On the Best Way to Give Next Year

I was touched by Nora Ephron’s “First Annual HuffPost Charity Chain.” Her charity of choice for this year is the Innocence Project. It supports the collection of DNA and other evidence to get innocent people out of jail.

Readers sent in their wonderful projects. I wanted to give to each one. The problem is always who to give to. Over the years I have developed a way to narrow it down. For me the best giving involves not just writing the check, but giving my self and my time.

Here my favorite ways to give time:

Rotary International:  When I was International Chair, my club funded a washing machine for a Russian orphanage (Can you imagine handwashing for 50 children in Siberia?), desks for a Mexican elementary school, and a water project that supplied 1700 families of the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Maybe even more important, we were in partnership with the Rotarian business people in those local communities. They did all the work and I did my share with a few emails. And now I have friends for life in all three places.

One-on-one for free:  I recently spent a couple of hours tutoring a young friend of a friend. I didn’t teach him algebra as much as I showed him how to learn algebra. Bright, creative, sensitive, he caught on quickly. That little bit of time will effect his life.

I ran into Borders last week to sign some books and met a 50-something woman who has been struggling with what to do next with school and work. In a few minutes of chatting about what we both really want out of life, she shook down a whole new career direction that will help hundreds, maybe thousands, of others. I did nothing but give her the space and a few minutes and she reminded me how much taking a bit of time with a stranger can mean.

I’m “on call” for advice for the Paia Youth and Cultural Center. I cofounded it and I have been around the longest. Now and then I help sort out complicated messes on the phone or over coffee with the staff or board members. They go off and do the real (and wonderful) work.

Systems science:   For almost ten years, I’ve been researching and writing about this emerging worldview. It is the grounding for Men Are Easy. It has the power to shift the world.

So, yes, I’ll write a few checks, but this year I want every bit of my work and my life to be about giving and I’m going to be continually on the lookout for the very best ways to do it.