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May
15

Relating Through Playing a Game

By | General, Volunteering

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Card games are some of the best ways to see how another person works and thinks during a difficult situation. When a person does not have time to think much about what they “should” do, they have only time to act as they feel like acting. This is when their instincts come out, and when you can tell how they really think. This is the perfect time to figure out how your friends and family respond to pressure.

When you whip out the professional poker tables, everybody knows the game is on for real. When you get the felt beneath your fingers, the rules change a bit. While the official rules are still the same, the nature of the play itself changes. The real experience of the game is dependent on feeling as though you’re really in a high stakes casino, possibly playing beside international spies, drug dealers and other people who might not take too kindly to you winning what they consider their money. When the action heats up like that, you start to know who you’re really dealing with on every side of the table.

While it’s all fun and witty conversation, the undercurrent still involves an ample portion of pressure for everybody involved in the game. When it comes to finding the best hand, the old saying about every hand being both a winner and a loser is revealed as completely true. So everyone begins to focus as much on bluffing and unnerving their opponents as on the actual cards themselves. Poker could be played all kinds of different ways, but the best players make more use of guile than actual cards.

May
01

Marketing Your Charity

By | Community Service, Volunteering

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Charities need money to operate. There’s no doubting that. Finding effective ways to market your charity could help you reach higher levels of success. A good marketing strategy, however, might need to use several techniques to reach all potential donors.

Create a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

Whether you have experience with email campaigns, mailing postcards or going door to door to solicit donations for your charity, you will need a comprehensive strategy that allows you to make the most of every opportunity. Try creating a marketing strategy that uses several techniques in combination with each other.

For instance, you might include radio interviews, postcards and letters to attract more donations. You should make sure that each of your techniques approaches important subjects from the same perspective. If your emails and postcards contain contradictory information (or even different logos), then your potential donors might become confused or worry that you are running a scam. That’s not going to help you or your cause.

Keep Up the Momentum

Once you get your campaign up and running, keep up the momentum by celebrating every victory. Set specific goals that you can reach along the way and let people know when you hit those marks. A simple note to remind donors of your ongoing efforts could convince them to contribute even more money. Once the campaign has concluded, celebrate your achievements but remind everyone that there is still work to be done.

Each year presents new challenges that charities need to overcome. Whether it’s a hiccup in the economy or cuts to federal funding, you need a strategy that can help you overcome any obstacle by encouraging donors to contribute.

Mar
05

Family Bonding Through Volunteering

By | Community Service, Volunteering

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Volunteering is many things to many people. Some people volunteer to gain skills, others volunteer to add it to their resumes. Often, people volunteer as families to create better bonds. Volunteers may be specifically trained in the areas they work in such as firefighters or may be used on an as needed basis.

There are many different activities families can do to volunteer and strengthen their family bond. It is all about spending time together as a family and maybe learning something about each other you did not know. It feels good to volunteer and even better to volunteer together as a family unit. It will probably be surprising to families the conversations they will have and the humor they will share while volunteering. There are all sorts of volunteer and donation opportunities available to families like the wonderful charity Kars for Kids.

Families can volunteer at their local soup kitchen. At a soup kitchen people may prepare the food, serve the food or clean up the food. Volunteers may also solicit donations or distribute information about the soup kitchen.

There are many outside opportunities for families to participate in. Many parks need cleaning up and many elderly people need their lawns tended.

Families can also join together to make a worthwhile donation to a charity or help a charity obtain donations. Organizations such as Kars for Kids send kids to camp each year and make a difference in their lives. They help children address all sorts of issues in their lives such as educational, family or social issues. Families can help solicit donations or educate others as to what Kars for Kids does. Families can even save their extra change to purchase an older car or truck to donate to an organization such as this.

Families can volunteer at local churches as well. They can contact the ministerial alliance in their community to explore what churches would benefit from help.