Socially Conscious Finances: Spotlight on GLBT

When you're trying to incorporate your values into your financial decisions, one thing you're always looking for is good information. That's why I'm so glad to find the Corporate Equality Index from Human Rights Campaign (via mapgirl and ~Dawn). It's a comprehensive evaluation of hundreds of companies based on a range of important policies and practices. In other words, it's incredibly useful research, all in one place, ready to be drawn upon by all of us who'd like to make our financial choices-- investing as well as purchasing goods and services-- with GLBT issues in mind.

The whole long document is at this PDF, but here are some of the highlights from the 2006 report:

• The scale, which runs from 0 to 100, includes a variety of issues, from anti-discrimination policies to diversity training to domestic partner benefits to respectful advertising.
• This year, 138 of the 446 companies scored a perfect 100. Obviously I can't list them all here-- please check out the PDF!-- but here are a few selected more or less at random:
• Apple Computer, Bank of America, BP America, Capitol One, Chevron, Dell, General Mills, General Motors, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, US Airways, Walgreens, Xerox.
• This year, 3 companies scored zero. They are Exxon-Mobil, the Meijer grocery chain, and Perot Systems (Ross Perot's tech consulting firm). In fact, although Mobil used to have domestic partner benefits and included sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy, these practices were reversed when Exxon bought Mobil in 1999.
  
• Other low-scorers I noticed: Archer Daniels Midland, Bayer, H.J. Heinz, Nestle Purina PetCare, Newell Rubbermaid, and Nissan North America, all at 15.

For me, personally, my investing is entirely in socially-responsible mutual funds, which incorporate this kind of research already. But I'm glad to have this knowledge as a consumer; I certainly won't look at an Exxon-Mobil gas station the same way again, for starters.

Reading this report has inspired me to compile and share the good information that's out there on other issues that I care about, so expect this to be a continuing series. If you have any good sources of information on companies' social responsibility, please share!

[Edited 11/23/06 to add: Also check out The Advocate's list of top companies for GLBT workers, and be aware that these lists may miss things-- thanks to Dana at Mombian.]

Free ice cream, good cause

Today (9/28) is Cold Stone Creamery's "World's Largest Ice Cream Social" to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Between 5-8pm tonight, get a free little cup of Cole's Creation-- a flavor designed by a Make-A-Wish child-- and you're encouraged to make a donation in return.  Some locations will have kids' activities and other fun goings-on during the event.

Some might say this isn't exactly free.  But a) you don't have to donate (although if you don't want to, I'd urge you to leave the ice cream for those of us who will!); and b) if you're like me and have a separate budget category for giving, your $10/$5/$1/whatever brings you another step closer to your giving goal, instead of coming out of the "indulgences" section from which ice cream is usually paid for.  So it's kind of free after all!

Learn more, or find a location near you.

Links & More Links (including carnivals, naturally)

• Millionaire Artist has a whole series of "Green Money" posts chock-full of great links: Green Banking, Community Investing, and Socially Responsible Investing. I highly encourage you to go check them out.
• Via mapgirl and ~Dawn, some information on Human Rights Campaign's ratings of which companies are GLBT-friendly and which are not. I'm working on a post of my own on this, but in the meantime, go read up on it yourself!
• Take a look at ~Dawn's post, Simple Living Is...
• Tired but Happy post over at QueerCents, on Saying No to Marriage.
• And here's some delayed linkage to An Introduction to Homesteading, guest-posted at Get Rich Slowly.
• Last but not least:
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival of Frugality

Stocking Up on Savings (or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the rain check)

How many items do you buy when you "stock up" on good sale items at the grocery store? I always find myself in the aisle, pondering: How often will I use this? (How often should I use this?) How long will it stay good? When will it go on sale again? How heavy will it be to carry home? Do I have room for this in my fridge/freezer/cabinets/under the table/in some corner?

These are all very good questions. But instead of weighing them and coming up with a logical answer, I usually end up going with the "compromise" solution of picking a more-or-less random number "in the middle" of my options (often 4, 5, or 6). And it usually turns out in the end that I picked a number that was too low-- I run out before it goes on sale again, and have to buy it at a higher price or go without.

There are a number of reasons for this, none of them particularly good ones. Partly it's my illogical desire to keep my grocery bill low (even though it saves money in the long run, and I have way more than enough room in my budget to cover it). Part is not wanting to carry too much home on my 10-minute walk. Part is the thought that "Oh, it's on sale through next Wednesday, I'll come back and get more later," which of course I rarely do. And sometimes it's the slim pickings as far as variety during a sale. ("Hmmm, I thought I wanted to get ten cans of soup, but there's only two of the lentil soup which I love, so do I really want eight of minestrone? Nah, but maybe four? And maybe a can or two of broccoli cheese, even though I've still got two at home unopened?")

But recently, I've realized that I can make an end-run around all these problems when I use a raincheck. I have a little piece of paper, marked out with the maximum items I can get, which feels almost like a prescription, my personal permission to buy a dozen of whatever-it-is. Instead of on-the-spot decision-making, I can walk into the store knowing exactly how many I want, so I already know how many other things I can comfortably carry back, if any (yes, I could also do that during the original sale if I just planned ahead-- shush!). Plus, instead of the sparse shelves during the sale's normal term, I can usually select just as many items of any variety as I want. So I am a convert to the raincheck.

Rainchecks have other benefits, too. Beyond their basic purpose-- letting you get the sale price even if the store's out of stock when you visit-- they can be especially useful when the sale's timing isn't good for you (the items are perishable and you'll be out of town soon; you want to purchase the items right before a party or big event; you're low on cash right now). You can even try to time your visit right (at the end of the sale's term) so you purposely find they're out of the desired item. (Just be careful it's not a "while supplies last"/"quantities are limited" thing-- then you lose your legal right to a raincheck.) Plus, you can save your raincheck to match it up with some great coupons if you're a couponer (I'm not).

How about you? How many items do you buy when you "stock up" on a good price? Do you ever find yourself buying less than you should? And do you often use rainchecks?

(By the way, did you know that the term "rain check" comes from baseball? Back in the late 1800s, if a baseball game was rained out, everyone and their mother would claim they'd been there, trying to get into the make-up game for free. Since they gave up their original ticket when they entered the park, there was no proof one way or the other. So teams started attaching a "rain check"-- a tear-off stub-- that fans could use to gain entry to the rescheduled game. So we got both the invention of the ticket stub, and a handy new phrase!)

Are there four kinds of charitable giving?

I was reading a Laura Rowley article at Yahoo Finance on charitable giving, and came across this section:

Boone asked us to sort our giving into one of four categories: Honored obligations, social/fun giving, passionate giving, and strategic/transformative giving. Honored obligations are the groups we feel compelled to support, such as a college alma mater, or a church or synagogue. Religious entities received $88 billion -- the bulk of charitable contributions in 2004 -- while education is in second place, at $34 billion, according to Giving USA.

Social/fun giving includes the cookies you buy from the Girl Scout next door, the art museum you support that has terrific parties or exclusive family night events, or the tickets you purchase for a charitable golf outing because your boss is on the group's board.

Passionate giving, on the other hand, goes to causes that reflect your deepest beliefs or ideals. Strategic/transformative giving provides the resources for making systemic changes in society -- proactively addressing the underlying cause of an issue, rather than treating the symptoms.

Does this ring true for you? If so, how does your giving fit into the various categories?

I don't really have any "honored obligations," but I know that plenty of people do, so it makes sense as a category. The "social/fun" area doesn't make up a large portion for me, but is definitely there occasionally-- I'd guess something like winning a nifty prize in a silent auction would fall into that area, or a donation to a blogger's kid in need who I feel a connection to.

As for the last two... for me, those categories overlap almost completely, and make up the bulk of my giving. It is hard for me to be really passionate about something unless it is also strategic and addresses underlying causes; that's one of my three priorities I identified in my giving plan. So breaking "passionate" and "strategic" into two groups seems redundant to me-- but that might just be a personal thing. I can see how people might feel their passion is in, say, supporting music/the arts, which doesn't really hit the root causes of society's problems.

(By the way, although it's not really emphasized in the article, I think these categories could work just as well if it's time you're donating, instead of/in addition to money.)

So, what do you think? Do these categories make sense, and are they useful? Roughly how much of your giving-- time and/or money-- falls into each? Are there other ways of categorizing that might be more helpful? (For example, I was thinking "individuals" vs "organizations"-- ie, giving to a particular homeless person vs giving to an organization for the homeless.) Or do we not need these categories at all?

Resume tips for internal promotions?

Okay, I'm shamelessly taking advantage of this blog by asking, but if I can gather some good tips hopefully they'll be of use to others, too.  I'm applying for an internal promotion and need to submit my resume, and I have no idea what I'm doing!  I've never been in this situation before, but I'm sure many of you have (and some of you are veritable career-advice gurus!).

What are the differences between a resume designed for an external employer and one for your current employer?  Are there any pitfalls to avoid, or things to take advantage of?  Or should I be following the standard resume-prep approaches and not treating this any differently?

(FYI, the new position is basically my current job with "Senior" tacked onto the front of it-- it has many of the same core responsibilities, but also involves more leadership, independent decision-making, and input on big-picture strategy.)

I've always felt a little uncomfortable with the "I'm so great" aspect of resumes.  Obviously I want to highlight my accomplishments and put the best possible spin on them.  But I have a hard time figuring out where the line is between phrasing things in the most impressive manner and overstating my case.  And I feel especially sensitive about this since it's at my current place of employment; I keep imagining them reading the resume and thinking "Whoa, she's full of herself.  Yes, she was involved in Project X, but I wouldn't say she 'played a key role.'  She says she 'proposed and initiated important projects in her department' but some of those ended up being a waste of time. Sure, she 'helped train and integrate newer colleagues Y and Z' but they're quick learners and I don't think she made much of a difference."   So I feel like I will then end up leaning towards understatement, which is probably also not the right move.  Any tips on finding the right balance?

Also, I wonder how much I should focus on the aspects of my performance which are relevant to the new responsibilities (i.e. leadership-type stuff) and how much I should talk about my success in other areas of my job which I would continue to be responsible for.  Should I act like I'm applying only for the part of the job that's new, or include the brag-worthy work I've done on things in my current job description?

(And tangentially, since I'm still in my first full-time job out of college, should the resume be entirely focused on what I've accomplished in this job?  I assume I should stick with the functional-resume format, and I'm guessing they don't want to hear about what I did in college anymore.)

Share your experience and your wisdom, and I will listen avidly, I promise!  And in an effort to keep this from being entirely take-take-take on my part, here's the only real article I found about this issue, so if you're in my shoes, take a peek.

How to enjoy baseball games cheaply

I consider myself something of an expert on enjoying baseball cheaply, as I am both a huge baseball fan and a huge cheapskate. Although it's not the most frugal entertainment there is, I find it's pretty easy to have a frugal, fun time at baseball games if you keep some money-saving strategies in mind. (Although these tips are baseball-focused since that's where my experience lies, I have no doubt that some are applicable to other sports, and beyond.)

Save money on parking

• Take public transit if you can. Getting in and out of the ballpark area by car is not only pricey but a big hassle. Who wants to sit in traffic, the car idling and wasting gas and polluting the air, inching along ever-so-slowly? Investigate your public transportation options instead.
• Park farther away from the stadium. If you're willing to walk a little (you'll get a better experience of the neighborhood and its atmosphere-- a plus at Wrigley, not-so-much in Detroit-- and heck, you're about to sit for three or four hours anyway), skip the up-close official lots. Prices typically go down the farther away you go. If you're with a group, you can all walk together, or the driver can drop the gang off first and catch up later.

Save money on tickets

• Look for days when tickets are cheaper. Nowadays most ballparks have some sort of tiered pricing system; games during the summer, on weekend days, and/or against popular opponents will cost you extra, while if you try spring or fall, weekdays, and/or a non-rival, your cost drops right off the bat. There are also some teams that have a special ultra-discount day (Milwaukee's Dollar Day comes to mind). And keep an eye out for promotions, when kids/students/seniors/military/whoever get free or discounted tickets.
• Consider the cheap seats. Especially if you're going to a game that won't be well-attended, you may have ample opportunity to relocate to better seats once you're inside the park-- so why not pick the cheapest admission price you can?
• Don't pay Ticketmaster fees if you don't have to. Buy at the ballpark ahead of time if you're nearby and you can. Or do a little research about how well-attended the game is likely to be, and if your tickets aren't going to sell out, buy day-of and save yourself the fees.
  
• Look into standing-room-only tickets. If standing will ruin your enjoyment then don't bother. But one alternative to buying pricey tickets to a popular game ahead of time is to get standing-room tickets the day of. They're cheap, and you may be able to grab someone's empty seats mid-game. These tickets are often not advertised or promoted, though, so you'll want to ask specifically about them.
  

Save money on food

• Bring food and drinks from home. Ballpark food can get really pricey, but most stadiums don't care if you bring in your own food. Sandwiches, veggies and cheese and crackers, chips, anything non-perishable should work fine. If you're looking for classic ballpark food, peanuts and crackerjacks are easy; if you're creative, you can probably figure out adaptations of other favorites. And don't forget to bring bottled water-- or bottles to fill at the water fountain, if you're not picky. (However, you'll want to avoid any glass bottles or other containers; those aren't permitted.)
• Buy food and drinks outside the ballpark. If you haven't prepared in advance, don't want to lug the stuff from home, or are just craving something freshly cooked, you can stop somewhere just before you enter. Many parks have restaurants nearby, and almost all will have hawkers sitting around outside with peanuts, candy, bottled water, and maybe much more.
• Eat before you leave. Games are long, so you'll probably want a snack of some kind, but filling up before you head out makes the whole process easier.
  
• Get a free soda for your designated driver. Most ballparks offer this; look for the Guest Services area.
• Dress appropriately for the weather. Wait, hear me out on this one! Some games can get really chilly (Wrigley Field in April, I'm talkin' to you...) and buying coffee, hot chocolate, or other warm food and drink becomes a necessity. That's a place I don't cut corners, when it's me shivering away. But it's a lot simpler to remember to wear enough layers in the first place!
  

Save money on souvenirs

• Check the promotion schedule. From hats and bats to figurines and bobble-heads, you can pick up a souvenir just for walking through the gate. (And keep your eyes open at the end of the game for extras that have been left behind.)
  
• An autograph can be an unforgettable souvenir. If you come early and/or stay late, you may be able to nab the autograph of a favorite star. For me, the fun of it isn't the autograph itself, but the experience of being ThisClose to the player and maybe a brief snippet of dialogue to be remembered ever after. It may not be your cup of tea, though.
• Grab souvenir cups after the game. Most ballparks sell soda in souvenir cups, and many of the cups can be very neat. If you want to nab one (or more), you've got two options-- buy the cup with soda inside, or wait until the game's over and then grab yourself one, two, six of the cups that are inevitably left behind all around you. It's not as icky as it sounds; rinse 'em out at the water fountain or bathroom sink, and clean fully at home. (You can do the same for those baseball cap-bowls they serve ice cream in, if you want.)
• Find alternate ways to get the souvenirs you want. If you, or your kids, desperately want a particular souvenir, there's cheaper places to get them than inside the stadium itself. You can get your T-shirts, jerseys, caps, or whatever else either before or after the game-- from one of the ubiquitous hawkers if you're fine with knock-offs; from a local store; or even over the internet.

Don't forget to have fun!

• If any of these tips make you cringe-- ignore them! Going to a ballgame is about having fun, and if for you that means premium seats, a great rivalry on a sunny Saturday in June, hot dogs and beer, then by all means, go for it. But it never hurts to think about what things are your top priorities -- and how you might be able to save a little money on the things that aren't.

Any other tips or comments?