Friday, April 22, 2016

Ways to Volunteer Help in the Warm Weather




field-summer-sun-meadowThe weather finally warming up, and the oncoming Memorial Day holiday, signal the beginning of summer and vacation season. It means the start of beach days and weekend camping trips, cruises and summer staycations. But it also signals a time when blood and platelet donations decline, homeless and animal shelters fill to overflowing, and fewer people donate supplies than ever.

When the weather is cold, it is easy to step outside and think “I’m so glad I have a way to keep warm and full, I should help those that can’t.” The holidays put people into a giving mood, and get them thinking about contributing more. And that’s great, but often the heat can be just as deadly as the cold, and many shelters become overrun.


As as you start enjoying your summer, here are some ways to make someone else’s life a little bit better as well:

A steady stream of blood and platelet donations is key to maintain enough supplies, and the supply dips dangerously low in summer. Donations can be made before, after, or even during your summer vacation, simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visitredcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to see where you can give blood near you, even while out of town. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients.

For the same vacation reasons, shelter volunteering numbers dip much lower because of vacation needs as well as families that need to be taken care of with school out of session. But this is also the time when most shelters fill to capacity. Also donations of food and other items are much more scarce in the summer months than they are around the holidays.

You can check homelessshelterdirectory.org andhttp://www.shelterlistings.org/ to help find Homeless Shelters, Supportive Housing, Housing for Low Income, Halfway Housing, Transitional Housing, Day Shelters, Low Cost Housing near you. For Food Banks, Food Pantries, and Soup Kitchens near you, check out foodpantries.org orfeedingamerica.org

I always recommend calling the shelters or food banks to find their specific needs, but here are some needs shelters always have in the summer:

Feminine hygiene products, sunscreen, bottled water, shampoo/conditioner, Nix lice treatment, toilet paper, bug repellant, hair brushes, razors, shaving cream, lotion, hand soap and body wash, socks of all sizes, underwear (brand new, usually need larger sizes), rain ponchos, blankets and sheets (full and twin sized), towels, women’s bras, maternity clothing, padlocks with keys, reusable water/coffee cups, reading glasses, diapers and pullups for babies and toddlers, baby wipes, bottles and sippy cups, swimsuits, baby formula, books and games, highchairs, outlet covers and baby gates, and brand new car seats, strollers, and pack and play cribs.

For animal shelters, some common needs are:
Kongs, Greenie’s Pill Pockets, canned tuna in water, newspapers, cleaning supplies like bleach, dish soap, sponges, paper towels and facial tissues. Most have food and toy regulations, so make sure that you call before donating those.

Ending Homelessness? Penn University Says it can be Done


UQGA professor at Penn is also a an expert on homelessness. He has spent over thirty years doing research, is recognized nation-wide for his efforts, and has been pivotal in work that attempts to end homelessness the world over.
Dennis Culhane, PhD is a professor at Penn University in addition to being the Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy in the School of Social Policy & Practice, Co-Principal Investigator at Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, and Director of Research at the National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans. He works tirelessly not just to study homelessness, the effects of it, and the efficacy of current programs, but also to educate students on the stigma that comes along with homelessness.
There is paradigm for solving these problems, and Culhane believes that there has been a dramatic shifting of this paradigm in recent years, for the better. As a culture, the U.S. has been putting more faith in a “housing first” approach to residence that gets people housed with no strings attached, rather than the historical process of at-risk people needing to complete substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment in order to even begin the red-tape filled, arduous journey of accessing social services in order to eventually procure housing. This method kept many on the streets unnecessarily. This new approach is getting people into homes first, and then they are engaged in services to treat mental health and substance abuse issues, along with having access to other support as well.
upenn loveFrom Penn’s website: “The country’s unsheltered homeless population has dropped by 26 percent since 2010. Veteran homelessness has declined even further: by 36 percent, according to the 2015 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)  (AHAR) to Congress. Culhane is a co-principal investigator of the AHAR.”
Culhane’s research identified two very different kinds of homelessness: those who experience chronic homelessness are often homeless for many years at a time, possibly even indefinitely. Those who experience crisis homelessness are people who have lost jobs, been victims of domestic violence, experience sudden and sometimes sustaining illness or injury, or are reentering society after being released from their incarceration. “Evidence-based solutions have given people the ability to get out of homelessness,” says Culhane. “For people experiencing crisis homelessness, giving them a little bit of assistance often helps. People need a hand up to avoid the downward spiral.”
Since 2009 there have been almost eight hundred thousand Section-8 rental vouchers awarded to those that need them, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs beginning a program that rapidly rehouses those experiencing crisis homelessness, serving a hundred thousand vets each year.
Homelessness can be solved, says Culhane. “We know what causes it, how to mitigate the risks, and how to help people get re-housed quickly.”
Between hospitalization and medical treatment, jailing and incarceration of the homeless, and the cost of emergency shelter, as well as the supporting costs of things like police intervention and transit workers payroll hours, it is a commonly held belief that it is more expensive for a community to leave a homeless person homeless than it is to house them. “A study from Los Angeles, CA – home to ten percent of the entire homeless population – found that placing four chronically homeless people into permanent supportive housing saved the city more than $80,000 per year.” You can read more studies and facts about the cost of homelessness at endhomelessness.org
Currently, Culhane is working with researchers on the “SP2 Penn Top 10 Social Justice & Policy Issues for the 2016 Presidential Election” project. He authored an essay for the project titled “Ending Homelessness Now,” which explores the tangible and evidence-based ways that the U.S. can end homelessness for both veterans and non-veterans.

Tips for Growing Your Small Business



No matter if you are a tech startup or a family-run business, there are the same hurdles beyond the first round of funding or opening your doors for the first time. The Harvard Business Review has a great piece about the Five Stages of Small Business Growth, which are Existance, Survival, Success, Take-Off, and Resource Maturity.

From the HBR article: “In reaching this stage, the business has demonstrated that it is a workable business entity. It has enough customers and satisfies them sufficiently with its products or services to keep them. The key problem thus shifts from mere existence to the relationship between revenues and expenses.” In Existence mode, the owner is most often the operator as well. Keeping staffing low at the outset to minimize costs is vital. But a car can only run on as much fuel as will fit in the tank. To grow your business, you have to get a bigger tank. Here, we are assuming the Existence, and working on getting you from Existence to Survival and from Survival to Success, with some tips for small businesses to keep in mind as they grow.

-Hire a lawyer. When staffing is so low you are the CEO but also pack all the boxes for shipping, paying the fee of a lawyer can seem like a daunting prospect. But they are invaluable in business growth, filling out paperwork, protecting your assets and intellectual property, and often work as advisors that are great, safe sounding boards for your ideas. As soon as a company starts to appear as though it will garner success, it can become a target.

-Identify strengths. With a small staff, it is vitally important to know where the strengths and weaknesses of each participating individual lay. If you have a business partner but you’re both terrible with keeping track of bookkeeping, you need to know how to afford an accountant. If one of you has the sales skills to pitch the business, but the other has the nurturing to train loyal staff, that information needs to be discussed and clearly outlined upfront. Even if it is only you and one cashier or software developer on the whole team, set clear expectations of everyone involved, and don’t be afraid to draft paperwork that clearly outlines these expectations. Don’t sugarcoat things, either. Hurt feelings are not more important than your business.

-Remember balance, and develop leadership. Things need to get done, and you need to make sure they happen, even if that means doing them yourself. But burning out, or stretching too thin, leads to things falling through the cracks that can bring a young business crashing down. Hire people you trust and then trust them. Train them well. Have meetings with transparency. Have them help you develop training materials for new staff. Hold regular reviews. Give them actual responsibility and work to do and then go home and leave work at the door. Get some sleep.

-Create a succession plan. From day one, it is important to lay out how the exit strategy for closing, succession plan for death or retirement, and guidelines for how selling the business to a larger company is going to play out. What percentages go to whom? Who gets the business if you retire? What if you are hurt and cannot run the business? Who becomes the leader?
-Know who you are. You have to have a brand identity, core values, and an attitude towards business that is clearly laid-out and easy to communicate. You need your customers, your staff, your investors, your partners to know what makes your business unique and what is the heart of the business. Make sure the customers know your face, your employees believe in your ethos, and everyone is committed to the same business practices with a consistent and distinct voice.

-Manage growth responsibly. There’s a saying that every day, you should think about doing ten times that revenue the very next day. If you make 100 doughnuts, are you capable of making 1000 tomorrow? What staff, supplies, and equipment would you need to get from 100 to 1000 doughnuts a day? That’s not to say you should go out and spend money on all of those resources right now, because you may not have the ability to sell 1000 doughnuts and those ingredients would go to waste and the staff would drain you financially. But if you know exactly what it would take, every day, to grow ten times by tomorrow, you have a solid foundation for building over time to increase output.

-Build community around your business. How can you give back? This is as much about charity as it is belonging in your neighborhood. This is as applicable for digital companies as brick-and-mortar ones. Participate in events. Raise money for a good cause that relates to your business. Be nice to the deli on the corner your staff gets lunch from. Even Google changes the logo on holidays and notable dates to keep its users feeling like part of the family.

-Don’t take more money than you need. Tech companies in particular are using high valuations and large rounds of funding for free lunch every day and half-basketball courts in the office. This may make you appealing to talent, but if you sell your business for much less than the valuation, or you hit lean times, those who take less money to start out, and run leaner when they can, will make it through the rough patches without collapsing.

Increasing Your Business Revenue


While there are nearly limitless ways of creating a revenue when you start a business, once you have the momentum and the business is running, there are only four ways to increase that revenue and growth:

-Increase the number of customers.
-Increase the amount spent per transaction.
-Increase the frequency of transactions per customer.
-Increase the price of your product.

There are also cost-cutting methods that may add a more appealing profit margin to your company, but this will not grow your business or increase your revenue. Depending on your industry, your clientele, and your production capabilities, there are pros and cons to each method.

Increasing the number of customers, while the idea method of growth in a company, presents a couple of issues. It usually means advertising, free samples, more output, or more services to attract the new customers, all of which will cost you money. You also have to be aware of the kinds of customers you are attracting. If you consistently have growth in customers, but those customers complain about pricing, are a drain on your support, or constantly requiring free products or services or refunds in order to walk away happy aren’t going to build your revenue stream. Make sure that bringing in more customers is also focused on bringing in the right customers for your business. Word-of-mouth from happy customers will always be the ideal way to attract new customers, regardless of product or the size of your business, so make sure that you don’t lose focus on the customers you already have.

Increasing the amount spent per transaction can be achieved with techniques like bundling products together, or up-selling to premium support options instead of basic ones. For a company that sells products, incentives (like free shipping, a small gift, or a case of a related product) or volume discounts for reaching a higher price point transaction can be beneficial. For a tech company, this can also be something like charging a small amount for the app, with more options that can be unlocked for a certain price within the app.

Increasing frequency of transactions can use strategies like adding subscription-based sales of content, services, or products. That is such an excellent way to make sure that your customer doesn’t just purchase from you once, that many startups are only using subscription-service for their products. Frequency discounts, like sandwich-shop punch cards, can help encourage someone to come back more often. You can also vary your offerings to encourage people to purchase the new thing, like restaurants with seasonal menus. Be wary of techniques that encourage more frequent buying by decreasing pack size, or encouraging more use. Like the old wive’s tale of “making the hole in the toothpaste tube wider, so users unwittingly squeezed more toothpaste with every use and making them consume more toothpaste.” If you have a customer base established, these practices may be noticed and lead to feelings of disenfranchisement or disillusionment with your product.
Raising your prices is the simplest method, but also the most likely to upset customers. Assuming that your transaction volume, size, and frequency stays the same, raising prices will bring in a larger amount of revenue for the same amount of company effort. Most people understand the costs associated with business, and inflation is a given, so you will get some leeway in the minds of your customers, but it is very easy to cross over into a price point that your competitors can undercut or that your customers are unwilling to pay.