Internet Advertising Funds College Scholarships on Newly Launched GraffitiPad.com
San Diego, CA (PRWeb) January 11, 2007 -- A new website – GraffitiPad.com – is selling Internet advertising spots to fund college scholarships.
The New Year is a time of reflection, resolution, and celebration; but it also invites stress, psychological depression, consumer debt, and end-of-the-holiday disillusionment and cynicism. Psychiatrists recommend that individuals maximize the momentum felt at the fresh start of the year by prioritizing what is important to them, without burdening themselves with unrealistic expectations.
So the idea of giving – perhaps in the name of a loved one lost last year – seems to fit the prescription for just what the doctor ordered, as long as it doesn’t break the bank. Thanks to philanthropic entrepreneur Rainier Trinidad’s brainchild project Graffiti Pad – a Web site that sells Internet advertising pixels for 49 cents each and uses the revenue to create college scholarships – you can do just that.
The 31-year old Trinidad launched his college scholarship-funding program to offer a positive and meaningful opportunity for charity that fits comfortably within even the stingiest of budgets.
Trinidad is no newcomer to philanthropy. “Shortly after college I founded a scholarship that gave $1,000 every year to the University of Washington to help students attend a foreign exchange program,” he explains. “The program continued for five years and when it ended, I decided to launch this new project. This time I wanted to expand the scope by harnessing the power of the Internet to raise enough money to give out 60 $1,000 scholarships, once a month to a different student for five years in a row.”
2006 was the year that gave us YouTube, My Space, and ourselves – connecting and interacting via the Internet – as Time Magazine’s collective Person of the Year, acknowledging that the personal computer has revolutionary power to change the world. The phenomenal concept was not lost on Trinidad, whose Graffiti Pad scholarship recipients will be chosen entirely by the input of the Internet community, combining “Dancing with the Stars” style voter participation with traditional American grassroots charity.
Last year also marked an historic breakthrough for USA philanthropy, propelled by the generous collaboration of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with stock market wizard Warren Buffett. By giving $30.7 billion to the foundation, Buffett single-handedly doubled its endowment.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he was optimistic that the gift would encourage a rise in philanthropy across the nation; and if Trinidad’s example is any indication, Gates’ prediction was right on the money.
www.GraffitiPad.com launches at a time of skyrocketing student loan debt and dramatically diminished education grants – trends that conspire to make college scholarships critically precious and important. Tuition costs in the USA have risen more than 260 percent within the past three decades, according to the U.S. Education Department and the National Center for Education Statistics. And student loan debt averages between $14,000 and $20,000 per student for 20-somethings, many of whom finance their textbooks and housing by going into deeper high-interest credit card debt.
Trinidad chose the Web as the venue for his endeavor because of the great potential to capture Internet advertising revenue and redirect it toward a more meaningful cause. And while he’d ultimately like to make some money for himself from the success of Graffiti Pad, that goal remains secondary to his college scholarship program. “The students should come first. Until the first goal of funding 60 college scholarships is met, I won’t earn a single dime from this venture.”
Trinidad began his career in philanthropy while still on a college student’s budget, and judging from his track record we can expect his charitable efforts to continue, regardless of how much his fortunes may rise.
Graffiti Pad (www.GraffitiPad.com) offers permanent Internet advertising spots in 10x10 pixel increments on an 500 pixel x 700 pixel board for $0.49 per pixel, with the sales – in increments of $49 each – funding the five-year college scholarship giveaway.
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