charity Archives - Jana Says

Something to Believe In

August 22, 2016 by Jana 13 Comments

There’s a quote I’m going to use but will most likely butcher since I struggle with remembering anything that’s not a song lyric or movie line verbatim. It says that the way you volunteer your time is a reflection of the kind of community you want to live in. I agree with that. I think that not only is it reflective of the kind of community you want to live in but also reflective of your personal values and choices, although maybe we can discuss that a bit since sometimes maybe I want to donate to or volunteer for something but due to money or other constraints, I just can’t (I guess in that case I can always share and bring attention to it so there’s that workaround). And if I’m being honest with you guys, I’ve been struggling a bit with what I believe in.

I think I have cause fatigue. There’s JUST SO MANY and it’s been increasingly difficult to pick just a few. It’s not that my morals are compromised. I think it’s more that I want to help everybody. And I know I can’t and I’m finally at the point where I’m okay with that. But I’ve had to spend some serious time thinking about what causes I truly believe in and how I can best contribute to those causes. Well, maybe not so much how I can contribute because I have a pretty solid method for that (which I can share with you if you’d like) but where should my money and time go?

After a ton of soul searching, these are the 4 causes that rose to the top of my list:

Literacy. It makes me sad to think of all the people who struggle with reading or have little access to books. Books are amazing and life changing, and it is critical to me that people can read and get books into their hands.
Food security. It is close to impossible to concentrate on anything when you’re hungry (says the bitchiest of the bitchy when she’s hangry) and it kills me to think that people, especially kids, go to bed having their growling stomachs sing them to what is probably a very restless sleep.
Cat rescue. I know, I have two dogs and I should just say animal rescue. But for some reason, stray cats tug at my heart more than dogs. Probably because on the whole, cats are more reviled than dogs. I also have a rescued stray cat.
Mental Health awareness. For obvious reasons.

I know that people tend to gravitate towards issues that affect them personally and that’s probably true for me as well. In my past, I’ve donated regularly to organizations that didn’t but I felt were important anyway. But I don’t think it stuck as a cause to champion because I didn’t have that personal connection to it. I know that there are plenty of people who involve and immerse themselves in causes that have no connection to their history but for me, I need that bond. Knowing how I felt makes me want to help others not feel that way (which is actually a weird thing to say about literacy since I started reading at age 4 but I’ve worked with people who struggle with reading and I’ve seen how hard life is for them and I don’t want people going through that if I can help)

What’s nice about this list is that it still leaves room to make donations and support other causes but it gives me a place to focus my efforts. Because giving is not a mutually exclusive activity. Volunteering at a cat adoption event or the school library or writing a post about suicide prevention does not preclude me from making a donation to Relay for Life (or even participating in Relay for Life) or buying toys for Toys for Tots. But when time and money are at a premium, and since charitable giving is a core priority of mine, it’s good to have a frame of reference for where to put my limited resources.

How about you guys? What are some of your most important causes?

Creative ways to give back during the holidays (and all year)

December 10, 2014 by Jana 20 Comments

With the holidays being in full swing, there’s a major push to give back. And that’s not a bad thing at all. Giving back, being charitable, helping those who are less fortunate is always good and keeps with the spirit of the season. Doing so at the end of the year means that those organizations can start the new year with (hopefully) all they need. If you’re unsure of what you can do or if you need ideas, Lynsey over at Eternally Wanderlyn listed 10 ways you can give back. But if nothing on her list seems like something you can or want to do, here’s a few alternatives, not just around the holidays but throughout the year:

Workplace donations

This is one of the easiest ways to give back throughout the year. If your workplace participates in a United Way campaign, consider having money pulled from your paycheck each payday and have it sent directly to an organization of your choosing. I did this when I worked and I truly didn’t miss the $10 per pay. Sure, it wasn’t a huge amount, but it was something and it was literally the easiest way to help an agency whose mission I believed in throughout the year.

If your job hosts a food drive or coat drive or something similar, consider bringing in a donation. You have to show up to work anyway. Taking along a can or two of food or an extra coat to drop off isn’t a big inconvenience.

Use your skills

Everyone is good at something and every organization can use someone who has a specific skill set. For instance, if you can sew, consider sewing pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. If you’re good with money, consider working with an agency that helps people learn to budget. Maybe social media is your thing. Find out if a local organization needs help managing their Facebook or Twitter. If you blog, use your platform to bring attention to a disease or cause. There are dozens of ways to use what you’re good at to help.

Mentor

This can fall under the scope of volunteering but rather than just showing up somewhere and helping wherever you’re needed, you’ll work directly with a person or a small group of people. You can do this anywhere–at work, in a school, at your place of worship, at a shelter for pregnant teens, or any number of places where there might be others who can benefit from your guidance. If you think you don’t have any special insight to offer, trust me when I say that you do. There are plenty of people who can learn from what you know. And sometimes, they just want someone who won’t judge them to talk to and spend time with. You can do that.

Event based volunteering

I think many people are put off by the idea of volunteering because of the time commitment. And they have a point. But what if you gave your time every now and then, and you gave your time to causes that have a special meaning to you? For instance, you can offer your time at a Meals on Wheels event, taking tickets or staffing an auction table. Or you can organize a Relay for Life team or spend some time helping at Habitat for Humanity or find something in your area that gives back to local organizations. Where I live, we have something called Big Ball. It’s a 24 hour softball/kickball marathon and all the money raised goes towards helping people in our area. It’s only once a year and from what I hear, it’s crazy fun, too. Consider something like that.

Be creative

My girl Kerry has lots of ideas for how you can give back creatively; you can check out her ideas for inspiration. But really, when it comes to giving back and helping, it’s all about what you can do. And if you can’t do much, well, that’s okay, too. Maybe funds are tight and you don’t have a ton of discretionary money but you find a few dollars and use them to buy a bag of food for the local animal shelter. While you’re at it, why not go through your towels and sheets. If you’ve got any you want to get rid of, bring those to the shelter along with the food. It might not seem like much to you but to them, it’s a lot.

It’s the little things that make the biggest difference.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you keep the giving spirit you have now throughout the year. Because it’s the middle of the year when nonprofits and charities need it the most.

What do you guys do to give back?

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Stop asking for money!: 4 questions for managing charity exhaustion

June 7, 2013 by Jana 7 Comments

A few weeks ago, I attempted to do an online fundraiser for two organizations that I felt were deserving: The Brooke Jackman Foundation and The Red Cross. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say this: It tanked. Badly.

Once I realized that the fundraiser flopped, I pulled it from DMS and have spent many hours trying to figure out what went wrong. I have many ideas. But one idea that I keep coming back to is the fact that most people, myself included, are exhausted from being asked for money. After all, it’s everywhere. At your kids’ schools. At your religious institution of choice. In front of the supermarket. At the airport. At the checkout line at pretty much every store you ever buy anything from. At the gym. On Facebook.

The donation invasion is everywhere. You can’t escape it.

I wrote about a similar topic before, how the charity creep can affect your holidays, but this is something broader. This is the fact that it’s almost impossible to conduct normal, mundane, routine acts of life (like driving a car or buying shampoo) without being inundated with requests for money. And, if you’re like me, I don’t care about having my name written on a shoe or a heart or a four leaf clover and having it proudly displayed for all the world to see. What I do care about is to not being asked for money everywhere I go and then looked at like a total piece of shit when I say no.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

However, realizing that I can only control my actions and not the actions of others, here’s a few I ask to make sure that I don’t respond affirmatively to every request for money:

Is it something I’m going to use anyway? Alex’s Lemonade Stand is a great example of this. With so many product lines donating a portion of their sales to the organization, I will spend a few extra cents to buy a product that supports it. I do this particularly with water ice (like Italian ice, only not as good). Our local chain has a lemonade flavor every summer that’s on the menu to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. So, if my daughter wants lemon, that’s the flavor I buy her. She’s getting the water ice anyway; might as well do a bit of good with the purchase.
Will I get something out of it? I’ll contribute a few dollars to a raffle, particularly if there’s a chance I can win a decent prize. I’ll buy entry into a walkathon or Zumbathon because I’ll get to exercise and network at the same time. I’ll buy tickets to an event because I know I’ll have some fun. It may sound selfish, but if I can’t see where my money’s going or how it’s being used, I want to get something out of my contribution. Remember that conversation between Joey and Phoebe on Friends about how there are no selfless good deeds? Yeah, I agree with Joey.
Is it a cause I believe in? It’s hard to say that one cause is more important or more valuable than another. But if I were to give a dollar or two to every cause that I’m asked to help, the charitable giving line item in my budget would equal that of my mortgage. I can’t afford that. Maybe one day, but not this day. So to keep my charitable giving at a level I can afford, I have to assess if the cause is something I believe in or if the organization is one that I support (because there are a number or shady charities out there).
How do they solicit my money? Are they walking up and down the street with a boot, going up to car windows and sticking the boot in the driver’s face? Are they bugging me in the middle of dinner (try reading that sentence without singing Alanis Morissette), pretending we’re BFFs, asking me for cash? Is the unenthusiastic cashier asking me to tack on an extra dollar or two to my purchase? Are they sending me an email or a mailing explaining specifically what they’re raising money for? Is there a website I can use to make an anonymous donation? The tactics behind how money is solicited makes a huge difference in whether or not I’m going to donate.

Please don’t get me wrong. I fully support charitable giving and do so when I can via a means (and an amount) convenient to me. I just don’t appreciate when I’m guilted into giving or made to feel like I’m scum because I choose to take my donations elsewhere.

However, sometimes there are generous people out there who want to give you stuff and you don’t have to spend a ton of money. You just have to do something simple (such as liking DMS on Facebook) in order to gain entry into a raffle that could net you an iPad mini . That’s what Jackie at The Debt Myth is doing to celebrate the launch of her updated Pay Off Debt app (you could win a copy of this, too). To enter the contest, just follow the directions below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Something to Believe In

Creative ways to give back during the holidays (and all year)

Stop asking for money!: 4 questions for managing charity exhaustion

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