Find Money Online

My-Friend-In-Need was mentioned today in an article on the Michigan news aggregator site mlive.com. In a section dedicated to higher education, the following article by Beata Mostafavil outlines a Kettering University student’s attempt to raise tuition money online. We’ll keep you posted on how he does… meanwhile, enjoy the article!

He worked hard to get accepted there, is a good student and has even started a youth mentoring non-profit group.

But Alexander is in a bind. After co-signer requirements went up in the private loan industry because of the credit crisis — he can’t get the rest of the loans he needs to finish college.

He comes from a family who struggles financially and has been rejected for a loan seven times.

So here was one back-up plan — to build a Web site called “help Marc Alexander go to college” with hopes that family, friends, maybe even strangers will spare him some change.

Cyber-begging is nothing new. The first widely publicized case was in 2002 when Karyn Bosnak, a twenty-something woman from New York started the Web site “savekaryn.com.” She wanted to raise $20,000 to pay off her credit card debts — and guess what? She did.

There have been other examples. There is now a site for women who raise online donations for breast implants. Others have raised thousands of dollars to save their homes from foreclosures.

Web sites have even cropped up to help the desperate-for-money peeps promote their cause.

Alexander is just a 23-year-old guy trying to finish his degree. It’s not quite the same as asking strangers to help drag you out of a mountain of debt from spending too much on shoes.

But in a bad economy, what’s the etiquette for cyber-help?

Here is another article reprint that I found interesting in light of what we are doing here at My-Friend-In-Need.com. It focuses on how panhandling or “street begging” has changed in the current “YouTube era.” I particularly liked the part that discussed the relative merits of using cheesy/sleezy looking sites (perhaps for things like cosmetic surgery) versus more professional, attractive online donation sites, like the one we’ve created here. I hope you enjoy it!

Panhandling in the Information Age — Ask for Money Online!

 So, most of us have seen them — the sad, grimy, down-on-their-luck types — perhaps holding a sign saying, “Will work for food,” or “Homeless Vet.” (One of my favorites — yes this was an ACTUAL sign and a web search will turn up pictures of it — is “Ninjas killed my family — need money for karate lessons.”)

No matter how we feel about begging for money, it happens all around us. And as unbelievable as it may seem, people can actually make a very good living panhandling. A television news crew in Memphis recently reported on several local panhandlers who make $150 a day, just by asking for it. One beggar follows groups of tourists and hits up friendly-looking couples with nothing more than a smile… and averages $200 per night doing it!

In the information age, “virtual panhandling” is slowly becoming known as an option for anyone who needs money for any reason. Examples of cyber-begging, as it’s come to be known, can be documented as far back as 1998. During the summer of 2002 it became widely known when a woman in Brooklyn, New York, started her web site asking people to save her from her credit card debt. She wanted to raise $20,000, and in a mere 20 weeks her website received over two million hits and her debt was paid off!

Since then, there have been countless other examples of cyber-begging — successful and not. People are trying to raise money for everything from plastic surgery to divorce to house payments to vacations — and a significant number of them achieve at least a modest level of success!

Now, I’m certainly not encouraging anyone to give up their day job and hit the street — physically or virtually! But if you have a financial need, and can present it online in a compelling manner, it may very well be worth it to you to ask for money online! You don’t even need any experience creating your own web site.

If you’d like to capitalize on already existing website traffic and search engine rankings, simply sign up on one (or more) of the available sites that have sprung up to help people ask for online donations. On most of them, you will pay a minimal monthly charge (with a few upcharge options for things like links that are bolded or shown in a different color, or preferred positioning for better visibility), and you are given your own page to tell your story and ask for money in whatever manner you choose. They will also provide you with a personal link straight to your page; this is very helpful if you wish to generate some extra publicity for your cause on an online forum, website classifieds, or even your local newspaper.

If you choose to go this route, you will want to carefully examine the site you choose to post on and the image it projects. Some sites definitely offer a more professional, caring, and welcoming design, while others offer a more cheesy/sleazy bent. While there is undeniably some room for “cheese” if you are trying to raise money for breast implants, you may want to project a more sympathetic appearance if you need money for medical school tuition.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous and technically savvy, go ahead and set up your own personal cyber-begging site dedicated just to you! There are several places online that will allow you to set up and host your own site for little or no cost. In most of these cases, you can also choose to purchase your own domain name for your URL, or stick with the subdomain the host assigns to you. However, using this method, you need to be prepared to wait a bit longer for the donations to start rolling in. You will need to submit your new site to the search engines, optimize it for search keywords, and publicize it to drive people to visit it. That’s definitely do-able, but will take a great deal more time and effort.

Either way you go, a PayPal account is a must. Using a PayPal account, you can receive donations from your new online friends anonymously — no one needs to send cash to your address, or a check to your name. PayPal makes it anonymous for the giver as well, freeing them from worries that you may contact them later to hit them up again!

So, next time the money blues hit — whether you lose your job, want to finance your next vacation, or simply need a bit extra for that little pick-me-up — consider asking for money online. Who knows; the rewards could be, well, rewarding!

Every now and then I run across a news item that is relevant to what we are doing here at My-Friend-In-Need. The following is a reprint of an article that was syndicated earlier this year. I hope you enjoy it!

Desperate For Money? Try Asking!

The economy stinks, you’ve lost your job, and you can’t make your house payment. Maybe it’s not quite so dire: you need a new pair of glasses or some dental work, and your insurance plan won’t cover it. Or perhaps you’re a college student and you want to finish up your degree without accumulating quite so large a mountain of debt. It could be these or one of a thousand other situations, but one thing is clear: you need more money than you can put your hands on right now, and you have no idea how to get it. Has it ever occurred to you to just ask?

We’ve all heard the old adage, “ask and you shall receive.” What if it’s true? What if we could get our needs met, our wishes fulfilled, merely by asking? Recent history has shown that some people can! Documented examples of “cyber-begging,” as it’s become known, can be traced as far back as 1998, but it first became widely known during the summer of 2002 when Karyn Bosnak, a twenty-something woman from Brooklyn, New York, started her own web site. She wanted to raise $20,000 to pay off her credit card debts, and she did it! Within 20 weeks, her website had received over two million hits and her debt was paid off.

Since then, there have been other notable examples of successful cyber-begging: a woman in 2003 who paid for her breast implants with donations she raised online; a family from Aberdeen, Maryland who in November 2008 raised almost $11,000 online and saved their house from foreclosure. So, how do they do it? And will it work for you?

There are two basic approaches to asking for money online: you can set up your own web site with your own domain name, or you can create a page on a site that is dedicated to providing space for people to do this. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods.

Setting up your own dedicated web site may appear to be the best, most successful approach to asking for money online. You aren’t competing with anyone else’s hard-luck story (that may well be more compelling than yours). Furthermore, all the “famous” successful sites have revolved around one person/family and their specific need for money. On the other hand, publicizing and driving traffic to your own personal cyber-begging site is easier said than done. The Internet is no longer a world where “if you build it, they will come.” So, unless you get an extremely lucky break and your situation gets picked up by the media or something else happens to send your story “viral,” you could easily spend the time, money, and effort to set up your site with no return.

Alternatively, you can tell your story on a web site that’s designed to allow people to set up their own page to describe their situation and ask for money. For someone who doesn’t have much experience administering web sites, this may be the best way to go. There are usually features you can select (such as presenting your link in a different color, or in bold, or closer to the top of the list), that will make your page stand out a bit in the crowd. Also, if you can create a compelling, well-written story with an eye-catching title, you may also persuade more site visitors to donate to you, rather than to your fellow “beggars.” Finally, this is a low-cost, low-commitment approach. Most sites allow you to advertise for a small monthly charge, and you can cancel your listing with no further obligation. You don’t need to secure your own domain name, arrange for personal web hosting, or design your own site.

Finally, no matter which approach you try, make sure you take advantage of any opportunities you have to bring traffic to your site through free publicity. If you have a Facebook or Myspace page, add a link to your site there. Do you regularly visit or post on a message board for one of your hobbies or interests? Check the terms of service to see if you are allowed to add a link to your site in your signature. Many grocery stores, libraries, or other public places in your area may have bulletin boards – see if you would be allowed to post a short summary of your situation and include the URL of your site. You may even want to invest in business cards (you can sometimes order them online for free or for a small shipping charge) or flyers – take these with you when you visit your local mall, park or other place where people congregate and pass them out or place them on car windshields. Anything you can do to make more people aware of your site will boost your traffic and make you more likely to succeed.

So, is asking for money online an option for you? You may never know until you try!

A few weeks after we launched the My-Friend-In-Need web site, one of my journalist friends put out a very nice press release for us. At the moment, it’s still available online, and you can download a PDF version of it. I’m expecting that it will disappear at some point, though, so I’m going to reprint it here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jan 03, 2009 — What does a very successful technology consultant do when her business tanks in the current economy? Well, this one created My-Friend-In-Need.com, a web site designed to link folks with financial needs with generous people who would like to help.

So, what makes My-Friend-In-Need different from the abundance of other cyber-begging web sites already out there? “Ugh – I don’t even like to call it ‘cyber-begging,’ says Christine, the creator and administrator of the site, who will only be identified by her first name to defer to her strong desire to remain as anonymous as possible. “And the things that make it the most different,” she continues, “are the level of respect everyone is given and the professionalism of the site itself.”

She has a valid point. A Google search on the terms “cyber-begging” or “donate money online” turn up web sites that look like they came from (and perhaps should return to) the dark ages of the Internet. Pages crammed with text in all colors, sizes, and fonts, that scroll down forever and proclaim, “Get out of debt!” “No Payback!” and (dubiously), “As Seen on Oprah Winfrey!”

My-Friend-In-Need takes a much more compassionate, soft-hearted approach. First of all, both seekers and benefactors are referred to as “friends.”  The site’s tagline states “…because a friend in need is a friend indeed,” and goes on to further explain that a friend that stands by you in times of trouble is a true friend. People in need of help are encouraged to provide as many details as they are comfortable sharing (all the while being reminded not to share any identifying information). And it’s suggested that potential donors may feel they are less strangers and more friends with their beneficiaries once they look through the stories and find one that touches their hearts.

And, as would be expected from someone with a web design background, My-Friend-In-Need.com has a clean, professional look that’s attractive and easy to use. “I was really going for a departure from the cluttered, disorganized, and almost ‘sleazy’ sites that I found out there,” states Christine. “Even though I realize it takes a step of faith to expose your financial problems, not to mention donate money, to strangers on the Internet, I’m hoping that having a site that’s more polished and up-to-date will help to reassure people that they aren’t getting ripped off.”

Finally, a fact that the site doesn’t blatantly publicize but hides near the end of the “About Us” page: even though there is a fee for listing your request on the site, My-Friend-In-Need.com is not trying to make a profit for itself. Once the monthly costs of site hosting are covered, surplus listing fees are anonymously donated back to its “friends in need.” And doesn’t that make My-Friend-In-Need a friend, indeed?

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About My-Friend-In-Need.com: A new approach to asking for or donating money online — My-Friend-In-Need.com is professional, compassionate, and trustworthy. The site seeks to match up people experiencing financial misfortune with those who have the means and a heart to help.