GTKY, Philanthropy Edition

[mommyatty]

Saw a post about helping a family in need, and it made me wonder... What does your family do to give back? Are there organizations where you volunteer, or give money, or otherwise help? Are your kids involved in your philanthropy choices?

I serve on a nonprofit board. I also am in charge of my company’s environmental philanthropy program (I make recommendations to our foundation board, oversee progress against goals by the organizations, and am in charge of our relationships with environmental groups who get our money), which helps me in my board position. DH gives to Special Olympics, and he has for as long as I’ve known him (since college). We give to the kids’ school.

We’ve also started giving a little money to the kids to let them choose where to give. DS gives his to St Jude since they do a trikathon at school every year to raise money for St Jude. DD moves hers around. I have a feeling this year it’ll go to an animal organization or the food bank. We also do Salvation Army Angel Tree, a kid for each of my kids. We buy each kid a warm coat, running shoes and 3 toys. Normally shoes or a coat is the need item. We buy the toy they ask for and related ones. 

I feel like giving back is really important. And I want my kids to embrace that as a value.

[waverly]

I don't have a great answer to this. I was contemplating posting on Money Matters about it. I feel that because I grew up in poverty that no matter how much money in the bank we have it is not enough, so I struggle with giving in larger amounts.

In terms of charities etc., I donated to some that were specific social causes when they were timely. I like to also focus on environmental concerns and children's health. We volunteer through cub scouts and girl scouts.

[k3am]

Our long-term charity of choice is the JW House. It's basically the equivalent of the Ronald McDonald house for one of our local hospitals. We started donating to them several times a year when our neighbor's daughter was in a medically induced coma for two months when we saw how much of a resource it was. We never thought we'd be in the position that we were reliant on them as well, but then we were twice.. so that one will always get all my money. Families that stay with them are asked to pay $50 a night, so every few couple of months, we cover that cost for a family's weekly stay. We also buy them stuff off their wish list to help keep the place stocked.

They also serve dinner nightly - this one can draw a pretty big crowd (anyone in the hospital that's referred can go have a meal there), and donors provide, prep, serve, and clean up. I can not do this because I can't go in (or apparently type about it) without crying.

waverly , charitable giving doesn't have a set amount. There are no rules. Whatever amount you give, you should feel good about (in terms of the fact that you're helping them, but also that the amount you gave is a comfortable amount for your family.)

[erbear]

We volunteer as a family once a month at an animal rescue. Lots of donations. We adopt a family at Christmas. Kids and I do a month service project at school (everyone does). School (all of us) does a lot of work around anti-racism and systemic inequity so they are not just getting the good feelings of community service but actually learning about why things are the way they are and what they can do better.

My parents instilled this in me - we did the same growing up - and I want my kids to have the same sense of obligation to both help others and to work for systemic change.

[librarychica]

We fall more on the “give money” side of the spectrum, though we do volunteer on an occasional basis with kids’ school, random things with my work, and a local nature preserve and food bank. We donate to the EDF, 2 local food banks (one kid focused, one general, our area has a high level of food insecurity), a group that gives legal representation to immigrants, a local nature preserve and DD1’s choice is currently a horse rescue. I examine the budget in January, check/set the automatic withdrawals and let it ride unless something comes up (for example, the pandemic caused rampant unemployment here so I upped the food banks. It’s all in the spreadsheet.

Older kid gets X amount to donate. Younger will start this year. We talk about it a lot and when we get random appeals in the mail DD1 will sometimes ask about them and I’ll show her our spreadsheet and ask what she thinks should be reallocated, etc.

[waverly]

k3am, I guess I feel like we should give more based on income, but our income is allotted to retirement and bills. I think we need to sit down and discuss the amount we are comfortable with and do more of a small monthly gift, so it is more automated and more like a bill rather than money left over. Because we zero out our budget every month then it doesn't feel like there is money left over even though technically there is, and it is going to savings.

We also had volunteered through the school.

[librarychica]

waverly, that’s what we do. We make a budget, allocate it, set it on auto withdrawal just like we would a mandatory bill or savings.

[msn06]

I am joining my local junior league chapter in 2021 so that way my daughter will have a visual of me me providing meaningful service. Our junior league has primarily been focused on children’s education for many of their service opportunities. They also have provided several grants to my preferred Domestic violence shelter for emergency housing assistance throughout the pandemic. I want my daughter to understand the importance of giving back with your time in addition to money.

I also make sure to donate my old work clothes that are in good shape to the local dress for success chapter. The rest goes to a domestic violence shelter.

I try to send items from the wishlist for my preferred domestic violence shelter through out the year.

Since I quilt has a hobby I donate several year to various locations locally.

My first husband was mentally and emotionally abusive and I left as the altercations turned physical. Charities that help victims of domestic violence are close to my heart. I also try to support program that provide education support to children since my background is in elementary education.

[sandandsea]

We try to donate 10% of our income but usually fall short. We will get there someday. We donate to church, school, organizations our kids are in, family giving tree, the foundation at my work, and various other need based giving. We bought the kids a split piggy bank that has save, spend, and give buckets and they split their money in their piggy banks. Then they get to choose what they donate to.

We also try to volunteer a few times a year. We clean up a park annually with cub scouts, do a volunteer day at a school with our church, do a community service day with work, and one other time. I also volunteer biweekly at church during non Covid times. The kids join us when allowed.

[mae0111]

I spend a lot of time volunteering at school, though that looks a lot different this year. Lunch duty, function planning, etc.

I'm in training to become a bill payer for a local elder services organization. Folks on assistance that need help keeping track of their bills, balancing check books, etc. I don't know when it will actually start because obviously their clients are elderly and therefore high risk, but I will spend a few hours a month once that starts.

We are in the process of setting up a donor advised fund. It seemed like a better way for us to donate the way we want to. Typically we're in a scramble to donate at year end because we still feel like DH's income has the potential to be unstable. This way, we can fund at year end and donate throughout the year. And if we do it right, it could grow into something significant.

We also do little things. Toys for Tots - my dad participated in this when he was a young marine, and the program was more localized and involved the Marines donating time to fix up broken toys for kids. Our local food pantry has had a lot of drives this year especially, and the kids help me to participate in each one. I save all of the kids old clothes that are still in good shape and donate to the local foster closet - so foster parents can get an emergency bag of clothes for kids that show up with nothing before their funding starts. Anything that they can't use goes to my cleaner - she ships everything back to her home country.  Up until last year, I coached every season - soccer, basketball, softball.  But I think I'm retired now.

I always feel like we should be doing more.

[CrazyLucky]

I don't give a kids a say in what causes we donate money to. They're 8 and 10. They might make good decisions, but I'm not too sure. We do a lot of volunteering. DH and I both coach, DH is a scout leader. The whole family is active in church. Because the kids are young, DH and I can't sign up for Habitat anymore, so we volunteer to bring lunches. We do something called Yam Jam, which is when the farmers have harvested what they want to harvest and they let people come get the rest to donate to food banks. We got 750 pounds of sweet potatoes this year! I serve as a GAL, which is a person who advocates for kids in the foster care system. We volunteer at least twice a year at a nearby camp's workdays. We bake or cook at Ronald McDonald House. We've done one-offs like when they need people to help after the hurricanes. It's tricky to find volunteering options that take young kids, but we do ok.
When I was growing up, there was no money to give, but my parents did a ton of volunteering and instilled that in me. I'm trying to instill it in my kids too.

[186momx]

Well I donate to the zoo, schools, park district and volunteer when I can.
DH and I have very different thought processes on donating not only time but money.
DD seems to enjoy working at events the most right now. (School events/gymnastics events)

[shakinros]

This year because of the pandemic we gave money to organizations focused on cash assistance to individuals. So donations went to our local mutual aid society, community bail fund, and two orgs making emergency cash payments to theater artists - one in each city where I used to work in theater.

In a typical year, donations go to planned parenthood, every town for gun safety, our town fire dept, and a local place that trains low income young adults for careers in IT and coding. Plus a wild card or two.

I’m on the board of our school district’s education foundation plus a board assigned to me at work. Occasional event tabling for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. DH repairs books for the school library. We don’t do much volunteering as a family.

[twinmomma]

We don't have a very specific plan for our charitable giving, but I do give to various organizations throughout the year. Each quarter my company "adopts" a different charity to help, so I always donate to that. In between, I'm always donating small amounts to various fundraisers that friends might be doing - 5ks, charity events, etc. I kind of just treat it as part of my spending money budget. If I see something I want to support, I take it out of my weekly allowance and donate $10 or $20. I've never made a big donation to any one organization.

This year the kids and I held a food drive ourselves and it was really fun! My financial planning company sponsored it. We had to collect 500 items and then they would donate a $500 check to the food pantry we chose. We collected well over that for the organization that sends food home on the weekends to kids. I'd like to make that an annual thing, since it was a really good concrete way for the kids to participate. We got a lot of cash donations, so they got to do the shopping and add up the budget/spending so it was a good lesson in that regard too.

I used to do the annual Jimmy Fund Marathon walk, which raises money for Dana Farber. But it takes a lot of training time to work up to walking 26.2 miles, so I had to stop doing that when we got divorced. I can't dedicate half my weekend to walking when I have the kids.

[polecat8]

I try to donate money to a few organizations throughout the year. This year, I have given to our local children's hospital free care fund, the Y, various cancer funds, a local shelter for abused kids, and my colleges alum associations (I earmark the funds for the engineering schools). This year I have also began donating blood whenever I can.

I also try to support my kids' schools with fundraisers and volunteering for different events.

My passion is getting kids interested in STEM. As a female engineer, I feel it is important to show girls that they can do whatever they put their mind to. I volunteer my time with various STEM competitions. I'm usually the one of a few females and the youngest by a decade or so. At one of my prior companies, I was given time and a budget to do a presentation and activity with a local middle school for Engineers Week. We were able to see every student in the school of 1000+ students over the course of a week.

[twinmomma]

polecat8, I love that! DD1 wants to be an engineer when she grows up and loves STEM activities. It's so fun for me to watch her creativity come out in those ways, compared to DD2 and I, who get our creativity out in artistic ways.

[mustardseed2007]

My sister is involved in a lot of charities through her work, and I tend to support what she's involved in. So the GED program at a prison here, a refugee connection group, and schools and programs she is involved in that serve underprivileged kids.

I haven't included the kids in giving money, but they've given new and old toys away. The ones that were the biggest impact I think was that my kids gave away their old halloween costumes and helped me pick new ones out as well to give to refugee families that live in our area. They saw pictures of the kids dressed up in them. We also always give toys at Christmas.

I volunteer a lot in our own community and am on the PTA and fundraising committees at school. I'm also on the neighborhood HOA. But I don't exactly consider that charitable giving, more civic minded. Giving to our school is important to me, and it is a 501C3 but its a private school. We give to support that community and make sure it continues because it's a big part of our lives.

[librarychica]

polecat8, that’s awesome. We do a lot of those sorts of events at my work (I work in engineering though I am not an engineer) and they’re such a great use of time.

I feel like I need to point out that when we get appeals and such I ask DD1 how she would reallocate the money, as a thought exercise. I phrased it strangely. I didn’t actually move the whole budget into panda conservation when the cute panda postcard came in the mail last month. 😉☺️

[phdmomma]

We give to church, school fundraisers, scouting, and planned parenthood. And then also if something comes up. Like when my colleague's kid needed an emergency lung transplant and she's a single mom.

[twinmomma]

Just wanted to say - this thread inspired me!

I've decided that for 2021 I'm budgeting a set amount for charitable giving each month to make it a more concerted effort. I'm going to give each kid an amount they can donate each month to the org of their choosing. I have a little print out I made to hang on the fridge so we can keep track of which orgs we choose each month. I'm excited to see what they come up with and the discussions we can have about it!

[erbear]

Jan 6, 2021 9:27:31 GMT -5 twinmomma said:

Just wanted to say - this thread inspired me!

I've decided that for 2021 I'm budgeting a set amount for charitable giving each month to make it a more concerted effort. I'm going to give each kid an amount they can donate each month to the org of their choosing. I have a little print out I made to hang on the fridge so we can keep track of which orgs we choose each month. I'm excited to see what they come up with and the discussions we can have about it!

I was also inspired to do more this year. We set aside a large (for us) chunk of money and chose 10 organizations to donate to. I asked friends for places they worked with and made the donations in their names. It was so satisfying - I wish I had millions.