A Bit of Clarity

So there seems to be a bit of confusion among some blog readers about exactly how this is all going to work.  Here are the broad strokes:

• Its My Kids' Money will have official 501c3 status based on its affiliation with CD Programs (see previous posts for more about them)
• I will donate the rights to the book to the charity
• Once inside the charity, there will be a number of activities to get out the message of the book, as well as raise funds:
• Provide the book as a fundraiser to other charities like schools, little league teams, Girl Scout Troops, you name it.  Any kid's organization that is interested in increasing the members financial literacy and has charitable status.  The group in question will keep any proceeds over costs from the sales they generate.
• Direct sales to parents/the general public
  
• Direct sales to the financial adviser community
• Charitable donations
• Grants
  
• Proceeds from sales that are not generated as a fundraiser for a specific group will be distributed to one of a number of charitable partners that work with children, families or financial literacy.  The first of these is already on board - Bridge Volleyball (www.bridgevolleyball.org), and I am set to meet with a second as soon as next week.
  

The genesis of the charitable component is one of the major themes of the book - having the kids set aside 10% of their allowance to donate to those less fortunate than they are.  Just like the spending decisions they get to make with their allowance, they also decide where to donate their money (with a little guidance from their parents, of course!).  As with most things, the kids pay more attention to what I do than what I say.  As generous as we are in giving to charity each year, it was clear that we could do more as a family, and this is our way of giving back on a larger scale.

So for those of you that want to support my efforts - buy a book when its available.  Better yet, hook me up with the groups you are already involved with to work on a fundraiser.  We should be ready by the end of the second quarter 2010.

We are go for launch!

CD Programs has given me the green light for establishing the charity, clearing one of the major hurdles for my project!

I continue to meet some really great people as I investigate all the nooks and crannies that go along with developing a book - a book publicist is now on that list.  With the charitable question answered, I can now focus on the final steps in the book - editing the rough draft, working on layout, selecting a publisher and developing a marketing plan.

Funny story from yesterday.  My daughter Miranda used this project as a topic for a homework assignment.  She shared the assignment with the class yesterday, and eight kids raised their hands wanting to buy the book (14 kids in the class).  I take two things from this - kids really like allowance (I can't imagine why else they would be interested in all of this unless they are much more aware of these things than I give them credit for, which may be the case!) and Miranda may have a future in sales!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Banking Day!

In an effort to show that I am human and not some robot, we are three weeks late for Banking Day with the kids this month.  When you get a chance to read my book (second quarter of 2010!?) you will read that Banking Day is set in jello, not concrete!  Its OK to be late, as long as you pick it back up.

The good news is that Logan handled his money perfectly, learning his lesson from a month without allowance.  He even hit his target balance for his savings account.  Of course, that lead us to a discussion about if he should continue to contribute to savings, and more importantly, why?  This brings up a point that is vital in working with kids and money - They really want to give the "right" answer, and it takes quite a bit of coaching to get them to the point that they answer honestly, rather than telling me what they think I want to hear.

On a related but separate front, I am forcing Miranda to use her credit card.  Being the perfectionist that she is, I managed to scare the crap out of her about paying interest.  So much so that the credit card just sits gathering dust rather than her learning how to manage it (although, having it in your wallet and never using it would certainly work better than some strategies employed by some adults out there!).  So she is to use it to do her Christmas shopping, with the intent of paying it off at the end of the month.  We'll see if this banishes the fear a bit.  Funny, I threatened her with taking it away so that she would have to figure it out on her own as an adult and she immediately said NO!  Classic.

Delayed Gratification

OK, its been a while without posting, but not much has happened in the last couple weeks - until today!

I met with Tracey, the potential editor of the book, and it went well.  I think we could work very well together.  As with most things, it did leave me with a bit of homework to do, and so off I go to do the following:

• File the application to establish the relationship with CD Programs
• Start working on cover art and the like - need a logo for the whole thing actually!
• Research publishers a bit more thoroughly
• Start working on layout/format ideas

The good news is that Tracey gets what I was trying to do with both content and style, and that she believes it would be effective.  Sure beats "this thing is a train wreck and I should just scrap it and let her ghost write it"!

I have the CD Programs folks doing a bit of reasearch for me on the issue of being both a donor and the Program Manager, so looks like I get to start work on the rest of ths list.