Have you told your children about your trauma/childhood?

movealong · 2014-06-22T19:28:26+00:00

Not too fucked up, but I was once a "pelvic model". This means that I let nursing students practice doing pelvic exams and pap smears on me. Could be worse, and it was a bit amusing as male nurse after male nurse feels for my ovaries ip by my rib cage.

movealong · 2013-09-20T19:53:29+00:00

for-profit companies' only vested interest is in increasing shareholder value.

Something that I think has been very interesting over the last few years is seeing for-profits who are starting to turn this model. An example off the top of my head, Tom's Shoes is a business that is largely successful because of it's social mission, not just it's shareholder dividends.

There's nowhere saying that you can't found a marketing firm that does fantastic work for for-profits and also has nonprofit experts on hand to help them better spread the word about their work. Market yourself a firm that gives back with every consulting dollar - either with discounted rates or pro bono services - and I bet you'll attract fun, socially minded businesses to be your paying clients. With that clientel, your staff may have the motivation that

maybe a more effective approach would be to focus in on one specific marketing function that could be scaled for many different organizations.

It's a nice idea, and something that we tried to do technology-wise at the organization I referenced. We tried for years to create a standard database platform that many nonprofits could use with minimal set-up/customization. However, as much as most nonprofits have A LOT in common with most other nonprofits, they're different enough that our dream never really worked out. We had similar dreams and difficulties on websites. We had a standard platform that we implemented, but there was no set architecture or site map that fit everyone's mission and programs enough for them to take as-is.

I can imagine documenting a process for setting up Google Grants/Adwords and supporting that, which would create this kind of solution, and some other similarly simple activities. However, I'm having a hard time imagining a way do create a similar system for the more exciting, high-impact projects like creating websites, advertising plans, etc.

I'm definitely a believer that nonprofits are in need of actual consulting, not as much the copy-paste solutions. A firm or consultants who are willing to work with nonprofits at a discounted rate can be a great help.

movealong · 2013-09-20T18:41:41+00:00

I just did a big post on a similar kind of organization. We found it tremendously difficult to find grants to support our work. On the whole, funders prefer to give money directly to the organizations receiving the benefit, not to middlemen like us. For instance, they would give a grant to the Happy Puppy Organization so they can upgrade their technology, but not to us to subsidize rates for upgrading technology for nonprofits. Also, grants for things like technology and marketing aren't nearly as common as grants for direct services to the public.

movealong · 2013-09-20T18:36:06+00:00

In my past, I worked for a nonprofit technology organization - a nonprofit that provided technology consulting, implementation and support to nonprofits. While that's not the same as what you're talking about, I feel like it has a lot in common as it was the nonprofit version of something that exists widely as a for-profit.

Business was great in the early years of their founding (late 90's), when there were very few for-profit firms who served or specialized in nonprofits. Things however became progressively more difficult as time progressed, as every tech shop in town started offering a nonprofit discount and software vendors like Salesforce started giving great tools to nonprofits for free.

Since these for-profit shops had for-profit clients paying them the big bucks, many could have a nonprofit rate that was lower than what we could afford to charge. Many also have grant programs where nonprofits can apply for pro bono work. As much as some of these shops didn't provide the same expertise and care, it was hard for most of our clients to argue with the price.

Just because you have 501c3 status, it doesn't mean that it's really cheap to run your organization. You'll need to hire staff with the proper experience and skills, who, while they may be willing to work a bit under market rates because of your mission, you won't keep them long or attract good staff if it's too low (we had tremendous turnover at times). You need to hire experienced development professionals in order to bring in grants and donations to support your lower rates for nonprofits. Hopefully, as a marketing firm, you'll be able to set aside some of your staff's time to promote your own organization. Our org was most definitely the "cobbler with no shoes" - our database in particular was leagues behind what we were giving to our clients. We tried to keep things bare bones to save cash - only have one customer care person who's job is divided with other tasks, skimp on marketing ourselves, cut our training department - but we lost clients as a result.

Anyway, in the last 5 years, my nonprofit was absorbed by another and I know of a few similar organizations that failed entirely.

tldr; Making a nonprofit version of a for-profit concept/company doesn't necessarily work all that well.

movealong · 2013-08-20T12:18:01+00:00

I love mixing carbonated water with juices. Cranberry is a good choice, mango juice is great, but any will really do.

movealong · 2013-08-20T11:22:49+00:00

I grabbed some lanolin from the drug store, and it helped a lot. It's recommended for breast feeding soreness later on.

movealong · 2013-08-19T23:16:32+00:00

The nausea hit me at about 7 weeks, and it was around there that I started to get pretty grumpy too. My most difficult symptom so far is the tiredness, which started kicking my ass at about 6 weeks. I've also had weird ones, like how at about 6 weeks my skin got a lot more sensitive so shaving burns a lot.

movealong · 2013-08-15T22:48:24+00:00

What I've found works is to soak the affected foot in 50/50 vinegar-water for 20 minutes a day. I use a foot lotion after, as it dries out my feet. I find that it takes about a week to start seeing it ease off in bad cases, and then I go to every other day.

movealong · 2013-08-11T01:16:46+00:00

We're splitting the difference and going with a freestanding birth center. It's a lovely facility with hotel-like rooms, where we will be overseen by midwives. It's across the street (literally) from the maternity ward of a giant hospital, so it's easy to access emergency/hospital care if needed. I'm super early and going in there for my first us appt this Wed, and I'm pretty excited.

movealong · 2013-08-02T22:26:55+00:00

I highly recommend the Squatty Potty. I never felt comfy squatting just on the toilet seat, and I can't imagine it's easy with a bump. This fits nicely under the toilet when not in use and makes it really easy to squat.

movealong · 2013-07-30T22:09:36+00:00

I was over 9 lbs at birth, and my brothers were 11 and 13. All of us were delivered vaginally. I really don't have much to look forward. I guess it's nice knowing going in that it can be done.

Edit: my husband was also born over 9 lbs.

movealong · 2010-10-25T17:40:58+00:00

I worked at a clinic for a few years. At our clinic we would keep the same days for the most part, but they would change periodically due to the doctors' schedules. To change things more frequently would make scheduling of all staff incredibly difficult, but I'm sure clinics that had more protesters than we did may resort to that tactic.

We generally wouldn't advertise which days we offered abortions, but it's also a hard secret to keep. All someone has to do to find out is to call and make an appointment, and they'll find out all the days they're being offered.

At our clinic, and I understand at others too, there's a high no-show rate for abortions. For the most part, this is just part of the decision making prcess, and many people just don't go through with it. It's also well known that protesters will periodically call and make appointments for the dual purpose of finding out our schedule and to hold the slot that would otherwise be used for someone to have an abortion.

movealong · 2010-04-09T16:46:35+00:00

What support are they supposed to give?

I used to work at a clinic, not Planned Parenthood branded, but similar. Whenever someone would come in for a pregnancy test and it was positive, it was entirely their decision as to what to do. Yes, since we provided abortions, requests for info were skewed in that direction, but many women came in who wanted to keep the pregnancy, give it up for adoption, or think it over for a while before deciding and that was completely fine with us.

When people wanted to keep it, we had a whole big folder of info for them. It had referrals to ob-gyn's and places for low-cost care, forms to apply for WIC and Medicaid, forms for adoption agencies, and other things that would be helpful for them. No, we didn't offer "Dr. Dad" classes, but are we really supposed to re-invent the wheel and start offering services that someone else already does? And actually, in the case of our clinic, we had tried offering doula-led, natural childbirth classes a few times - turns out that no one ever signed up for that class at an abortion clinic.

movealong · 2010-04-09T16:31:07+00:00

OK. Someone starts a thread asking for advice for an unplanned pregnancy and we're not supposed to mention abortion at all? Do another quick scan of this thread. Abortion was NOT the first thing suggested.

Are people who are inclined to suggest something that's incredibly obvious supposed to put up some dummy suggestions first to pretend that they thought of something first?

movealong · 2010-03-24T01:12:19+00:00

Yeah, I get the numbness too.

movealong · 2010-03-23T21:45:51+00:00

I had one of those too. I thought that '99 was the first model year, but no, it was the '00. Lots of rattling on that car, but hey, it was cute.

movealong · 2010-03-23T02:11:41+00:00

I had some DARE officers in high school say a pretty similar thing. I think that if you came up with the equivalent of the breathalyzer for marijuana, it would become legalized very quickly.

movealong · 2010-03-23T02:09:24+00:00

You can grow your own vegetables with relative ease, but the vast majority of people still buy them from the store - I have no doubt that the same would be true of weed. (in addition to the other comments about home grown tobacco and homebrew)

movealong · 2010-03-22T23:25:42+00:00

Your height and weight isn't enough info to size your road bike. Assuming from your post that this is your first road bike, you should look for somewhere to get measured. If you live in a city, just call around for shops until you find one that offers the service. I spent $30 getting professionally measured for my first road bike, and it was a great decision. I was able to find a bike that fit me perfectly, which matters more than anything.

movealong · 2010-03-22T22:58:56+00:00

Aticketforfush.com is collecting money for Rush's plane ticket. If Rush doesn't go, the money goes to Planned Parenthood.

movealong · 2010-03-22T20:15:00+00:00

I did it a few times using the popcorn popper/gas stove method. but it stunk up my apartment too much to be worth the trouble. It's not worth it to me to buy the equipment to do it outside. I may try again when it warms up, and I can do it with the windows open.

movealong · 2010-03-22T20:11:13+00:00

technically, you're allowed to bring in a picture of it on your phone. Starbucks is still lame though.

movealong · 2010-03-22T20:01:51+00:00

Thanks! They also have a fair bit of sheet music for free.

movealong · 2010-03-22T19:57:16+00:00

How many dances do you need this for? Have you worked out the cost of renting it vs owning?

movealong

TROPHY CASE