Get Your Stuff Together, 2009

Two sites that I've found incredibly helpful for handling what needs handling:

1) Remember the Milk, a totally awesome to-do list organizer featuring tags, multiple lists and lots more goodies. You can access it from your mobile phone, email yourself to-do items and more. Yes!

I'm trying the "almost-zero" inbox thing. RTM is totally helping by moving to-do data out of my inbox and into a to-do management system. Much better.

2) Mint, a personal finance tracker. It connects to your bank's website, downloads your transactions, and automatically categorizes them for you. Mint's expense charting is fantastic. I learned that I spent way too much money on dining out -- crazy amounts. The budget creation capabilities could use some enhancements, but it does get the job done.

I'm on a two-weeks' vacation starting now. See ya in 2009! Check back in January, dear readers, when the drear of winter will foster regular postings.

Found in Translation

Translating Japanese characters to English (and vice versa) can be incredibly tricky -- this is particularly true when it comes to names, including place names. Thank goodness for the oddly-named, but totally awesome diddlefinger.com. It's a google maps-based application that lets you look up Japanese addresses using their English spelling. Exploring it also helped me to understand a bit more about Japan's address conventions.

Funneling Google

Site-restricted searching is one of the most valuable google tricks I know.

Researchers are often asked to learn what other charitable causes a constituent supports with their time and treasure. Though NOZA Search and Guidestar Pro are fabulous at providing that information, sometimes you want to dig deeper... or, you've got no research budget.

Use google's site-restricted searching to narrow your results down. Site-restricted searches act as a funnel by only returning search results from a particular domain or domain type.

That way, you can look only on charitable (.org) or educational (.edu) sites. You can even restrict your search to one site only, so if you know that a person is involved with a particular organization, you can search that site to learn more.

Simply type the following in your google search bar:

site:organization.org search term

or

site:.edu search term

Happy searching!

Winter Survival

Holidays, rapidly failing economy, impending family time, holiday parties, and enforced shopping -- it's a heady mix of emotions, including (but in no way limited to) excitement, nervousness, stress, and, in the best moments, hope.

Winter survival tactics are in order.




First, children of the eighties/nineties, I suggest that you, right now, create a Pandora station with "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-n-Effect as the seed. Seriously, there is something about this song that makes the best dance station ever. Ever. I don't understand why this is, but it is. It doesn't seem possible. Algorithms are incredible. The song isn't that great, yet somehow Pandora translates it into a station of all songs that make me want to dance. (Warning: the above video is slightly NSFW, in a weird early 90s way.)

(If you are of another generation... try the Rump Shaker Solution(tm), but I have no guarantees for you. There is very likely some other magic song that seeds the ultimate mix for the folks born at the same time as you. What is this song? Leave a comment.)

The rest of this advice applies equally to all generations.

Next, breathe deeply. That sounds like, duh, but when you pay attention to your breathing, you'll see how often you aren't breathing deeply. I attended an amazing workshop by Robin Rose a few years ago, in which she explained how stress triggers a fight-or-flight response, which causes shallow breathing. This sends you right into the lizard brain due to lack of oxygen. Breathing deeply is the only way to access your monkey brain. Try it the next time you're freakin' out.

Suggestion three, consider a light box. (Shout out to my sisters and brothers and others in windowless offices!) I did some research: this one is my favorite so far. Suggestions? Leave a comment.

Finally, cheap tropical vacation. Is this possible? Ideas? Leave a comment. Seriously -- how can I pull this off for no money?

Yikes, It's Present-Buying Time!

Tired of buying cheap plastic crap for your loved ones?

This year, consider a philanthropic gift card. There's a bunch of sites out there offering them, including TisBest.org, which is based in Seattle; CharityChoice; and Network for Good. All three of these sites will even let you send the "gift card" by email -- no plastic needed!

Besides putting less future landfill in the world, giving a philanthropic gift card lets the person to whom you give it experience the "giver's high." What could be better than a gift that actually improves one's mood and health?

$745 Million Dollars! And the Future of Fundraising?

The final tally is in -- Barack Obama's campaign raised a record $745 million. In the last few weeks of the campaign, one million donors (500,000 new and 500,000 recurring) donated $104 million.

In this crappy economy, does this foreshadow the (near-term at least) future of non-profit fundraising?

Anecdotal stories from fundraisers in the field suggest that right now, low- to mid-level donors are largely still giving, while major donors are sitting tight and watching the economy. The conventional wisdom here is that though the unemployment rate is on the rise, there are still plenty of folks with jobs who can give from their income -- the typical source of donation dollars for most givers.

In contrast, major donors generally give from appreciated assets. Though they still have plenty of dough, many wealthy folks have seen a steep drop in their stashes of cash. Times are tough for everyone who relies on the wealthy for their well-being -- even mistresses are feeling the pinch of hard times.

It's hard to say what will happen for nonprofit fundraising in the next few years. Various studies show that charitable giving tends to hold fairly steady through recessions, with a small drop seen about a year after the beginning of the recession (so, right around now). However, this recession seems poised to be fairly crazy, compared to other recessions.

Hold on fundraisers, it's gonna get weirder. And as Hunter S. Thompson once said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

It's the Freakin' Weekend

Welcome back, office workers. Motivation can be difficult to summon after several days freed from the tyranny of the alarm clock. (In the coming robot revolution, the alarm clocks will play a particularly brutal role -- mark my words.)

Heck, returning to work after a typical weekend can feel unfortunate. Check out the Gallup Daily U.S. mood poll -- there's a consistent peak in mood on the weekends, followed by a Monday decline in spirits.



Also, check out last Wednesday's holiday-induced midweek spike. A full 67% of those polled said they were happy, and only four percent were overwhelmingly stressed out and worried. (During most weekdays, around forty percent of respondents report feeling happy.)

Here's hoping you, dear reader, are one of the forty percent this week.