by Nina Needleman
Time, Talent, & Treasure. These are the three Ts that non-profits need to accomplish their missions.
Treasure is easy to define. It is simply donating dollars and writing checks. But many of us do not have the deep pockets to continually write checks to non-profits that we deem necessary and valuable to the community.
The following are few ways you can give your Time & Talent to make a difference without breaking the bank:
- For your birthday, ask for donations from well-wishers to a favorite charity.
- If your employer has a charitable fund, fill out the referral form to promote the mission and impact of a favorite charity so they qualify for corporate funds. (A lot of companies only give to nonprofits of interest to employees or places employees volunteer or serve on the board)
- Does your employer or your spouse’s ever provide sponsorships to nonprofit events?
- Forward a flyer about a favored event to a decision maker with a note why that group is important to you.
- Has a friend invited you to a trivia night? You might want to attend to learn about a new organization. There are 12,000+ nonprofits in the area.
- Is a non-profit having an auction and looking for a donation? Provide an in-kind donation such as a dog basket or couple bottles of wine.
- Helping a family member or friend move into assisted living or nursing home? Donate any extra or unused walkers, commodes etc. to St Louis HELP and the furniture/furnishings to Home Sweet Home.
- Are you a good writer/marketer? Join a Marketing committee of a favorite non-profit to help them with their messaging, storytelling, communicating outcomes.
- Are you good with social media? Join a marketing committee of a favorite non-profit to help them with their reach to younger audiences.
- Invite a guest every quarter to an SOS event. What better way to share your education and expanded view of the community needs and problem solvers than to show your friends!
- Volunteer! Extra hands are always welcome – doing registration at events, being a runner to assist at events, helping with mailings, helping with office work, following up service calls, picking up silent auction items, dropping off virtual gala boxes or bags, staging silent auctions, calling donors to thank them (especially easy and valuable task for board members), chaperoning to assist staff for a kids’ charity event, being a water station volunteering at a charity walk/run or even volunteer to puts signs out for the run route.
Think about where else you’ve seen volunteers. Picture yourself there!
What did we miss? If you have a favorite way to give we haven’t mentioned, email us so we can share more ideas. soswomendsfund.help@gmail.com