Problem fixed!

We just got the problem fixed! We have temporarily reverted back to the Bing API until we hear from Yahoo that they have fixed their probelm. Search on!

Experiencing problems with Benelab Search?

Within the past couple days we have been getting reports from some of our users that they are not receiving any search results on Benelab. Yahoo has confirmed that their frame is not working on Internet Explorer 8. We are at this very moment making a temporary patch to fix it. Thanks for your patience!

May Donation - $330!

I just signed off a $330 check to the Ronald McDonald House of Washington! May was a kinda shaky month for Benelab to tell you the truth (The team and I weren't able to spend too much time of it, so we didn't experience much growth...), but I am excited that our funds will go towards purchasing much needed supplies at RMHC!

The charity was first suggested by McKayla, our VP of Marketing (super good worker BTW) and I'm glad we chose them for May!

For now, over and out. :)

June Cause - Providing 20 LED Lamps

Wow, what can I say. These past few days have been overwhelming for me, filled with thousands of tweets about Benelab and my inbox piling up with new opportunities every day. The Mashable article (http://mashable.com/2012/06/01/benelab/) no doubt helped us so much, and it single handedly doubled our user base. AP tests and SATs are over, and with an entire summer break fully dedicated to Benelab work, I am very excited about the future of our venture.

Anyways, with the help of a new partner we established very recently, Benelab has finally decided on our June cause: we will be raising $400 to purchase and send 20 hand-powered LED lanterns to Peru. The lanterns will allow middle-school students who have no access to electricity to study even after the sun sets! The lanterns will be delivered to Peru via Changes for New Hope (http://www.changesfornewhope.org/), a nonprofit organization that focuses on educating children in the Peruvian Andies. It is a completely volunteer-run foundation just like Benelab!

Another very recent partner that we are excited to announce is GivingSomeThing.com(http://www.givingsomething.com/). It is a platform that allows anyone to 'shop' for an organization s/he supports. Once a charity is listed on GST, it releases a wish-list of products that they need to continue their work. Then it is up to the users to buy the items! Essentially, GST makes donating way more tangible than writing a check. And for this month of June, Benelab will be purchasing and donating the LED lanterns through GivingSomeThing.com!

April Donation - $340

AP Tests are over!!
Okay, now that those are done with, we have a bit more time to work on Benelab. Thanks to your help, we were able to decide on the May cause in the midst of all the craze within the first week of May. We are donating to the Ronald McDonald House to help provide a "home away from home" for cancer patients and their families.

So back to the point - we just wrote the check for $340 to World Concern, which was the chosen charity for March and April. The funds will go towards providing hearing aids to 4 children in developing countries! You can check out our updated donations page here.

Help us decide the May Cause!

Hey everyone!

I'm sure you all are aware of the fact that Benelab is entirely comprised of highschool students, mostly juniors. And the month of May is the "nightmare month" for all juniors who are taking AP exams. Why are we telling you this? It's because 'tis the lovely AP season right now, and our main members at Benelab HQ are spending countless hours studying for these very important tests, not leaving that much time for Benelab work. We know, it's the last thing we want to do, but we also believe that going to a good college will help us help more people in the future!

Anyways, we have been super super busy for the past few weeks and will continue to be for the next couple weeks. We will of course keep up work on Benelab, but the workload will be a bit less till theis lovely AP season is over. We ask for your patience and understanding!

So... back to the main purpose of this post! Because we have been so busy, we have not been able to decide on the May cause of the month yet - and we need your help deciding, fast. So please pitch in any suggestions to us, so that we can expedite the process a lot. You can directly email Jack at
jack@benelab.org

Or, if you're feeling a bit busy today like us, save a few seconds and just comment on this post right below!

Thanks so much for your support everyone!
-Jack & the very busy Benelab team

Hydrave Results - Good News!

Wow! Sorry it's been such a long time since we last updated our blog! We juniors are getting pounded with AP tests lately and we just barely have time to do anything else...

Anyways, we have some updates! More specifically, we got the numbers back for how much we raised at the Hydrave dance a couple weeks ago. An astounding $870!

But that's not all... World Concern, the organization we will be working with to drill the well, provided matching funds, so the total money raised is $1740!

We're super excited about the results of Hydrave. It's quite amazing how that much money was raised in a mere 2 hours. It also showcases Benelab's approach to philanthropy very well - to bring it to the norm and make it cool. We always like to innovate new, effective ways to raise money to donate to meaningful causes that we can easily relate to. We are happy Hydrave turned out super well!