by Inlu Blog Patrol on April 18, 2013
Mother’s Day is all about loving your mom. But like so many, our families are spread out across the U.S. if not the world. My sister is in California, my brother is in New Jersey, and I’m up here in Vermont. It makes it hard to celebrate together.
Enter Inlu.
We love pitching in for mom. One year it was a huge bouquet of flowers from a neighborhood florist. One year – I think my favorite – we all pitched in for this amazing ice cream maker which she discovered, and mentioned a few times… (Mom’s Mint Oreo Ice Cream is my favorite.)
It’s just another way Inlu can help streamline the giving for something more meaningful. Moms everywhere can feel the love and you can feel like a favorite.
Click here to see this live sample:
Select either the CASH COLLECTION or GIFT COLLECTION option and have the funds sent to yourself or a sibling who will make the gift purchase. Or you can send the funds direct to Mom along with your keepsake messages from everyone.
And as always in Inlu-land, you can all pitch in to support her favorite charity too. One Mother (Earth) of a gift.
Be a favorite. Inlu for your mama.
by Inlu Blog Patrol on March 29, 2013
Do you have a student who’s saving up for a class trip overseas? Or maybe a school band saving to perform at Carnegie Hall? It sure isn’t cheap! But it’s the chance of a lifetime… and a time for them to learn how to earn it.
Inlu is here to help. Parents and travelers-to-be can create event invitations – perhaps an “in lieu of brithday gifts” party? – or simply a cash collection.
Share it with those who might be interested is helping your traveler, and monitor the funds up-to-the-minute in your private dashboard.
Inlu holds the funds until the collection end date you set, then issues the funds as you direct. Generally, funds are sent to a parent who deposits the check directly in their student’s account. Or, perhaps you’ve already laid out the cash in previously paid deposits, these funds can be your reimbursement.
Here are two samples to get
your creative juices flowing.
Inlus are as private as you want them to be. Share with only a private group via email, or post your custom Inlu URL in your own social media tools. (It’s your own personal crowdfunding tool!)
Contributors can donate any amount they wish. They can even choose to either add or subtract the Inlu transaction fee, a flat 99¢ + our third party credit card processing fee. They see the total fee and can manage their payment at the time of check out. (Click here, select RSVP, and see for yourself.)
It’s also a good idea to offer an address that people can mail a check directly to you if they prefer to donate that way. (There’s no fee for this.) Everyone can even sign the traveler’s message wall with a big “Bon Voyage!”
And because etiquette always matters… students can thank everyone involved right from the dashboard.
Have questions? By all means email us at support@inlu.com. We love to help. Or get started right now! 
by Inlu Blog Patrol on March 5, 2013
We’re working on some site upgrades this weekend and loved incorporating this lovely photo taken just down the road from Inlu HQ in Vermont.
We’re thrilled to bring this little piece of Vermont to everyone. Since our launch folks in over 25 out of 50 states have participated in an Inlu invitation. We kind of feel like Vermont Ambassadors.
Vermont is very much WHO we are. Our core values are reflected in every Inlu…
1. Meaningful
2. Streamlined
3. Eco Friendly
4. Etiquette Appropriate
Check out our new “How It Works” page which explains each of these values in full.
And see this picture in action on our new “About Us” page.
We’d love your thoughts on the changes.
by Inlu Blog Patrol on February 18, 2013
I came across a video of Jason Goldberg, CEO of Fab.com. His theme “Zero to Hero.”
Now, Inlu’s path has taken a bit longer than the timeline he looks for when starting his businesses. But his words of wisdom are on my wall (though I have to admit points 1 and 2 are challenge for me).
- Do one thing
- Say no
- Always be all about the product
- Keep it interesting, exciting, and unpredictable. People love a surprise.
- Make people smile
- Service matters more than sales
- Whatever it takes to make a customer happy
- Make mistakes, take risks, the move past them
- Recover quickly
- Apologize
- Strive to have every customer love us
- Celebrate your challenges “Why do we suck today?”
- Be transparent
- Measure everything
- Grow your people
- Hire smarter
- Maintain perspective
- Say please and thank you
- Have fun
by Inlu Blog Patrol on January 13, 2013
We came across a link to this year’s Sports Illustrated Kids Sports Kids of the year awarded to Conner and Cayden Long. They are the coolest triathletes we’ve come across. Check out their story at SI Kids and watch the beautiful video.
Our favorite quote from Conner:
“If people could race with people that can’t walk or can’t talk or have any kind of autism, it might open eyes of people that don’t really care about it. And maybe the people that don’t care in the past will care in the future.”
Kids can be empowered everyday to make a difference… and show us grown-ups what it’s really all about.
Thank you SI Kids, and thank you Conner in Cayden, and thank you Mom & Dad Long. Awesome.
by Inlu Blog Patrol on January 4, 2013
What a great way to start the year! Team Inlu is BEAMING today, thanks to you.
We are proud, thrilled, energized, totally psyched to announce that thanks to your using Inlu we as a group hit 250,000 Inlu Planet Points Today! Yippy!
Huh?
No really, its a very cool thing we at Inlu have been tracking since the day we went live. There is a funky “edutainment” formula we’ve craft (based on real scientific data) which represents the estimated CO2 emissions that might have been released, had Inlu’s streamlining platform not been used. (Check it out!)
1 Inlu Planet Point = 1 pound of CO2 emissions ‘saved.’
So by using Inlu, you have helped cut an estimated 250,000 pounds of CO2 emissions over the last three years.
To celebrate – for every 1,000 Planet Points, Team Inlu donates funds to plant a tree via American Forests.
In lieu of calculating the CO2 impact too precisely, we do know that when people give what is truly wanted and needed, less waste, less excess, and less plastic packaging end up in your local landfill.
So with today’s accomplishment of 250,000 Planet Points, go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back. YOU are responsible for curbing excess, reducing waste, and bringing a total of 250 new trees to our Mother Earth. Nice.
Happy New Year.
