This excellent post by Social Citizens got me thinking of the many ways we can give to nonprofits in the social media space. I decided to customize the list by adding a few things, adapting Social Citizens’ advice to the Canadian realities, and giving a few examples – all for a good cause.
- Donate what you can: food, time, skill, blood. You have it in you.
- Email, tweet, and update your Facebook status to spread the word about your favourite charity
- Contact your MPP and your MP to remind them how important nonprofits are during tight economic times. Tell your friends to do the same.
- Throw a party to benefit your charity of choice! I am having a blast working with the best team ever to organize #HoHoTo - all the proceeds will go to the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank
- If you have a blog, write a post about your favourite charity and why it matters we support it more than ever Link to its website and anything else they might have created – videos, facebook pages, twitter, etc.
- If you have a gift registry, condsider including links to GiveMeaning.com, CanadaHelps.org, and GetInvolved.ca, or the charities of your choice to have your friends donate $5, $10, $20 and up. Every little bit matters.
- If you have a website, let your favourite orgs advertise on it for free for a day/week/month/year
- If you are a café/restaurant/bar owner, create a signature dish or drink and name it in honor of your favorite organization. (Love this one, borrowed from the Social Citizens)
- Write a blog post about a cause/charity that you are passionate about. Include a link to the cause/charity (OK, I borrowed this great idea from Social Citizens, who borrowed it from @rogercarr but it’s a good one!)
- Click for charity. Great examples of this are LOVE and Free Rice.
Do you have anything to add to the list? Please leave a comment and I’ll update it.
UPDATE: I just came across 71 ideas on how to give when you’re short on the money:
Do take a look, it’s a fanatastic blogger-generated list.
Advertisement
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | economic crisis, GiveList, help, hohoto, nonprofit, social media
Interesting article!
Thanks for the good advice. With non-profits struggling in the rough economic times, it is important to do every bit we can to help. I have some additional online resources along these lines on my blog.
- Schev
This is a good articel I will implement.
A great example of an innovative non-profit website:
A hope for change comes with the economic problems, that non profits begin to value the time of volunteers. It has been my experience with non profits that what they really value is financial donations, rather than donations of time and talent It’s a foolish choice as well, for very often the value of of the latter cannot be bought by the money they work so feverishly to get through grants. Because of my negative experiences with greedy non profits, I no longer offer my time.
Steve,
That’s very unfortunate that you’ve had these experiences. All of the charities that I have worked with have been incredibly grateful for willing volunteers. I would say that probably varies from charity to charity, and the larger charities are probably more likely to just want a financial donation. I encourage you to keep trying though. There are countless charities out there that would love to have your help!!
- Schev