Hold a FAFSA event after church this year -with help from us!

(See the end of this article for a FREE offer from Do-Gooder Consulting. Click here to go to Do-Gooder Consulting's website.)

This year, New Year’s day falls on a Sunday.  That may seem like a slow day at church, but we here at Do-Gooder Consulting want to challenge you to make it an outreach opportunity that can really benefit urban youth (and many others).

January 1^st is the first day to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (more popularly known as the FAFSA). The FAFSA is the primary application for college student aid from not only the federal government, but also state governments and other financial aid sources.

While everyone would like to go home on New Year’s Day (it’s a legal holiday!), it would actually be a perfect time to fill out the FAFSA.

You have to remember that financial aid is like pizza at a party – those who are there when the boxes open up get their choice of slices, and can return any extra food they don’t need. Those who wait while doing “important” things or think that their serving will be there for them when they need it will soon find out that they’ll be lucky if they get anchovies and crust.

And the pizza is getting taken earlier and earlier each year. For example, the state of Illinois has the MAP grant, which gives students up to $4,720 a year in grants.  Traditionally, the deadline has been in mid August, when many colleges begin classes.  But that has changed over the years, such that in 2011, the MAP grant ran out March 26, nearly a month before taxes were due.

Things are much different then when we might have filled out the FAFSA, back in the day.  It was all paper back then, and they recommended that you filled out your taxes first. But as we see with the MAP grant example, that’s not practical anymore.

But it’s also something not to worry about, as things have changed for the better through technology. The FAFSA on the web, available at www.FAFSA.gov (note: this is NOT a .com; be wary of any site that wants you to pay to fill out the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid) helps students get at the head of the line for financial aid (as long as they have already applied –and have been accepted) to colleges where they are seeking aid.

Families who fill out the estimated FAFSA on January 1^st will still have to update that information once they have completed 2011 taxes. But if the taxes were filed electronically (as they are in more and more homes through online programs, as well as services such as H&R Block), there is a new IRS Retrieval tool which will make updating the FAFSA much easier than in years past.

While the optimum candidate for filling out a FAFSA is of course a high school senior, there are two important groups of people to consider as well: returning college students, and adults who may only be considering going back to college.

With returning students, this should be a no-brainer. By filling out the FAFSA this early, they may find themselves eligible for grants and work study they missed out on last year because they waited to fill out the FAFSA or get accepted to college. And since they are home for Christmas break, you have no excuse to not wake them up by lunchtime and have them fill out the FAFSA.

With adults – they may not have considered going back to college. But by filling out the FAFSA, they open up an opportunity.  Even if they haven’t been accepted yet, this will be an opportunity to get information on colleges, and open up possibilities that may have been written off in the past.

At worst, the family will waste between ½ hour to 1 ½ hours of time. At best, the family qualifies for thousands of dollars in aid.

While you might want to enjoy a day off (whether that Sunday and/or the next Monday, when many businesses are closed and parents have time available), you can do an incredible amount of good and gain thousands of dollars in aid by making a small time sacrifice.

To help struggling Chicago area ministries and nonprofits, Do-Gooder Consulting will provide free facilitation for the FAFSA after church on January 1^st, as well as on Monday, January 2^nd. Contact us for details (such as what is needed to host the session, opportunities for other ministries to share with you).

Do-Gooder Consulting also provides an affordable year-long consulting service that includes 3 seminars (The Financial Aid Process – for families; The College Going Process – for youth workers; FAFSA workshop – for families).

Contact us at college@do-gooder.us or call us at 872-222-8008 for details on the free and paid services. We look forward to hearing from you. Find out more about us at www.do-gooder.us

And you can look forward to future blog posts in the near future on subjects such as “What is the FAFSA?”, “What’s the difference between grants and scholarships?” and other relevant college-going subjects. See you next time!

New blog entries for 2011

Do-Gooder Consulting wants to better serve you in the new year.

Our goal is to produce helpful articles to help your church, non-profit, or business maximize resources so you can be more effective.

The next blog entry will talk about the FAFSA - the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid. You can begin using it for the upcoming school year starting January 1, 2011.

Other planned topics will include The Reload Youth Workers conference (April 2 in Chicago) , the use of sub-domains and e-mail aliases, and the upcoming political races in Chicago.

Let us know what information you would find helpful, and we will post it.

Or consider contacting us at 872-222-8008 or by e-mail at blog@do-gooder.us

Have a blessed and Happy New Year in 2011!

It might now be too late to run for Alderman!

Today is election day in Chicago for national, state and county offices. Next February (in 2011), alderman and a new mayor of Chicago will be elected.

The deadline for submitting petitions to run for office still isn't for another 3 weeks. The subsequent elections are Feb. 1.  However, you might be too late in running for office. What do I mean?

There are several things you need in order tohave a successful campaign

• Integrity. If you don't have this, then forget about this entire blog. If you do not have the character to run, then you shouldn't try. Even you have gifts, such as charm or a god speaking voice, it means nothing without the character to use them. Some signs that you aren't ready : you are willing to lie about your opponents, you have alliances with questionable people and are willing to deceive others about it, easily angry at people who criticize you, can't account for your personal financial accounts, happy to gossip about people you don't like.
• Neighborhood accomplishments.  It's easy to criticize about what other people are not doing.  But ultimately, if you wish to be a community leader, you need to be a servant leader first. How will people know you can lead a whole ward, if you haven't helped even your local neighborhood?
• A team.  Having willing bodies is good, but you need to have a team of people who have skills in different areasto help you accomplish
• A coalition.  Not everyone voting for you has the desire or ability to be a part of your team.  But many people in the community can not just vote for you, but also sign your petition so that a person could even vote for you. Building coalitions with community leaders can help spread the word about you and get you the support you need to win.
• Methods of communication. Even a basic web page can help people to know a little bt about you, what you stand for, and then how you  can help
• Campaign cash. While it might be wise to not have much until after the Nov. 2 election (where you may need to report large sums of donations, which are then made public), if you don't have much lined up you can't get the word out.

The 2011 Aldermanic Election in Chicago will be an exiciting one, with many opportunties for citizens as they city will also get a new mayor. But if you haven't already laid the groundwork, you may be far too behind by now to possibly win, or even place high enough for a runoff election.

Contact Do-Gooder Consulting to see how we can help you in your campaign. We can research prospective donors, targeted areas of support, sending text messages by e-mail, work with EarlyAnd Often.org , and provide other tools to help you reach your constituency.

Welcome to Do-Gooder Consulting!

Welcome!

Do-Gooder Consulting is a new consulting agency, specializing in helping you help others. Whether you are working in a church, non-profit, organization, business or even on the political trail, Do-Gooder Consulting can help.

This blog will give you a tatse of the expertise we offer you.

Do-Gooder Consulting Service Categories

• Non-Profit and Church Management = Tools and advice to help you fundraise and manage your organization
• College Financial Aid, Access and Outreach = Helping you set-up a college preparation and financial aid program with little-to-no cost to you
• Administrative Temporary Work = Providing professional temporary work to meet your administrative needs at a competitive price.
• Community Development and Outreach = Helping your nonprofit or business connect with your community.
  
• Basic Web Site & E-mail = We can provide you with a domain name, e-mail addresses and a basic web site.
• Political Strategies = Providing you with some initial research and simple but effective tools to help you

Thanks for reading! Look for more soon!