December 04, 2008
Ways to Support Social Causes Without Giving Money
People who can’t afford to give money to charity this holiday season can learn about other ways to do good at a new Web site, the Give List.
“Times are tight. We know, we know,” the site says. “We’ve all seen the scary headlines. Too many of the scary headlines. And we’re all feeling the pressure in other ways, too. But, still, we want to contribute what we can to making the world the better place.”
The site is collecting ideas from people who are offering them on their blogs and social-networking services like Twitter and Delicious – -all tagged in a way that they can be picked up.
Among the suggestions so far:
- Participate in the Whole Foods Wooden Nickel program, which gives money to charities when shoppers bring in and use their own shopping bags.
- Ask people who are attending an event you’ve organized to donate to a food drive.
- If you crochet or knit, and have extra yarn, make gloves or scarves and donate them to a nonprofit group that works with at-risk people.
- Write to people in the nonprofit world and let them know how much you appreciate their work.
- Write a blog post about a charity you care about and include a link to its Web site.
The site was created by Allison Fine, a senior fellow at Demos, a New York think thank, and author of A. Fine Blog, and Marnie Webb, co-chief executive of TechSoup, a group that offers technology equipment and guidance to nonprofit groups.
What are your ideas for giving to causes without spending money? Click on the comment link below. Or if you are more technologically advanced, tag your blog post or Delicious bookmark “GiveList” or mark your Tweeter entry “#givelist.”
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Great idea to get everyone thinking about ways we can be compassionate – sans the money exchange. And couldn’t be more timely during this season of giving. I do think those of us who are feeling the pinch have stopped shopping at Whole Foods some time ago…
— Angela Gold Dec 5, 09:06 AM #
Here’s an option: “Vote” about how ethical various companies are so that an online database can help shoppers purchase products that support their values.
Visit http://BuyItLikeYouMeanIt.org and rate how good you think companies are doing based on reviews that are published on the website. The current focus is on the chocolate industry. So you could learn a lot about chocolate too!
Thanks!
— Clay Dec 5, 03:40 PM #
You need to know about www.Bigsunday.org which began in 1998 with the simple idea of playing matchmaker between community nonprofits and volunteers who were eager to find more ways to give back. In it’s first year we had 200 volunteers helping 20 nonprofit organizations, now in 2008, we have grown into the largest annual citywide community service event in America. The facts alone are unbelievably impressive: this year 50,000 volunteers gave their time and talent at more than 300 neighborhood-based projects; more than 200,000 hours of work were contributed; and 86 five-ton truckloads of books, clothes, canned food, furniture, and other items were collected and distributed to the needy. Big Sunday is driven by the belief that everyone has something to give -no matter who you are, what you do, how much money you have, where you live or what ethnicity or religion you happen to be. It is for this reason that if Big Sunday volunteers are sent to spruce up a center for runaway teens, the teens who live there are dispatched to help clean up the beach. It is in this that we truly move from a community service model to a community building model.
Thanks!
— Gayle Baigelman Dec 5, 09:30 PM #
How about making this the year you include your favorite charity in your will or trust, if you haven’t done this already. Or you can add the charity as a beneficiary to an insurance policy, or make the organization the beneficiary of a pension plan or brokerage account. Most of this is simply paperwork but can be a great way to support charity without feeling the pinch of today’s very tight economy.
— Lorri Greif, CFRE Dec 6, 12:55 AM #
We can all donate unwanted items to charity thrift shops. While you are there, go shopping as well!
— Julie Rinard Dec 8, 12:40 PM #