CMS Rock Star

Did you know that a lot of big businesses only contribute to charities that are in their own home town?  I was trying to do a charity fundraiser a few months ago, asking for goods to auction off and going from store to store in the local strip mall, going to the “Big name stores” and asking for donations of merchandise or gift cards and they said it was “against corporate policy” and that their stores only contributed to charities in their corporate headquarters home town that was in another state?  Yet the small mom and pop locally owned businesses ALL donated gift cards or new merchandise to the charity event.

As I was saying in my previous post, doing business locally is becoming more important in today’s economy. Doing business locally saves gasoline, too, which is good for the environment!

Local reviews of local businesses can often be found on the Internet to help the consumer locate a local business and find out whether or not the business is a reputable one.  The WeLoveLocal.com website is an example of such a website.  Although geared towards the United Kingdom, this is a good example of a good way to find local businesses and reviews of them.  You need to register to use the website, but registration is free.    This website is easy to use; you can find local businesses by clicking on the search button.  You can write reviews by clicking on the review button.   You can create your own network of friends that you trust to do business by clicking on the community button.  I think it would be wonderful if there were websites like this in every United States community too!