I hope everyone had a good weekend. I know for some of us, it was a tough one and emotional one. But we persevered and we made it to Monday and we have a chance for another week ahead of us. Today I want to talk about giving back to your community. I feel like so many people think the only way to give back is through this grand gesture of volunteering at an agency. In today’s world of scheduled lives, I get that it is hard to make time for being somewhere consistently so I wanted to throw out some ideas many don’t think of or haven’t thought of in a while. I hope they challenge you and trigger some ideas for you and your family!

Offer to Clean the Facilities

Non-profits aren’t usually overflowing with money. Especially your local ones who are grassroots organizations that were founded from identifying community needs. Give them a call and see if they need help cleaning their building once a month.

Throw a Pizza Party for Staff

This may seem silly but hey, we are a creative community! Many non-profit staff members are overworked and underpaid. Throw them a pizza party one Friday. Call ahead and clear it with the director so you will know the best time to show up.

Offer Office Services

If you are really good in some area of office work, share those services by offering to do work from home if it won’t break HIPPA laws. If you can’t do work from home, offer to come in for an hour or two a month, or whatever availability you can provide. This is extremely helpful for small nonprofits if you are great with databases, website design, graphic design, or marketing.

Offer Your Planning Services

Planning fundraising events can be a lot of stress and a lot of fun. If you are skilled in this area, offer your services for one event a year. The process will help you gain great skills while also providing an invalauble service to the organization.

Be a Bridge

Share, share, share! Tell others about the organization. Bridge the gap between organizations. Help them facilitate connections and relationships. Let the people who need to know about them in your community know about them. Share their website on your social media. Be an ambassador for them.

There are many other ways that I will share over time. But for today, grab one of these ideas that excited you and RUN WITH IT!

Until next time,

~Shell