"In Lieu of Gifts:" Inlu May Be the Solution

In this month's issue of The Champlain Business Journal there is a great write-up about a new business called "Inlu." Inlu is creative, relevant and simple...although the idea itself is very innovative! The idea of Inlu is to be a specialized gift registry which benefits charities. Inlu is similar to a gift registry because "the recipient's gift or charitable wishes are revealed to celebration attendees." They direct funds to a recipient's charity choice and can act as a collection point for anything from funding group presents to school fundraisers. Personally, I think this would have been a fantastic business plan idea for the St. Mike's Enterprise Plan Competition.

Monica Ostby and Jamaica Jenkins are the co-founders of Inlu and have made the entire process very straightforward and easy. Participants can sign up online at www.inlu.com and Inlu sends out invitations and coordinates receipt and allocation of the funds. Inlu was actually started in 2009, but as with any business, it takes a little while to really be recognized in the community. Ostby says that what really sets them apart is the fact that "Inlu is a time saver for the purchaser, but also guarantees that the recipient receives that longed-for special gift." The article states that a big part of being recognized is the partnerships the women have made with local area businesses. As far as the numbers go, Inlu has issued payments in 25 different states and some participants have already been a part of over 30 Inlus!

Both co-founders want to always remember why they began the business in the first place: to reduce consumption and one's carbon footprint. So, for every 10,000 points users accumulate, Inlu will plant a tree. As an organization, they are currently up to 160,000 points! Do you think the notion of gift giving will change because of business like this and that people will decide to go more "green" in their purchases for gifts? Do you have any suggestions for the future of Inlu?

Subscribing: Yay or Nay?

I've recently been thinking about a question I have: what is the purpose of subscribing to someone's YouTube page? My personal feeling is that there is no point in following someone's personal videos because most of the time they are simply for entertainment purposes and are not anything you would seriously share with anyone...they just seem like they're for fun. So why put the effort into following them and subscribing to their page?

I believe I'm confused about this phenomenon mainly because it doesn't seem to fit into my idea of social media and making connections online. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all meant to share interesting information, make genuine connections, and build and keep relationships for the future. In other words, these ways of connecting represent a real connection to you. When subscribing online, you get lost in the thousands of other subscribers, so where is the personalization? What do you as an individual get out of being one of many followers? There is no give and take, just watching and commenting without really knowing if the people in the videos will take the time to read all the comments. As you may be able to tell, I am unfamiliar with subscribing to someone's channel, but I wonder why someone would do so. For instance, there are some videos that I have found on YouTube that I find to be really funny, but I have never considered subscribing to someone's page. Do you know of anyone who has, and what they might do on a weekly basis in relation to their subscription to that channel?

Do Nothing and Do Good

Recently I was flipping through my mom's AARP magazine (I know what you're thinking, but it actually has a lot of interesting articles :) and I found a write-up about "embedded generosity." I had never specifically heard of this term before, yet as I read on I realized that this is something we all have most likely encountered.

This is a great way to market a product because you are helping a cause without even really being conscious of it sometimes. The article explained how many companies feel it attracts customers more when the "giving" is part of the purchase, and not a separate decision. In this way, when businesses ask as you are checking out "would you like to donate a dollar to the children's fund today?" You are psychologically more likely to buy a product that supports the children's fund in your initial cost, than to make a donation after buying something.

Another example of this was the RED campaign which raised money for fighting aids in Africa. Customers could purchase cards, shirts, CDs, etc. in support of aids awareness. Another example is when you purchase Procter & Gamble goods or redeem Kraft coupons, you help fund Feeding America, which provides food to low-income Americans. The article also mentions that skin care company Philosophy donates their net proceeds from sales of nine bath and body products to nonprofits via its Shop For A Cause Program. Henry Mason of Trendwatching.com says that embedded generosity "makes giving painless - and automatic."

Have you ever bought something because it supported a cause? Were you even aware of that fact that you were supporting it?