How to make a donation:
If you want your checkbook to follow your heart,
Make a donation to those doing work you support.
Donna Brazile
There are numerous ways to make a donation. Some as simple as opening up your wallet, taking out your credit card and doing an online donation. Others can be more complicated like building a house.
Why Donate
There are plenty of people who lack. They lack housing or toys or access to health care, etc. There are plenty of people who have needs. They need a mentor, or they need relief from an illness or they need help around the house.
There are so many needs and wants that it can be overwhelming. How can you give to everyone? You can’t. It’s best to pick one or two organizations or causes that you want to support and then stick with them for all of your donations both physical and monetary.
How To Donate
If you want to donate your time, there are numerous ways to do it from serving meals at a soup kitchen, helping to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, mentoring students or being a Big Brother or Sister to a child. You can also reach out to shelters, to senior centers and/or senior housing to volunteer your time.
Or you can donate goods as opposed to services. You can help to restock a food pantry or donate gently used clothing or donate new or gently used toys. When my son was young, each Christmas, he would select some of his toys to donate to our church. There was a gentleman at church who would clean and fix used toys and then sell them at the Church’s Christmas Bazaar. His toys were a big draw and people would stand outside of the door waiting for it to open in order to get to his toys. Teaching your children early to be generous with their time and their “things” is important.
Finally, if you don’t know what to do or what’s available to you locally, you can go to Volunteer Match and they will help connect you with the volunteer opportunity that is right for you.
You might also find some inspiration in these previous posts:
Take the Plunge for a Good Cause
It Was So Easy It Surprised Me
Help Those Still Suffering
Love this! Donating isn’t all about monetary things! Hell, most of us can’t donate much in dollars, but no reason not to help out with manpower and other ways for our fellow citizens.
One of my proudest dad moments with my daughter is when she asked me earlier this year if I could use my website to help her raise money (she even took an ass ripping from her mom for telling me about it…..we aren’t together anymore) for St. Judes. She was adamant about it, even after I explained to her that there is a good chance we won’t get much. She made her goal and I’m still waiting to hear from a few places on us donating our time as I promised in her fundraiser that she more than exceeded thanks to blogger nation!
I remember her St. Jude fundraiser and now that you mention it, yes….we are waiting to hear about how you volunteered your time with Sloane.
I haven’t forgotten about it, just been traveling all summer, got married, lost my job, but it is still on the list of things to do :).
At least now, you have a great big list of things you can do and apparently, some free time in which to do it! 😉
Great reminder to DO not just say. My father once said that the moment he decided to give away a percentage of his income he never worried about money again. And even if it’s not money, giving away a percentage of time to a worthy cause could also lead to that feeling of abundance. I appreciate the reminder and the call to action!
My father didn’t donate a lot of money, he donated time. He was a chef and would put on dinners for our church and also for his Masonic organizations. Those dinners were big draws and would raise a lot of money when people knew that Joe was cooking for them.
That sounds amazing! Time and talent are invaluable gifts.
I love this. My husband and I are big donors to causes from senior dog rescue and the homeless to cancer and domestic abuse shelters. I am about to have my little kid friends over to make cards for those in nursing homes who have no visitors. I support everything in your post.
Where I used to work, the team I managed was in charge of employee engagement and they would arrange events like filling out cards for soldiers or for veterans in the VA hospitals. We also used to collect items for the local animal shelter and a domestic violence shelter. It’s amazing how easy it is, because the shelters will give you their wish list.