What a Day!

There is a ton of stuff moving forward right now!  I spoke to a potential editor today and have submitted a chapter outline and sample chapter for her to review.  The end result will be a proposal to edit the book!  I'll probably talk to a couple other folks just to be sure she is the one to work with, but considering her background in the financial markets as well as interest in financial literacy, it feels like a pretty good match so far.

I started working on a time line for completion of various aspects of the project, and I am targeting being open for business no later than the end of the first quarter of 2010, and shipping books no later than the end of the second quarter.  I am more inspired every time I re-read the book, or think about the positive impact we can make on kids and our community.

Creating Momentum

Its 8:20 in the morning, and I am pumped up about the progress so far!

The domain name is registered - www.itsmykidsmoney.org.  Decided not to pay the $285 for my original domain name - more cash for the charity's goals that way.


Speaking of the charity, I spoke to the folks at http://www.cdprograms.org/ this morning, and it sounds like such a great way to get started with a minimum of capital required.  Sure there are some limitations, like no donations from any relatives, but they make it easy to have legit charitable status so that all donations are tax deductible.  They also keep us on the straight and narrow regarding compliance with the laws governing charitable organizations.  Looks like I have some paperwork ahead of me, and about a month of review and then hopefully we will be up and running.

By the way - 


I am searching for a partner on this project.  The restriction on donations from family of the Program Director will prevent me from being the Program Director because of the nature of our fund raising model.  Anybody interested in making a difference?!

Little Hurdles to Overcome

Ugh!  The domain name I want is taken, and now I need to see if the folks who own it will sell it to me?  I don't really want to spend money that could go to the more vital parts of the project on something like that, so there may be a name change in the future!

How to form a charity?  Good question!  One of my colleagues has turned me on to a service that handles all of the accounting and reporting for a percentage of incoming donations.  Definitely need to check in to that, as this would be another item I would rather not spend a ton of money on, nor the time for the ongoing administration.  Who knows, maybe one of my attorney friends can hook me up with some pro-bono legal work?  Small hint guys.  Its for charity!

Now on to the problem of an editor.  I found a local association of free lance editors.  Their next meeting is in November, and I'll be crashing it.

Our First Partnership

As I have talked about this idea with people I know, there have been a few who have immediately jumped in with both feet and volunteered to partner with us as either a supported charity or a fund raising partner.

The first to make it official is Bridge Volleyball Club of San Diego.  Headquartered in Chula Vista, Bridge is the result of the vision of Hawley Woods-Gray, a close friend of ours.  She is a great example of a successful, athletic woman who chose to make a difference in her community doing something she loves - coaching volleyball.  Bridge obviously focuses on skill development and all that goes along with any sport, but what really sets Hawley and her collection of coaches apart is their dedication to developing young adults rather than just athletes.  With her experience as a collegiate volleyball player Hawley is very effective in guiding her players through the college selection and scholarship processes, making college more attainable for many of her players.  You can find out more about the Bridge Volleyball Club here:

http://www.bridgevolleyball.org/

Thanks Hawley!  You rock!

The Rough Draft is Done!!!

The basic premise of the book is that we as a society do not really equip our kids to manage the basics of their financial life. I compare it to the player attempting to play professional basketball right out of high school – There are some who are skilled enough and have good people around them who make it, but there are far too many who can play a little bit and are really tall who fail to make it to the next level. I think our kids have about the same kind of chance to succeed financially as the high school athlete does. The number of people living week to week, declaring bankruptcy or working until they are 101 years old seems to back this up.

The rough draft of the book is done, and I am lucky enough to have a friend who works at a publisher attempting to have an editor read it. I, however, have had a bit of an epiphany. Two of the major themes of the book are to lead by example and to learn from the kids. I also recommend putting the kids in charge of their own charitable giving money at 10% of their allowance. That’s right, they set aside 10% of their income as an 8 and 10 year old and they decide who to give it to. This 10% thing is something I have never done. Sure, we give to charity, and we give quite a bit, but nowhere near 10% of what we make.

So, I think its time for me to put my money where my mouth is, and here’s how I plan to do it. I am going to self publish the book and give all the profits to a number of charitable organizations that I, with the help of the kids and Kellie, will select.  Of course, it is going to be a bit more complicated than that. However, the more I thought about either relying on a publisher buying it or the incredibly tough job of marketing your own book, the more I wanted to do something different that I could control. The goal, after all, was never to make money, but to increase the financial literacy of our children.


From those few people who have read it, it is pretty entertaining. Evidently I am much more funny in print than in person!