As you may know, I'm a big fan of charitable giving, and about finding ways to do so with my child. Part of my impulse is born out of the fact that almost all of my paid work experience has been in the service of non-profit organizations, and part of it is because I just deeply believe that helping others is the right thing to do. That helping can take different forms, like volunteering, sponsoring a friend in a walk-a-thon, donating stuff to a thrift shop, and of couse direct cash contributions.
At the end of the calendar year, we sit down and talk through the pile of envelopes from this, that and the other place. Shall we give to help the read more...
07 March 2012
Unite To Give
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Interesting. We don't have a hard and fast system. My husband has money taken off his paycheck for the United Way, we lend through Kiva and give to the Ottawa food bank. The kids have moon jars (spend/save/share). Their school is really good at getting the kids involved in charitable giving - they support a school in Kenya, they collect food and toys at Christmas, and raise money for various community causes, and with the moon jars they can use their own money for a lot of it. I like the Sarah's Circle project, but I sort of feel like having to vote on causes would make me feel ... a little Survivor-like, maybe? That's just my initial impression.
I like this idea a lot, because of the way you handled it with M. So interesting to hear a child's thought process on what projects to support and why. We give to charity, but we're not very deliberate about it and we don't always talk through it with the kids (unless it's a fundraiser for their school).
when my kids were kids, we talked a lot about giving, and did our best to give directly. we always did foodbank drives, gave to goodwill, put money in the jars at christmas and also picked and donated toys, they did volunteer projects, etc. my aunt decided that her gift would be donations for sustainable farm animals in impoverished countries, and she let the kids pick what animals and where. one of my prouder moments was when my daughter decided she was sending her christmas money to an organization dedicated to providing legal services to poor people and defending human rights.
That is an interesting way to go about it. We don't give regularly to any one thing, but when we do I prefer things like World Vision (and tend toward donations earmarked for medical care or food) or services we ourselves have benefited from and want other people to benefit from in the future. In fact, I just listed a couple on my blog that we are excited to be a part of and will plan on giving back to in the future!
I would be inclined to join MembersUnite, but not until it's tax deductible. I just cruised over and saw their FAQs, and they sound completely legit. But. But I want others looking at it and giving it a clean bill of health regarding financials.
It sounds like a great idea, and I can't wait for them to get their non-profit foundation up and running.
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