There’s just over a week to go on the MagPi’s Kickstarter. They’ve met their original goal, but they’ve got some stretches to make, and we’d love to see you support them to become even bigger and better in 2013.

Issues 1-8

Regular readers will know that we are big fans of The MagPi, the only magazine in the world dedicated to the Raspberry Pi. It is created each month by a team of volunteers and usually with unique content found nowhere else. You can download each issue for free from the Pi Store or from www.themagpi.com.

Here at the Foundation, we’ve been printing each issue off – which takes time and costs a fortune in ink. (It has been bandied about that perhaps the next world-changing project we need to engage in is an affordable printer ink scheme.) The MagPi folks are often asked to make printed copies of the magazine available. It’s a tricky proposition, as they are volunteers with no capital, so they started a Kickstarter project on 1 December to make all 8 issues available in print. The MagPi team have told me they are blown away by your support. At the time of writing they have nearly 400 over 400 (several of you have signed up in the few minutes since this was posted – thank you!) backers and have tripled their financial goal – money which gives them the opportunity to explore the translations into other languages they’ve been exploring, and the ability to make print copies available in the future. They have also seen several schools place orders for the magazine, which we’re very excited about. The money is important for their continued success, but even more important is the number of individuals who support them subscribe to the printed edition: it’s the number of subscriptions which gives them the security to keep doing what they’re doing, so we’d love to see you sign up to their Kickstarter.

What you don’t know is that with every single pledge on their Kickstarter project, The MagPi team is making a donation to the Raspberry Pi Foundation. (We didn’t know this either until they mailed us about it.) The Kickstarter rules do not allow them to mention charitable benefactors – but I can mention it here – and we at the Foundation are really touched and grateful for their support; the MagPi guys already go above and beyond to support this project, and this bit of icing on top of the cake really caught us by surprise. Eben and I are also supporting the MagPi Kickstarter project by making available a limited number of personalised, signed copies of the “Raspberry Pi User Guide” book to people pledging more than £100.

The MagPi stand at the Bristol BCS in a rare quiet moment – spot the floppy-haired interloper.

With only a few days remaining there is still an opportunity to participate in this project. There are a wide range of pledges available and if you want these to be a gift, the MagPi team have created gift certificates that you can download and print at home after you have made a pledge. If you don’t want any magazines or Raspberry Pi hardware, the Fuzzy Glow (£2) and Sticker Madness (£5) pledges will let you show your appreciation for keeping The MagPi free.

We are also very pleased to announce that Pimoroni and Adafruit Industries will be sponsoring The MagPi during 2013. Ian from the magazine mailed me about the news this morning; he says: “We are both humbled and incredibly excited to be supported by these companies. Pimoroni and Adafruit, together with almost 400 other supporters, have all contributed to make our Kickstarter project a huge success for us, our partners and the Raspberry Pi Foundation.”