Shameless Plea for Money

I work for a nonprofit. Many of my friends work for nonprofits. And we are all a bit nervous.

Nonprofit work is always tricky in that we do a lot of work to benefit society for a little bit of money, and the funding sources vary from private donations, to membership dues to government grants. In the current economic times, everyone is worried about their money, including the individuals, the philanthropists, and the government. Donations to and membership in nonprofit organizations is down, which means cuts to important programs may occur.

Now, I'm not one to tell you to pony up and send $200 to your favorite organization. I wouldn't do it, because I, like most people I know, really can't afford it. This has been something that has bothered me since college. I worked for and volunteered at a couple nonprofits during my college years, but couldn't even afford membership dues. Giving $50 - $250 would completely blow my budget. It is a hard thing to give up a chunk of money to an organization, even when you know it is totally worth it, and you would love to support them.

But, I've found a solution!

I'll tell you what I am going to do, and hope that you will consider joining me. Joe and I talked about donations last weekend and decided that we would give $240 to nonprofits. Whoa, wait a minute, I said before that I couldn't even afford $200, what am I thinking?

Here's how it will work....

Many organizations offer monthly giving. You visit their donation page, tell them how much you are willing to give, set it for a specific number of months, they bill you monthly, and then send you an end of year statement for your taxes. Joe and I choose 4 nonprofits (including USEE - I work for them, and feel that they are that important, so I'll give back). We will give each nonprofit $5 a month for the entire year, which will end up being $60 each (for our grand total of $240). A sixty dollar donation doesn't seem like a ton, but I know we at USEE are excited when we get a check for any amount. I won't miss the $20 each month. If you think about it, that would just be skipping one cafe mocha latte from your favorite coffee shop once a week. Not a bad trade for all the wonderful programs that come from nonprofits.

Please consider supporting us here at the Utah Society for Environmental Education. Even $5 a month will make a huge impact. Click here to set up a monthly donation.

Or, if USEE isn't your cup of tea, consider donating to your favorite nonprofit. Trust me, they'll be grateful. If they don't have a monthly giving option, please suggest they set one up.

Thank you for your support!