Freerice.com is a non-profit website that aims to educate and provide free rice to people who are hungry. It was created by John Breen of poverty.com initially to help his child review for the SAT’s. After which he realized that the site had potential, so he decided to donate it to United Nations World Food program.

By now you must be asking how these virtual grains converted to real grains of rice. The site’s generous sponsors and advertisers make it possible to do so. All you have to do is invest your time in order to feed the hungry in Uganda, Nepal, Cambodia, Bhutan and Bangladesh. According to Wikipedia, “Since its inception, as of October 15, 2010, Freerice players had earned sufficient rice to feed over 4.32 million people for one day.”

It is wonderful to learn and be educated through games while fighting world hunger at the same time. The site boats of different subjects to choose from. There are games that improve your knowledge in English vocabulary or grammar. You can also learn a new language such as Italian, Spanish, German or French. Apart from these you can also test what you know about humanities, math, science and geography. The main objective is for you to choose the correct answer among the choices give. Once you do ten grains of rice is donated. As your correct answers increase, the grains of rice add up so you end up giving more as you enjoy the game.

Share the love while taking a break or make time to visit the site when you can. Each minute you spend on the website will make a big difference.

When we hear of solicitations, chances are our mindset would be to give away old clothes or canned goods just to say that we made a charitable act. But while this is something generous of us, it may be wise for us to use logic at times. Old clothes still have categories and this includes “still usable”. These days, people forget about this important necessity. We stock up old clothes and put them in sacks since we cannot use them. But before we placed them there, we already have an idea on whether they can still be used or not.

Old clothes are a big help to the needy. But apparently, we cannot discount the possibility of giving away clothes that are good as trash. Since we donate them, people receiving them do not have a choice of selecting and make do with what we can give. But personally, we should take out the clothing that are no longer usable.

Canned goods can be in any form. The normal ones we give out are the cheap ones such as sardines. For a couple of extra bucks, perhaps we can add something different like perhaps milk or something healthy. If all the poor people had to live on sardines, imagine at the level of help they can get.

All I am saying is that when you give to charity, mean it. It is not about taking something out of the closet or the kitchen cabinet to say you did a good deed. We are giving to people as well. Just imagine how you would feel if you were in their shoes.

A different kind of dinner
Charity dinners usually invoke visions of expensive venues and black tie affairs. It does not have to be the case, though. Think of something on a smaller scale and something that does not require huge amounts of money. How about focusing on a specific cuisine that will showcase a particular ethnic group? This is great for charities working in this area. Alternatively, you can have a group of families host the event and highlight their family recipes. This should encourage community involvement even more.

Fun events
Think out of the box. How about hosting a geek night at the local bar? I have had friends organize something similar and it was a hit. Fantasy night is another idea. You just might be surprised at the neighborhood response!

Use Facebook and other social media
You’re spending lots of time online anyway, why not take advantage of what is available? You don’t even have to spend extra money on promoting your charity!

The bottom line is to organize something that is tied closely with your organization’s purpose and to encourage everyone in the community to participate.

Big charities have web sites, offline newsletters, and all sorts of other ways to get the word out. They have the means and resources to do so. For small charities, however, it might not be so easy. This does not mean that you cannot come up with your own newsletter, however. Here are some things that you can consider as you come up with your newsletter.

Determine your recipients. The more the better. Everyone who is in your contact database should be included in your list of recipients. Of course, do not forget that your database should not be static. It should grow as time goes by.

Determine how you will send out your newsletter. You can do this through e-mail or through printed copy. I would suggest using the latter, especially for starters. Electronic newsletters will not cost you anything.

Determine the contents of your newsletter. This will change from issue to issue but the bottom line is the same – you have to tell your recipients about your core values. You have to tell the recipients your regular activities. You have to share your continuing programs. Tip: don’t over do it. Two pages should be enough to keep them reading.

Determine how often you should send one out. This could be tricky. You do not want to send out issues too far and few in between. Do make sure however, that you do not send newsletters out too often, as your resources may not be able to sustain it.

It is not the first time that we have encountered this problem. In fact, we have seen this happen centuries before. While many have been gallant as far as helping out charities, money is certainly the least to be expected as far as help is concerned. Alternative help comes in the form of clothing, food or even company. These are factors that are equally helpful and people just have to stick to the fact that the occurrences that has hit the whole world is something beyond their hands.

As far as charitable efforts in trying to raise funds, it can still help. But don’t expect it to impact in the forecasted revenue it can generate. People are buying less and regardless if it is of superior or heartfelt quality, people are certainly going to pick up things that they really need and pass on what they don’t really have use for.

Charities may brace for the worst. But the good thing is they can expect this to improve as the economic storm can only prove better tomorrows for people of today.

One thing about the Philippines is that you will find a lot of beggars in the streets. You will also see acts of charity which is heartwarming. But one thing most people fail to realize is on whether these acts of kindness are indeed going into their pockets or to the people who organize and deploy them in different parts of the metropolis.

Sad to say, begging in the Philippines has been made into a business. Despicable as it may seem, it is a reality to which some wiser Filipinos have been advised not to give to the poor or if ever, just give something in kind like food, canned goods, or clothes. That way, you are giving them something that they can use rather than money which is obviously holding true to its word as a source of all evil.

Through this, true acts of charity are being made. You are helping unfortunate people through the actual needs based on the hierarchy of John Maslow. These are acts that syndicates hate since it deprives them of profiting through using people. Addressing the needs of the actual people may at times be the best way and good blessings. But for people who are handling them, they are given ultimatums and punished if they do not meet quotas. Yes, they are given quotas making begging more of a profession rather than something to which any person can provide any form of help.

Pathetic as it may seem, if you find yourself coming across such people in the Philippines, try not to give any form of cash to them. You can either say NO or give something that a person would really need outside that of money.