Your Website is Just a First Date

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Your Website is Just a First Date

What do you bring on a first date? Tax forms, divorce/custody paperwork from a previous marriage, diary entries, and three letters of reference, right? Of course not!

On a first date, you bring a big smile, your charming personality, and some witty conversation. Combine that with wearing clean clothes and doing something interesting and you have the makings of a great first date.

Now, let me clarify: I’m not in the business of matchmaking or relationship advice. I’m actually talking websites here.

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Book Review: Robin Hood Marketing by Katya Andresen

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Book Review: Robin Hood Marketing by Katya Andresen

Have you read Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savy to Sell Just Causes by Katya Andresen? You should.

Andresen wrote a book to really kick-start your forward-thinking, new approach to cause marketing. She so clearly points out that our passion for our causes doesn’t always translate to the average citizen taking (or not taking) action. Then she proceeds to instruct how to make this transition.

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: 74,855 Meters Left

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: 74,855 Meters Left

Last week I committed to the Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge. My goal is to row 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m glad to report that I made it to the gym every day I needed to and that I’m totally on target!

There are two great things about this Challenge. The more personal is that it is really pushing me in my workouts. I’ve realized that my past visits to the gym, while regular, have not really extended my physical limitations. Being on the rowing machine and having a distance I need to row every day really makes me push my speed and time.

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How Small Non-Profits Can Find A Celebrity Spokesperson

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How Small Non-Profits Can Find A Celebrity Spokesperson

Fast Company magazine suggests enlisting a celebrity spokesperson for your charitable cause. The article offers valuable and interesting advice…if you have a multi-million dollar budget and friends in high places. That isn’t to say small non-profits don’t have friends in high places, but if you’re feeling awfully far from Hollywood, consider local celebrities.

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Recession Strategies for Non-Profits and the Arts

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Recession Strategies for Non-Profits and the Arts

We can all read about how charitable giving and spending is down in this recession and not many non-profits are able to hit their fundraising goals. I have a few suggestions to make.

Yes, continue to send out your annual appeal or sell your wares. But consider shifting your organizational focus to two places until all your donors return to the fold: providing services and growing and loving your staff, customer, volunteer pool.

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Concept2 Holiday Challenge – 100,000 meters to go!

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Concept2 Holiday Challenge – 100,000 meters to go!

Just as I was getting sick and tired of the elliptical machine, I found out about the Concept2 Holiday Challenge!  (Talk about good marketing – their message showed up in just the right physical, mental, and emotional space for me to hear it loud and clear.)

Between November 26th and December 24th, I’m going to attempt to row 100,000 meters on a Concept2 machine at First in Fitness in Montpelier. Every day that I row, I’ll log onto my free personal log book and try to rack up the meters. With my normal workout schedule, I’ll have to row about 5000 meters per session (I go to the gym 4-5 days per week). I’m definitely shooting for this goal and envisioning myself rowing, rowing, rowing, but those 100,000 meters are going to be quite a stretch for me!

But that’s the best part of a challenge, right?

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Simplify the Holidays

Posted by On Filed under Health, Voluntary Simplicity / Minimalism
Simplify the Holidays

Local radio stations started playing Christmas music today. It inspired me to blog about how to simplify the holidays.

The Center for a New American Dream releases an annual brochure on celebrating the holidays with “more joy, less stuff.” You can download the brochure or visit the website for more helpful tips. I’m a fan of the edible decorations and I also plan to make a photo album of pictures for my grandmother – shh, don’t tell her!

About.com has a whole entry on a Holiday Survival Guide. It’s filed under the stress management section, which makes me wonder about the trade-offs between health and the holiday hoopla.

On Facebook, check out the Simplify the Holidays discussion from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation. Their website is pretty cool and I’m jazzed about their Facebook widget.

When it comes to gifts, I have three options I always choose from. I either shop local, shop handmade at Etsy, or go the really altruistic route and shop at Alternative Gifts International or Oxfam International. Instead of heading out to the mall, I like supporting my local shops, galleries, and any store that will sell a gift certificate or Capitol Cash. Etsy is a marketplace for all things handmade and just blows my mind at the amount of amazingly unique, well-crafted, individualized gifts I could give myself…er, I mean, friends and family!

AGI supports humanitarian and environmental causes with the donation(s) you make in the name of relatives, colleagues, family, etc. Oxfam America is a large relief organization and it’s Unwrapped program has a wide array of charitable gifts. I love these services because there’s nothing that says Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa,  or Happy Hanukkah like giving a solar water boiler or manure or a flock of ducks. It’s serious fun to give these gifts to loved ones and it makes a huge impact on the communities the gifts go to.

When it comes to Thanksgiving celebration, I usually try to fast if I don’t have plans with friends. This year I’ll likely be observing a day of fasting and reflection. The Boston Globe ran an article on how these actions might more closely reflect the original Thanksgiving celebrations. Fasting is not something to take lightly, so talk to your doctor before attempting this, and research articles on how to enter and break a fast.

For me, fasting and reflecting definitely simplify the holidays and make me more, well, thankful. And isn’t that the point of this week?

 

Photo credit: Horla Varlan