As I mentioned last month, one of my goals is support a charity in 2010 with money saved by not eating out for a week. I decided to start today and will not eat out the rest of the work week. This means I have to go ahead and plan out what I’m having ahead to avoid caving in to fast food chains by my job.

Today has gone well and while it wasn’t completely healthy, it was pretty good. You can join in and pick the charity you want to support that week, whether it’s time or money. I’d love to have you share some stories of the success you’ve had volunteering.

While we have given some of our resources to charities and have done some volunteer work locally, I think we can do a bit more. I was reading Mike’s thoughts on charitable giving today on Free Money Finance and decided go ahead and post my plans for 2010 on charitable giving.

Share what you can

Donors Choose-  A Charity Worth Considering

How does this program work? I’ll let the site explain how donations work:

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.Fulfilling Student ProjectsDonorsChoose.org performs a good deal of work to ensure the integrity of its philanthropic marketplace. Here’s how it works:

• 1. Public school teachers create student project proposals at DonorsChoose.org. This consists of writing a one page essay and listing the exact resource(s) needed.
• 2. DonorsChoose.org volunteers screen each project proposal before posting to the website. Volunteers verify that the teacher and project meet our eligibility requirements, emailing follow-up questions to the teacher if anything is unclear.
• 3. Concerned individuals fund the student projects of their choice-in whole or in part-and are emailed immediate email gift acknowledgments from DonorsChoose.org which can be used for tax deduction purposes.
• 4. DonorsChoose.org emails the school principal, alerting him/her to the funded project.
• 5. Within the next week, DonorsChoose.org forwards the donor an “e-thank-you” from the teacher, which notes the date by which the donor can expect his/her full feedback package.
• 6. DonorsChoose.org purchases the student materials and ships items directly to the school along with a disposable camera, guidelines for preparing feedback packages, and a stamped envelope in which to enclose the feedback.
• 7. Students experience the project that the donor made possible! The teacher photographs the students participating in the project and writes an impact letter to the donor. Students write their own thank-you notes. This feedback is then mailed to DonorsChoose.org headquarters.
• 8. DonorsChoose.org develops the photos, and compiles the letter and thank-you notes. This feedback is mailed to the donor(s) who completed the project or made a partial contribution of $100 or more.

We have personally had great experiences with them and I wanted to expand my participation with them in 2010.

It’s More Than Donating Money

I think many people associate charities with donating money, but that’s not always the case. I bring this up because sometimes with all of our bills and obligations, sometimes we forget that there are less fortunate ones and who could use some help. I know there are many college students who are low on funds and may shy away from donating to charities. It’s still possible to be a giver when you have a small income.

Volunteering your time to a cause that matters to you is a great way to help others. The added benefit is that you can possibly learn a skill as well.

2010 Charity Challenge

I’m going to skip eating out for lunch for a week once a month and donate that money to a classroom project from DonorsChoose.org. I’ll do it around the end of the month and announce it here. You can join in and pick the charity you want to support that week, whether it’s time or money.

Hopefully we can encourage each other and by keeping this small, we can make it sustainable. If you volunteer, please share your stories too. I love hearing how others are making an impact on their community.

Name Your Charities

I’m opening the comments to you. What charities do you support? If you can include the link, perhaps you can encourage others to help your cause. If you’re a blogger, perhaps you can link to this post mention it in your tweets and get some of your readers on board with the challenge.

Photo Credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Photo Credit: timferriss

Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-hour work week, an another donor are going to donate $3 per person who follows him on twitter to  U.S. public school students in low-income and high-need areas in two weeks. Follow @ferriss for a great cause and to help make a positive long term difference.

It’s something you can do quick and it’s free. Need more info? Check out his post. 

This isn’t the first time Tim is trying to help others with a creative method. 

• 4HWW Readers’ School in Vietnam Opens its Doors — Time for a Trip?
• Deadline in Less Than 7 Hours – An Important Bribe (Plus: Happiness Research for Economic Crashes)

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Just a reminder that the Carnival of Personal Finance 195th Edition is up at Stock Trading to Go.

I’m participating in Blog Action Day again on October 15th and this year’s topic is poverty. Please make sure you check out yor favorite blogs, as there are thousands of sites registered. Right now the estimated audience is 4,703,973. It’s expected to grow, as more blogs are joining.

This year I’m asking the readers to help with this topic. Please let me know what you would like me to look at in regard to poverty and how personal finance can help. It’s a complex topic so I need some specific ideas. Leave your ideas in the comments. I’ll list the topics September 1st and we’ll start narrowing it down.

I’m also going to encourage participation by asking readers to sign up with Kiva. The program uses microloans instead of typical donations to help others. I’m already registered, but I know I can do more. I’m working my budget to set aside some money.

Microloans are small loans, as little as $25, that help entrepreneurs in developing areas lift themselves out of poverty.

If you sign up with Kiva, please give central@blogactionday.org as your referrer so the donation can be track down for Blog Action Day. You don’t have to wait until October 15th to sign up.

Why?

Unless you’re indepently wealthy, you have a limited amount. Therefore someone or something is important enough for you to give it to them.

Think of Others and Volunteer

I bring this up because sometimes with bills, sometimes we forget that there are less fortunate ones and who could use some help. I know there are many college students who are low on funds. It’s still possible to be a giver when you have a small income.

Perhaps volunteering your time is a great way to help others. The added benefit is that you can possibly learn a skill as well.

We Support Donors Choose

Besides our local congregation, we have also supported DonorsChoose.org where you decide which classrooms could benefit from your help.

Besides personal finance projects in classrooms, we support literacy projects that encourge students to push their boundaries.

Name Your Charities

I’m opening the comments to the readers. What charities do you support? If you can include the link, perhaps you can encourage others to help your cause.