Bonnie's blog

Back in February, I wrote about Lake Superior State University’s annual list of words that should be banished from the English language (including “viral” and “BFF”).

I’ve always been a believer that the English language has too many words. After all, do we really need nine different words that essentially mean the same thing (think: huge, enormous, gigantic, colossal, vast, titanic, mammoth, grand and really, really big). While they each have sight variations in meaning, in a sentence they each basically mean the same thing (e.g., the iceberg was [fill in your word here]. See? So I’m always happy to banish a few words each year.

For the past 37 years, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) has released a List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. I generally agree with the words, especially 2011’s “viral” and “BFF”, though I’m not sure I feel the same about “Facebook and Google as verbs” as “Google it” is a staple in my vocabulary. And the new top terrible word for 2012 is:

Amazing.

Does spelling still matter?

A teacher friend of mine told me about a new software program being used in the younger grades in her school. It's used to help with reading and writing, and provides a spell checker and word prediction. Instead of marvelling at this innovative technology, she actually lamented. She feared that instead of teaching the students to spell, it would just do the job for them. (And for those of us who have predictive text on our cell phones, we know this is a scary thing.) For years now, educators and their government counterparts have been promoting literacy with programs such as DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) and Family Literacy. But why learn how to spell when, truthfully, computers can do it for us, quicker and better?

Even established newspapers can fall prey to the dreaded typo.

Every day before I go to sleep, I remind myself how lucky I am that my children are healthy and have, so far, encountered few major challenges in their lives. This knowledge makes me all the more aware that others are not so fortunate, and that there are children who suffer daily with life-threatening and chronic diseases — children who miss months (and years) of school, who are the victims of whispers and stares, who suffer pain and discomfort daily, whose bravery in the face of challenges goes beyond anything my children could imagine.

Charitable gift cards have been hot for the holidays for several years, but recently, I began thinking about all the different kinds of cards.

It started when I came across several unused gift cards given to my kids over the years. They were from stores none of us shop in, or in small amounts that would not have made a dent in a purchase at an expensive store. Still, I was reluctant to give them away or toss them.

A recent Globe and Mail article told me I wasn't alone. A U.S. study found that 25 percent of gift cards are never redeemed. Given that Canadians spend an estimated $6-billion dollars a year these cards and assuming that Canadian retail behaviour is similar to American, this would translate into $1.5 billion in unredeemed cards.

I recently received an invitation to a birthday party that requested no gifts. For me, that meant making a donation in the birthday boy’s honour.

Normally I do my best to discern the honoree’s favourite charity, but sometimes I just use my best judgement. Because there are so many charities and not-for-profits out there (see Jen's recent post about being overwhelmed), my choices are endless. Thus, if I become frustrated with the donation method of one charity, I can easily move on to the next.

And that's why donation page design is important.

This past weekend, I took my son to the Ontario Universities Fair where we joined hoards of teens and their parents to learn about a plethora of higher education opportunities. As my son stood in line at each of the university booths to discuss all things computer programming, I meandered over to the communications areas of each institution, where the catchphrase of the day appeared to be “new media” — mostly centred on digital media. Most of the programs offered combine visual arts with computing skills (programming, Photoshop and every other Adobe program you could think of, etc.) This makes sense to me; after all, print (brochures, ads, newsletters) and online (websites, e-communications) collateral require both artistic and IT skills. Nowadays you can’t be a graphic designer without knowing how to create everything from a printed annual report to a highly interactive website. Or so I thought.

I admit it, when it comes to charities or not-for-profits, I’m a lazy volunteer. I hate to commit myself for the same day per week, when I never know if I’ll be working or, yes I admit it, if there’s a sale on at my favourite store. That said, however, I do want to do more than buy raffle tickets, attend sporadic charity events or volunteer on committees at the schools my children attend. So when my son started volunteering in the computer lab at a community centre for seniors, and told me about all the great opportunities at there, I went and spoke with the volunteer co-ordinator. She, thankfully, understood my predicament, and asked if I would consider being a fill-in for their Meals on Wheels program, where volunteers deliver fresh meals, prepared in-house, to individuals who are mostly unable to make their own meals.

I recently attended the Canadian Marketing Association's Not-For-Profit Roundtable, where the discussion focused on “Top Trends in Direct Response, Events and Major Gifts.”

While I could write a hundred blogs on all the ideas thrown out, one particular discussion caught my attention.

How do you make it cost-effective to solicit donations from those Canadians who are inclined to give smaller amounts such as $5 or $10? As the cost of postage and printing goes up, direct mail isn’t cost effective for smaller donations, and you can only have so many volunteers standing in malls with daffodils or poppy pins.