The author cleans up after volunteering at Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, DC.

The reality is that their situation becomes very fragile during these times because many of the services the homeless rely on operate only with the generous help of volunteers. And with the severe weather and treacherous conditions volunteers are often unable to show up for their scheduled shifts.

Food & Friends, a DC based organization that prepares and delivers thousands of meals to individuals in and around the nation’s capital who are living with life-challenging illnesses, put out a call for help early this morning. “If you have a car and are willing to help, please call us,” was the plea sent out today over social media platforms. Much more than the 6,000 meals that they deliver are at stake – people’s lives are in jeopardy in many cases as some of their clients depend on this food on a daily basis and might not have anything else to eat if the organization isn’t able to mobilize volunteers.

Across town in Northwest, Miriam’s Kitchen opened up at 6:30 to greet 113 drenched men and women. “It felt good to get inside and get a hot cup of coffee,” one of the guests shared with me. Although they have modified their hours, Miriam’s Kitchen has no plans to close their doors during this difficult time. But they need volunteers too. A post on their Facebook page thanked the three volunteers who trekked in to volunteer at both breakfast and dinner today. Normally they have three or four times that many volunteers.

Think about the shelters, kitchens and other services that might be just a block or two away from where you live. Of course don’t put yourself in harm’s way, but if you are in a position to lend a hand tomorrow, consider taking a break from sitting in front of the Weather Channel (they’ll have it on wherever you go) and give them a call and see if they need your help. Not only will you be making the difference in the lives of others – you will feel a lot better about yourself. And who couldn’t use a cheerful dose of positivity during these cold and raining days. Be safe everyone.

UPDATE: Food & Friends announced that thanks to the tremendous effort of volunteers they were able to deliver all their meals today.

Images courtesy of New York Magazine

It’s Super Tuesday and voters in 11 states are waking up to the opportunity to help determine who will be the republican candidate for president of the United States. From job creation to the deficit to the future of Social Security and Medicare, we put the candidates under our own microscopes in order to help us figure out which lever to pull. But what about their character? With all the mudslinging and canned debate rhetoric, how do you tap into who these people really are? I thought it might be interesting to look at them through the lens of charitable contributions.

In January Mitt Romney’s finances were front and center in the news. Regardless of how you feel about the former Massachusetts governor only paying about 15% in taxes due to his mostly capital gains based income, he gave a tremendous amount of money to charity. In 2010 Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, contributed nearly $3 million to charitable organizations. That’s 13.8% of the couple’s adjusted gross income (AGI).

Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich reported that he and his wife, Callista, gave $81,133 to charity in 2010 which accounted for 2.6% of their $3.1 million combined AGI. Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen, reportedly gave $16,744, or 1.8% of their AGI, to charity in the same year. No data is available for Texas Congressman Ron Paul as he has not released any tax records.

So where do these presidential hopefuls stand compared to other wealthy Americans? Well, Philanthropy.com reported statistics from the IRS showing that in 2009 Americans who earned between $500,000 and $1 million gave on average 2.6% of their total income to charitable organizations. Those fortunate enough to have earned $1 – 1.5 million gave on average 2.9%. Data on charitable contributions for those Americans earning more than that were not found.

So clearly Mr. Romney gave the most, however, he also appears to have the greatest ability to give based on a total net worth of upwards of $200 million. The other candidates have much lower capacity to give with Mr. Santorum having the least with an estimated net worth between $1 – 3 million. But how much of their income should they be giving to charity? With solid income and multi-million dollar assets it would be easy to say that they could all be exemplary citizens and give 10% of their income to charity. The only one who might deserve a bit of a break is Mr. Santorum who has seven young children – none of which have completed college yet.

And what about the Democrats you ask? President Obama and First Lady Michelle gave $245,075 to charitable organizations according to their 2010 tax return. That represents 14.2% of the presidential couple’s AGI of $1,728,096. Vice President Biden’s personal philanthropy fell far below the rest though. In 2010 he and his wife, Jill, gave charities only $4,400 or 1.16% of their AGI of $379,178.

Charitable donations are just one way we can give back to our community. And while it doesn’t give a full picture of the candidate’s philanthropy – especially since we didn’t even begin to dissect the types of organizations they are giving to, that is an article in and of itself – it does possibly peel back a layer of their persona so that we can focus on yet another facet of their character.

Happy voting!

“There can be no greater service to our country and no source of pride more real than to be a member of the Peace Corps of the United States.” John F. Kennedy

I often wish that I had answered President Kennedy’s call and applied to be a Peace Corps volunteer. But I seem to have missed my opportunity, or have I?

Actually the Peace Corps reports that more than 5% of their volunteers are 50+ and that number continues to grow. As we prepare to have the greatest population of retirees ever alive, a two-year volunteer commitment might be a nice transition between the traditional work-life and retirement. What makes this demographic so attractive to the Peace Corps is their experience. From carpentry to business to education, a variety of careers provide valuable skills for volunteer posts. Lilian Carter, mother of former President Jimmy Carter and a registered nurse by trade, served in the Peace Corps at age 70. “It transformed not only her but also the rest of the family,” the former president said in an interview.

Now if you are sitting and home and starting to envision a two-year stint on a sandy white beach where line caught fish and refreshing drinks are served up by white-linen clad waiters, you might want to rethink this. “It’s not luxurious,” says Margaret Pratley a retired school teacher who recently finished her third assignment at the age of 81, “but it is possible.”

And although you will be giving back, you might just find yourself receiving more than you bargained for. “Volunteerism is the best gift that anybody can give to him or herself,” explained Joyce Alphonso a former healthcare worker who served in Guyana. “You learn a lot you. You think you are coming to help but you are the one getting all the help.”

You may still think that you are not a good fit for such an adventure. Despite the statistics perhaps you still believe that this is something for your children or grandchildren. Well Mary McCoy who spent two years in the South Pacific islands of Tonga disagrees. “I’m getting a lot more than I would have if I were in my 20s,” she reflected. “Getting two of the most fun years of your life in your late 50s, I didn’t expect that.”

Volunteers Tom and Brooke Nagle in South Africa

You will want to do your homework before you apply for a spot. Do I have to pass a physical? How can I apply with my spouse? Should I be anxious about learning the local language? All these questions and more are addressed in their handy Frequently Asked Questions document that specifically addresses common questions that older volunteers may have.

“If you are in reasonably good health do something positive,” says Tom Nagle who taught HIV and AIDS treatment and prevention with his wife in South Africa. “Forget the golf game. You can always come back to that!”

To learn more about the Peace Corps 50+ program, visit their interactive website.

Images courtesy of www.peacecorps.org

Photo courtesy of latesthealthtips.com

As you try to make good on your New Year’s resolution to be healthier, make sure that volunteering is a regular part of your routine. Research from several studies shows that older Americans who volunteer live longer and report having a higher quality of life compared to those who do not.

The Journal of Psychology and Aging reports that volunteering regularly reduces depression and increases overall satisfaction in life for older adults. Comorbidity of depression and cardiovascular disease has long been suspected and studies from the past 15 years now prove that depression negatively impacts the course of multiple cardiovascular conditions and also hinders patients’ compliance with taking prescribed medication and secondary prevention measures.

Another study published in the Journal of Social Science and Medicine reports that volunteering can mitigate the increased incidence of mortality in those who have functional limitations. The study surveyed 916 non-institutionalized adults 65 years old and older who lived in the United States. After a six-year period mortality data from the National Death Index was cross-referenced with the survey sample to reveal that, “functional limitations were associated with an increased risk of dying only among participants who never or almost never volunteered, suggesting that volunteering buffers the association between functional limitations and mortality.”

A quick search of medical journals will yield more than a dozen similar studies all pointing to the same results. It’s important to note that most of the research does focus on older adults who volunteer at least 100 hours a year, which is about one day a month.

Now you might say that these studies are coming to false conclusions; that perhaps the causal relationship is reversed and those who volunteer do so because they are in fact in good health. Perhaps, but think back to the last time you volunteered. Remember that feeling you had when someone you were helping thanked you or gave you a hug? It feels amazing and I’m convinced that there is a chemical change that occurs in the body when you help others.

In November I wrote about how volunteering provides services that might make the difference whether others live or die. Who knew that in addition to saving someone else’s life, you might just be saving your own! Don’t let your resolution to be healthier slip through your fingers, get out there and volunteer.

Want to volunteer and don’t know where to start? Check out Create the Good for ideas and opportunities in your local community!

Image courtesy www.evasvillage.org

If you give to charitable organizations, you definitely want to read this post. There are some important changes being made to how some charitable contributions are treated that can potentially affect you.

Two main areas to be aware of relate to IRAs and Charitable Gift Annuities.

IRAs

It is unclear right now if the IRA charitable rollover law will remain in place in 2012. What this means is that unless Congress intervenes people over the age of 70½ who are required to take a distribution from their IRA will no longer enjoy the current provision that allows for up to $100,000 of IRA assets to be directly transferred to charity without the funds being treated as revenue.

As it is not treated as revenue you will not be responsible for federal income tax nor future estate taxes on these contributions. If you and your spouse are both required to take distributions, you can transfer up to $100,000 each. This provision only applies to IRA withdrawals and are not applicable to any other type of retirement plan.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is perhaps the most popular planned giving option. It allows you to give a portion of your assets (cash or property) to a cause you care about, while at the same time providing you with a lifetime stream of fixed annual payments. If you have significant savings in CDs or savings accounts, you may receive more income with a gift annuity – check out the rates below!

The American Council on Gift Annuities, the organization that recommends gift annuity rates, has recommended lower rates starting in 2012. What this means to you is that if you are considering making a gift annuity in the coming months you will most likely receive a less favorable rate after December 31, 2011. The chart below is for individuals and shows the current rate compared with the new rate starting January 1, 2012.

The changes reduce payments by less than a percent, but over the span of several years this could make a noticeable difference. Remember that charities often times establish a minimum amount for these irrevocable gifts, such as $10,000, in order to set them up. Please also note that there are changes to the joint and survivor rates as well.

The information, content and data within this blog post are to be used for informational purposes only and should not replace professional advice. Before making any financial transaction you should consult with your own financial advisor.

Photo: www.graphicshunt.com

A few years ago I decided to skip the madness at the shopping center and volunteer on T.D.A.T (I know calling it this sounds terrible, but so does Black Friday) at a local soup kitchen. It was a place I had volunteered before, but never around a holiday. As I pulled up in front of the building I was shocked to find the parking lot completely full. Inside was more reminiscent of the anarchy that must have been going on across town at the Best Buy that morning. People were coming out of the woodwork.

The volunteer coordinator climbed atop a plastic chair in order to get everyone’s attention. After thanking everyone profusely for coming out that morning he made a plea for them to schedule some time each quarter to volunteer. “I struggle just to get six people in here in mid-January,” he shared, “and August is even worse!”

In addition to the traditional meaning of this holiday, and our newly found association with insane deals from retailers, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a period of time where we tend to think a lot about donating and volunteering. It builds steadily through December with the help of the Salvation Army bell-ringer and a barrage of media pieces focused on good deeds only to be forgotten and replaced in January by thoughts of joining a gym and trying to lose all that extra holiday heft that we’ve gained over the past six weeks.

Let’s keep this sage advice from the volunteer coordinator close to our mind and hearts all and “celebrate” Thanksgiving four times a year. By volunteering once a quarter you will ensure that the local organizations that depend on your support will be able to operate smoothly all year long.

Visit Create The Good to find volunteer opportunities near you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reed Sandridge

What would happen if all volunteers ceased to give of their time starting tomorrow? I was thinking about this question this morning and it is a scary scenario. We often take for granted the benefits we receive because others take their time to serve, but stop for a minute and think about a world without volunteers. How many people would die? How many would go hungry or become ill? The ramifications would be catastrophic.

When I was a child we had a house fire. Thankfully the local volunteer fire department showed up in something like three minutes from the time the call was placed. According to a 2010 study by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 71% of all fire departments in the U.S. are staffed by volunteers! They go on to report that in 2010 there were more than a million fires responded to – that’s more than one every 24 seconds. All totaled they caused more than 3,100 deaths in this country. I shutter to think what these statistics would be if two thirds of those departments didn’t exist.

According to the American Red Cross, volunteers account for more than 97% of their workforce. Last year alone, they helped 4.4 million people through disaster preparedness, response and recovery activities. They protected 63 million people against measles, HIV/AIDS and malaria. They reconnected 4,240 families separated by international war and disaster. You can’t help but wonder how many of those feats never would have happened without volunteers showing up to give of their time?

Red Cross Volunteers

The list goes on and we haven’t even begun to think about the men and women who serve in our military forces. Every person that volunteers is creating benefits for countless others. The Corporation for National and Community Service reported that in the U.S. last year 62.8 million adults volunteered a total of 8.1 billion hours. According to Independent Sector, this translates into nearly $173 billion of economic value to communities throughout the country by supplying them with services that would not have been provided without the help of volunteers. $173 billion is a staggering statistic. That’s more than the GDP of Costa Rica, Ecuador and Iraq combined!

As we start to look forward to 2012 I encourage you to evaluate your own commitments to service. I used to think that I volunteered a lot. After my year-long journey of volunteering every week in 2011 I am convinced that most of us can do more. There are countless ways to give your time – be creative and have fun!

Photo credit by Lou Angeli Digital

Miss a post by Sandridge?

Post 1: Giving During Desperate Times:

Post 2: Breaking Down the Barriers of Self-Centeredness:

Post 3: Volunteer on Your Next Vacation:

Post 4: 5 Ways Volunteering Can Help You Decide Where to Give Money:

Post 5: Changing Trends in Volunteering in America:

Post 6: Volunteering Overseas: My Recent Adventure to Ireland:

Post 7: Ireland: The Best Place in the World in Which to Grow Older:

Post 8: Are you a Philanthropist? Maybe

Post 9: AARP Stepping Up Commitment to Volunteerism

Post 10: Cable Companies Helping to Increase Volunteering Rates?

Reed Sandridge

A few weeks back I got letter in the mail from my cable provider, Comcast, informing me that I would need to order and install something called a “Digital Transport Adapter” by mid-October or my service would be affected. The letter directed me to a website where I entered in some details about my home and the number of television sets I owned. A few days later I received a box containing three kits (although I only have two televisions) that needed installed on each set.

Each one of the kits contained an adapter, remote control, batteries (thanks!), remote control signal receiver, coax cable, power supply and adhesive fasteners. I opened up the instructions, which were four feet long, to figure out what I had to do. Basically the adapter needs to be installed between the cable line from the wall and the back of the television. It’s a fairly simple installation, although they did offer to send a technician for a fee, but it adds another remote that needs to be used and reduces some of the features that my television had.

Now if you’re still reading you’re probably asking yourself, “What the heck does any of this have to do with Comcast helping to increase volunteer rates?” Stay with me, there’s an explanation.

According to research conducted by Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the key differentiator between someone who volunteers and someone who chooses not to is the amount of television viewed. “People who do not volunteer watch hundreds of hours of additional TV a year compared to people who do volunteer,” says the report. “It’s not that people don’t have enough time to volunteer. People do not volunteer because nonprofits do not provide them with volunteer opportunities that interest them enough to pull them away from their television sets.”

Digital Transport Adapter Kit

Although I don’t watch a lot of television, I jumped through all the hoops to request the adapters, install them, go online after the fact and activate them and now fumble around my house with two remote control devices for each television. That being said, I’ll bet that some people will just not bother to do all this. Perhaps, they will use those reclaimed hours to volunteer.

 Photo credit by Reed Sandridge

Post 1: Giving During Desperate Times:

Post 2: Breaking Down the Barriers of Self-Centeredness:

Post 3: Volunteer on Your Next Vacation:

Post 4: 5 Ways Volunteering Can Help You Decide Where to Give Money:

Post 5: Changing Trends in Volunteering in America:

Post 6: Volunteering Overseas: My Recent Adventure to Ireland:

Post 7: Ireland: The Best Place in the World in Which to Grow Older:

Post 8: Are you a Philanthropist? Maybe

Post 9: AARP Stepping Up Commitment to Volunteerism

Post 10: A World Without Volunteers

Reed Sandridge

This is a guest blog post from Reed Sandridge.  Sandridge lost his job in 2009 and did the unthinkable – he started giving away $10 a day to complete strangers!  He captured the story of every recipient atwww.yearofgiving.org.  A frequent writer and speaker on volunteering and micro-philanthropy, Sandridge lives in our nation’s capital.

Late last month, it was announced that AARP and Experience Corps were “joining forces,” which has the potential to create a seismic impact on several segments of society, namely adults 55 and older and K-3 school children.

Experience Corps, the organization that served as the model for Ireland’s Wizard of Words program I wrote about in my 7^th blog post, engages the time, talent and experience of older adults to support schools in improving the reading and literacy skills of children in grades K-3. Through one on one instructional support, 20,000 Experience Corps volunteers help over 2,000 students in 19 cities across the country.It seems that the program has been quite successful. According to an independent study conducted by Washington University in St. Louis, students who work with an Experience Corps tutor for a single school year experience 60 percent greater gains in two critical literacy building blocks — sounding out new words and reading comprehension.

Experience Corps Mentors

Research by Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health recently conducted studies designed to determine how the work of Experience Corps members affects children and schools, and how participation in Experience Corps affects older adults. They found that children participating in the program scored higher on tests and had less disciplinary incidents. Furthermore the study showed that the Experience Corps members experienced improved overall health, increased activity levels, higher number of calories burned and a significant increase in their social network.

I had the chance to meet Experience Corps CEO Lester Strong recently when he was a speaker on a panel that I moderated. He has vision for growth for the organization and I think joining forces with AARP will give the organization the ability to scale dramatically. In addition to any possible financial investment, the Experience Corps program will now have a pool of roughly 35,000,000 AARP members to draw from for volunteers. Likewise AARP gains an out-of-the-box proven program that provides substantial impact for students, their families and schools, not to mention the benefits listed above for the volunteers.

I am very excited and optimistic about this partnership. Could this be the beginning of a series of investments in volunteer organizations that are engaging older Americans? That would be an interesting strategy especially as baby boomers move toward retirement. With AARP members making up one of the largest volunteer population segments in the U.S., the possibilities of what these two organizations can accomplish by working together are endless.  If you would like to learn more about AARP Experience Corps, click here.

Photo credit: Experience Corps

Post 1: Giving During Desperate Times: 142 views

Post 2: Breaking Down the Barriers of Self-Centeredness: 205views

Post 3: Volunteer on Your Next Vacation: 193 views

Post 4: 5 Ways Volunteering Can Help You Decide Where to Give Money: 122 views

Post 5: Changing Trends in Volunteering in America: 117 views

Post 6: Volunteering Overseas: My Recent Adventure to Ireland: 145 views

Post 7: Ireland: The Best Place in the World in Which to Grow Older:

Post 8: Are you a Philanthropist? Maybe

Post 9: AARP Stepping Up Commitment to Volunteerism

Post 10: Cable Companies Helping to Increase Volunteering Rates?

Post 11: A World Without Volunteers

Reed Sandridge

This is a guest blog post from Reed Sandridge.  Sandridge lost his job in 2009 and did the unthinkable – he started giving away $10 a day to complete strangers!  He captured the story of every recipient atwww.yearofgiving.org.  A frequent writer and speaker on volunteering and micro-philanthropy, Sandridge lives in our nation’s capital.

The word philanthropy comes from the Greek language. Phileo means to love and anthropos means human.  You put them together and you have the idea of loving humanity. For a more modern definition, I Googled the term philanthropist to get the “official” definition from TheFreeDictionary.com and found a delightfully simple one, “Someone who makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being.”

You’ll notice that the definition doesn’t talk about specific financial amounts so we can throw that idea that we have to be a billionaire to be a philanthropist out the window. Let’s also be reasonable too and acknowledge that if this is not our principle occupation in life than it may not be appropriate for us to refer to ourselves as a philanthropist like those whose last name is Gates, Buffett or Rockefeller to name a few. However, I am quite comfortable calling myself a micro-philanthropist or even simpler, a kindness investor – a term I coined while giving away $10 every day for a year while I was unemployed.

But if you’re like me and don’t have a half-dozen banks around the world busy counting your bars of gold, how do you get started?  Well look no further, I’ve created a very simple framework to guide people who want to start being a bit more savvy about their giving. I call it IMPACT Giving.  This simple guide works for those who give $10 a year or $10,000,000. 

Investigate

Once you have decided that you want to channel some of your funds to help a cause or organization, spend some time thinking seriously about what you want to support.  Explore organizations that appear to be aligned with your personal values and interests.  Read their financial statements if they are public.  Write them emails and ask them questions that are important to you.  In the end, you want to give to people and organizations that you believe in.  You want your hard earned money to truly make a difference.

Mission Statement

This may sound silly, but I encourage you to put some thought into why you are giving and what it is you want to accomplish.  Write it down.  Let it guide you in your giving.  It shouldn’t be more than a sentence or two, but it should provide a clear sense of direction.  It might be something like this: “To provide funding for programs that help children in the United States who suffer from heart related illness.”  Although I tend to believe in narrowing your focus so that you can channel more of your time and resources to a handful of causes, some people prefer to cast as wide of a net as possible and support a myriad of organizations.  There is no right or wrong answer, but it is helpful to define your approach.

Plan

The next step is mapping out exactly what you will do.  Perhaps you will support four organizations equally or maybe you will give primarily to one organization but offer secondary support to a handful of others.  Again there is no right or wrong answer here, but making a plan will clearly define who you will help and how.  You want to think about your finances here too and budget how much support you are able to provide. If you have a financial advisor or even just someone whose judgement you trust, you might want to run your plan by them. I always add an additional 15% for unforeseen support opportunities that come up.

Act

Implementing what you have decided sometimes becomes a problem.  Your finances or interests might change or perhaps you just lack that tiny amount of motivation needed to move your plans into action.  The good news is that if you have done the first three steps well, you should have enough time and moral equity invested in the process that you keep true to your commitment.  Follow through with your plan.  Exercise discipline when tempted to support other worthy causes – next year you will have an opportunity to adjust your personal giving portfolio.

Check

Take time to check back with the people and organizations you support to see how your investment is used.  If you are giving small amounts to large organizations, they most likely won’t be able to give you very personalized information, however, you can get a sense for how they are using all the funds they receive.  Also do an internal check.  Are you still passionate about supporting these initiatives?

Tweak

Once a year take time to make any adjustments that might need to be made about your personal giving.  Maybe you are able to give more or perhaps you have to curtail your giving due to new financial burdens you have taken on.  Maybe you want to allocate a larger percentage of your support to a new organization.  Recalibrate and make a new plan and act upon it.

No matter how you decide to give or who you decide to give to, you will find this to be a rewarding part of your life. There are few words that can describe the beauty of ordinary citizens collectively realizing our own ability to use our talents and financial resources to positively impact social change.

Photo credit: Info Hub

Post 1: Giving During Desperate Times

Post 2: Breaking Down the Barriers of Self-Centeredness

Post 3: Volunteering on Your Next Vacation

Post 4: 5 Ways Volunteering Can Help You Decide Where to Give Money

Post 5: Changing Trends in Volunteering in America

Post 6: Volunteering Overseas: My Recent Adventure to Ireland

Post 7: Ireland: The Best Place in the World in Which to Grow Older

Post 8: Are you a Philanthropist? Maybe

Post 9: AARP Stepping Up Commitment to Volunteerism

Post 10: Cable Companies Helping to Increase Volunteering Rates?