Small Is The New Big: The Best Tools For Micro-Giving

Bigger may be better in Texas; but for the rest of us, small steps are all it takes to make a difference. I've searched the depths of the web for the smallest big ideas that help everyday citizens make an impact. Here are my favorite tools for good things micro:

#1: Micro-volunteering: doing good on your down time
The team at the Extraordinaries is helping you be more productive while waiting in lines or riding the bus. Through a simple and sleek iPhone app, you can participate in short volunteer opportunities from sending words of encouragement to schoolkids in Bangalore to helping catalog images of animal abuse for Big Cat Rescue.

#2: Micro-loans... for students
Education is perhaps the best long-term solution to ending the poverty cycle, but unfortunately not all aspiring students can afford the high cost of school. Vittanna is a micro-lending platform built to connect students in the developing world with small loans from lenders like you. Your $25 loan combines with other loans, and suddenly students like Nardith Torres Marcelo in Peru can study laboratory sciences and pursue their personal and professional dreams. Vittana believes that the biggest waste in the world is not oil or food or, really, any other material thing -- but, rather, human potential.

#3: Games that give back
Playing vocabulary games has never been so rewarding! For each answer you get right on FreeRice.com, a sponsor donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The game is highly addictive, and you can literally watch your impact grow as your virtual bowl fills up with rice. To date, over 68 billion grains have been donated, feeding millions of people.

#4: Micro-giving: keeping families from falling into homelessness
In a single year, it costs the Commonwealth of Massachusetts $47,000 to provide shelter for one homeless family. But what if you could help keep that family from becoming homeless in the first place? And what if it was only a fraction of that cost - around $1,000? SmallCanBeBig.org works closely with case managers to find families who can truly benefit from a one-time charitable donation. Then, small donors like you come together to make the donation possible. The team at SmallCanBeBig believes that it's not just the size of the contribution that matters, but the size of the group that shares the same goal.

#5: Emails that give for you

"Donate" space at the bottom of your emails to raise awareness and drive financial support for your favorite cause. ReplyForAll is a tool that provides a customized email signature including links to a cause along with an ad. Each time you send an email, ReplyForAll donates 50% of the advertising revenue to one of 14 non-profits. Donated email space thus far has prevented 27,715 kg of CO2 from entering our skies, provided a year of clean water for 3,077 people, and more.

Know of other small ways to make a BIG differece? Share in the comments below!

Follow Halle Tecco on Twitter: www.twitter.com/halletecco

Comments

[helpamotherout dot org]

Just stumbled across this blog post. All great ideas! We're especially big fans of Small Can Be Big. Our group, Help A Mother Out (http://www.helpamotherout.org) makes it simple and easy for folks to donate high need diapers directly to non profits who work with homeless and low income families across California and beyond. Diapers are not covered under safety net programs like food stamps and WIC - there is a long list of issues tied to diapers (or lack thereof). It is pretty common for families across America to be faced with the tough choice between providing food or diapers for their children. It is such a small and basic thing - but makes such a big impact. Donate them to your local food pantry or homeless or domestic violence shelter - more than likely, they will welcome the supplies!

[Rebecca Whitney]

We know and admire several of these (and am excited to check out the new ones we didn't know about). There's also a new site coming (and an interim way of changing lives) that is considered micro-philanthropy. It's called Selma's Story.

It's committed to connecting people with major life challenges directly with people who want to help them... by creating a worldwide community of trusted Field Partners, along with caring Donors who want to help meet the extraordinary, life-changing needs, and who at the same time expect reliability and accountability. Our goal is to facilitate real life change – both for the Recipient and for the Donor.

Check out our current site (www.selmasstory.org) and our temporary giving location (www.facebook.com/selmasstory) for full details about what we are doing. A full site is due to launch in November. In the meantime, the sites listed here do direct people looking to give small amounts to the right location for making a real difference in the life of someone.

100% of the donation goes to the specific story you choose.

Thanks for the great article!

[princeza]

One thing that I like to do is buy dog food and treats for my local shelter. They have a donation cart in the supermarket where people can leave their donations. It's normally quite full!

I've been on that FreeRice website, it's so addicting!

[leanamay]

Fabulous post Halle! Especially in these times finding small ways to give back are more important than ever! Another easy way to help a charity of your choice is by using goodsearch.com to search the internet.

[SelenicMagick]

I don't have a lot of spare money and my spare time is limited (furthermore I don't own, and will never own, a cell phone) BUT I do know how to sew and so I talked to a couple of the guys that I know at the local road commission and volunteered to patch/repair their jeans that they wear at work provided that they donated what they feel they can afford to either the local food pantry or the local Angel Food Ministries. On a monthly basis we donate at least 3 boxes of food to families that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford food through Angel Food Ministries in addition to donating to the local food pantry.

In MOST cases it takes me less than 10 minutes to repair or patch the clothing in question so that the guys aren't having to buy new clothes on a frequent basis (they can wear patched clothing... they can't wear clothes with holes in them). THEY appreciate the savings to their budget (and aren't we all on a tight budget these days) and people are being given necessary food for their families at the same time.

It "works for us" out here in the woods.