citizen philanthropist

For me giving decisions have become more considered because there is less bandwidth for cash contributions when not employed. Giving of time and talent actually puts you more in touch with the needs, and more likely to be asked, to give dollars. I did not factor this in satisfactorily in my early retire plan which is one reason why I want an encore position (a.k.a. post retirement career) or real job again; if the stars align.

But until that eventuality, I am being a citizen philanthropist through crowd sourced fundraising. My favorite project to date with a fundraising goal of $10,000 which reached $51,854 is a true story of light.

Last year much of my contributions were local via GiveGreater.org . This initiative out of CFGNH enabled me to get matched dollars for my chosen organizations -- ones I had historically supported like MastersManna and WPAA-TV.  I also helped local artists with a performance initiative via IndieGOGO and today I signed into DonorsChoose.org and found a local teacher whose garden project connects nicely to other volunteer efforts I am involved in - betterfood4all. And they tempted me with a matching contribution. If I became a monthly supporter for as little as $10 a month there would be another $50 given. I did enroll because I believe in the idea and hope to inform local teachers so that eventually my monthly support could be even more local than the next town over.

So this week I must thank Garry Trudeau and Jane Pauley whose passions have given mine more potential today and into the future.