In our own family, we are also facing some large expenses and starting to wonder where to turn. During 2008, both my husband and I were involved in accidents, both of which required surgery, follow-up therapy, and an overnight hospital stay. Even though we have decent health insurance, the large deductibles and out-0f-pocket maximum payments left us in a financially precarious position. And now, one of our two cars (9 and 10 years old) is in the shop awaiting major repairs that we have no choice but to pay using our already overloaded credit card.

The My-Friend-In-Need donation site is experiencing an increase in listings recently as well… and the situations people are writing about are just heartbreaking. Please, if you are at all able to help, read through some of the stories, find one that touches your heart, and offer what you can. For some of these folks it may make the difference between eating dinner tonight or having their kids go to bed hungry.

Take care, and I pray that the news is correct and things will start to turn around soon.

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?

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!

I wanted to let you know what a wonderful work you are doing with you’re My-Friend-In-Need.com web site. I read about the family who was struggling to equip their disabled daughter with a new wheelchair, and I was so moved that I sent them $500 through PayPal. I know many people might think that was foolish of me, that maybe the whole story was a lie and I threw my money away. But I don’t look at it that way. To me, I helped someone meet a need that might otherwise not have been met. What goes around comes around… if they were lying about it, that’s there problem, but someday if I need help, the benefits of what I did will come back to me.

This seems to be a common sentiment; that there is no way we can know for sure if someone is telling the truth or just trying to get money for some undisclosed reason, but that it doesn’t really matter either way. That giving, being kind, helping someone, is its own reward. That thought is also the focus of this next letter:

When I found your website, my first thought was that someone would have to be crazy to give money to a person who was probably making up a bunch of lies to con good people out of money. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I want to help someone, I can’t worry about if I’m being cheated, that’s their problem, and somehow, someday they will get what they deserve for their dishonesty. What matters is that I did my part and tried to help someone – that’s what really matters.

 I hope that these e-mails are and encouraging to you as they are to me. I am continually amazed by the kindness and generosity that I get to see as a result of this web site.

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!

First, go ahead and write out your story, using a pen and paper, or word processing software – anywhere other than the little data entry box you have on the screen you use to create your donation site. This will allow you to organize your thoughts, and make all of the points you’d like to mention. Consider this a rough draft, and make sure you include anything you consider relevant.

Now, go back through what you’ve written, keeping in mind the following:

• Choose a title that summarizes your appeal. Keep it brief, but make it a descriptive sentence that communicates why you need money.
• Make good use of “white space.” It is difficult to read a narrative that is formatted as one long section of text. Try to use short sentences and break your essay up into double-spaced paragraphs in order to make your letter easier on the eyes.
• Make your message as short as possible. Be sure to include any significant details, but if your story starts to get too long, do your best to trim out any unnecessary background information or extra elements. It’s sad but true: our attention span has grown noticeably shorter in this era of half-hour sitcoms and 5-minute YouTube videos. If your description is longer than three or four paragraphs, your readers may begin to lose interest, and your response rate will suffer.

If you follow these tips as closely as you can when you put together the text for your donation page, I can assure you that your request will be read by more people, and you will have a better chance of securing the financial help you desire.

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.

Please know, if you ever have anything you would like to tell me about, I will never post any part of your testimonial without your permission, and I am very careful to protect your privacy.

The first letter I will share with you is from a woman who used our site for several months to try to get out from under crushing debt. I’ll let her words speak for themselves:

Thanks to your website, I’ve learned what it really means to have “friends indeed.” When I posted my donation page, my husband and I were literally drowning in debt from student loans and medical expenses. I was working two jobs, and my husband was doing all he could, but since he has a very long commute each day, there was no way he could take on anything to try to earn more money.

Thanks to the donations we received from “friends” on your site, I was able to quit my second job and devote the time to my husband and daughter that they deserve. Although we still have a ways to go before we are completely debt-free, we are no longer losing sleep and ruining our relationship with worry. I sincerely think that your web site saved my health and my marriage. Thank you, thank you, for creating this wonderful place!

I’ll post one more e-mail for now, but trust me, I have a pile of them building up, and I will share as many of them with you as I can.

Like I said when I made my donation page, our family is not really any different from any other typical American family. We had our house and cars paid off, and we weren’t struggling with mountains of credit card debt, but we had a couple of pressing needs that we just couldn’t see any way of taking care of.

First of all, our house is what you would call a “character home”. We love it, but it’s over 120 years old, and needed some serious work. Between needing a new roof, and some work to take care of a seriously leaky basement, we were looking at a bill over $20,000. Then, one of our cars also picked that time to give up the ghost, and with a Mom and Dad that both work, and 5 kids that need to be driven to various things they participate in, we really couldn’t live with just one car.

Anyway, the money we received from your web site really made a difference in our lives. Between the donations we received and a bit of help from our church and family, we were able to replace our car with a good used vehicle AND pay for almost all of the repairs on our house. The contractor is being kind enough to allow us to pay off what’s left over the next few months at a very low interest rate, and we will soon be debt-free again. We can’t tell you how grateful we are that we stumbled across your web site… it has truly been a blessing.

Wow, isn’t that great? And I love it that both of these letters make a very important point: once they created their donation pages, neither one of these folks just sat back and waited for the money to roll in. They kept working at their problem from several different angles, and I like to think they were rewarded for their hard work and persistence.

Until next time, I wish you all the best!

The My-Friend-In-Need Donation Site went live just a few short months ago, and I have heard from a number of people, both givers and receivers, about how their experience here has affected their lives.

Every now and then, I will add a Testimonials post so that I can share these with you. It is truly heartwarming to hear about the kindness and generousity that still exists out there, no matter how bad things may seem at the moment.

I will also use this blog to keep you updated on relevant news items, articles, and press releases. So much is going on in the ecomomy and the world as a whole, it’s sometimes easy to miss items that you may otherwise like to hear about.

Finally, I’ll be sharing some helpful advice and tips on how to make the most of your Donations page here on the My-Friend-In-Need site. Although many people have enjoyed much success simply by creating their Donation site and availing themselves of contributions from the traffic this site naturally generates, there are extra things you can do to boost your results and make your efforts even more rewarding.

So bookmark this site and check back often. I’m sure you will enjoy hearing about our progress.