A while back, I spent a whopping $3.65 and took part in what I can only describe as a social experiment in charity with Penny For Your World. Each day I receive an email featuring two little-known or grassroots charities serving different causes. I then have to pick one to receive my penny that day.
It's hard to imagine how many people have to be taking part in order for our pennies to add up to something meaningful for any single charity. Sure, we collectively could give thousands of dollars over the course of the year, but isn't it spread so thin?
The more I thought, the more I wondered if it's about the money at all. Perhaps its more about awareness of the organizations, issues and solutions that surround me. I see organizations I never knew existed: helping people still impacted by the Chernobyl disaster was head-to-head with supporting entrepreneurship for women in third-world villages; pairing pets-in-need with the elderly competed for my penny against helping a food bank feed hungry children in Montana; serving the families of deployed soldiers squared off against keeping high-risk kids in school.
You get the idea. All worthy causes. All major issues to those effected.
For me, some are easy choices, but most aren't. I want to help both, but I only have 1 penny for the day. So, how does one decide?
I've started paying attention to the patterns that have emerged in my giving on the site. For me, it's life-sustaining first (food bank), then life-enhancing (entrepreneurship). It's also close-to-home (United States), then abroad. Human, then animal. I don't know if any of these decisions are right and I could make a good argument for why the other choice would be equally as wise. But it got me thinking about the choices I make in my giving of time and resources.
We're faced with the same choices everyday. There are so many worthwhile partners and people in our communities that could benefit from the work of your Active 20-30 club, but you only have so much manpower and money. How do you decide which to serve?
There are more and more service organizations that do good work. How, when you were considering joining Active 20-30, did you decide?
I really am curious: when faced with such important choices, how do you choose? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
via Active 20-30 Blog
It's hard to imagine how many people have to be taking part in order for our pennies to add up to something meaningful for any single charity. Sure, we collectively could give thousands of dollars over the course of the year, but isn't it spread so thin?
The more I thought, the more I wondered if it's about the money at all. Perhaps its more about awareness of the organizations, issues and solutions that surround me. I see organizations I never knew existed: helping people still impacted by the Chernobyl disaster was head-to-head with supporting entrepreneurship for women in third-world villages; pairing pets-in-need with the elderly competed for my penny against helping a food bank feed hungry children in Montana; serving the families of deployed soldiers squared off against keeping high-risk kids in school.
You get the idea. All worthy causes. All major issues to those effected.
For me, some are easy choices, but most aren't. I want to help both, but I only have 1 penny for the day. So, how does one decide?
I've started paying attention to the patterns that have emerged in my giving on the site. For me, it's life-sustaining first (food bank), then life-enhancing (entrepreneurship). It's also close-to-home (United States), then abroad. Human, then animal. I don't know if any of these decisions are right and I could make a good argument for why the other choice would be equally as wise. But it got me thinking about the choices I make in my giving of time and resources.
We're faced with the same choices everyday. There are so many worthwhile partners and people in our communities that could benefit from the work of your Active 20-30 club, but you only have so much manpower and money. How do you decide which to serve?
There are more and more service organizations that do good work. How, when you were considering joining Active 20-30, did you decide?
I really am curious: when faced with such important choices, how do you choose? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
via Active 20-30 Blog
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