Conscious Giving for the Holidays (and Every Day)

Just over ten years ago, I was flipping through a copy of Reader’s Digest at my doctor’s office. A little blurb about a small, young nonprofit organization was so captivating that I wrote the name: Modest Needs.

The blurb described an organization helping others in a way it had never heard before: ensuring self-sufficiency and independence through a helping hand, not a handout. Giving those who work paycheck to paycheck a chance to get through a financial emergency. And, above all, doing it all through something so new that it didn’t even have a name yet: crowdfunding. Add five dollars here and a hundred dollars there, funding the applications.

When I got home that day, I checked the Modest Needs website. It was nothing like what you will see today. The site was new, the brainchild of Dr. Keith Taylor, whom I quickly emailed and became acquainted with. His story was amazing to me and I wanted to be a part of this kind of philanthropy. Here was a man with a big dream and a sensible plan to help those for whom there is no other help…those who, for one reason or another, have been forgotten.

Perhaps a family earns just too much to qualify for government assistance, and they are hit with an expensive auto repair. Without their only car, they are unable to drive to and from work. If they pay for the repair, they won’t be able to afford the mortgage payment, but they are already behind on the mortgage payment because the utility bill was so high this summer. This car repair will mean eviction, and the family has nowhere to turn for help. With a surreal stumble, they face homelessness.

Dr. Taylor had built a strong system to help families like these and I wanted to be involved. Before long, Modest Needs added other grant programs: to make sure children in families in crisis have holiday gifts, to help nonprofits, to benefit survivors of Katrina (and, later, Sandy) , to help our veterans overcome financial problems upon returning from service, and more. Wonderful things happen when we all contribute!

Now Modest Needs has launched a Holiday Gift grant for parents facing an emergency expense that will prevent them from giving their children gifts for the holidays their family is celebrating. Donors fund this too, and eligible families will receive gifts worth up to $75 per child. I’m excited to help with this important effort, because as a parent I can’t imagine how helpless parents must feel when they can’t give their children gifts on a special holiday.

Also wonderful is Modest Needs’ policy to protect personal information, so I won’t get phone calls, emails, or spam from charities. And if I want to recommend that my money go to a specific recipient whose story touched me, I can. I can even follow along as the “help request” progresses towards full funding, and once it’s funded, I can read a “thank you” testimonial from the recipient.

Add to this some amazing credentials (Modest Needs has received the BBB Wise Giving Alliance ‘Seal of Approval’ in recognition of its operational integrity and has received the 2013 ‘Top Rated’ ‘Great Non-Profits’ award), and I found I am a non-profit organization that I can donate to with confidence and pride.

Today I remain a modest needs donor and cannot express how amazed I am with what has been accomplished and how much it has grown from one philanthropist’s “modest” idea.

—

Check Guidestar (or another charity research site) and the Better Business Bureau before donating to any charity. Click here to watch a video about Modest Needs getting started.