The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, started by a Brooklyn writer to promote unusual acts of small-scale giving, is the subject of a report by The New York Times.

The society was born when the author Courtney Martin received a six-figure book advance and handed nine friends $100 each to give away in a creative way.

Now four years old, the organization is sustained by “agents” who give prospective members $100 with a similar injunction. Members gather annually at dance parties to share how they spent the money, with stories from the past year ranging from Haiti relief donations to “pay-it-forward” acts of kindness.

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