Wise Giving

Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance:

“Whenever there is a major natural disaster, be it home or abroad, there are two things you can count on. The first is the generosity of Americans to donate time and money to help victims, and the second is the appearance of poorly run and in some cases fraudulent charities.”

We all want to help when a tragedy strikes, and the Japanese trifecta of natural and nuclear disasters is particularly heartbreaking. The Red Cross is taking donations online, via text message and was at The Rose Bowl earlier this week.

If you're searching out other giving possibilities, be cautious. I met a couple guys at a party once who were talking about taking supplies and tents into an earthquake zone. I was so moved by their seeming sincerity that I almost wrote out a check right there. Then I decided I'd better do a little research.

But once I did, I couldn't find any record of them or their organization. It's possible they were completely serious, but I had to wonder how effective naive, inexperienced amateurs would be in a disaster zone.

Here are some tips from the BBB:

Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other Web sites, as they might not have fully researched the listed relief organizations. The public can go to Give.org to research charities and relief organizations to verify that they are accredited by the BBB and meet the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Be cautious about online giving, especially in response to spam messages and emails that claim to link to a relief organization. In response to the tsunami disaster in 2004, there were concerns raised about many websites and new organizations that were created overnight allegedly to help victims.

Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the disaster impact areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult to get new aid workers to quickly provide assistance. See if the charity’s website clearly describes what they can do to address immediate needs.

Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations. If so, you may want to consider “avoiding the middleman” and giving directly to charities that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to ensure the organizations are equipped to effectively provide aid.

Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fund raising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims that 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting earthquake victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fund raising and administrative expenses. They may use some of their other funds to pay this, but the expenses will still be incurred.

In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned,may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need - unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to be able to properly distribute such aid. Ask the charity about their transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.

Look for details when texting a donation. Beginning with the earthquake in Haiti, it’s become common to send a text to make a donation. Make sure you understand the amount to be donated, and whether there will be any service fees charged to your account. Be sure the offer clearly identifies which charity will receive the donation, then check out the charity.

Earning Some Dough

Employment rates are going up and things are looking better. But lay-offs are still happening, including several hundred who lost their jobs at AOL recently.

So what do you do if you lose a job and have to spend time looking for a new one? Here are some tips from consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch:

Sell Your Stuff
A good alternative to the yard sale is to sell your stuff on Craigslist or eBay, depending on the quality and whether you want to deal with shipping. Both sites allow you to sell nearly everything, from furniture and bikes to artwork and crafts. CraigsList is free and organized by region. Consult the CraigsList FAQ before you begin. eBay will take a cut of your profits and requires more technical savvy, but it's a good outlet for collector's items, higher-end electronics, etc. Read the eBay Sellers Guide before you get started.

Rent Out a Room
Sharing living expenses can put more cash in your pocket. Make sure you draw up a lease agreement specifying rent, security deposit terms, length of stay, etc. This becomes even more important if you're renting to someone you know.

Monetize Your Web Site or Blog
You're already spending a ton of time on your blog or Web site. Why not earn some money from all your labor? Google AdSense and nine other sites listed on MoolaDays require little to no supervision: Once it's there, you don't need to do much more.

Sell Your Hair
Sales for generous lengths of tresses reportedly can net you several hundred to over a thousand dollars. WiseBread explains how to sell your hair and includes sites where you can list and market hair.

Resell Your Unused Gift Cards
The average American household is holding on to $300 in unused gift cards. In fact, an estimated $30 billion to $40 billion gift cards lie unspent in dresser drawers across the country. You can sell the gift cards you're no longer using to resale companies for a percentage of the face value and they will sell them at a discount price to others who will actually use those precious pieces of plastic. GiftCardGranny.com can link you up with the highest-paying gift card resellers in the industry.

Give Blood
Some plasma banks pay up to $35 per pint. In the United States, federal regulations state that an individual may donate two times in a seven day period, with a minimum of two days in between donations. DonatingPlasma.org provides details and a searchable plasma-bank database to help you find a plasma bank in your area.

Become a Human Guinea Pig
If you live near a university with a med school, you can earn anywhere from $15 to $2,000 for taking part in a clinical research study. The National Institutes of Health lists thousands of clinical studies that need volunteers.

It Was the Worst of Times

I've been researching the concept of "crowdsourcing" for a special project recently, and so this "worst of" list recently caught my attention.

In fact, I notice that these "best of" and "top ten" or "least likely" lists always grab my eye. I don't know what it is, but they're hard to pass up.

I never structure my own columns that way, or after the "five things you need to know about" trope, because it seems too boring.

But I probably should try it. I certainly can't help but read these headlines myself.

Retailers Beware

Groupon and its competitors are not for everyone.

Your $5, Please

There are so many free resources cropping up for entrepreneurs I can hardly keep track of them all.

Here's one that lists a whole bunch of services you can get for $5.

Really? I haven't purchased anything for $5 in - I can't remember how long. I thought the $5 purchase had gone the way of the .05-cent ice cream cone, which was the going price at my local Sav-On Drugstore (Sav-On!) when I was a tiny child. (It was quite a shock when the single cone went up to a dime. What was the world coming to!?)

Anyway, it's obvious that most folks offering something for $5 are hoping to up-sell you into a contract that's just a tad more lucrative. So take these for what they're worth (which would be $5, actually).

But maybe it's not such a bad idea. Experts are always advising small business startups to heavily discount - or even give away - their services to strategic early clients. FiveRR may just be the logical extension of that principle.

Kidworth

Having learned responsible financial management the hard way, I'm a big proponent of financial literacy for kids.

So is Rudy DeFelice, founder and CEO of a free website I learned about recently. Kidworth allows families to set financial goals with their kids and work toward their achievement together.

Rudy was a corporate lawyer for many years at premier international law firms. He served as CEO of a VC-backed software and internet information company for nine years, a position he left to found Kidworth. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and The University of Connecticut School of Law and lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his wife Wendy (an attorney and founder of a foundation that is building schools for destitute children) and their three kids.

My grown sons have, thankfully, inherited the thrifty gene that seems to infect both their parents. And they appear to be natural savers, not spenders. But if you have younger children and need to instill some fiscal discipline, give it a try.

Getting Up to Date

In the midst of getting a total computer overhaul, downloading new versions of my software, installing them and "integrating" my saved data this week. Whew!

The good news is that I basically have a new computer (double memory, fresh hard drive, Windows 7 and new versions of all my software) for about half the price of buying and configuring new hardware.

The bad news is that blog entries are falling behind.

Here are a couple of recent columns I have written for Smart Answers at Bloomberg Businessweek. I think they are both really interesting - but of course I'm biased!

Coming up next week: The straight dirt on Groupon, LivingSocial and the myriad (and I'm talking myriad) similar online couponing sites that target small retail operations.