To Give? Or Not to Give?

Questions of an Economic Downturn

‘Tis the season to be jolly. . .right? I know, we’re all choking a bit; it’s hard to carol—fa la la la la with little less than pocket lint to keep our trousers jovially jing-a-ling. 

But! 

Good tidings I bring, to you and your kin: 

It seems that charitable projections are a wee bit more optimistic than one would anticipate during this economic pickle!

So the answer to the question that we’ve all been asking: What happens to charitable giving when times go financially sour?

The Center of Philanthropy recently announced that charitable giving has remained steadfast during times of recession. 

Furthermore—

World Vision released their results from a telephone survey that was conducted in October— which suggested that 2008 looked quite promising for charitable and non-profit organizations. 

Say what?!

That’s right, apparently 70 percent of Americans aim to spend less on holiday gifts, and half of which plan to cough up a little more for charity. 

And the cooler part: World Vision plans to distribute a gift catalog for the holidays that gives charity-minded individuals the opportunity to purchase goats and chickens for families in Africa and other disadvantaged places in the world. . . how nifty is that?

Other charities, too, foresee a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

United Ways forecasts that they will hit the $110 mill-mark for their fundraising goal by the end of this year.

As it happens, a charity based in Washington, D.C. raised $60 million within a span of two months. They plan to raise another $40 million for their national campaign. 

Employees of Boeing Company gave their cash donations threefold this year to one of Washington’s largest food banks—Northwest Harvest. Northwest announced that companies everywhere have decided to purchase food for the poor at the sacrifice of their holiday party. 

Ha! Social activism wins again! Say it with me: 

“GIVE-INNNG! What a sweet, melodic sound!”

Random Acts of Kindness

Ever considered making “R.A.O.K” a habitual practice? Like brushing your teeth and putting on clean pantaloons. . . (hopefully)? There is a whole plethora of little itty bitty ways you can incorporate an act of random kindness each and every day of your living existence. Now tell me—wouldn’t it be a marvelous world if we all employed such repetitious practice?! 

The other day Michelle updated all of us on a little R.A.O.K action that occurred while she has been travelling about; I thought it would be nice to share with you:

So as it were, our darling little damsel was skipping about the streets of N.Y.’s beautiful Big Apple during her layover to India, when she paused to marvel at some knickknacks and paddywacks. Being the congenial lassie that she is—she orchestrated some kindred-convo with the kind gent who was monitoring the stand. 

One thing led to the next—and somehow she managed to fandangle a whole bag of freebies for the kiddies in India. Jackpot: Thanks man! Talk about true social activism and person-to-person giving. 

So in summary, we can make an example of this benevolent merchant whose little R.A.O.K has out-stretched all the way across the world.

India Beckons

Things have been knocked out of whack around here! The MG headquarters just isn’t the same these days. Turns out Michelle has strapped on her roller skates, along with VITAL, and skidded on over to India for a week to help the children of the red light district.

Affirmative roger—that’s all fine and noble, but now who do you suppose is gonna supervise the squirts that ransack this playground? Way to go Michelle, leave us to fend at the mercy of ourselves.

Now, naturally it is my inclination to take advantage of the quandary that Michelle has left us in. So…

To the attention of Michelle Fraedrick: Whilst you are away—here is what you are to expect:

1.  Me—sitting in your plush office chair and swiveling around until I get dizzy.

2.  Me—touching all of your things.

3.  Me—eating all of your candy and leaving the wrapper in mysterious places for you to find randomly at inconvenient times.

4.  Me—answering your telephone with the following message: “You have reached the office of Moby Dick and friends.”

5.  Me—instigating collaborativ e mutiny.

Two Pence for a Pithy Poem

It’s about time we pool our pennies! I know, that you know—of some cool quote, some sensational saying, an old adage, an axiom, an aphorism, an apothegm, and/or all of the above. . .

We want to know what little linguistic profundities inspire you! 

You know—something you memorized from a cereal box, a fortune cookie, a Hallmark card, or grandma’s refrigerator magnet! It’s time to spill the beans and share your wealth with the world (or at least your fellow amigos here on MicroGiving). . .

Sugar Rush!

Ok. We recently received a mysterious and rather quite outlandish donation—from whom we cannot say, for the benevolent body has chosen to humor us by remaining incognito. We were bouncing off the walls—literally, when we received a jillion kila-pounds of candy! We want to know—who’s the cheeky monkey responsible for turning the MicroGiving headquarters into Candy Land? To you we owe the gratitude of sticky door knobs, candy wrapper spit balls, and a new dental plan!

Your donation brought many grinning faces to the little monsters, scary dinosaurs, and rug-rats that plagued our doorstep.

Tell the Kids that Jack & His Beanstalk are Moving In!

Eat your beans.

It’s about time we got a dose of self-sufficiency! And unlike grandma’s red cough syrup, this dose is delicious! We stumbled across a really nifty team of people doing something really quite nifty . . .

Okay, have you ever wished that Farmer Joe would just show up at your doorstep every week and pluck scrumpdiddlyumptious veggies from your own backyard? Well spare yourself the hankering. Joe is expanding his business prospects and raking up a buzz all across the San Francisco area and that buzz is about MyFarmsf.com!

That’s right, Farmer Joe has partnered with a spectacular green-team and they’re planting vegetable gardens in private backyards all over town. Gee whiz—who’da think the day would come when you could have your entire recommended daily dose of veggies in a most splendid 8’ by 8’ geometrical square!

So you’re thinking: ‘Ok, we all like Martha Stewart and veggie gardens—but why the sudden notion to plant them in everyone’s backyard?’ Because, believe it or not, it saves oodles of energy!

Here’s a little Bill Nye f.y.i.—apparently, “Twenty percent of energy is lost in transmission between the power plants from where it is produced to the consumer where it is used.” That means you save energy when you chow down on food at the site where it is produced.

And it gets better when you think about it…

You spare the environment from the unnecessary wastes of food packaging, the grocery bags, and the gasoline it takes to drive to and from the market; plus you save yourself the extra trip to fetch the head of lettuce you forgot to purchase for your BLT sandwich.

I’m for it!

Read more about “Something Green” here.