Archives for February 2017

Diverse Wedding Inspiration from The Academy Awards

Feb 27, 2017

We always love fun evening that bring people together and the Oscars is always one such night evening! It is a joy to see so many important movies honored and so many people honored.

At an awards show that historically hasn’t honored diversity, we were thrilled to see the beginning of a shift towards more diversity. This was the first year where an African American was nominated in every catergory. We also admired the diversity evident in the wedding-worthy red carpet looks. Enjoy some of our favorites:

Chrissy Teigen in Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad British actress Naomie Harris in Belgian designer Raf Simons’ first design for Calvin Klein

French actress Isabelle Huppert in Italian designer Armani Prive

Australian actress Nicole Kidman in Italian designer Armani

British actress Felicity Jones in French fashion house Dior, currently directed by Italian designer Maria Crazia Chiuri.

Many stars also sported blue ribbons to support the ACLU and protest recent travel bans. If you feel led, please consider supporting the ACLU through a registry with The Good Beginning!

5 Organizations Working to Protect Women’s Rights

Feb 20, 2017

Since the beginning of 2017 we’ve been sharing some of our favorite organizations that are part of The Good Beginning. We recently highlighted some organizations supporting Aleppo and other amazing charities supporting immigrants and refugees. Today, however, we are highlighting five organizations working to protect women’s rights. We hope you’ll spend some time researching these worthy causes and consider supporting them through The Good Beginning!

Planned ParenthoodMISSION // Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual’s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence. They believe that respect and value for diversity in all aspects of our organization are essential to our well-being. They believe that reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual’s right to privacy. They further believe that such self-determination will contribute to an enhancement of the quality of life and strong family relationships.

Center for Reproductive Rights

MISSION // For more than 20 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill.

Forum for African Women Educationalists

MISSION // To promote gender equity and equality in education in Africa by fostering positive policies, practices and attitudes towards girls’ education.

One Love Foundation

MISSION // Founded in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, One Love works with young people across the country to raise awareness about the warning signs of abuse and activate communities to work to change the statistics around relationship violence.

Girls Not Brides

MISSION // Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 600 civil society organizations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential.

If you feel compelled by the missions of these organizations we hope you’ll consider supporting them through a registry with The Good Beginning!

5 WAYS TO SPREAD THE LOVE ON VALENTINE’S DAY

Feb 12, 2017

We love love around these parts as you can probably assume. This being said, we also believe love is best when spread around a bit! With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, we wanted to share a few ideas on how you can give back or just do something charitable with or without your sweetie this weekend.

GET BAKING // Nursing homes, homeless shelters or other organizations would be the perfect place to drop off some heart shaped or Valentine’s day sweets. Need inspiration on what to make? How about these homemade pop tarts from A Whimsy Wonderland? Or, if you want to be a little more animal friendly, this Vegan Sugar Cookie recipe from Minimalist Baker is perfect for heart shaped cookies.

VALENTINE’S THE OLD FASHIONED WAY // Get out your scissors, red paper and maybe even a bit of glitter and make some handmade Valentine’s for someone who needs a little love in their life. Again, homeless shelters or nursing homes or even just dropping it off on the door of your neighbor is a loving act. If you need some inspiration, check out some of the creative ideas from Real Simple.

SEND LOVE TO THE TROOPS // Love letters or handmade valentine’s sent to our service men and women are a beautiful way to remind them they are loved and supported. A Million Thanks is a great organization that can help make sure the letter arrives in the right hands.

VOLUNTEER WITH YOUR SWEETIE // Building houses, working at a shelter or even planting trees, you name it. All of these causes can use a few hands here and there and what a better way to celebrate your day by sharing your love.

GIVE GIFTS THAT GIVE // If nothing else, consider giving gifts this year that make an impact whether it’s a snuggle worthy blanket that also gives one to an area homeless shelter at the same time or a charm that employs those rebuilding their lives in the production of something beautiful or any of the gifts we share here weekly on The Good Beginning, there’s a million ways to find an impactful gift.

In The Press: 8 Keys to Disrupting an Established Market

Feb 10, 2017

Our lovely founder, Beth Helmstetter, was recently featured on Inc. Magazine online in an article about how she launched The Good Beginning! We are so thankful that she boldly founded The Good Beginning and disrupted the registry market for the better good. Enjoy the article!

Beth Helmstetter, a top-rated celebrity destination event planner was inspired to launch The Good Beginning, an online wedding registry for charitable causes throughout the world. Just a year into discovering the market need for a scalable online charity platform, Beth put her MBA to use in an entirely new way that connected directly to her core business.

In addition to (or in lieu of) classic china and smoothie makers, couples can invite their guests to join them in supporting a worthy charity, from those raising funds for the Flint Water Crisis to Syrian refugees and many efforts in between.

Here’s how Helmstetter found the gap in her market, and how you can do the same with your category:

#1: Get Inspired by Personal Experience

After visiting Haiti following the 2010 earthquakes, Helmstetter felt compelled to connect her couples with charitable causes that would impact the world around them in a very significant way. She had seen her clients attempt to use their weddings to give back in the past, but Helmstetter found that ‘giving back’ was a challenge of logistics and accessibility for both couples and their wedding guests. By many accounts, the entrepreneurs who are most successful are the ones filled with purpose.

#2: Focus on Your Strengths

Using her MBA with an emphasis in nonprofit administration in conjunction with many years in the wedding industry, Helmstetter knew The Good Beginning needed to provide users with a seamless, secure and effective experience. She has the entrepreneurial itch, sure, but she leaned into her strengths as opposed to starting a business she would be ill-equipped to run. Passion, skills, and hard-fought knowledge need to fuel your own entrepreneurial pursuits.

#3: Find a Niche

Sure, the ability to donate to a charity online has existed for some time, but a platform designed specifically for couples and their wedding guests didn’t. Once Helmstetter realized couples were seeking out a platform like this but were left underwhelmed by what was being offered, she knew some of the other 2+ million couples that marry each year may have felt the same way. 4+ million individuals is enough of a market for most businesses to thrive, so it’s all about finding the proper niche.

#4: Don’t Appeal to Everyone

Innovation truly stems from creating the best solution to a challenge that may have otherwise been overlooked. Build something that solves the problem in the most effective way, even if it only applies to fraction of the entire market. That special formula will be one that makes the difference between settling for what may already be out there and one that is the best solution for that unique need.

#5: Shake Up the Business Model

Unfortunately, popular charity platforms are simply unequipped to properly accept and track multiple donations from small groups of people, and because of design, often neglect the smaller specialized efforts that benefit indigenous communities most directly.

“We live in an age of reinvention,” says Helmstetter. “Capitalize on that, even if it means shaking up a traditional business model so that you can deliver maximum value to an underserved market.” Airbnb and Uber didn’t carve out big chunks of their markets by solemnly swearing to play by the old rules, so why should you?

#6: Focus on User Experience

Never underestimate the importance of user experience. Helmstetter, for example, had over 11 years of wedding industry expertise behind her, which helped her understand the intimate needs of the couples who would use The Good Beginning. This allowed her to better understand the market and figure out what her startup needed to be if it was going to be successful.

Working with developers, the platform was built with the functionality needed to not only handle those individual contributions, but also invites couples to add charitable organizations they feel personally connected to – something that isn’t possible with other platforms. Moreover, The Good Beginning easily integrates with popular wedding websites just as a traditional online registry does and was developed with style and clarity in mind, so that couples could feel proud to share The Good Beginning with their wedding guests.

#7: Draw Inspiration from Outside Your Market

It’s not enough to know your competitors; you’ll also be best served by finding players in other industries to each you a thing or two. In Helmstetter’s case, she happens to particularly admire Patagonia’s philosophy and culture. While many companies are socially conscious in moments of the products they sell, Patagonia manages to be so every step of the way. As a household name, they could easily let these practices slide, yet they choose to be a leader in both conscious fashion and leading a life of generosity.

Paying attention to players that are winning in other markets, Patagonia included, allows disruptive players like Helmstetter to win in their respective categories.

#8: Analyze the Results

As the nature of registries stretches far beyond the actual day, guests will continue to contribute to up to 5 months after a wedding. Couples and their guests to are projected to contribute over $500,000 to worthy causes through The Good Beginning by the end on 2018. Recent couples have chosen to support efforts at home including The Heart of Los Angeles/HOLA and the Washtenaw Literacy as well as organizations in developing countries like Freely In Hope, Global Footprint Network and the New Hope Initiative.

Despite all of the success, like any new business, there have been plenty of opportunities to learn and optimize, which Helmstetter makes sure to do on an ongoing basis. Part of success is execution, sure, but it’s all for naught if you’re not going to analyze the results and refine your strategy continuously. Is your startup doing the same?

This article was written by Jeremy Goldman and originally published on Inc. Magazine online.

Luxurious + Local Wedding Welcome Gifts

Feb 7, 2017

We always love discovering new companies with amazing missions and MadeClose is one such firm! They focus on locally made gifts and we love both their curated selection and the artisans they are benefitting!

Some of their selections would make for unique newlywed housewarming gifts, bridal party gifts, or engagement gifts! Here is a sneak peek at their products and what they do, enjoy!

“We specialize in welcome gifts of thoughtful, small-batch products, treats and regional keepsakes. We can also customize canvas tote bags and load them up with bubble bath, soaps, local wines and other gifts. We’ve even stocked hotel minibars with Pointy Snout caviar and co-working spaces with food for sale and lap desks for rent to members!”

“Choosing the right gift for your event, client or employee can be difficult. MadeClose is here to help. Our team helps define your gifting objectives based on occasion, budget and business goals-so that your money is well spent. Our curation department delivers a custom gift guide by tapping into our vast network of makers and merchants. Then you choose the final, perfect gift.”

“MadeClose is disrupting the stale professional gifting market by curating high quality, locally made products for conferences, events, weddings and holidays. By connecting our merchants to this market, we are helping local businesses thrive while bringing unique gifting experiences to our clients. We’ve compiled the biggest database of American made companies, and have the ability to source products according to our clients’ specific needs—be it location, price point, theme or even material. We encourage our clients to think outside the box and to focus on local because we’ve spent a lot of time creating a marketplace for those ideas.”