HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

In the past two years, the ChipIn widget seems to have proliferated on the Internet. For legitimate non profit groups, it seemed to solve a few problems. It gave immediate access to donors to see exactly how close to a goal the group was in real or almost real time. However, since there are no real “checks” that the site does, it also allows for a lot of fraud.

This familiar widget can be created on the ChipIn site very easily, and the code can be tailored to a variety of formats that a wide variety of platforms can understand. Just be aware, that if using on Wordpress, you can only use it if you host your blog on your own domain as it is against Wordpress TOS. Also, the shockwave script only appears in “publish” or “preview” mode.Please do not attempt to actually donate to this one, because it won’t go anywhere. It is for illustrative purposes only. It is not connected to a Paypal address.

For a legitimate group, not only does it motivate donors, but the constant updates cut out the “middle man” and save time for volunteers seeking updates as well. Funds are processed through Paypal, which is very familiar to those donating on the internet already. A widget is best used if a small, reasonable goal is targeted as people like to be part of the “winning team” and feel that they are making a difference versus a small drop in a bucket that may never be filled.

However, the widget went from being used by legitimate causes to just about anyone. Because the address that is receiving the donations is hidden, it can easily create a situation where someone is falsely collecting funds. However, it was more frequent for individuals to not pretend that they were collecting for something they were not, but counting on you seeing so many widgets that you will get them confused. Another scenario is that because you do see a widget, you think they have been “checked out.” One young lady was asking for over $20,000 to build a “No-Kill Sanctuary for Dogs.” Behind the scenes, there was never going to be a shelter. She had made graphics to look convincing, but in reality, she was trying to gain trust with shelters in order to attempt to take unaltered dogs to start breeding and fighting them. She was “found out.”

The more innocent misuses are people using them to fund their savings goal, or dream of buying a boat. In of itself, if everyone is aware that they are gifting money to the person and it is not a donation, to each his own. Perhaps ChipIn should create a widget that clearly carries a disclaimer.

Technologically, the widget will not appear in Wordpress based blogs in draft mode and is sometimes only viewable when published. This is an improvement. The widget is compatible with blogger.

In my opinion:

From a technology perspective, ChipIn is a valuable widget and gets high marks. A s a consumer, you should do the same research of the person behind the widget as if they were handing you an envelope or asking for a donation in person.

Summer is here, unless you are in the summer hemisphere. There, it is winter, but maybe you are thinking about summer just because all the media outlets originating from North America and Europe are commiserating about it. Either way, its time to stop burying your nose in SEO and web host news books and newsletters and thinking about counting baby ducks and walking around in your flip flops.

During the summer months, Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., is selling flip flops as a fundraiser. They are not your typical flimsy piece of foam with a hole in the middle. There are slider sandals, shown at left, with tops are Velcro for folks who hate the feeling of the plastic or leather thong between one’s toes.  Please don’t be tempted to wear wool socks with them.  You can, but it might not be a fashion statement unless you have an injured foot.  Then, its totally acceptable.  There is also a traditional flip flop with small paw prints across the band.

The shoes bear an SSP logo and feature a paw print embellishment.  Price is $13.00 plus shipping and handling. For every pair sold, $3.50 goes directly to Saving Shelter Pets, Inc.  Some folks may wonder, why sell shoes?  Why not just give SSP $3.50.  Well, you certainly can do that, but if you have been wanting to buy a pair of sandals for the beach anyways, isn’t it great to know that part of the proceeds will go to a good cause?

Sizes range from XXS (Youth size 13) to XXL (Ladies size 11).  Ladies 11 works out to about a men’s size 9, but check the measurements, as men’s shoes tend to run wider.

To order, visit the order page at the Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., website=>>> HERE.<<<=

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of FriendGiftr. All opinions are 100% mine.

Gift cards are always a popular item at charity auctions, There were a couple that did very well at the Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., fall online auction as well as at a few auctions that I was in attendance at live for different charities. They are almost surefire, as bidders will initially hedge their bets on snagging the gift card for less than face value. If it goes for less than the monetary amount, the charity still wins, but most of the time, the folks bidding don’t mind bidding up to face value or slightly above. An overlooked purpose of gift cards is to donate them outright to the charity for their own use. Office supplies, cleaning fluids and groceries can all be procured without the lengthy process of tracking down the volunteer with the check book when the folks holding down the fort need them.

FriendGiftr is a relatively new site and service that sells gift cards through Social media, such as myspace, Bebo, Facebook and even your mobile phone. If you and the recipient are both on Facebook, you can send them a gift card through an app. With the number of grass roots charities on Facebook these days, it is so easy to send them some love. I fished around on the FriendGiftr blog (though I wish the verbiage was a bit more prominent on their main site:

We also let you exchange the gift card or split it across multiple merchants, so you can get the gift card you really want (after all, most of us at one point or another got a gift card we just really didn’t want, and therefore never used; however, we’re trying to solve this by empowering you to pick the gift card you really want after it’s been bought for you).

If the gift card is not something they can use for an auction or for supplies to help their bottom line, they can also exchange the card at FriendGftr for something more appropriate. There is a whole list of possibilities, including Drs. Foster and Smith, CVS, Travelocity, and more for a group to use or to pass along as incentives. Of course, it goes without saying that it will be easier this year come Christmas time to send gifts to your 31 cousins you keep in touch with on Facebook.  The only negative I see is if they got the notification email and didn’t redeem it because they thought it was spam.  All the more reason to send the recipient a follow up note.

Have you been gifted with a card? If so, I’d be curious to see what your notification email looked like.

I live in a town now where there is a Leader Dogs organization. Every so once in awhile, you can see little fluffy “Leader Dogs in Training” walking around town in their bandannas. There are many people in the area who open their homes as puppy raisers, and donate monetarily as well. The organization is heavily support by the Lions club, who also have other vision related charitable programs. They always collect eyeglasses to send around the world to those it would make a difference too. Some people, including children, have severe vision limitations that do not cause them to be blind, but limit their ability to be successful at work and at school.

Sometimes, I look in the bin and see a huge amount of very outdated glasses. I am not talking about style specifically, but weight. Now, glasses are lighter. Technology has improved and they can make lenses a little thinner and frames a little lighter. There are not as many coke bottle glasses as there were before. It would be nice to donate glasses that are more recent, versus at the end of the road.

A few folks have been telling me about Zenni Optical and their $8 frames. It is not a bait and switch. They have frames that are slightly more expensive, but indeed have plenty at the $8 price point. I thought about buying a few and donating them to the Lions. This way, they would have a few light weight pairs for someone needed them. Perhaps have a more modern look would help someone put their best foot forward, or just make it easier without the weight.

Some may point out that the frames are not made in the United States. So far, I have not found any that are. If you find a company, please point it out to me. However, this allows someone to buy what is at the optical stores at a more factory direct price. You can afford to be generous. In fact, what a better way to impact someone’s life for such little money. For $8-20, someone’s life can be dramatically transformed. They can see the rivets at the factory, learn to read, or simply lead an independent life if the correction needed is extreme.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bidazzled. All opinions are 100% mine.

At the age of 58, Jimmy Ruch was a man dying of small cell lung cancer. The disease is caused when small malignant cancer cells form inside the lung tissue. His wish for his friends to find a way to raise awareness, and they not only created a website to raise awareness of these disease caused by smoking, second hand smoke, and asbestos exposure, but they created an auction website to raise funds as well. Bidazzled is an auction site created in his memory under the auspices of the Ruch Foundation.

The auction site is a bit different as there are no private sellers. Much of the merchandise appears to the factory sealed. As a participant, you buy bid packs. You pay for each bid you make with credits. Instead of bidding the maximum dollar amount you would pay for the item, you could make a single bid. It is similar to what they used to call a chinese auction. The winner is the last one to bid. One may think that it would be impossible to win, but there are safeguards in place. One can only use as many bids as they have purchased. Sometimes bonus bids are accrued, and credit is given if an auction isn’t one, but you are limited by the bids you have available. In other words, it is not like other auction sites where a bidder can place a skyhigh bid they don’t think anyone else will touch. Also, you are able to win up to five items a week, so participants are required to think carefully on where they are going to use their bids on.

The only constructive criticism about the site is the apparent inability to search.  This may contribute to the thrill of the hunt, however.  I scrolled through several pages of items and was impressed by the different electronics and movies that I saw and have, in fact, been looking for.  Saving up to 80-90% off of the retail prices of items are definitely something that outweighs that by far.

Right now, Bidazzled is offering a bonus. You can use the code BBP1202A to receive 15 bonus bids. If you choose to purchase bids, bids are available in packs of $25.00 or more.  You can have a great time, get some rock bottom deals on electronics and more that you have been looking for, as well as help a good cause.  It will help the Ruch Foundation on its funding of smoking cessation programs, and provide information about treatment for the disease.

If you are a small nonprofit and have volunteers that buy supplies or drive vehicles, you may find that you need to reimburse them.  One may say volunteers should donate things, but if a group specifically needs items to keep their office or kennel running, money needs to be outlayed. Good volunteers are hard to come by and not everyone can donate both time and money.   One way to skip the process of needing to approve and cut a check is to ask people to donate gift cards in small denominations.  This way, when a volunteer needs to fill up the rescue transport vehicle or pay a bill for the group, a trusted volunteer can.

I just discovered that there are prepaid cards, like the Vision Premier Prepaid Visa, that offer direct deposit.  They act in lieu of a bank account and the money gets placed right on the prepaid Visa instead of going into the bank. I always was curious as to why someone would not want to have a bank account. Are they running from the law? I recently discovered there are other reasons why you might want to cash checks somewhere else.

If you are a student away at school, you may not have a local branch of your bank near school. It also has benefit to people who spend months traveling by RV. You don’t have to worry about someone being at home to deposit your checks, and if you cannot find a bank branch on the road, you can still have instant access to your money. It you lose the card, no one will have access to your nest egg because it is entirely separate, yet you will still have the funds from your check available on it.

I am wondering if the prepaid cards would work for the purpose of tithing.  I am wondering if someone could set it up where part of their check gets deposited to an organization’s card.   That might be too complicated and there would be too much of an exchange of personal information, but you never know.

A recent article in the paper stated that success is created by education, not by someone’s initial financial situation, ethnic group, or even IQ.   That is why it is so important to make sure children are exposed to a foundation in the basics.

While public schools do receive funding from property taxes, there are often projects that are not funded that teachers and parents feel would make a certain difference in the education of children. Donorschoose.org handles and solicits School Donations in a very novel way. Teachers write a proposal of what they would like to accomplish, and donors can choose to fund whichever teacher’s project catches their interest, rather than blindly donating and not knowing if the money is going to an actual project or not.

One teacher pleads:

“The “book room” in my school hasn’t changed too much since they first opened their doors in 1939….

If I were to get a class set of these books (35 copies of each book), I could share them with the rest of the classes and teachers. The outdated books we do have are falling apart and barely scratch the surface of what students are interested in today. There usually isn’t even enough copies of any one novel for one or more classes. I cannot even begin to describe how important materials are to my ability to reach my students. The biggest obstacle facing my department and school are resources and the money to buy them.

Stephen Colbert is the celebrity spokesperson for Donorschoose.org, encouraging donations to projects for military base schools. These schools are not always on bases, but may serve children of military families as well as children at the poverty level. Some children have the additional challenge of having a parent who is deployed. One such school has a teacher asking for sterile slides and the like for biology class. It is harder for her students to learn with contaminated material.

If you have been wanting to directly donate to a cause that supports the education of students rather than give to a large organization, where you can’t be sure where your money goes, consider checking out DonorsChoose.

Paypal ran a promotion this holiday season.  If you purchased with Paypal from a qualifying merchant, you would receive 20% cashback from Paypal.  The funds will be deposited by january 31st.  The promotion ended January 3rd, but I have heard some rumblings of extensions.  I will keep you posted on what I hear.

At any rate, it is “found money.”  What a great way to set aside a little extra to send to your favorite charity. Why?

1) It is money that you would not have had and can pretend you don’t.

2) When you send it as a donation to your favorite charity, you will receive a write off on your taxes at the end of the year if the charity is a qualifying non profit.  Typically, half of your donation can be written off to help you with next year’s tax bill.

There are more things of course that you can do with found money, but I think it is a great idea to add this to the money you found between your seat cushions and send in to your favorite cause.  Some corporate giving is down this year, so let’s support groups that pitch in and make life just a little brighter.

On January 16th, the Doobie Brothers will play at the Detroit International Auto Show Charity Preview.   The preview gives attendees an exclusive look at this year’s auto show with a cocktail in their hand.  Attire is Black Tie, and the event runs from 6 PM until 9 PM.  Ticket sales are divided up between several area children’s charities, and over the years, millions of dollars have been raised for worthy causes.

Tickets are $400, of which $390 is tax deductible as a donation.  Attendees will be treated to a special performance by the Doobie Brothers right at the show!  In addition, attendees will receive a ticket to a concert by the Jonas Brothers over the weekend as complimentary.  The Jonas Brothers will open up the remainder of the tickets to their local fan club, but Charity Preview participants receive them as a special “thank you.”   Because people are more reluctant this year to shell out money for an event, the group graciously agreed to be used as an enticement to generate sales of tickets.

So let us recap what you get:

You get to see the Jonas Brothers.  I looked up regular ticket prices and their next concert is $105.93 – $138.03 a pop
As far as the Doobie Brothers, their tickets run $40-$70 depending on venue and how far back you are
So we are running $145-$208 right there.
Regular ticket to the auto show $12 each
Champagne you will consume at the event – Anywhere between $8-100 depending on how many and the quality

Okay, if purchased seperately, you are already running in the $320.00 range, and that is way before you factor in any appetizers or  hors d’œuvres, or figure in what you would have had to have paid to check your coat at a regular event.

In addition, you get to write off $390. So, they are actually paying YOU to come to the Charity Preview. Isn’t that generous?? You get to claim honors as the good guy or good girl, yet YOU are being paid to come and be treated to music and tickets and champagne, and the chance to walk around in that dress or tux you never get to wear.

For all of the accountants out there, I know the statement is not true. It really usually means you will get $195.00 off your taxes at the end of the year (half of $390.00), which could be a refund or a tax deduction. So, really when you factor everything out, you are really only spending $100.00 or less for the whole hootenanny. You still come out AHEAD though compared to the wonderful time you have. Still, think of it as them paying YOU because you won’t have to think about the picky detail until NEXT year. Whoop-de-doo.

To purchase tickets to the Charity Preview, please CLICK HERE

Seven Rivers Presbyterian (PCA) Church has released their Christmas Wish Book for the holiday season.   It is a very different kind of wish book, as they are the wishes of children’s homes, shelters, and ministries around the world that the church supports rather than toys and novelties that we are hoping to get for ourselves.   For a small amount (as low as $10.00!) or a large amount of money, you can:

• Purchase a dresser for a child at a children’s home or kitchen utensils for the home
• Pay for a dumpster rental for a Katrina victim who is rebuilding
• Fund a children’s Bible being translated into Japanese for missions in Japan
• Buy a weeks worth of meals for a homeless shelter
• Feed a street child for one month (a bargain at $34.00)
• Help a local person get through hard times
• …and many more!

Their site allows you to instanty print out a card for someone to let them know you have given a gift in their honor.  It is in a pdf form that you can print at home, or even go to the local copy center and have it printed on heavier paper.

The link to the holiday gift catalog can be found HERE.   The card can be found HERE.  If you are looking for a thoughtful gift for someone you don’t know what to buy for, it is a great thing to consider!