louisgray recently tweeted, "There are days I would rather go without food than without WiFi..." which has me thinking about the current economic crisis. With little or no money at all, nonprofits are scraping by like everyone else, budgets are being slashed, projects delayed and the sector is depending more than ever on the goodness of volunteers.
Photo by Flickr user Tony the Misfit
I couldn't tell you whether we're headed into another
Great Depression or not, but I wonder how life might have been different if the internet had existed 70 years ago.
I've spotted a number of approaches to using the internet to save money. Here are a few of the more interesting ones I've seen:
- Zumbox is a "free digital delivery" service that sends digital copies of your mail to an online post office box instead of your physical address. It's different than a newsletter service as it's your actual documentation in digital format. A nonprofit could offer supporters the option to have their newsletters, membership info and other mailings sent to the digital address instead of their physical address. This reduces the cost of postage while cutting back on paper waste – plus it's free.
- Everything you need to run your office, from blackboards to printers to filing cabinets, can be found on GigoIt. Simply input your zip code and your office supply needs, and they'll show you what's listed. GigoIt, which stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out, will also help you find a home for your extra microwave instead of burying it in a landfill.
- Habitat for Humanity ReStores are a great place to look for used, donated and surplus building materials. Do you need a new door for your office? Or maybe some drywall? You can find it here, and all the money you spend will go toward future Habitat for Humanity projects. ReStores are found in 47 U.S. states and 9 Canadian provinces.
- Shipping can be quite costly, especially for larger items like books or computers. Citizenshipper is a service that matches people with something to ship to people driving in that direction and at a fraction of the cost of traditional shippers. Not sure you trust some stranger to move your item? Citizenshipper incorporates a feedback system so you can track a person's rating before using them.
- Travel for work? You could skip the big box hotel on your next conference trip and save a few dollars by using Airbed & Breakfast or Couchsurfing. Both are peer to peer services that locate airbeds or couches to sleep on while you're traveling. The more adventurous could try Single Spot Camping and set up a tent in someone's back yard.
- And how do you get to your temporary home from the airport? Or to the event? You could try public transportation using Google Transit or try carpooling using one of many apps.
These services might have come in handy when churches and aid organizations were trying to feed the hungry on a dollar already stretched thin. My hope is that we'll all be just fine and realize we can do a lot more with a lot less.
Scott S. wrote this entry. You might also like Tuesday's entry in which we introduced this new miniseries, "A Little Bit More."
