Wish Upon a Hero

Did you see this recent story in the news? It's amazing! ABC's Person of the Week

Go right away to the Wish Upon a Hero web site and sign up to start making people's wishes come true. It doesn't necessarily cost money -- you can give a little or a lot. You can write cards or letters and do a lot of other amazing things. Join up as a group with some of your friends and take on a bigger wish. Or make connections... maybe you can't pay for someone's dental expenses, but maybe you know a dentist who can help!

Be creative, be proactive, be a hero!

Time Banking

Thanks to JM Donahue, I get to tell you about Time Banking!

This is such a fascinating and beautiful "budget philanthropy" concept and works on the premise that you earn one "Time Dollar" for each hour of service you provide to another person in your community. This is people helping people directly.

Here's an example below:

• Bob earns time dollars after spending two hours grocery shopping for Daisy.
  
• Bob spends his dollars having Mary tidy his house.
  
• Mary spends her dollars having Lucy watch her kids while she gets a manicure.
  
• Lucy spends her dollars when Bob comes over to mow her lawn.
  

The web site has a directory of existing Time Banks and also has information about how to start your own Time Bank if you don't have one. I looked up on the list and there are none in my state! (I live in a very rural area.)

The concept is so elegant because it doesn't depend on returning any favors or having to pay something forward. Since you work with a group of people from a database, you don't have to know a lot of people or wait a long time for a way to earn or spend dollars. And best of all it doesn't cost money. It's all about giving of yourself and spending time to make life better for someone else. And that's what we're all about here at Spread Change!

Even if you don't want to join a Time Bank, please go learn all about them so you can at least spread the word about them. This is a unique and worthy service that deserves promotion and can help change lives in small, but significant ways. And if there's no Time Bank in your area, would you consider starting one? Just think how many lives you could change by being a Time Bank leader.

Pi Day!

March 14th is Pi Day! No, I didn't spell that wrong!

It's the day to celebrate the mathematical wonder that is "pi" or 3.14..... to infinity.

Have I lost my mind? What does math have to do with good deeds? NOTHING. But "pi" has a lot to do with good deeds, because "pi" sounds like "pie". Get it?

Celebrate Pi Day by donating a pie or two for a good cause. Give pie to elderly neighbors. Give pie to sick friends. Give pie to a teacher to share with her students at snack time. Give pie to your mom because she is cool and she changed your dirty diaper twelve million times.

Clear your mind and focus... who REALLY needs a pie from you?

Care Across the Cities

Sassypants Wifey has started a new good deeds blog called Care Across the Cities. She's described it sort of as a cooperative where people get together to work on the same cause, often using the principles of budget philanthropy.

I bet you'll enjoy it if you go over there and check it out. You can't have too many good deed blogs!

Charities You Can Trust

How do you know the charity you are giving to is financially solvent and responsible? It is so easy to scam and be scammed.

Charity Navigator is a highly-rated independent organization that evaluates the financial health of the largest charities in America.

Specifically, Charity Navigator's rating system examines two broad areas of a charity's financial health -- how responsibly it functions day to day as well as how well positioned it is to sustain its programs over time. Each charity is then awarded an overall rating, ranging from zero to four stars. To help donors avoid becoming victims of mailing-list appeals, each charity's commitment to keeping donors' personal information confidential is assessed. The site is easily navigable by charity name, location or type of activity and also features opinion pieces by Charity Navigator experts, donation tips, and top-10 and bottom-10 lists which rank efficient and inefficient organizations in a number of categories.

So, if you're thinking about donating to a charity, consider checking out their scorecard first.

Bear in mind, there are a million charities in the country and they haven't been able to rate them all. Just because a charity isn't listed doesn't mean it's not worth donating to. But how do you know a charity is taking good care of itself and its cause? Charity Navigator also has guidelines on how to evaluate a charity not listed on their site.

Happy Donating!

Twitchhiker

Paul Smith is trying to travel around the world in an unusual way -- in a way that nobody has tried to travel before. He's using only resources provided by users of the microblogging / networking service called Twitter.

He's utilizing various methods of technology so that people can track where he is at any given moment on the globe. He will only move if a Twitter user helps him and if nobody from Twitter gives him accommodations, I guess he's sleeping under a bridge or on a random park bench somewhere.

Along the way he is also raising money for the non-profit organization charity: water (which I've written about before).

Go check out the Twitchhiker web site to see where his location is. You can follow his progress. And if you're a Twitter user maybe you're in a location where you can help. Or donate a few bucks that he can pass on to a wonderful charity.

Alfred Edmond Strikes Again!

Wow! Remember the story I posted a few days ago about Alfred Edmond, the man who repaid a policeman $8 about 20 years after the policeman helped him out of a jam?

Well, now the cop has been so inspired by Edmond's integrity that he has decided to "pay it forward" and start his own charity initiative called "Give 8 Ask 8" to help the homeless.

The idea is you donate $8 and ask 8 of your friends to do the same. This is EXACTLY the kind of budget philanthropy we've been talking about all this time. See the power of it? See the magic of it?

I've got goosebumps. You can read the story: at this news page

What will Alfred Edmond inspire you to do today?