Giving back

Yesterday, WCPO posted a story on how Middletown schools are so strapped for cash, they weren't able to come up with the dough this year to buy the district's underprivileged kids school supply bags. Luckily, a local Chiropractor did a drive for the supplies (free Chiropractic work if you bring in 10$ or donate a bag of supplies). I haven't seen the follow up to this story yet, but am curious about if they were able to pull in a good amount of donations. I can't find anything on the school district's website about what goes into these "kits", but if they still need them, I'm seriously considering getting some people together to donate on our own!

Reading about the need for donations and volunteers to help get something as simple as a kid's first day of school off the ground and running, i was reminded of a blurb I had previously posted on Urban Cincy, a blog i contribute to. Read on - i hope it encourages you to get involved.

Cincinnati is one of the most charitably giving cities I’ve lived in. Having formerly worked in a non-profit here, I can definitely appreciate the value of volunteers and donations in accomplishing a non-profit’s goals. That being said, it’s no secret that economic times are tough. People have to reign in spending, and it’s starting to show. According to an article in the Cincinnati Business Journal, giving has dropped nationally. “Giving USA Foundation found that charitable giving fell 2 percent from 2007 to 2008. The decline was the first since 1987 and the second in the 40-year history of the study. Adjusted for inflation, the decline was 5.7 percent.” Article can be found here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/06/29/daily18.html?surround=lfn

Not all organizations are seeing a drop in funds, but the typical donor is being a little more savvy about where and who they want to donate to. For some people, giving to large umbrella aid organizations makes them feel like they’re covering a lot of ground with their dollars. For others, they worry about the overhead taking some of the money away from trickling down to smaller organizations. There are so many options for organizations to donate to that it can be a little confusing. As a donor, you have to question whether to go local or international with your charitable giving? Do you want to do a micro loan or give to an organization that screens candidates but may have overhead costs? Or do you just want to get together with friends and make a collective decision on where to donate your money? More and more charity organizations will be targeting “millennials” – YP’s who have expendable income and a sense of altruism, so if you fit that bill, be ready to be targeted!

In all this talk about giving dollars, remember charitable giving isn’t only about money. A great way to really get to better know your community is by going out and doing work to better it. After living downtown for 2 years, I had never been in Washington Park until I did a park clean up one morning with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. It is such a beautiful park, and seeing how mistreated it was by people in my community, it really reignited my desire to see it revitalized. No matter where you live, there are always opportunities to give in your community. Local based organizations like People Working Cooperatively help fix up houses in the area, houses of worship have outreach programming like Meals on Wheels and larger YP organizations like Give Back Cincinnati offer a variety of ways to give back to the community here and abroad on mission trips.

Below are some links to local groups that can direct you to opportunities, national and international organizations that are working to help our community and beyond. The motto of my Alma Mater was “Lead, Learn, Serve” and these days they are words we could all live by.
National/International Micro-loan org (profiled on NBC Nightly news)
http://www.kiva.org/


Local YP service org (just a few of many):
http://www.givebackcincinnati.org/
http://www.pwchomerepairs.org/
http://www.keepcincinnatibeautiful.org/

Local Volunteer opportunity match-up:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/