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As we enter the holiday season folks are opening their wallets for many reasons, usually to buy a gift for some one. well here is an idea, give the gift of charity… I know it sounds hokey and all, but this really is the time of year when folks consider giving to charities and good causes.
There are the typical players like Oxfam, UNICEF, Sierra Club and of course, the Salvation Army. Then there are some new projects working on raising money or doing good.
DonorsChoice allows you to donate money to fund the needs of public schools. You can even look for what public schools in your area need and provide a donation to help fund those specific items.
Heifer International is a growing organization that, based on your donation, gives livestock to families in need, allowing them to produce their own eggs or milk. They’ve also expanded their initiatives and have a full online catalogue for you to search through and decide which gift is right for you.
If you still want to give (or give as a gift), but none of those seem right for you check out Charity Watch, a site set up by the American Institute of Philanthropy which gives various charities grades based on a whole set of criteria.
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If you are fed up with mass consumerism and think that the capitalist paradigm we live in is bringing about the destruction of the planet, maybe the shopping and sales on Black Friday are something you don’t want to participate in. Well then, how about Buy Nothing Day.
Buy Nothing day is the Friday after Thanksgiving and was created by Adbusters in order to create “a 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending - participate by not participating.” In a protest against mass-consumerism and consumption each year on Black Friday in the US (and the following day internationally). The concept isn’t just to protest one day of shopping but rather to change the way people shop, moving away from a culture of over indulgence indulgence and focusing on “starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste” (again thanks to Wikipedia).
So, your choice. Whether you rush out to the Black Friday Sales or support the Buy Nothing Day movement, enjoy your Friday.
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You may have noticed the increased posting today and yesterday. This is because Josh and I have been building up a pile of posts here for those of you who plan on reading over the next two days while we are off enjoying our Thanksgiving dinners. Don’t expect much from the two of us on Thursday or Friday, but hopefully the 12 or so post that have already gone up this week will tide you over.
If not and you find yourself lost for something to do on Friday, there are always the infamous Black Friday Sales where some grandmother in Middle-America is bound to get trampled going for a $15 DVD player at Wal-mart.
For those of you up to actually attending the sales you can get a jump on them and map out your plan of attack using TGIBlackFriday, a website that has gotten its hands on some of the Black Friday circulars and has published its findings on their site. So, go now, check it out. Keep in mind though, according to Wikipedia: “‘Black Friday’ was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).” So you might be better lugging that new flat screen via public transportation rather then driving it home in your car.
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In order to give Josh a hand I’ve whipped up a couple of posts to help him out along the way. Okay, so far that’s not true. In fact, I’ve only written this, but really, I blame Josh.
The time I had scheduled to write before my fleeing departure from the US was interrupted when Josh came over on Saturday. I would have typed up a few posts for him, but instead we went out to lunch and ate tasty Vietnamese sandwiches and discussed some of the weaker years that the Simpsons had on the air. So now, because I do feel pity for Josh, I have to take time out of my vacation to get his back and help him out with a post here and there this week. Here we go:
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Thrasher Funds is a mutual fund management company that that is choosing a different marketing ploy to connect with its potential investors.
Rather then targeting your traditional investor, they are looking for the non-traditional (shocking, I know) younger investor. Folks from the Gen-X and Gen-Y groups who are weary of the typical stuffed shirts down on Wall Street and don’t necessarily think that the folks at MErril Lynch hold the same values that they do.
The GendeX™ Mutual Fund was developed and is managed by young adult investors for young adult investors. A group of more than 60 million Gen X and Y’ers largely untapped by the financial market place…until now.
The idea is to capture younger investors who are typically ignored by the power brokers on Wall Street by making them aware of the benefits of investing at a younger age as well as targeting them through their interests and the mutual fund investments.
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