Ho Ho Ho! It is almost time for the 2018 Santa Lawyer Contest! As always, we tweak the rules a bit each year to try to make the contest a little better, a little sillier, and overall more likely to shine a spotlight on and support small charities!
The rules:
1. The 2018 contest begins Saturday, December 1st, and runs through Friday, December 21st at 11:59 a.m. Unless there is a tie, the winners will be announced on Friday, December 21st at 12:00 p.m. The first place winner will be the organization that receives the most votes, and will receive a $500 donation from Rubric Legal LLC. A twitter poll will be used to break any ties and will be open for 24 hours.
2. New this year: the contest will now award 2nd and 3rd place winners with a monetary sponsorship of the Wizard fee to go through the Charities Review Council’s Accountability Wizard review process! For more info on that process, see: https://smartgivers.org/nonprofits/.
3. Additionally, we will be auctioning off a holiday-themed sweater personally created by Santa Lawyer; proceeds from that auction will be donated to the 2nd place winner.
4. Please note our Twitter handle: @thesantalawyer, where contest updates and daily tallies will be posted. Silly holiday themed tweets including a daily favorite holiday song will be posted to this account. *Disclaimer* tweets may include holiday themed videos that might be considered NSFW. And cats. Many cats.
5. All nominations must come in by one of these two methods – Twitter (@NonprofitRubric), or email: santa at rubriclegal.com.**If you are using Twitter to nominate, please use #santalawyer so we can keep track of votes!** If you do not use the hashtag, we may not see it and the vote will not be counted.
6. Prior winners are not eligible to win first prize, but may still enter the contest for 2nd or 3rd place.
7. To be eligible, nominee must be a Minnesota charity with gross annual revenues less than $1 million.
8. One vote/day/person/charity (vote multiple times daily for multiple charities). Post a video to Twitter of yourself singing an entire holiday tune – you get a one-time bonus of 5 votes. *If a video is sent to email, it is implied that we have your consent to post the video to Twitter.* Post a video to Twitter of yourself or a group dancing to a holiday themed song, and you will get a one-time bonus of 10 votes. Special consideration and additional points may be granted if the dance is choreographed. Post a selfie with a holiday themed item for 3 bonus points (with each vote, not a one-time bonus).
9. First place donation amount will be $500. We reserve the right to redirect the funds if a review of the selected organization’s Form 990 and/or other info indicates it is not a good steward of charitable funds.
10. Nominees that meet the Charities Review Council’s Standards of Accountability get a one-time 25-point bonus.
11. I have no idea what the odds are of winning, but you can’t win if you don’t participate!
Finally, this contest is inclusive of ALL winter holidays. This is not a Christian Christmas contest, as Santa Lawyer celebrates Christmas as a secular holiday, mostly involving (too many) decorations, holiday sweaters, and inappropriate holiday themed music. Whatever this holiday season means to you, that’s what this contest intends to celebrate.
Good luck, and have fun!