HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

I have waded through my share of charity yard sales, either putting them on, lending a hand or attending them. Volunteers love them, as they are easy to put on and everyone has an item that they want to part with, but is not worth throwing a sale of your own for. Sometimes the Board of Directors doesn’t love them so much because the amount of work for the return seems low, and they are just not approved unless an enthusiastic new volunteer wants to run it themselves.

Both sides have a point. It is difficult to break $400 or even $200 when items are priced at a quarter to two dollars. The most successful sale I was a part of raised $950, but it ran for four days and there were many high ticket items. Sometimes the BOD ends up holding the bag as far as manning the sale. On the other hand, there is little to no overhead to have a yard sale. The only real cost is advertisement.

The alternative is skipping the yard sale and having estate sales. But don’t wait until a donor passes away. The past few estate sales I attended were not related to passings, but to downsizing or moving out of state. Rain or snow won’t cancel the event.

In future posts, I will expand upon different ideas and concerns.

A Basic Step by Step:

1) Find a Location. Have a volunteer donate their home. An alternative is to approach a Realtor or builder that supports your cause. Perhaps you could have one on the first floor of the model home or a spec home. It could be excellent publicity for the agent or builder and you, too. Homeowners selling their home get extra mileage out of a sale, which provides word of mouth, but interested parties must have a future appointment to see restricted areas.

2) Protect Restricted Areas. Rope off the areas that are “off limits” to shoppers. This could be the entire upstairs or a downstairs bathroom. I recommend using a first floor room, such as the living room, for the main area. Clear the countertops and put the homeowner’s small appliances in cupboards. Label large furniture pieces “Not for Sale”. Drape them with table cloths to use as display areas.

4) Protect Privacy. Remove the home owners personal possessions and furniture, aside from shelving and other flat surfaces, to other rooms. A sofa becomes a display area with a sheet draped over it. Consider not releasing the address until several days before the sale. Early publicity can include a web link “to watch” for the sale location or better yet, use it as an excuse to sign folks up for your mailing list or email newsletter.

5) Group Items. Arrange donated furniture in the room, and set up card tables. Group items with like items.

6) Create a price list. Simplify things and have a price key in each room. For example, if there is an abundance of books or linens “Tablecloths – $2.00 each unless marked, Clothing – $5.00 per bag.” This way, only the unusual or large items need to be marked, saving volunteer time.

7) Less is more. I have spent more money on sales with a well-edited selection. While a jumble of items in boxes and bags may seem appealing to the treasure hunter, it overwhelms many and fewer items are actually sold, or their perceived value is less. Don’t be afraid to refuse broken or chokingly musty items. Place these in a “free” box if they can be repaired.

Compose and purchase advertising. If the sale has a collection of things, lots of child items, or antiques – mention them when you compose your ad. The amount of foot traffic you receive from the local town paper pays for itself.

9) Look for free publicity. Newspapers usually have ad budget set aside for charity events. While they do not lend ads to causes, if you have an event – ask. Craigslist is a good place to list an estate sale, but folks looking specifically for just sales go to site like Estatesale.com, which is free to list with. Also, ask permission to place a sign at nearby businesses to further publicize the sale.

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Check back for more tips in future installments!

When I bought my first car after a long time of not having one, the first stop I made was to a charity lot. An attractive snap of a shiny blue Wagoneer turned my head, until I walked up to it. It was a good ten footer with a line of crispy rust around the edges of the roof. A few taps of the finger and it flaked through to the passenger’s seat. The Jeep ended up staying and I drove away with a solid late model sedan.

Now that the temperature dropped from 100 to 59 in one weekend, naturally, do you put away the classic car for the year? Some small pet rescues have a transport bus or a Spaymobile or a donated vehicle that needs repair and has been set aside or is parked during the winter. If there is no shelter or garage for it, it is typical to lay poly-vinyl or canvas tarps over them before the snow comes.

Before you button things up, I would sway you to doublethink the plastic and think about that Jeep. While a canvas tarp may not be completely water proof if you were to dump it in a bucket, sometimes they are a better alternative for cars because they actually breathe. The condensation might bead off it a little less than with plastic, but the water that comes in through tears and that follows tie lines in are not trapped. The moisture actually gets a chance of evaporating rather than creating major rust spots when water has nowhere to go. In the case of the Jeep, the condensation beaded under the tarp and rotted the roof. For quick cover-ups, vinyl is still fine, but really pay attention to long-term storage. This isn’t gospel, but something I have picked up along the way seeing some pretty shameful and avoidable damage to some good old trucks.

So, whether you are a small group with a donated vehicle or you are an individual with that clunker that you have considered fixing or donating but for now its parked in the yard, take care of it. Stamp out rust before it stops. The car will have a higher donation or resale value or it will keep on going after its peers are in the junk yard.

Just as I thought everything was all business-y , straigthforward and only charitable for he end user donating discounted goods, I stumbled across the company’s founding story.

Once upon a time, in the mid-1990s to be exact, there was a young man name Jason living out of his car and making trips back and forth to a storage unit. With $80,000 in medical bills and a variety of surgeries to reconstruct his face and fuse his spine. But he had a dream. Some thought the idea of an internet Coupons site was eccentric or a pipe dream. After all, the internet was just a passing blip, wasn’t it? First, an internet coupon swapping group started. Jason made a few friends, including a local woman who let him use her shower and a woman out of state, named Barb, who was Jason’s cheerleader, encouraging him to never give up. Through the kindness of a friend who allowed him to use a corner of his desk, to encouragement from across the miles, Jason evolved from broken and penniless to selling coupon submission software and founding MyCoupons.com, which he sold in a multimillion dollar deal.  Jason remembered those who helped him when he had nothing and returned the favor to some of them by offering them jobs.

There is no truer tale of “Teach a Man to Fish” that I have read in a long time. No one ever gave Jason a hand out – they all gave him a little of their time, encouragement and use of a hot shower until Jason was again on his feet.

In the spirit of giving that the site MyCoupons.com was founded on, have you ever considered that coupons help spread the donation dollar just a little more? Not all animal organizations accept financial donations. In some towns, the local county-funded shelter that does not have a non-profit “friends of the shelter” group often only accepts in-kind donations, such as heartworm medication, pet shampoo and pet beds. They just have no system for employees to accept private funds. Before you purchase medication to donate to a local pet rescue or shelter, coupon codes from 1800PetMeds Coupons might help $100 turn into $125 worth of items with a deftly spotted coupon code.

How does this really help? If a shelter, even if its the county pound, receives tools to keep pets healthy and parasite free, more pets make it to the adoption area and have a chance at a home rather than being sorted out as unhealthy. When potential adopters do not come home with fleas on their skin and clothes, they don’t view the shelter as a dirty place where only “problem dogs” go, but a place to save a life and adopt their best firend.

I have used other sites before for coupons, but have been frustrated when half the codes just don’t work. MyCoupons has a stable of Coupon Pros that not only constantly hunt for codes, but edit and curate those sent by member contributors. CouponPro Dale tosses out all the old 1800PetMeds and Petsmart Coupons, it seems. You can even follow him on Twitter to receive reminders on all the other companies he curates, as well. There are literally thousands of coupons to be had at any given time from hundreds and hundreds of websites. So, next time you are looking to buy supplies for donation or a key item for your charity’s next auction, shave a few dollars off of the bill, first!

Planning your spring or summer charity auction or raffle? Here’s a tip: Sometimes a timely or big ticket item helps generate interest to folks outside of your usual donor base. While the core “usual suspects” may bid on a variety of things, you need other people from the community to get excited. If you are able to include in your press releases that you have perhaps premium tickets to a popular concert up for bids, you may just get the entertainer’s fans or team’s fans out to bid when they would not normally support your charity. They may agree with your cause, but they might need to be given incentive to donate.

To fund the purchase, if you do not have a concert promoter in your ranks to donate them, and most often you don’t, consider asking a sponsor to purchase the tickets and give them credit in your program or advertisements for supporting your group. The excited bidders may get a bargain on the tickets, but might get swept up in the excitement and bid on other items, or may very well bid beyond face value. In addition, its a great way to expose new folks to your message.

Just a thought.

Spring really is coming. I promise. Around here, the snow gave way to melting slush and the glimpse of grass. It was almost all melted away and our winter coats came off. Then, we were dumped on again and the street looked like a Christmas card…in February. Now, the rain is washing the snow away again and the boats and cars stored for the winter will come out of hiding. Some small groups have a transport bus or a Spaymobile or a donated vehicle that needs repair and has been set aside. If there is no shelter or garage for it, it is typical to lay poly-vinyl or canvas tarps over them.

When you pull the tarps off this year and think ahead about the next, I would sway you to doublethink the plastic. While a canvas tarp may not be completely water proof if you were to dump it in a bucket, sometimes they are a better alternative for cars because they actually breathe. The condensation might bead off it a little less than with plastic, but the water that comes in through tears and that follows tie lines in are not trapped. The moisture actually gets a chance of evaporating rather than creating major rust spots when water has nowhere to go. For quick cover-ups, vinyl is still fine, but really pay attention to long-term storage. This isn’t gospel, but something I have picked up along the way seeing some pretty shameful and avoidable damage to some good old trucks.

Social media has revolutionized the way non-profit organizations, from large charities to small, grass roots raise funds and spread their messages, and how new supporters discover them. First, there was Myspace, and then Facebook has grown by leaps and bounds in popularly. Other sites such as Razoo and Twitter provide an online presence. You can syndicate some of your feeds to type once, and appear on multiple platforms. However, since not everyone is using just one site anymore, one-time stalwarts and core groups get splintered because they may not always be receiving the message. Sure, some folks receive Facebook updates and e-mails on their phones, but not instantly, or they may forget to check in during a busy time in their lives.

The way to cut to the chase is to rely on the old concept of personally addressing each subscriber or supporter with modern technology. Instead of sending out a Tweet or a mass e-mail, you can use an SMS Gateway to send a short text message to their phones, whether they have a “smart phone” or a “dumb phone.” It goes straight to the intended recipient without the middle man.

The possibilities include automatic messages as appointment reminders, alerts to attend a charity fundraiser on a specific date, or an alert to letting them know that the latest donation campaign has kicked off. The recipient may text back an RSVP or forward it on to friends. The cell phone company has used the feature for sales pitches, why not put the technology to good use? Of course, you will only want to send messages to subscribers who have opted in to contact or have expressed interested in receiving them. The exception might be a personal appointment to meet with the chairs of the organization, which would more likely be considered personal contact.

The possibilities for the technology are extensive. I would love to receive reminders from the vet clinic about an appointment. It is great to get the call, but not so great when I’m driving. Maybe principals should text parents when their child doesn’t show. Better yet, maybe text the actual kid and warn them that you’ll text mom and dad next if they don’t put one foot in front of the other. For the non-profit sector, maybe separate messages could go out as an exciting countdown to the Christmas Ball with trivia questions. Supporters could text back their answers or suggestions and be rewarded with special mention or a drawing to bring other companions at no cost.

On the Cdyne website, it looks like you can get going for .09 per text, and the cost reduces based on volume, down to .03 per text. A $9.99 monthly fee is also assessed.

Have you tried out this idea for your organization, or have you received such messages? If so, tell me what you think.

When you have a small nonprofit, getting donations of usable goods, such as office supplies or, if you have a pet rescue, pet supplies, are always welcomed. However, donations of goods sometimes don’t match current needs. It might not be something you think of, but clipping coupons helps cuts the costs at organizations; not just at home. Sure, there are some things that can be had at wholesale suppliers, but not everything. There is a big list oc coupon codes at Savings.com that you can plug into websites. Some of them are merely a button that “activates” a deal on the website rather than requiring that you key it in. If you are a little stuck and can’t find what you are looking for, you can also ask other site users in the community on what they recommend or deals they have spotted.

A few of the highlights:

• There always seems to be an extra $5-25 off at 1-800Petmeds.com. That’s useful if you run a pet charity and need to buy something special for the 150 lb dog you just don’t have the right dosage for. Pet Street Mall and Petsmart also have codes.
• Offers from HP, the Apple Store and Sony, not to mention MacAfee for all of your virus-busting needs.
• Discounts at Tractor Supply Store. Have you ever been to one? Everything from horse feed to landscaping items to protective gear.
• Autozone and O’Reilly’s to keep your vehicles running.

If you are purchasing or procuring items from any of these businesses, and hundreds more, take advantage of saving a few extra dollars. You can put what you save towards saving another life or comforting another person.

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.

What is this mysterious spectre? No, its not a Titanic-exhibit-gone-creepy.  Rather, it’s the new Ghost Ship at Morey’s Piers. Nope, no rotating midway Viking ship here, but rather an interactive haunted house. For your next volunteer amusement park “thank you” or wish granting trip for teens, there is finally something more at the park for those not of the faint of heart, but the too faint of stomach or faint neck for roller coasters.