Cards that Care

It came to the end of the semester in my International Project Management Program and we decided, as a group, to rejoice and celebrate the occasion by throwing a holiday party. On Thursday I participated in acts 2 and 3 of my 12 acts of holiday kindness.

As a group we decided that it would be nice if instead of doing the usual Secret Santa gift trading that we would take the $10 or so dollars that each of us would have spent and pooled it to give as one big donation to our chosen charity, the Girl Child Network. As a group we are making a $475 donation! While none of us needed another small gimmicky gift, we knew that if we pooled our money together that whatever organization received the donation would use it towards some amazing project that was sure to make a much bigger difference in someone else's life.

Act number 3 was something I had though of long ago, and is something that is so simple and yet, I think, impactful. I decided to write each of my classmates a Holiday card with a personalized message (I used Hallmark's Product(REd) holiday cards). I told each of them what I liked most about them and why I thought each of them was an amazing person. Many people write Holiday cards this time of the season but they are always so generic. They say "Happy Holidays" and the card givers name(s). This year how about writing something more. Something that is sure to make the recipients day. Tell them something positive that you think about them, tell them how much you really care, tell them they mean a lot to you. We rarely take these opportunities to say what we feel and then live to regret not having done so.

Acts of kindness around the holidays don't need to be big and fancy. To many people it is the small things, the details, that they really notice around the holidays. As the old saying goes, "love thy neighbor". Show someone you care, someone who wouldn't normally receive such gifts and love. If you are the member of a holiday gathering this year, take the chance to gather funds for a donation. If you are sending out cards make them personal. Let us, together, make the holidays MORE than just an opportunity to give and receive gifts. Let us put the THOUGHT back into the holidays.

The Question

The question that I have heard numerous times lately is "where, or who deserves my donation? How do I know that the charity is a worthy cause?" The answer: Like any investment it requires some research. You wouldn't put your money just anywhere would you? Not long ago one of the most respected and successful investors of all time, Warren Buffet, donated a rather large sum of money to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. When quized as to why, he replied: they would spend it better than he ever could. There is no magical answer to where/who you should donate. Like any investment it must meet you personal values, beliefs, and vision for how you want your money to be used. The good news is that it is getting a lot easier by the day to find out more about where your money is going.
The micro-credit craze has caught on to unprecedented levels, to the point that you or I could log onto the internet and immediately loan an entrepreneur millions of km away the necessary funding to get their business going. You can read about the business, the entrepreneur, and find our just what your money will be doing. The best part? When the entrepreneur is capable of paying you back, they will so that you can then turn around and loan it to another worthy entrepreneur. All from a seat at your desk. Check out Kiva.org in my links section to find out more about this exciting new system.
It is important for you not to feel compelled to donate based on the name of the organization, the cause to which it 'says' that it is trying to fix, or to the initial sales pitch. Making a donation should be done with care and due diligence. Take your time and make sure that you know exactly who and what your money will be going towards and doing. Unfortunately, there are a lot of organizations that claim to be something they are not, and do things that they don't. It is up to us as donors to weed out these malicious organizations and place our money where we know it will accomplish the greatest amount of good.