My Sister

by Caroline Huth, do good Consulting Graphic Design Specialist (and sister to do good President & CEO, Laura Huth)

I'm always amazed when I visit Champaign-Urbana at how many people my sister knows, or maybe more precisely how many know her. It seems like everywhere we turn someone is saying hello to Laura or asking for help on some issue. I live 150 miles away in Chicago and I often feel like the sidekick to her minor celebrity when I'm in town.

Recently she actually was a celebrity, at least for a couple of hours. Laura won Central Illinois Business magazine's top honor, Woman of the Year in their 40 Under 40 feature. Sharing the spotlight with Man of the Year, Mark Randall, from St. John's Newman Center, and 38 other movers and shakers in the Central Illinois area, Laura was honored at a luncheon attended by over 400 colleagues and community leaders. Frankly, it was not a surprise to those of us that know, and sometimes work with, her.

Laura is a real spitfire, a small bundle of energy who is always moving, always doing something. She inspires me -- and likely a lot of people out there -- to work harder, do more, be better. Call me biased, but I don't think there is anyone more qualified to help non-profits stay focused, do their good deeds, and guide them into staying in the black. She is always brainstorming new ideas, new technologies, and new ways to implement them. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with her, but when you do, it's always worth it. Plus, she's willing to share this information with anyone who needs or asks for it.

The thing I admire most about her is her unabashed fearlessness. Having overcome shyness early on (while I still struggle with it), she lets nothing stand in her way. She truly embodies the "just do it" mentality. Whatever needs to be done, she does it. A shameless self-promoter, she doesn't let "no" or "can't" into her vocabulary. In her acceptance speech at the luncheon, she put it this way:

"The sum of my experiences growing up…have taught me that little things can make a huge difference. It matters not if we have just 1 hour or 100 to volunteer. Do it. It matters not if we have only $1 or $100 to donate. Do it. It matters not if you are just 1 person, or a crowd of 100. Speak out. Do it."

And if you know Laura, you know...she does it.

To read the full story about Laura’s 40 Under 40 Woman of the Year Award, click here.

Register to Vote

by Laura Huth, President & CEO, do good Consulting

Did you know that only 72% of people eligible to vote in the United States are registered to vote?

The number begins to decline when you look at the number of people who are eligible to vote who actually do so. In presidential-year elections, numbers traditionally hover around 64% (November 2004). In off-year elections (i.e., municipal elections, state races), numbers get embarrassingly low.

Registering to vote is one of the most important and patriotic duties of any person in the United States. Taking advantage of the right to vote is perhaps the most patriotic. Election Day is fast approaching – Tuesday, November 4, 2008. What do you need to know about getting properly registered to vote?

REGISTRATION DEADLINE AND REQUIREMENTS
The deadline to register to vote in Illinois for the upcoming presidential election is 27 days before Election Day, Tuesday, October 7. Registering to vote is free. To be eligible to vote, you must be at least 18 years old by Election Day (November 4, 2008), be a U.S. citizen, and must have been a resident of the precinct you are in at least 30 days prior to Election Day.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR LOST CARDS
Once you’re registered, you’re registered forever, though if you move, you must change your registration to reflect your new address (even if you only move one block away, as I did recently). In Illinois, a change of address requires that you fill out the back of your current voter registration card and mail it to your local County Clerk office. Lost your card? No worries! For Champaign County residents, download a change of address form here.

HOW TO REGISTER
To register in-person, you will need two forms of identification, with at least one showing your current address. If you register by mail sufficient proof of identity is required by submission of your driver's license number or state identification card number.

You can register to vote at any number of locations, including your local County Clerk's Office, city or village offices, township offices, local schools and libraries, and through some local civic organizations.

You may also register to vote by using the mail-in application here , which must be postmarked prior to October 7.

Now that you’re registered to vote, take time to educate yourself about the candidates and the issues. Nothing is more dangerous than an uninformed voter. The issues are complex, the candidates are many – don’t wait until the day or week of the election. Get on-line, read the papers, attend forums, and talk to friends and neighbors. Learn as much as you can about everything from presidential candidates to state and local positions to referenda and retentions. The choices you make will impact you, your family, your community, our county, and indeed the world, for years to come.

If you’re not registered, do it today! If you know someone who is eligible to vote but isn’t yet registered, forward them this email.

Click here for Information on registering to vote in Illinois. Click here for information on registering, absentee voting, and voting in Champaign County.

Q&A: Windows VS Open Office

Dear do good:
Just about everyone I know uses Microsoft Office but I’ve been hearing about free similar software called Open Office. Which is better and why is it free?
- E-curious, Kankakee, Illinois

Dear Curious:
There is indeed a similar software suite called Open Office considered by many to be an alternative to Microsoft Office. With the new menus and commands, and other new features in Microsoft Office 2007, more people are looking at Open Office which can be freely downloaded from www.openoffice.org. Open Office is free because it is a type of software called “open source”. This means that the authors freely hand out the programming code with the intent that anyone can improve how it works and they are not trying to make a profit by selling it. It is a different philosophy in creating software. Both Microsoft Office and Open Office have a word processor (Word versus Write), spreadsheet (Excel vs. Calc) and a presentation creator (PowerPoint versus Impress) to assist with most tasks you would find in an office environment.

One major difference (besides cost) is a built-in email application: Microsoft Office has one (Outlook), but Open Office has none (people using Open Office typically use Thunderbird for email and Sunbird for calendaring). If this is not important to your work (or you already have an email package you like), then either package will help you complete routine tasks.

Open Office reads and writes Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. Open Office is also available for Windows, Macs, and Linux platforms while Microsoft Office is only for Windows (where it runs best) or Mac computers. With the cost of Microsoft Office very low for non-profits (through www.techsoup.org for example) that consideration also becomes somewhat moot. But for most non-profits with limited technology budgets, Open Office does have an edge – it works well on older computers. Versions of it still run on machines with (gasp) Windows 98. Microsoft Office is still the Goliath in the office suite arena but "David" is on his way.

For a more detailed comparison, see www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page4765.cfm

Written by Tim Newcomb, do good Consulting, Internet Technologies & Constituent Management Systems Specialist. For more information, or assistance with your computer, web, or internet needs, contact do good Consulting at dogood@dogoodconsulting.org.

Have a question for do good’s non-profit experts? Email us at dogood@dogoodconsulting.org.

Group Profile: Illini Christian Ministries

by Tim Newcomb, do good Consulting

Can one person really make a difference? In 1967, one woman did and for over 40 years the effects are still felt today. Doris Tucker opened Illini Christian Ministries in 1967 on a 10-acre tract of land in of St. Joseph, Illinois to serve children and families in crisis by providing counseling and temporary foster care. Since that time, over 550 children have been helped by the staff at ICM. Under Executive Director Bill Tucker’s leadership and direction from 1967 to 1991, Illini Christian Ministries constructed a campus of group homes with foster parents providing foster care in a group home setting. About 13 years ago, the ministry made the move towards temporary foster child placement in single family homes. Two satellite counseling programs also serve other portions of the state – one in Kankakee for northern Illinois and one in Decatur for the south.

Today, Illini Christian Ministries is headquartered in downtown St. Joseph and continues to change the lives of children and families in the midst of crisis. Tony Kirkman, ICM’s current Executive Director, says methods may have changed but Illini Christian Ministries still holds true to its original mission: “Providing Christ-centered services to children and families in crisis across the state of Illinois”. Support for the ministry comes almost exclusively from individuals and over 130 churches around the state, as ICM does not request or receive any state or federal funds.

Kirkman’s vision for the future is to increase the number of foster parents available to serve the ever-increasing numbers of children affected by family crises. To do so, they use annual training sessions and by fostering the ability of churches themselves to provide social services for those in need.

When I sat down with Tony in September, he related the story of a mother needing ICM’s services. In late 2007, a mother needed to leave her home in Springfield due to domestic violence. While a local faith-based homeless shelter was able to take her in, her three-year-old son was not able to join her there. Illini Christian Ministries located one of its trained foster families to care for her son so that the mother could get out of her home situation and begin rebuilding her life and that of her son. Over the next few months, she found a new place to live and was able to begin caring for her son on her own again. Even to this day, the mother and the foster parents stay in contact because of the bonds they formed while her son was in their care.

Can one person make a difference? Because of Doris Tucker’s vision in 1967, over 550 children to date have been helped through family crises by the staff of Illini Christian Ministries. In 2007 alone, 67 families were helped and 50 adoptions were completed by ICM. One person can indeed make a difference.

To learn more about Illini Christian Ministries, see www.icmfamily.org or call 217-469-7566.