1430/2009 Status

Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatu Allahi Wa Barakatuh,

Alhamduillah, all praise and thanks are due to Allah Almighty who has blessed HalfDate with a productive year in 1430/2009. With Allah’s help, thousands of HalfDaters like you have decided to be part of the solution.

YOU + HalfDate.com = getting things done: Putting smiles on children’s faces in Houston, paying the heating bills for needy Muslims in Philadelphia, protecting the environment through recycling, encouraging Muslims to give Halal loans for worthy causes, and other projects.

So, may Allah reward you with the sweetest date in Jannah.

Future Plans:

InshaAllah, We are going to form a HalfDate Advisory Board, which we hope to be something beneficial and different Because, not as your typical board that includes celebrity “shaikhs” who are out of touch with what’s going on in real life, HalfDate will seek the advice of “real” members of the communities, such as single-parents, teachers, students, community organizers, farmers, and children; as well as, professionals, like lawyers, accountants, journalists, …

We are also seeking proposals for upcoming drives.

http://halfdate.com/2009/06/04/house-keeping-drive/

Committed members for HalfDate Donor Club who agree to give from 100-1,000 in total.

HalfDate Budget:

• HalfDate tried to cover its costs thought Kalimaat sales. Alhamduillah, 108 boxes were sold and only 2 1 box(es) are left.
• During the DVD Drive, many of you have pooled collectively $300

Dawah DVD Drive

DateDrive of ذو الحجة of 1430/Dec 2009

Type of DateDrive: Half a date (financial)

Drive Deadline: Dec 22, 2009

Drive Target:

• Printing 1000 Dawah DVDs
• Giving DVDs to speakers who tour for sale, (financial help for them).
• Giving DVDs for distribution for Islamic Awareness Weeks.

Matching Challenges:
If we reach 150 contributors or $1,500 by Friday 12/18/09, one sister will give an additional $100 and one brother will give $400, inshaAllah. (we failed Friday 12/11/09 challenge).

Itemized Cost:

• $3000 for printing 1000 DVDs
• $90 Paypal fees (to save this fee, please consolidate your donations in one transaction or send big donations by check)
• $300 HalfDate costs

Giving Online: Click on Chipin

Giving By Mail:
Make checks to TheDeenShow (put a note referring to the 1000 DVD project)
Atten Eddie Redzovic
4900 N Lincoln AVE
Chicago IL 60625
*Please also CLICK HERE to post a comment so we update the total raised so far, thanks!

Interesting Facts About The Drive:

• First donation came in at Nov 23 1:09am by Br. Muhammed, may Allah reward him
• Before sending out first email: 4 HalfDaters donated, may Allah reward them
• With Sponsor Me apps on Facebook: 1 HalfDater donated, may Allah reward him
• After 1st email: 7 HalfDaters donated, may Allah reward them
• After 2nd email: 9 HalfDaters donated, may Allah reward them
• After 1st matching challenge: 22 HalfDaters donated, may Allah reward them
• Total number of contributions is 96
• Smallest date was $1, may Allah reward you
• Biggest date was $500, may Allah reward you
• 10 HalfDaters gave twice
• 2 HalfDaters gave three times
• 1 HalfDater gave 4 times
• A family gave $20 per family member May Allah reward them

Drive Stats:

Gift Range/Break Down:
2 donations of $1.00
3 donations of $2.00
3 donations of $3.00
26 donations of $5.00
1 donation of $6.00
1 donation of $7.00
22 donations of $10.00
1 donation of $11.00
7 donations of $15.00
10 donations of $20.00
1 donation of $30.00
6 donations of $50.00
5 donations of $100.00
2 donations of $150.00
1 donation of $106.00
1 donation of $140.00
3 donations of $200.00
1 donation of $300.00
1 donation of $500.00

Sample Shows:

Drive Sponsors
$30 to buy a sponsor ads

Fresh Date Sponsors(Platinum)

Qard Hasan Drive

DateDrive of ذو العقدة of 1430/Nov 2009

Type of DateDrive: Half a date (financial)

Drive Target:

1. Getting 7 people each give $500 loans for 6 months and 7 people each give $500 for one year, to help:
   1. A US women shelter/food bank to purchase a truck ($1000 needed)
   2. A Canadian medical “doctor” who graduated and is applying for practicing license in the US (he had some hardship and needs a $4000 loan). You are going to send most of the money directly to the school. Click here for more info
   3. A Malaysian family who is having hard time to feed their children because they are in debt to haram loan “sharks” and needs $1000. (pending her proofs)
   4. A Finnish needy Muslim. (her local community covered her need)
2. Three local groups of Muslims to form a Qard club and collect $500 (want to encourage personal Qard Hasan in your local communities). Once your local groups are formed, please post a comment.

To participate, post a comment (your email won’t be public) and we will contact you. Please answer these three questions: 1- How much can you lend ($500 or $1000)? 2- For how long (6 month or 1 year)? 3- For which project (women shelter or medical student)?

HalfDate assumes no responsibilities. Both borrowers have their personal guarantors and will pay you back with monthly installments.

Canadian “Doctor”

“I know this brother personally and he is a good person, honest and trustworthy. He was studying to be a doctor in the US, but sadly his Dad ran into financial troubles and his Mom had a stroke. Due to financial constraints he is unable to pay his fees to do his final exams and clinicals. He has been looking for a halal Islamic loan from a Muslim who he could sign a contract with and pay back. So far he has only gotten no’s from his local community when he has asked them for help.” -A community member of this brother.

School paper 1
School paper 2
School paper 3
School paper 4

He can pay back around $250-$300/ month inshaAllah, starting in February 2010.

Donation:

Brothers and sisters, if you can, please give a donation instead of a loan. Deposit/wire to:

TD Canada Trust (detail removed)

Paypal is (detail removed)

Cost of the Drive

• Unpaid time by several HalfDaters, may Allah reward them

Drive Sponsors

The following sponsors have either helped HalfDate before with free services or have bought a sponsorship package. To sponsor a drive, please contact us.

Fresh Date Sponsors(Platinum)

Up Coming Drives

• Qard Hasan (Lending) Drive: Promote giving halal loans to your community members
• Dawah Drive: Support Dawah projects
• Meetup Drive: House-parties for Sadaqah promotion

From now on, we will follow the pay-it-forward model. Each drive will pay for the next drive. From experience, each drive takes about 200 to 1700 hours of work. We typically budget $500 for each drive.

How do we sustain the project?

Alhamduillah, HalfDaters have bought close to 100 boxes of Kalimaat games (only 7 boxes left). So, that is one type of income.

If you want to help this project, please visit http://halfdate.com/help-us

Some other updates.

We are forming a Shura board and founders donors (basically those who want to contribute in the cost of setting up HalfDate as an official entity). We are looking for Web 2.0 specialists, MBAs, and creative thinkers to join the team.

We are also looking for a limited number of strategic partners, could be business, organizations, or media.

If you have any suggestions or questions, post them as a comment.

May Allah reward you with the sweetest date in Jannah

Sadaqah Stories Drive

DateDrive of Shawwal 1430/Oct 2009
Type of DateDrive: Awareness

We have this vision to compile inspirational stories about generosity, kindness, and giving. You can write about others or you can write your own experience. We hope within a month we can publish an ebook (something similar to Chicken Soup for the Soul), which motivate and inspire others to give and act kindly.

Drive Target:

1. Getting 12 volunteers (got 9 needs 3) to work on Sadaqah book, work include reading, editing, categorizing, etc.
2. Collecting 36 (got 25 needs 11) Sadaqah stories at http://sadaqahstories.com
“I donated $7.29 because that’s all I could afford without making my bank account empty.” -Sister T

Cost of the Drive

SadaqahStories project, inshaAllah, will be run to support HalfDate on-going expenses. If you want to contribute towards this project. Here are the costs so far.

• $60+ variation of SadaqahStories.com domain names
• $75 software
• $50 paid volunteers from Almaun
• Unpaid time and expertise by several HalfDaters, may Allah reward them

Drive Sponsors

The following sponsors have either helped HalfDate before with free services or have bought a sponsorship package. To sponsor a drive, please contact us.

Fresh Date Sponsors(Platinum)