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The internet can be a very powerful tool for helping charities to raise donations to help children who are impoverished. The problem is that there are many, many charities out there looking to take advantage of a person’s good will. There are good charities out there; you just may have to do a little research to find them. Several websites are available to help weed out the scammers. There are also some guidelines to follow when deciding which charity for children you want to give a donation to.

As a rule, only give donations to charities that you are familiar with. If the charity that you are looking at is unfamiliar to you, check them out with your state or local government offices. The Better Business Bureau has a division called the Wise Giving Alliance that offers a wealth of information about many charities nationwide. You should be leery of anyone who e-mails you asking for a donation. If you have not asked for a solicitation, there is a good chance it is fraudulent. Many fraudulent charities will use a name that is so close to a legitimate charity’s name that most people will not notice it. Explore the financial records of any charity that asks you to donate.

Look to see where the money really goes and what percentage of every dollar you donate goes to the expenses other than the children themselves. One of the worst times for charity scams is following a tragedy or natural disaster. Beware of solicitations during this time. You should give, because these are the times the donations are needed most; however, you need to be extra careful about where your money is going.

The internet has many good qualities and can be very useful when soliciting donations that are meant to help children. When used responsibly, large amounts of money can be raised. The internet can also be very useful to those looking to make a donation. There are studies that show, however, that most people do not use the internet to its fullest when researching the charities. Most people who give $10 here and $20 there give solely based on their recognition of a name and what group they think that charity represents. It is not until donations reach higher dollar figures that people really start to question where their money is going. The majority of donors do not look at dollars spent and where they go; they are, subconsciously, interested only in the emotional pats on the back they can give themselves at the end of the year for any donation made to charities that help children.

The solution to this passivity is for the groups watching over the charities to make themselves more visible to the donors. They need to concentrate on holidays and other times when giving is most prominent and find a way to let people know they exist. They need to find a way to stress the importance of researching charities via the internet before making donations to charities that help children or other impoverished groups.

Money holds a lot of importance in today’s society. In fact, people have handily attached connotations to the rather popular term. Money stands as the root of all evil according to religious sectors. It is also the prime symbol of a nation’s stability when it comes to the world of economics. In the subject of political influence, the amount of cash that you have often represents your level of influence. All of the given connotations are nice but none of them helps the common man as much as the connotation of non-profit fundraising.

Non-profit fundraising is the accumulation of funds to help a particular sector of society. This scheme is often applied by non-profit organizations so that they can fund projects like medical missions, low-cost housing, homes for the aged and orphanages.

There are two main types of non-profit fundraising, namely capital campaign and planned giving. The capital campaign scheme primarily focuses on the construction of structures and the funding of fact-finding projects. On the other hand, the planned giving method encourages people to give a gift before they die.

Planned Giving - This type of fundraising encourages donors to give a certain gift before they die or to present an even larger gift while they are alive. Usually, the gifts come in the form of human organs or a large sum of cash.

Giving money to a non-profit fundraising project is pretty easy since charitable institutions readily provide a number of donating options. Oftentimes, you will find coin banks or donation collectors in shopping centers and in some parks. You can also mail your donation to an institution or send money through a money transferring service. There are even non-profit organizations that let you give donations online through their website.

Have you ever seen those little clear plastic donation boxes at stores and restaurants? Well, they are perfect for any type of donation collection, whether it is for a charity, service club or simply a school fundraiser. There are many features that make them the most desirable type of donation boxes to get for your charity or school. They are lightweight and easy to transport and their glossy surface makes them look like glass but clean even better. Because they are clear and glossy, they blend in with any dcor and don’t distract from anything else that is going on in the room. Store owners will prefer these to other traditional donation boxes and are more willing to have them put in their establishment. Many of them have a sign holder that makes it easy to advertise your cause and brings in many more donations than simply leaving a box at a till. Another great feature is the fact that it is shatterproof which makes it safe to leave anywhere, including where kids will be running around.

One of the best features about it, however, is how it prevents theft of your donations. Unfortunately, we live in a world where many people are out for themselves even if it means that they take from others who are less fortunate. There are always and probably always will be people who take from donation boxes and keep it for themselves. No one wants their donations to go to those who don’t deserve it. We put up the donation boxes for a reason and it is quite disheartening to find out that everything you earned is suddenly gone. The acrylic donations box help prevent this from happening in several different ways.

First, they are in fact shatterproof. This means that the easy smash and dash way of getting donation money is out of the question. The boxes are strong and well-built so that you can only get into them if have the key or if you have a blow torch which is not exactly the quickest and quietest way of doing things. Many times, the thief will try and smash the acrylic donation box only to find that it bounces off the floor and lies there perfectly in tact. This usually deters them and makes them find a different place to vandalize and steal from.

If you don’t have it nailed down, however, they may just take it with them and open it at their leisure at a later date when they have the proper tools and the time. One good way to prevent this is to chain it to something sturdy on the counter such as the cash register or even the counter itself. Many of the acrylic donation boxes come with something that you can attach a chain to, whether it is an acrylic loop on the back of the box or just two small holes in the back of the box to slip a chain through. Just make sure that you use a sturdy chain such as a bicycle chain or a strong cable.

It doesn’t matter what you are raising funds for, you want to keep the funds that you do raise for the cause that you set out to help Acrylic donation boxes will help you do just that.

We’ve all seen them sitting in coffee shops, restaurants and corner stores. Those little clear plastic donation boxes that are used for various charities and service groups seem to be everywhere but why are they used instead of other traditional donation boxes? How does an acrylic donation box benefit more than any other type of donation box? If you are looking into getting a donation box to put up for your charity or service group, there are a few things that you should know about acrylic donation boxes and all of their benefits.

First of all, acrylic is a material that is very difficult to break, making them a safer choice. You wouldn’t want someone to knock a donation box off the counter and have it shatter on you like a glass donation box would. That could cause both injury as well as loss of donations. It would also make it very easy for thieves to smash the boxes on purpose and take the money, leaving you with nothing but a big mess to clean up. An acrylic donation box eliminates that possibility because it is next to impossible to break into without the proper tools. So, acrylic donation boxes are the safest and most theft resistant donation boxes available.

Another great thing about acrylic donation boxes is that they are clear and make it easy for everyone to see what is inside. People love to see how their contribution ads up and kids love to watch the money fall into the little pile at the bottom which means that there will be more donations just from people who like to look at money rather than just support your cause. You will also get more donations from people who feel guilty. If there is not a lot of money in the box, more people with put their change in just to make it look fuller. A clear acrylic donation box is sure to bring in more donations than you would normally receive from a plain donation box.

Acrylic donation boxes are great for any donation needs because they are simple, lightweight and easy to set up. The transparent appearance does not distract from any dcor or environment around it which makes it easier to convince stores owners to set one up in their establishment. More store owners will agree to set them up, which means that more donations will com into your charity or service group. The high gloss finish is attractive and has a classy appearance that looks like glass but is stronger and more impact resistant as well as lighter in weight which makes it very portable. It is easy to clean when too many little finger prints get all over it.

Many of the donation boxes have sign holders attached too, which makes it easy to advertise your cause and bring in more donations through educating people about where their money will go. No one wants to donate to something that they don’t know exactly what their money will be used for. You can use this feature to tell about the overall charity or program or a specific event that you are funding for. Either way, the donors will be happy that they know a little bit more about what they are spending their money on and they will be more likely to give more.

So, whatever your charity or service club may be, acrylic donation boxes are a sure way to bring in the maximum amount of donations.

I met Vahan Mirakian through a mutual friend, his attorney, almost two years ago for the first time in a small tourist town, a paradise of sorts on the Pacific near Tijuana called “San Antonio”. The town was gorgeous as was the ocean view from Vahan’s Villa patio. Vahan’s face looked old and tired, as if he had given up. I would find out later, he virtually had.

Vahan had reason not to be smiling. He had been through a living hell. And it was not getting better. His case seemed more complicated all the time, and he had the best representation available. Still, things did not look good. Even paradise, to Vahan, looked like a lifetime sentence. He would be away from the United States and the love of his life, Marika A.

Vahan had, a year ago, been arrested at LAX at age 70, handcuffed, dragged through the airport, made to sign papers he did not understand, detained, and then deported, and not allowed to return on a technical violation.

I suppose after 9-11, that most immigration officers at airports in their zeal to keep us safe from more terrorism, tended to be more aggressive if a violation was found, even a minor technical one, than not. But Vahan was hardly a threat to anyone. This man was a world famous opera tenor, in fact one of the top five anywhere, and a former resident at the Bolshoi, not to mention having been scheduled to play Carnegie Hall.

Though he did not understand my English (even a lot of Americans don’t as I was raised in Mississippi, and I did not understand his Armenian, we understood each other and developed a great affection. Whatever words we did not understand were quickly interpreted by our mutual friends.

Several months later, I returned to Los Angeles to visit our mutual attorney friend, and we drove again to Mexico to visit Vahan Mirakian. He was more sad than I had seen him before (if this was possible) , and his complicated case was not looking good. His fiance Marika, a television producer and talk show host at Armenian TV in Glendale, had to commute every weekend she could to be with Vahan. The strain was beginning to wear on the relationship.

My 53rd birthday happened to coincide with this trip to Mexico, and we allwent to a small restaurant called La Fonda’s, really more or less a dive with an American pop band and very good Mexican food. At the break, I mentioned to the manager that one of the world’s top opera stars was at our table and asked if he could sing accompanied by the band. “Of course,” said the manager. I had not even asked Vahan yet but he gladly agreed. He had not sung at any venue in over a year and music was and is his life.

As it turned out, most the band opted out but the saxophone player was keen on doing a duo. When they started O Solo Mia, you could hear a pin drop in this packed establishment. It was surreal, like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. Nobody could believe their ears and kept yelling for an encore when it was over.

What a surprise when this man dedicated O Solo Mia to me. Here was a talent who played the top venues of the world, and was enabling me to have the best birthday of my life. I will never forget it.

Today, nearly another year later, I received an email from our mutual attorney friend that his case cleared. He is a free citizen again in the U.S. and living in Los Angeles. He plans a nationwide and possibly a world tour at age 71. His voice is as clear as ever and I can hear the well-known masters every time he opens his mouth.

Vahan also has a foundation that helps disadvantaged Armenian youth find their voice in music. It does wonders for those who would never have a chance otherwise. I salute this man for hanging in there and putting up a fight for his justice. I salute the American system for allowing him another chance to make it in this great country.

America proved to me today, that it is still the America that is explained on our Constitution and on the base of the Statue Of Liberty. I will never forget the love and generosity of a very great opera singer, Vahan Mirakian and his wonderful wife Marika A.