According to About.com there are five major gifts that couples are jazzed to get.

1. Money. Young couples are often saving for a down payment on home, a car, paying off student loans and more.
2. An expensive item off their registry. It’s hard to ask for that super chic item on the registry, even if it is the only thing you really want. Inlu is here to save the day.
3. That uber sweet wedding night hotel room.  – memories, memories, memories they will be made, and why not do it in style?
4. A wedding gift that stands the test of time.  – this could be anything special to the couple, with Inlu it could be a charity donation in their name!
5. An extra sweet honeymoon:  A hotel upgrade, flight upgrade, anything extra to make that honeymoon even more special.

Of course each of these are easy to give with Inlu… where fabulous becomes affordable when everybody pitches in.

Inlu is the perfect and etiquette friendly way to coordinate MAJOR wedding gifts. Check out Inlu’s wedding page to learn more.  We’ll give you ideas, suggestions for the bride, suggestions for her bridesmaids and family.  All easy, simple, and etiquette friendly.  In the meantime, you make it easy for your friends and family to give the perfect wedding gift.  Nice.

Some of Inlu’s personal favorite wedding gift ideas?

• A tractor. (Yep, we love Vermonters.)
• A set of kayaks (Check out our awesome Group Gift Certificate partner: Outdoor Gear Exchange)
• A gift of kindness.  One Inlu wedding couple asked friends and family to support Vermonters coping with last year’s flooding.  Helping others is a wonderful way to start a new life together.

Questions?  Send questions to our Office Of Etiquette where we are happy to help you find just the right way to Inlu.    support@inlu.com

Yes in deed! Kids weaving their way through High School – even Junior High – are being advised to make sure their college “RESUME” includes community efforts – like supporting a charity.

Well… hello Inlu!
We love seeing kids achieve greatness and provide an easy way for them to shine. In the past few months we’ve seen…
- A 5th grade boy and his friends raise funds to buy turkeys for a local food shelf for Thanksgiving

- A 6th grade girl raise funds to meet her goal of charity, as she prepares for her Bat Mitzvah

- An 8th grade young woman collect optional donations for her student produced, directed, and performed play: “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.”

Team Inlu is happy to talk to young people looking to make a difference. After all… they are the one’s who got US started in the first place!

We’ll be posting more about this soon – sharing these kids’ experiences and words of wisdom.

Do you know a student who wants to make a difference? Email us and we’ll help! support@inlu.com

In the meantime, we just can’t stop ourselves from posting this again! Enjoy. http://youtu.be/0sZw00ZPJ9g

Dr. King was an outstanding orator.  And if you read his speeches in full, you will see that they are also timeless.  Though created for the Civil Rights Movement, the teachings can apply to our everyday lives. One of my favorite quotes:  “The time is always right, to do what it right.”

As I reflect on Dr. King’s work, encouraging each of us to make a difference everyday, I’d like to honor him by thanking one of my own personal heroes who’s done just that…

As a kid back in the 70′s (yes, I admit it),  I asked a friend why she was wearing a t-shirt bearing the name of a clothing detergent.

Of course she enlightened me.

Soon after I met her mother,  Charlene Ventura.  She was in the process of establishing the first shelter for battered women in Cincinnati, the YWCA Alica Paul House.   I was completely unaware there was a need for such a shelter until I walked into her office at the YWCA where they were filming a TV commercial for it.  Sitting in the window of her office was an actress with a jarring black-eye.  That was the day my eyes were opened to a new world.

Today Charlene Ventura, President and CEO of the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, continues to help women in that area  and beyond.    She was hailed in Redbook Magazine as “One of Ohio’s Ten Outstanding Young Women” in 1978 and most recently as one of the region’s “100 Most Powerful Leaders” (2009, 2010, 2011).  Today, she is an inductee in the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

For her tireless vigilance and selfless devotion, she will always be on my hero list.  Thank you Charlene (A.K.A Michelle & Gretchen’s Mom) for showing me that an individual can make a difference.   And thank you for everything you have done to help so many women and families.

This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, I celebrate the gift of empowerment that individuals like Dr. King and Ms. Ventura give us.

The path is not always easy.  But, as we say in Inlu-land… It’s wEarth it.

Submitted by: Monica Ostby

Time sneaks up on us.  And sometimes before we know it an important date or occasion is upon us with no time to map it out.
Our mission at Inlu is to help people avoid the last minute gifting rush-around that causes us to grab a random gift and go.  But it’s also finding the time to organize the event or party or collection that sometimes is the challenge.  We know… Ugh!

We all procrastinate.  It’s human nature.  It’s why we are never surprised in Inlu-land to see so many RSVP’s and contributions coming in after our system sends the automatic 2-day reminder to each guest.

We thought, well gee if this helps the guests so much, let’s help the organizers too.  Inlu’s Handy Dandy Reminder Service is a quick and easy tool that let’s you schedule a reminder for any occasion.

So easy.  Just think about the months in which you have something that Inlu might be able to help you with. (“Bobby’s birthday in August”, “Jenna’s wedding”) – perhaps even note that perfect gift you already thought of and are afraid you’ll forget… (“Mom & Dad’s anniversary – family photo with Wild cLover Photography“) then set a reminder date that’s 3 weeks prior to your possible occasion date.

It’s amazing how reminders can help people.  And for Team Inlu, every Inlu invitation and announcement matters.  We want to be there for you when you need us.

Hint!  You can also send a reminder to someone else…

I think you hear me…

So grab a cup of coffee, (and a take, what…  three minutes?) to get your inlu mojo in action.  Then… relax in 2012.
As always, we’re here to help… support@inlu.com

“Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something.” – Inlu User

The Inlu Community Board is a place where people in need are invited to post their personal Inlus when community support is needed due to medical assistance or natural disaster relief. Click to visit the Inlu User Community Board.

Thank you and feel free to help if you can! If you know someone who could use a group giving effort, click to create an Inlu or email support@inlu.com.

Bio & Company Story:

Inlu Co-Founder, Jamaica Jenkins and I, both mothers of three, saw first hand how our beloved cultural celebrations not only have a negative environmental impact, but also miss out on technological advances that make life easier to organize. So, “in lieu of” excess, hassle, and waste, we created inlu.com, an online web invitation service with a built in group giving system. Inlu enables friends and family to easily pitch in for what is truly wanted as a group – toward ANY gift, ANY charity, or BOTH – and streamline the process for everyone. We’ve also tied in a patent-pending carbon footprint tracker that demonstrates the positive impact of giving as a group.

Today, Inlu helps people organize group gifting across many occasions, from birthdays to weddings, to non-profit fund drives. Since launching, over 100 different charities have been supported – some multiple times. And unique gifts have been given: from birthday skateboards, to newlywed first home deposits, and growing family double strollers, to a wheelchair ramp for a neighbor in need.

We have seen our early adapters embrace this easy to use tool – with over 20% having used Inlu more than three times in the short time we have been live. One Inlu enthusiasts has already participated in over 25 Inlu collections. We hope to see the word about Inlu spread, so that everyone can experience the joy of our celebrations, without the hassle, excess, and waste that we all agree we can do without.

To read the entire page and view other 100×100 entrepreneurs (like our friend, Janice Shade of TrueBody Products), click to visit SMARTGIRLSWAY.com

Click to visit Smartgirlsway.

Happy Day! We’d like to take a moment to share some of our more recent testimonials. Enjoy.

Just created my first INLU and to be honest, I think I’m hooked. I passed it along to my very “green” family and hope they use it and pass it along too. We ALL need to INLU, I’m convinced! We love going to INLU parties where we don’t need to stress about buying a gift, wrapping a gift and hoping the recipient doesn’t have one already. Gift opening doesn’t take 45 minutes and there isn’t all that trash and waste to further clutter our planet. Love the charity aspect too! Just wishing you were around when I got married.- Heidi

AO glass loves Inlu. Wow, I learned a lot while creating our first Inlu. Thank you for providing a smart and efficient way of sending invitations. Our fundraising campaign “Trailblazer for AO Glass” went so well. Thank you Monica for putting this together in less than a week. We look forward to use Inlu for our future Group Gifting. Thank you. – Rich

Just used inlu to organize a big Halloween Party. EASY! Guest contributions will pay for the facility rental and food – plus we’re raising money for Vermont farmers impacted by Hurricane Irene flooding last month. There was no other tool that would allow me to invite guests, pay for party costs, and raise money for charity at the same time. Nice job inlu! – Duncan

This is the second year we have used inlu to coordinate our daughter’s birthday party and it has made the gift-giving conundrum a lot easier.  We normally acquire most of our toys second-hand to keep usable things out of landfills and extend the lives of already manufactured items…but it’s so difficult to ask guests to do the same. I am uncomfortable with the amount of packaging the comes with the mountain of new plastic toys a child receives for a birthday and was looking for a way to minimize the mountain down to a molehill.  My college friend suggested I try the inlu site.  MAGIC!!!  My daughter asked for tap lessons so her friends donated for tap lessons and tap shoes – and they also donated to the Ehlers Danlos National Foundation!  Many of the parents thanked me for making the gift giving easier on them – they were happy that they didn’t need to make an extra trip to the store, didn’t need to try to pick something out for a child they didn’t know, didn’t need to wrap anything, and didn’t need to schlep anything to the party but their child.  I was happy that I didn’t need to throw a lot of trash away or bring a lot of junk into my house. – Rebecca

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE inlu? Thank you AGAIN for helping with team/coaches gifts. You make life so easy when trying to coordinate season end gifts! ? – Leslie

So impressed with what we can do with inlu! Thanks to (Sue & Duncan’s) brilliant planning, a ‘hood Halloween party has raised over $600 for the Intervale Center Farmers Recovery Fund so far. Partying with a purpose. I love it! Hey, can I get one of those “we inlu” stickers for my car? – Wendy

The power of good people can move mountains! Yeah for you guys!- Sueann

We love Inlu! Today a great big check arrived in the mail– an Inlu was generated for our shop! Now, some lucky gal is getting exactly what she wants (just a Little Something), and we are getting a very happy customer! Thanks, Inlu!!- A Little Something

If you haven’t stopped by our Facebook wall in awhile, please do! We’d love to hear from you. Ready to try Inlu? GET STARTED!

And PS, WE are thankful for each of you!

Ok, so the turkey leftovers are wrapped in the fridge and life is good. We still have another solid month + of evening get togethers, office holiday huddles and other cheery merrymaking. So, why not get the friends together, and in lieu of bringing gifts, ask people to pitch in for any cause? Pick a local homeless shelter. Raise funds for the rainforest. Collect from your friends, buy dog food for a dog rescue. The ideas are limitless.

Here’s a sample of a Potluck Dinner for a Cause using inlu.com to coordinate a collection for any cause this Holiday:

Click to View a Sample!