Guides
Everything the Foundation believes about giving reduces to one rule: don't fund band-aids — build systems that compound. These guides work that rule through in practice: what FUSE funds, how the build trips work, what fees quietly cost donors, and how to verify any charity before a dollar moves.
What Is the Make More Marbles Foundation?
The 501(c)(3) behind this site — EIN, mission, the $1M+ track record, the nine partners, and how it relates to the Make More Marbles brand.
What Does FUSE Stand For? Food, Utilities, Shelter, Education
The four pillars pillar by pillar, the partners behind each, and why the Foundation bundles basic needs instead of specializing in one cause.
How Do Volunteer House-Building Trips in Mexico Work?
The Ensenada weekend, step by step: what $497 covers, what gets built, where you stay, and why no construction experience is required.
How Do You Turn a Birthday Into a Fundraiser?
The six-step method behind the Charity Roast that raised $17K in one night — gift substitution, the live ask, and fee-free collection.
Donating Money vs. Volunteering Time: Which Helps More?
The honest comparison — when money wins, the three cases where time wins, and the playbook for doing both without burning out.
How Much of Your Donation Actually Reaches the Cause?
The three-layer fee stack — platform, processing, overhead — with the math, the checks to run on any charity, and how zero-fee giving works.
6 Mistakes Well-Meaning Donors Make (and What to Do Instead)
Band-aid funding, year-end-only giving, unread fee pages, skipped verification, money-only thinking, open loops — ranked, each with a fix.
How Do You Verify a Charity Is a Legitimate 501(c)(3)?
The two-minute EIN check, the IRS lookup, Form 990s, and the red-flag list — worked through on this Foundation as the live example.
Every donation lights the FUSE
Food, Utilities, Shelter, Education. Tax-deductible, zero platform fees, one-time or monthly — 100% to the mission.
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