Over the last few days I posted a blog about giving away your money, and another with a few tips on how to do so.
Today I am going to share one way some friends and I got together to give away only $10.00 per month – and how it helped a bunch of local organizations.
Here was the premise:
- Everyone spends $10.00 that month. No more or less, We each budgeted $10.00
- We choose a local organization that needed our help and/or supplies.
- The organization provided a short presentation about their cause to us when accepting our donations.
This is how it worked:
We choose a local charity, and each month we choose a different one. We knew ahead of time what we would be giving to so we could buy and accept the proper supplies. For instance, one month we donated to a woman’s shelter. We called ahead and knew they needed Dress for Success clothes, baby items in like new condition, new make up toiletries, suitcases. Our group of twenty women, with our $10.00 in hand, watched for sales and bought these items as we saw them during the month. We also accepted donations from friends, cleaned our closets, encouraged others to join in. At the end of the month we met at a home, and the representative of the shelter came and told us about her work and the people she helped. The hostess served tea and cookies.
We gave over $500.00 in supplies that month, with no person giving more than $10.00 each. Donations came from our personal bathroom cabinets, (only new items), the dollar stores, friends.
We met for a year and called it the $10.00 club.
I’m looking for something new and creative to do this year as a giving project. Anyone out there have ideas for me?