Hey Grist Reader,

With this winter fundraiser, we're trying something new: asking readers to get friends and family to donate. Yeah, we're shamelessly using you -- but if it makes you feel any better, you can shamelessly use them to win a shot at cool prizes!

Helping Grist (and angling for prizes) is easy as 1-2-3-4.  Here's how it works:

1. Create your very own Firstgiving page by clicking the button above. It's super easy, and takes just 3 minutes to set up.

2. Email your friends, parents, uncles, roommates, and baristas, inviting them to make a gift to Grist. Write notes on your Facebook and MySpace walls. Let your friends and family know why Grist is important to you. Here's a sample for you:

Hi, it’s me. I want to tell you about Grist, my favorite green news source. Grist is an award-winning nonprofit media org that delivers environmental news, opinion, advice, and more. It provides me (and the rest of its 775,000 readers) with the resources we need to live greener, more sustainable lives. And Grist has a witty sense of humor, with headlines like "Piscean on Organic Standards." Because I dig Grist, I’m helping to raise some money; I've set a personal goal of $250, and it’d mean a lot to me if you made a gift at my page: www.firstgiving.com/[yourpage]. Thanks a million. ~Me.

3. Watch the donations pour in!

4. Hold your breath, because there are two ways to score loot:

•    the 20 Grist readers who raise the most moolah each get a slick Solio Classic Universal Hybrid Solar Charger (courtesy of BuyGreen.com; value $95.95);

•    the Grist reader who gets the most people to donate wins an Xtracycle Radish sport utility bike (courtesy of Xtracycle; value $1,199)!*

All gifts go straight toward supporting the pun-tastic journalism you’ve come to trust.

Networkily,

The Grist Staff

Want to go back to Grist and donate like usual? www.grist.org/support.

* Contest ends 11:59pm PST Dec. 16. And the prize is one-or-the-other; ya can’t win both.