Looking for other Impact ideas?
You’ve come to the right place.
Below, we’ve compiled a few ideas and inspirations some of our readers have sent us. We still have many more in our ‘archives’; we hope to have the opportunity to add them as time permits.
More Ideas from Random Acts of Kindness Month (May 2010)
Smile at the person who cuts in line. Greet and smile at people who look tired and grumpy. Give chocolates to the person at the front desk who usually take abuse. If you had good service, tell the restaurant manager. Meet the eye of a homeless person, recognizing s/he exists. Leave your finished book on the train for someone else. Let go of the anger at the woman who stabs you repeatedly with her umbrella in the bus. Give your umbrella to someone heading into the rain. Go to the aid of a child being bullied in the park. At the airport, let the person in a hurry behind, go first. Help a neighbor carry her suitcase downstairs.Give your friend your sweater that she covets.Cook and take dinner to a friend who’s going through a stressful period. Grab an extra chocolate bar at the grocery cash register and give it to the cashier. Dog walk for a shelter. Make a relaxing CD mix for a friend who has a long commute. Sit down and listen to a friend. Really listen!Pay the toll for the car behind you. Help a lost tourist. Report a good deed to the person’s boss or parent. Hold the bus door open for someone running to catch it.
Here’s an easy idea for eBay shoppers. Many sellers participate in the charitable giving program. If so, the check-out process offers buyers an opportunity to add a dollar or two to the payment price, that goes to a charity. Usually, a charity is designated by the seller but buyers sometimes have the option to select their own charity from a list. It’s a simple thing to do, really. Whenever you’re buying something for yourself, kick in a little bit more and also give to someone who needs it.
Hi,
Arbitrey’s idea about eBay check-out donations inspired me to throw in another “easy one.” For those of us who have guilt pangs about the CO2 impact of flying internationally, when you buy your airline ticket, you can buy a carbon offset. This usually comes in the form of a donation to an environmental organization working to reduce CO2 levels. Austrian Airlines, for example, offered an easy carbon offset donation option at check out the last time I bought an air ticket.
Laurie, thanks for this great tip. Haven’t noticed this option, though we occasionally fly Austrian Airlines. I’ll also make sure to suggest this “added incentive” to other airlines whenever I have to fly with them.
Laurie: This is a great idea. I’m going to forward it to a good friend who is an event planner/teach and a great source of inspiration. I think she’ll be interested and she has a huge following on Twitter and FB, of people who travel a lot. And I’ll pass it along to my friends. Thanks.
http://www.coinstar.com/US/html/A2
Coins that count
Change machines. Bring your spare change to a Coinstar machine with the donate option and your money will go straight to a charity you choose. The web site is searchable to find a machine near you with the donate option, as well as a list of the organizations that can be selected. You will receive a tax receipt (at least in the US). Machines with this option can be found in the US and UK. Here are the charity choices available at my nearest location, just for an idea of the possibilities:
American Red Cross
Bright Hope International
Feeding America
Food For All
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
March of Dimes
Operation Smile
Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
World Wildlife Fund
This is SO cool! When I’m back in the States this summer, I may just go to the bank and get lots of change JUST to play with the Coinstar machine and be able to donate!
Hey, friends in London, have you tried this?
How about the greening of ourselves. In kitchen design we don’t just look at conserving electrical energy but also conserving our personal energy. We do this by making sure that appliances, pots and pans, pantry, silverware, etc. are in the most convenient places. By assessing where you expend extra energy and/or extra time walking back and forth, trying to find things or making extra trips is a good way – not only to organize but also to save your energy for the things you enjoy.
Your timing’s impeccable. We were just talking about the re-design of our kitchen and I brought up the importance of the ergonomics of the design, e.g. the “kitchen triangle.”
I’m so impressed with all the activities you’ve initiated and written about. They’re sources both of inspiration and interest. I follow along when I can. Usually, I let you blaze the trail and then I follow after you’ve “prechewed” it and showed me some of the possible pilfalls! Here are some other ideas I’ve thought of. I hope some of them make their way into future impact weeks.
Literacy
Literacy. Donate books to local libraries (hardback), rehab centers, old age homes, etc. Kid books to local elementary schools (perhaps with a little volunteer time to help log them in to be added to shelves).
Spend some time at a local school helping children to improve their reading skills. Literacy is a huge long-term impact. And speaking of that, donating books to classroom teachers to give as prizes is a good way to supprt both students and teachers. There are kids who have never owned a book. When I was doing the write-a-book projects at our local elementary school (competition where kids wrote, illustrated, and bound their own books), I remember working with one kid who did this and the book he made was the first book he had ever owned. Sad and wonderful at the same time.
Support – Online or In Person
People in online support groups often band together to support each other through personal crises (you know: sending prayers and encouragement your way, etc., along with exchange of information, personal experiences, etc.). I was thinking about this and I realize that a lot of people will ask, “I need prayers/support/happy thoughts” and find it comforting. One of the components of the sending cards to kids campaign was possibly sending notes of encouragment to parents or healthy siblings, who also suffer but usually are just in “output” mode.
Promote CaringBridge (www.caringbridge.org), a site for people with chronic and/or terminal illnesses. They get a site that allows them to post their status and blog their illness and experience. There’s a guestbook for people to sign that allows them to respond to patient posts and to send messages of support and comfort. The idea is that patients are able to keep people informed of their condition without having to update individually (tiring and impossible) and they can go to their support pages and see messages that comfort them and have that as an ongoing thing. (And yes, of course you can donate to the site). There could be an impact week that focuses on giving support long-distance etc.
Rides to and from dialysis or cancer treatments. Doesn’t have to be ongoing. Can simply offer the occasional ride or contribute cab fare for someone. This can be critical in snowy or other bad weather when some of the usual transportaiton services are not running; this is especially true if you have a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. Not only patients need this help also medical and other emergency personnel.
Gather old blankets and donate to pet shelters etc. Aways needed, apparently, and lots of times people have things that are too ratty to donate for people that will work for animals.
Shopping
Care2 site has links to a bunch of socially responsible retail sites — businesses that sell products from small artisan businesses in underprivileged countries. So you might consider an impact project that has to do with redirecting purchasing efforts to those sites. Good before wedding season (which is also graduation season), for example.
If people do eBay, they can participate in the giving programs through there. Sellers can sign up to donate a portion of each sale. They can also offer buyers an opportunity to add an extra $1 to their Pay Pal payment that goes directly to a specified charity. One thing I find easy to do is to just click that box every time I buy something (signing up as a seller is more complicated and am still trying to figure that out).
At the grocery store, I add a buck or two for their collection; on the street, I try to have a couple of dollar bills handy to give to the homeless. There are certain street corners where there are always homeless people. Sometimes, I just go to McDonald’s ahead of time and hand out a sandwich. And I buy gloves and scarves on sale and give them out as I come across people.
Personal Impact
Find an activity to exercise your brain and help it stay sharp longer (aka: take steps to stave off dementia etc.? Participating in the April 24-hour Read-a-thon could be a part of that. You could even make that a rallying point on the blog — to get reading lists, etc. — for ongoing personal efforts. There are also bunches of web sites that have online resources for logic puzzles etc.
Do something to improve your own health — give up one processed food, eat more veggies, get a mammogram. The healthier we are, the better for the bottom line of health care as well as for our own health.
Finally: What about a Free-for-All Challenge? People designate a month (like NaNoWriMo) — or a week — to make an impact in whatever way presents itself. Sort of Impact Opportunism. At the end, they write up their experience for the month. You narrow it down to a group of 10 and then the readers vote on the winner.
This tallies with a thought I had about recycling. It would be really useful to have a good guideline for what can actually be recycled. My husband washes and recycles lots of things that I’m pretty sure don’t get recycled. For example, things that have held food or grease don’t really work for recycling, according to the center my sister visited with her class. Apparently, getting them clean enough is difficult. Perhaps one of the readers on this site would like to make an impact by researching this subject.
Wow! These are all great and will be added to the March Monthly Impact Challenge entries. Thanks! And thanks for following.