Every question, answered plainly.
These are the questions local owners and neighbors ask us most. Don't see yours? Ask us.
The basics
- What is Locals 4 Good?
A big, beautiful 9x12 card, mailed every month to 10,000+ mailboxes in one neighborhood. Local owners reserve the spots, and their donations fund hands-on design training for young people at The Missing Pixel Project. It's a fundraising program of The Quietly Working Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
- Can I see a card?
Every neighborhood page shows its real card, spot by spot: which spots are reserved and which are open. Every donor-partner gets a printed copy of their card in the mail.
- Is it an ad or a fundraiser?
Both. Your donation reserves your spot and funds the training.
- Who runs it?
The Quietly Working Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 20-5149597. It grew from Quietly Working, a creative agency founded in 1996.
- Why a printed card?
Because it lands in a real mailbox and stays in real hands. It comes back every month, and seeing the same name month after month is how neighbors come to know it. When the roof leaks or life changes, you want your name to be the one they remember.
Your trade and your spot
- Can another business in my trade be on the same card?
No. One business per trade on each card. If you reserve roofing on a neighborhood card for a month, no other roofer appears on that card that month.
- What if my trade is taken?
Ask to hear the moment it opens on that card. You can also check your trade in another neighborhood, or in a different month.
- What if my trade isn't on the list?
Tell us what you do, and we'll set up a trade just for you.
- Can I be on more than one neighborhood's card?
Yes. Each neighborhood has its own card, so you reserve a spot on each one you want.
- Which neighborhood should I choose?
The one where your customers already live, or where you already work. The card builds trust close to home.
- How do you choose neighborhoods?
We choose established neighborhoods where local owners want to be known. Each one gets its own card, mailed to every mailbox on its postal routes.
Your ad
- Who designs my ad?
We'd love to design it for you, free. Young designers at The Missing Pixel Project do the work, mentored by award-winning professional designers. It's an offer, never a requirement, and your own art is always welcome. Either way, no design goes out without an award-winning pro's blessing, and nothing prints without your yes.
- Do students have to design my ad?
No. Design is an offer, never a requirement. If you have an artist or an agency you trust, keep them. We're not here to take that work. Our students still learn from your ad: how another designer tells a brand's story in a small space, and how a page gets ready for the press.
- Who writes the words on my ad?
You do, or you approve every word we suggest. Nothing prints without your yes.
- My trade needs a license number on every ad. Is that handled?
Yes. If your trade requires a license number or other lines on your ads, we build them into the design, and you check them on your proof. If your firm needs a compliance sign-off, we wait for it before anything prints.
- Who will my ad sit beside?
Other local owners who serve your neighborhood. Every ad on the card is held to the same standard: no design goes out without an award-winning pro's blessing.
- Can I see my ad on the card before I reserve?
Yes. Try the preview: add your logo and watch it land on the card. Your logo never leaves your device, and nothing is uploaded or stored.
- Does my ad link to my website?
Yes. On our online card, your business name links to your website.
Paying
- How does paying work?
Per card, per month, per neighborhood. You choose your size and your months, then pay once, securely, for all of them. Reserve 3 to 11 months and save 10%. Reserve 12 or more and save 20%. Every monthly figure on our site shows its full-year total beside it.
- What does my donation include?
Free design if you'd like it, printing, postage, delivery to every mailbox on the routes, a link to your website from our online card, and a printed copy of the card mailed to you.
- What does it come to per mailbox?
Every size on our pricing page shows it, figured from each neighborhood's real mailbox count.
- What if I need to cancel?
Write to [email protected]. Cancel before your card's artwork is due, four weeks before it lands in mailboxes, and you get a full refund.
- How do you decide whether a card mails if not every spot is reserved?
As long as 13 of its 16 spots are reserved by the day its artwork is due, we print and mail the card. If, for any reason, a month's card isn't printed and mailed, you will be offered a choice between a refund for that month and two credits for the same size ad, in any of our neighborhoods, in any future month that's still open.
- What about taxes?
Great question... and one we always answer honestly. The Quietly Working Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every dollar of your support goes directly toward our mission... including hands-on training for our Missing Pixel students, who create real work for real programs.
That said... you're also receiving something in return. And that matters when it comes to taxes. We're not CPAs, and we'd never pretend to be. Only a qualified tax advisor can tell you what applies to your specific situation.
If you need one, reach out. We know some of the best.
Our EIN is 20-5149597.
- Where does my donation go?
Your donation covers printing, postage and delivery. What's left funds hands-on training at The Missing Pixel Project and the Foundation's work with young people. The average amount after expenses is $5,000 per postcard.
- Why do you call me a donor-partner?
Because one dollar does two good things. Your donation reserves your spot and funds the training, so you're a partner in the work.
Results and timing
- Will it work for me?
We won't promise you a number. We promise this: every card you're on goes to every mailbox on its routes. Mail builds memory and trust over months, not days. If you need leads within 30 days, this isn't that, and we'd rather tell you now.
- How will I know it's working?
Give the card its own way to be counted: a phone number or web address you use only on the card, or a short code callers mention. Then ask every new caller how they heard of you. Give it a few months.
- How often does the card go out?
Once a month, in each neighborhood.
- Will I get a printed copy?
Yes. We always print extra cards, so we'll mail you a printed copy within two weeks of your card's in-mailbox date.
- What happens after I reserve?
You get a confirmation email. Then you choose how your ad gets made: we design it with you, or you send your own art. You approve the proof, we print and mail the card, and a printed copy comes to you.
The mission
- Who are the young designers?
Students at The Missing Pixel Project, our creative training program for underserved youth, 30 and younger. Award-winning professional designers mentor every one of them.
- Why don't you show the students?
To protect them. We never share a student's name, face or voice. Their stories are theirs to tell, when they're ready.
- What do students learn from my ad?
Whoever designs it, every ad teaches: how other designers tell a brand's story in a small space, business development, programming and development, pre-press layout, and how to create a legendary donor-partner experience from start to finish.
- Can I trust young designers with my brand?
Yes. They work under professional mentorship, no design goes out without an award-winning pro's blessing, and then you approve the final proof too. You get craft and care, and your donation funds real career training.
For neighbors
- Why did I get this card?
It travels by Every Door Direct Mail, a U.S. Postal Service program that delivers to every mailbox on a postal route. Your mailbox is on one of our routes.
- Can you take me off the list?
We wish we could make that simple. Every Door Direct Mail goes to every mailbox on a route, so there's no mailing list, and no way for us to skip a single address. We'd still love to hear from you. Call (949) 373-3730 or write to [email protected], and a real person will talk it through with you.
- How can I help the young designers?
Give to The Missing Pixel Project, or tell a local owner about the card.