I’m a list-maker at heart. I’m also a geek who likes to play with tools and software. So, from the beginning of this project, I new I’d be building some sort of database/tracking mechanism to keep tabs on how I’m doing and what I’m doing.
I’m starting simple though. I’ve put together a really basic google-spreadsheet to keep track of each monetary donation I make. I’m making note of the amount, the name of the donee, a link to the donation page (if available) and general notes (when necessary).
I’m certain I’ll quickly grow out of this format, but for now it works well. I’ve also pre-populated a date column with every Friday for the next year. I’m hoping this will continue to encourage me to plan ahead.
I’m also using this spreadsheet as a backlog. In the donee column I’m just stacking up names of places/people I want to help. It’s exciting how quickly the list is filling.
Category: General
Planning
Child’s Play
Child’s Play is a great charity that collects “toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world.”
They seem to focus on providing games to help sick kids deal with being sick and in the hospital. One thing I really like is that they really focus on eliminating the middle man (them) as much as possible and just getting donations straight to the hospitals/children.
On their website, you can choose which hospital (local or otherwise) you’d like to donate to. They take you to an amazon wishlist/registry page and you can donate and have the items shipped right to the hospital.
Helping Help begins
I don’t think I help enough. I am certainly able to help more than I do. This is an experiment to see if I can help more.
Initially and fundamentally this is about financial help, but I’m leaving the option open for the goals of this project to change.
Just for giggles, here are a couple of lists of goals:
Short term:
- In a year, donate something to charitable/cultural/artistic organizations and people who could use the money.
- Volunteer my time
- Give blood on a regular schedule
Longer term:
- In a year, donate way more than 10% of my gross income
- Do something ‘bigger’ than volunteering my time
None of this is hard. All of these goals are attainable. It shouldn’t be hard. But, for some reason, I’m not doing any of those things right now. So, the Helping Help project is born today. I’m launching it in blog form under the assumption that I’m not the only one that feels this way and maybe others can help me out along the way.