
Archive.org donations matched 3:1 until 2014 - blhack
http://archive.org/donate/?
======
profquail
The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which means that
if you're in the US and your employer offers matching for charitable gifts,
you can leverage your donation even further.

For example, if your employer matches your gift 1:1, donating $100 turns into
$800: (1+1) * (1+3) * $100 = $800.

~~~
eru
And that's in pre-tax money, isn't it?

~~~
hkmurakami
I don't really follow... For the donor, we deduct your giving from your
taxable income, so by definition it must be pretax. For the donee, they are
exempt from taxes so there is no concept of pretax.

 _shrugs_ did I miss something?

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lelandbatey
Done and done.

I may only be a poor college student, but the fact that my $10 just became $40
towards Archive.org compels me to donate.

~~~
m_rcin
Depending on the point of view, either your $10 became $40, or $30 from the
anonymous donor just became $40.

I've learnt about the concept of donation matching only recently (it's not
used all over the world yet). It doesn't seem very honest to me. And not only
to me, e.g. [http://blog.givewell.org/2011/12/15/why-you-shouldnt-let-
don...](http://blog.givewell.org/2011/12/15/why-you-shouldnt-let-donation-
matching-affect-your-giving/)

~~~
adventured
It's completely honest in this case, because it's entirely forthright. You
know the deal before you donate.

There's absolutely nothing inherent to the concept such that it's dishonest.

It exists to drive others to get involved. It's an excellent mechanism and
works very well by getting attention and encouraging people that their
contributions will be magnified. It's a deal: you give, I give. There's
nothing dishonest about that.

Further, the donor in this case is matching an 'unlimited' sum. There's no
artificial cut-off.

~~~
teddyh
I think the correct word to express m_rcin’s concerns should not be
“dishonest”, but “manipulative”.

------
JohnTHaller
Here's the backstory on what was lost in the November fire:
[http://blog.archive.org/2013/11/06/scanning-center-fire-
plea...](http://blog.archive.org/2013/11/06/scanning-center-fire-please-help-
rebuild/)

------
aaronbrethorst
I've received far more than $50 in value from archive.org. Total no-brainer,
especially with the 3:1 match.

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sanxiyn
Done:
[https://blockchain.info/tx/953f52b1bf1e55e85c59e28e319093c0a...](https://blockchain.info/tx/953f52b1bf1e55e85c59e28e319093c0a9d613a94d566836bddc5fd0fa27da50)

~~~
revelation
This reminds me of this wonderful reddit bot:
[http://www.reddit.com/user/bitcointip](http://www.reddit.com/user/bitcointip)

~~~
est
reddit could really start a nova business model like that. Think there are
already many novelty accounts and bitofnews, youtube linker bots, etc.

------
bane
I used to think Project Gutenberg was one of the most important projects on
the internet, then Wikipedia. But the amount of value I'm getting out of
Archive.org increases every day. Some examples:

1) I'm a fan of old-time radio because it can be more entertaining than books
on tape or the radio for long car or bus rides. Archive.org has an
unbelievable collection, literally _months_ of well produced radio plays,
including some great classic sci-fi like "X minus 1".
[https://archive.org/details/XMinus1_A](https://archive.org/details/XMinus1_A)

[https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio](https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio)

2) On top of hosting a copy of all of Project Gutenberg (almost 40k books),
they have numerous other libraries including an awesome collection of scanned
Magazines. I'm into old computers and sci-fi, so their OMNI archive
([https://archive.org/details/omni-magazine](https://archive.org/details/omni-
magazine)) and an unbelievable collection of old computer magazines
([https://archive.org/details/computermagazines](https://archive.org/details/computermagazines))
fit the bill. (There's also a pretty big library of classic computer books).

3) It's backed up with an extensive collection of old computer software.
[https://archive.org/details/software](https://archive.org/details/software)

4) An awesome video archive with everything from archived old computer shows
like the computer chronicles
[https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles](https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles)
to a few thousand old movies, many of which are still worth watching
[https://archive.org/details/feature_films](https://archive.org/details/feature_films)
including "Plan 9 from outer space"
[https://archive.org/details/Plan9FromOuterSpace_811](https://archive.org/details/Plan9FromOuterSpace_811)
and even the impressive (if incomplete) Chrontendo
[https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22chrontendo...](https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22chrontendo%22)

Though I wish it was a bit better organized, browsing around archive.org, and
hitting upon pockets full of awesome like the 5 above remind me of being a kid
and going to the central library for the day and browsing the periodical and
reference sections and coming across all sorts of great stuff. I haven't been
this excited to use the internet in a long time and in many ways it seems like
Archive.org fulfills much of the promise of the internet as a repository of
all human knowledge.

Sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but it really is _that_ great of a
resource.

~~~
shubhamjain
With all due to respect to Internet Archive efforts, I would be a bit cynical
here. I once downloaded Code rush documentry and the quality was so bad with
heavy lost frames and flickering that it was impossible to watch it. At
another instance, I downloaded mp3 of a classical piece, "william tell
overture" and it was nothing like what I have heard it in its best.

I might be talking about only specific cases that happened with me but quality
wise I didn't had much luck with it. Albeit, I do realize the project itself
is huge and have been fan of the Internet Time Machine.

~~~
bane
Quality is definitely all over the place, likely due to the volunteer nature
of the effort. I've also found several copies of the same item, each of
different qualities from time to time.

But the important part is that I found a copy at all. It literally didn't
exist anywhere else on the internet.

 _edit_ Here's a pretty good video of "Code Rush"

[https://archive.org/details/CodeRush_616](https://archive.org/details/CodeRush_616)

and another not as good
[https://archive.org/details/CodeRush](https://archive.org/details/CodeRush)

BTW, here's some copies of the Overture (the familiar fun bit is about
9minutes in)

[https://archive.org/details/WilliamTellOverture_894](https://archive.org/details/WilliamTellOverture_894)
(an old 1910 recording)

[https://archive.org/details/RossiniWilliamTell-
Overture](https://archive.org/details/RossiniWilliamTell-Overture) (a 1940s
era)

[https://archive.org/details/ReinerWilliamTellOverture](https://archive.org/details/ReinerWilliamTellOverture)
(a much better stereo modern recording)

Here's a piano octet arrangement of the piece in 2011
([https://archive.org/details/Marioajero-
WilliamTellOvertureBy...](https://archive.org/details/Marioajero-
WilliamTellOvertureByRossini4Pianos16Hands309-3))

and tons more.

------
rschmitty
Thank you whoever is providing the match, no brainier donation for me.

Anyone know why the library of congress doesn't combine forces?

Maybe the NSA could help restore/collect :)

------
hobs
I am going to check in with my employer, and then make it happen. I have given
them some money in the past, but I know they are in it for the long haul and
are always a quick search away to help me find something long gone.

As far as I am concerned, they are great examples of what the ethos of the
internet should be about.

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luckydude
Donated and got my company to do a 2:1 match.

Anyone know how often they update the total? I didn't see it go up.

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markcampbell
Is this a charitable donation in Canada?

~~~
kitcar
According to this article only if you make money in the US, and therefore fall
under the Canada-U.S. Tax Treaty (
[http://www.icnl.org/research/journal/vol3iss3/ig_2.htm](http://www.icnl.org/research/journal/vol3iss3/ig_2.htm)
)

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nextstep
Hopefully they had fire insurance.

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gandalfu
Just donated!

