $100,000 from almost 1,100 donors and promising to dress up like a giant tomato (a genius move that should have occurred to us!).

In the tech arena, VC Fred Wilson bested us–despite our best efforts that included the use of BoomTown’s progeny as props in shameless videos over the course of the competition–by raising $18,538 from 92 donors.

Still, we were second in the money category with $12,199 from 52 donors, impacting 1,940 students.

According to Yahoo’s blog Yodel Anecdotal, both Bunting and Wilson will be awarded lunch with Yang (he only had to have it with Bunting, but our aggressive efforts in the tech area inspired Yahoo to offer lunch to Wilson too, pretty much because he is not us!). Why this very lively corporate blog has such a goofy name shall be a topic for another day.

To recap: DonorsChoose.org funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors. (AllThingsD picked tech projects in both San Francisco and Washington, D.C.)

Besides raising funds for kids who need it, we also had hoped to win an award Yahoo is sponsoring for the blogger who garners the biggest number of donors–a free lunch with CEO Jerry Yang!

Lunch or not, we’re thrilled our hunger spurred more giving to needy kids.

So we’ll be leaving up our page there for you to keep giving. Click to go to our AllThingsD page on DonorsChoose.org here or use the thermometer on the left side of this page to give! There are still 11 projects that need funding, so give, you overpaid techies!

And, Jerry, we still aren’t done with you yet! BoomTown likes to have a bite, as you know, and we shall have our meal in the Yahoo cafeteria one way or another!

Chomp.

Yes, this is the day before the last full day of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s 100-day No-Sacred-Cows Vision Quest, which BoomTown has been keeping relentless track of, ever since he told investors in the summer that he was undertaking a top-to-bottom look at his troubled company and that all holy bovines had better watch out.

So far though, in terms of truly dramatic change, it’s Cows: 99, Yang: 0.

Sure, Yahoo has done some acquiring, like the $350 million purchase of emailer Zimbra; it has dumped some tiny products (music stuff, for example); there have been more management reorgs and departures (the latest being marketing head Cammie Dunaway, news of which we broke here); and recent third-quarter earnings have been touted as they-weren’t-as-bad-as-we-thought-they-would-be, which does not exactly set one’s hair on fire.

But no massive cuts, no major management upheavals, no drastic shift in business, no game-changing purchases and no being acquired either.

Then again, there’s still one more day to go!

For Yang, it seems, time flies when you’re not having fun.

At a recent gathering related to Yahoo’s Right Media acquisition, he noted: “It is a lonely job in the sense that you have to make some of the tough calls.”

Did he say lonely? Does he not know yet that BoomTown is at the ready to assuage Yang’s ennui and have a lively lunch, if only he would emerge from the cave he has been living in?

Plus, kids could benefit, if you help BoomTown in the October Tech Blogger Challenge for DonorsChoose.org.

So, click on through to our AllThingsD page on DonorsChoose.org here to give early and often!

The charity funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors. (AllThingsD.com picked tech projects in both San Francisco and Washington, D.C.)

Besides raising funds for kids who need it, we also hope to win an award Yahoo is sponsoring for the tech blogger who garners the biggest number of donors–a free lunch with Yang!

So far, we’ve raised $12,291 from 49 donors, putting us second behind VC Fred Wilson in the tech sector.

So go now to our AllThingsD page on DonorsChoose.org here or use the thermometer on the left side of this page to give early and often!

Not convinced by me? Then listen to my persuasive sons, who tout the charity again (here is their last appearance, engineered by their shameless mother).

Here’s the video:

Give here to DonorsChoose.org.

We’re now at $12,056 with 44 donors and solidly in the No. 2 slot, with VC Fred Wilson still king of our little tech charity mountain.

Let’s knock him off!

So go now and click on through to our AllThingsD page on DonorsChoose.org here or use the thermometer on the left side of this page to give early and often!

Why click here?

Because it is well and good to help help BoomTown in the October Tech Blogger Challenge for DonorsChoose.org, which funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors.

(AllThingsD picked tech projects in both San Francisco and Washington, D.C.)

Besides raising funds for kids who need it, we also hope to win an award Yahoo is sponsoring for the tech blogger who garners the biggest number of donors–a free lunch with CEO Jerry Yang, who remains as grumpy as ever toward his old pal at BoomTown.

Soften him up with love, sweet love and give now!

So, remember to click on through to our AllThingsD page on DonorsChoose.org here to give early and often!

So far, no dice!

I don’t know why, but it might have to do with Yang wanting to be sealed in a non-press bubble, while he does his 100-day evaluation of the company (although he has certainly gotten out and about in Silicon Valley, visiting everyone and their cousins in the tech sector of late).

Or maybe they don’t like the ongoing leaks to me and other reporters about the company’s doings from, well, everyone with an Internet connection at Yahoo (and that does not include the people who have left of late, of whom there are many).

So much is the displeasure that Yang made an impassioned plea to staunch the uncontrolled flow of tidbits about the company to the hundreds of VPs he gathered almost a week ago at what some who attended are now calling the “Kumbaya Summit.”

Though uninvited, I wrote a detailed account of the meeting, which included an appearance by Apple’s Steve “Oprah” Jobs, from such sources.

At the meeting, Yang argued that these alleged leakers, whom I would rather compare to whistle-blowers, were harming the company.

I don’t know about that, as I think most of them truly care about Yahoo, but feel frustrated with the leadership and want to do something to get things moving.

(And let’s hope execs there don’t get all vindictive and conduct a press-leaking witch hunt to find any of these employees, because I know that will only result in filling my inbox with even more juicy scoops for a long time to come.)

So it’s freeze time for BoomTown and we must remedy this sad state of affairs (see this nice picture above of Yang and other Yahoo co-founder David Filo at D3 with Walt and me in happier times).

But better yet: What if we could mend our relationship and also do good at the same time! And BoomTown readers can help.

In September, I wrote a post about a cool charity site called DonorsChoose.org, which funds classroom projects in high-need public schools, using the Web to match teacher project requests with donors.

The site allows teachers nationwide to upload proposals for resources and projects–from books to playgrounds–they need funding for and matches them with donors.

DonorsChoose then authenticates every project proposal before posting it, buys the resources when a project is funded and sends the goods off to teachers, with some donors also adding more money to pay for fulfillment costs.

Now, in the month of October, it has launched a “Blogger Challenge,” wrangling some bloggers to compete to raise money among our readers by picking favorite projects and setting a fund-raising goal.

Here is the AllThingsD page on the DonorsChoose site, and you can also access it using the nifty fund-raising thermometer on the left rail of this page.

I picked tech projects in both San Francisco (where I live) and Washington, D.C. (where Walt Mossberg lives) and we have set a goal of $25,000.

Some of the other bloggers involved, besides me, include Peter Rojas of Engadget, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Anil Dash of Six Apart, Fred Wilson of A VC, Lockhart Steele (formerly of Gawker) on his Curbed and Eater blogs, Apartment Therapy and Tomato Nation.

And Web companies are also participating: Google is giving an award for the bloggers who raise the most money, Six Apart an award for the bloggers who help the greatest number of students and Federated Media will award the bloggers who come up with the most creative incentives for readers to give.

We hope to win that too, via our dastardly master plan of winning the award Yahoo is giving. The company is sponsoring an award for the bloggers who inspire the most readers to give and the winner will get a free lunch with Jerry Yang!

That’s where you come in! I need numbers! Hundreds! Thousands! From Yahoo’s troops even!

Even Yang agrees!

“The DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge could inspire the blogosphere to help hundreds of thousands of students from low-income communities,” said Yang in the press release from DonorsChoose about the challenge. “This challenge represents a great union of citizen journalists and citizen philanthropists. Yahoo is excited to see which bloggers can engage the most readers in improving our public schools.”

In point of fact, Yahoo has been very generous to DonorsChoose, giving out donation certificates to its employees, helping in the charity’s tech build-out and being uniformly generous in making donations.

Sure, you can get riveted to TechMeme’s new Leaderboard (we’re No. 45! we’re No. 45!) if you want to know where you rank with a bunch of fellow bloggers or you can pick your little head up and look at the wide world out there in desperate need of some geek-fueled help.

Yes, we can! And, as a reward for your generosity to those in need, I will make a video for you of Yang munching on a grilled cheese sandwich!

Also below is a video I did of DonorsChoose Founder Charles Best, talking about the charity:

And here again is the AllThingsD page on the DonorsChoose site.

Writing about however many millions of dollars go to however many frivolous widget companies is about as interesting as watching Robert Scoble’s blog video lectures. (Sorry, Bob!)

So it is nice to see a good (and good-for-you) charity site like DonorsChoose get some money and, hopefully, attention.

The site, which lets teachers upload proposals for resources and projects–from books to playgrounds–they need funding for and matches them with donors, has to be limited in geography. But today, it will open its services to every public school in the U.S. to allow teachers nationwide to get their wish lists fulfilled online.

With the national expansion, the nonprofit hopes be on track to becoming 100% self-sustaining, according to its founder, a former Bronx schoolteacher named Charles Best.

That’s due to $11 million in possible funding from a panoply of big Web players. EBay Founder Pierre Omidyar has promised to pony up $6 million, with Yahoo’s David Filo, longtime VC Vinod Khosla and Netflix’s Reed Hastings adding in the rest. (Khosla was an early supporter, allowing the site to expand to the San Francisco area from its New York base.)

The catch for the funding? Omidyar will release the bulk of his commitment only if DonorsChoose completes the round by Nov. 30.

It seems like a pretty good investment to me, using the Internet to clarify and amplify the donating process. Sort of like eBay meets Match.com meets Amazon. So far, the site has given away $14.5 million to projects.

Best says DonorsChoose authenticates every project proposal before posting it. Then it purchases the resources when a project is funded and sends the goods off to teachers, with some donors also adding in more money to pay for fulfillment costs.

That will now be a lot cheaper and more efficient due to a donation by Ariba of fulfillment software and services to DonorsChoose that the site values at over $2 million. That follows a donation by Filo, said Best, of five Yahoo engineers who were lent to DonorsChoose full-time for five months to rewrite its code base.

But Best is more articulate than I can be, so here is a video of him talking about his site: