Your Brand
Your brand is the sum of the value and quality of your product, the buying experience, customer service, product design, and other intangible aspects. It is an abstract concept in people’s minds based on factual and emotional factors. Associating your brand with a nonprofit doing good work in the community is one of the most effective ways to strengthen your brand image. Corporations spend billions of dollars every year to improve their brand and are careful to avoid any sort of controversy or scandal that can tarnish it. As a small business, you have more control over your brand. Small business branding is largely driven by the owner as his or her values are reflected in the product and buying experience. Therefore, you should be vigilant in ensuring your brand is not being undermined in these areas.
 
Engaged Employees
A customer’s judgment of your brand is a precious commodity that can be damaged by one negative experience. This often happens at the customer service level with employees who are not properly trained or fail to represent your values. Tying your business’ brand to a nonprofit organization is a powerful way to create more engaged employees. Employee morale and performance increases when employees feel their work is making a positive impact in the community. Research by Adam Grant at the Wharton School of Business shows that workers are more motivated by the positive impact of their efforts on other people rather than financial rewards. Therefore, investing in a nonprofit creates a positive feedback loop for your brand as more enthusiastic employees leads to more satisfied customers.

Increased Exposure
Investing in a nonprofit is a way to give back to the community, increase exposure, and create positive vibes for your brand. Therefore, most businesses choose a nonprofit that is giving back within the community and consistent with their values and mission statement. Soliciting your employees and customers’ input when choosing the nonprofit to support is another way to boost employee morale and customer loyalty, making those groups feel connected to your mission. Your brand will become stronger as it becomes intertwined with positive work done in the community. Sponsoring a charitable cause or organization can lead to more exposure than traditional marketing outlets at a fraction of the cost. This also leads to more opportunities in terms of marketing, networking, and hiring, as other people will want to be associated with your brand. Of course, these opportunities will eventually convert into increased sales and profits, which in turn, gives you even more resources to invest in worthy causes.
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References & Resources
quickbooks.intuit.ca, semble.com, businessdictionary.com, knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

THE PACK
Virtually all Solitaire games are played with one or more standard 52-card packs. Standard Solitaire uses one 52-card pack.

OBJECT OF THE GAME
The first objective is to release and play into position certain cards to build up each foundation, in sequence and in suit, from the ace through the king. The ultimate objective is to build the whole pack onto the foundations, and if that can be done, the Solitaire game is won.

RANK OF CARDS
The rank of cards in Solitaire games is: K (high), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A (low).

THE DEAL
There are four different types of piles in Solitaire:

• The Tableau: Seven piles that make up the main table.
• The Foundations: Four piles on which a whole suit or sequence must be built up. In most Solitaire games, the four aces are the bottom card or base of the foundations. The foundation piles are hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.
• The Stock (or “Hand”) Pile: If the entire pack is not laid out in a tableau at the beginning of a game, the remaining cards form the stock pile from which additional cards are brought into play according to the rules.
• The Talon (or “Waste”) Pile: Cards from the stock pile that have no place in the tableau or on foundations are laid face up in the waste pile.
• To form the tableau, seven piles need to be created. Starting from left to right, place the first card face up to make the first pile, deal one card face down for the next six piles. Starting again from left to right, place one card face up on the second pile and deal one card face down on piles three through seven. Starting again from left to right, place one card face up on the third pile and deal one card face down on piles four through seven. Continue this pattern until pile seven has one card facing up on top of a pile of six cards facing down.

The remaining cards form the stock (or “hand”) pile and are placed above the tableau.

When starting out, the foundations and waste pile do not have any cards.

THE PLAY
The initial array may be changed by "building" - transferring cards among the face-up cards in the tableau. Certain cards of the tableau can be played at once, while others may not be played until certain blocking cards are removed. For example, of the seven cards facing up in the tableau, if one is a nine and another is a ten, you may transfer the nine to on top of the ten to begin building that pile in sequence. Since you have moved the nine from one of the seven piles, you have now unblocked a face down card; this card can be turned over and now is in play.

As you transfer cards in the tableau and begin building sequences, if you uncover an ace, the ace should be placed in one of the foundation piles. The foundations get built by suit and in sequence from ace to king.

Continue to transfer cards on top of each other in the tableau in sequence. If you can’t move any more face up cards, you can utilize the stock pile by flipping over the first card. This card can be played in the foundations or tableau. If you cannot play the card in the tableau or the foundations piles, move the card to the waste pile and turn over another card in the stock pile.

If a vacancy in the tableau is created by the removal of cards elsewhere it is called a “space”, and it is of major importance in manipulating the tableau. If a space is created, it can only be filled in with a king. Filling a space with a king could potentially unblock one of the face down cards in another pile in the tableau.

Continue to transfer cards in the tableau and bring cards into play from the stock pile until all the cards are built in suit sequences in the foundation piles to win!

GAME SETUP/RANK OF SUITS
Spades (High), hearts, diamonds, clubs.
Rank of Cards: A (High), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

THE DEAL
The dealer distributes 13 cards to each player, one card at a time, face down, beginning with the player on his left.

OBJECT OF THE GAME
Each partnership attempts to score points by making its bid, or by defeating the opposing partnership's bid. At the end of play, the side with the most points wins.

THE BIDDING
Calls - Once the cards are dealt, each player picks up his hand and, beginning with the dealer, makes a call (pass, bid, double or redouble).

PASSING
When a player does not wish to bid, double, or redouble, he says, "Pass." If all four players pass in the first round, the deal is "passed out," and the next dealer in turn deals a new hand.

BIDDING A SUIT
Bid a number of tricks greater than six that the bidder expects to win, and a suit which will become the trump suit.
Ex. = "One Spade" is a bid to win seven tricks (6+1) with spades as trumps.
A bid may be made in "No-trump", meaning that there will be no trump suit. The lowest possible bid is one, and the highest possible bid is seven.

Each bid must name a greater number of odd tricks than the last bid, or an equal number but in a higher denomination. No-trump is the highest denomination, outranking spades.
Ex. = "Two No-trump" will overcall a bid of "Two Hearts", and a bid of "Four Clubs" is required to overcall a bid of "Three No-trump".

DOUBLING AND REDOUBLING
Any player may double the last preceding bid if it was made by an opponent.
Any player may redouble the last preceding bid if it was made by his side and doubled by an opponent.

A doubled or redoubled bid may be overcalled by any bid, which would have been sufficient to overcall the same contract undoubled.
Ex. = "Two Spades" is doubled and redoubled, it may still be overcalled by a bid of "Two No-trump," a bid of "Three Clubs," or by any other higher bid.

FINAL BID AND THE DECLARER
When a bid, double, or redouble is followed by three consecutive passes, the bidding is closed. The final bid in the auction becomes the contract. The player who, for his side, first bid the denomination named in the contract becomes the "declarer." If the contract names a trump suit, every card of that suit becomes a trump. The declarer's partner becomes the "dummy," and the opposing players become the "defenders."

THE PLAY
Take a card and place it, face up, in the center of the table. Four cards so played, one from each hand in rotation, constitute a trick. The first card played to a trick is a lead. The leader to a trick may lead any card. The other three hands must follow suit if they can. If a player is unable to follow suit, he may play any card. For the first trick, the defender on the declarer's left makes the first lead (the opening lead).

FACING THE DUMMY HAND
As soon as the opening lead has been made, the dummy then spreads his hand face up, grouped in suits, with each suit vertically arranged so that the other three players can easily view all 13 cards. The suits may be placed in any order as long as the trump suit (if any) is placed to the declarer's left. There is no particular order for placing the suits down in a No-trump bid.

WINNING OF TRICKS
A trick containing a trump is won by the hand playing the highest trump. A trick not containing a trump is won by the hand playing the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads next.

DECLARER'S PLAY
The declarer plays his own cards and the dummy's cards, but each in proper turn, since the dummy does not take an active part in the play.

PLAYED CARD
The declarer plays a card from his own hand when he places it on the table or when it is named as an intended play. When the declarer touches a card in the dummy hand, it is considered played (except when he is merely arranging the dummies cards). Alternatively, the declarer may name a card in the dummy and such a card must be played. A defender plays a card when he exposes it so that the other defender can see its face. A card once played may not be withdrawn, except to correct a revoke or other irregularity.

TAKING IN TRICKS WON
A completed trick is gathered and turned face down on the table. The declarer and one of the defenders should keep all tricks won in front of them, and the tricks should be arranged so that the quantity and the order of the tricks played are apparent.

HOW TO KEEP SCORE
When the last (13th) trick has been played, the tricks taken by the respective sides are counted, and the points earned are then entered to the credit of that side on the score sheet. Any player may keep score. If only one player keeps score, both sides are equally responsible to see that the score for each deal is correctly entered.

The score sheet is ruled with a vertical line making two columns that are titled They and We. The scorekeeper enters all scores made by his side in the We column and all scores made by the opponents in the They column. A little below the middle of the score sheet is a horizontal line. Scores designated as "trick score" are entered below the line; all other scores are "premium scores" and are written above the line.

TRICK SCORE
If the declarer fulfills his bid by winning as many or more odd-tricks as the contract called for, his side scores below the line for every odd-trick named in the contract. Thus, if the declarer wins eight tricks and the bid is Two Hearts, the score for making "two" in a bid of hearts would be credited, as per the Scoring Table.

OVERTRICKS
Odd-tricks won by the declarer in excess of the contract are called "overtricks" and are scored to the credit of his side as premium score.

THE GAME
When a side has scored 100 or more points below the line, it has won a "game." To show this, the scorekeeper draws a horizontal line across the score sheet, below the score that ended the game. This signifies that the next game will begin. A game may be made in more than one deal, such as by scoring 60 and later 40, or it may be scored by making a larger bid and earning 100 or more points in a single deal. Once the next game begins, if the opponents had a score below the line for making a bid, such as 70, this score does not carry over, and each side needs the full 100 points to win the next game.

VULNERABLE
A side that has won its first game becomes "vulnerable," and that side's objective is to win a second game and thus earn a bonus for the "rubber." When a side scores its second game, the rubber is over, and the scores are totaled. The winning partnership is the side with the most points. A vulnerable side is exposed to increased penalties if it fails to fulfill a future bid, but receives increased premiums for certain other bids that are fulfilled.

HONORS
When there is a trump suit, the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of trumps are "honors." If a player holds four of the five trump honors, that partnership scores 100 above the line; all five honors in one hand score 150. If the contract is in No-trump, a player holding all four aces scores 150 above the line for his side. Note that the points for honors are the same whether the side is not vulnerable or vulnerable, and that the defenders can also score for honors.

SLAM BONUSES
Other premium scores are awarded for bidding and making a "small slam" (a bid at the six-level, such as Six Hearts) or a "grand slam" (a contract at the seven-level, such as Seven Spades or Seven No-trump).

DOUBLED OR REDOUBLED CONTRACT
When the declarer makes a doubled contract, a premium bonus is scored. Making a redoubled contract scores an even bigger premium bonus - this is a recent change in scoring. Note that doubling and redoubling do not affect honor, slam, or rubber bonus points.

UNFINISHED RUBBER
If the players are unable to complete a full rubber and only one side has a game, that side scores a 300 bonus. If only one side has a part score, that side earns a 100 bonus.

BACK SCORE
After each rubber, each player's standing, plus (+) or minus (-), in even hundreds of points, is entered on a separate score called the "back score." An odd 50 points or more count 100, so if a player wins a rubber by 950 he is +10, if he wins it by 940 the player is +9.

This fun family-friendly game is close to Fan Tan, give it a try!

RANK OF CARDS
The cards in each suit rank: K (high), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A.

THE ANTE
Each player puts one chip in the pot before each deal.

THE DEAL
Deal the cards one at a time clockwise, face down, beginning with the player on the left. All the cards are dealt, and some players may receive fewer cards than others. It is customary for each player with fewer cards to ante one additional chip.

OBJECT OF THE GAME
The goal is to be the first player to get rid of all his cards.

THE PLAY
Beginning to the left of the dealer, each person must play a card if possible.
All cards played remain face up on the table, arranged in four rows of the four suits. The first player may play any card. The sequence in the suit must be built up until all thirteen cards are played, and the sequence in the suit is continuous.

For example: J, Q, K, A, 2, and so on.

The turn to play rotates to the left and if a person is unable to play in turn, he puts one chip in the pot.

Whoever plays the thirteenth card of a suit may choose any card from his hand to begin the next series.

HOW TO KEEP SCORE
The first player to get rid of all his cards wins the pot.