Developing Philanthropic Children

Posted by Quinn Donovan at Jun 12, 2008 04:24 PM CDT
Categories: Fundraising , Nonprofit Trends , Volunteerism

| | Article Link | Comments

This Sunday is Father’s Day.  As the proud parent of a 4 year old I can honestly say that I have learned a lot about being a parent.  Some things I intuitively knew how to do.  Other things I had to learn along the way.  And in hindsight there are probably a few things I wish I would have done differently. 

This got me thinking.  As parents we’re continually learning, but what are we teaching our kids?  If things like giving are a learned behavior, what are we doing as parents to actively teach our children about the importance of philanthropy?

Sure, any parent who has lived through the terrible twos can attest that a certain amount of self-focus is natural among children this age.  However, despite the tantrums, and the “it’s mine” and the “I want” children are amazingly aware that there is a broader world around them.  Since they're paying attention to our lead, I think the key to raising a giving child starts with being part of a giving family.

Here are a couple of easy ways to get your children involved:

  • Create family rituals around philanthropy.  Help children identify causes that they can relate to and feel passionate about.  Then give your children a say as to which charities you’re going to support as a family each year.  It could be making a financial contribution, participating in a food drive, or simply donating a book to the local library.
  • There is power in children helping children.  Children have a natural empathy for other children and want to contribute to those in need.  For example, started by a child as a front yard operation, Alex’s Lemonade Stand grew into a national charity raising over $5 million for kids with cancer.  See more child founded charities here:  http://www.kidzworld.com/article/6444-child-founded-charities
  • Frequent businesses that support charitable giving.  Dropping your loose change in the giving box during a visit to McDonalds is an easy way to keep year round giving top of mind for your children.
  • Help your kids design and decorate a giving jar separate from their piggy bank.  Offer to match a portion of your child’s allowance towards a contribution to an organization or cause of their choosing.
  • When there is a drive for canned goods, new school supplies, or unwrapped toys, have your child pick out what to purchase and donate. Make sure your child understands the item(s) are not for him/her to keep.

Providing positive examples to our children will help them become passionate about giving, show them that their actions can make a difference, and form a meaningful connection to a larger world.

Reply to this post with any examples you use with your kids, or programs your NPO has to help parents educate their kids about the importance of giving back.

|


Posted by Facepalm at Apr 09, 2009 02:50 AM CDT
URL: http://indexoffiles.com

Very useful files search engine. indexoffiles.com is a search engine designed to search files in various file sharing and uploading sites.


Posted by Philanthropic Travel at Oct 28, 2008 11:55 PM CDT
URL: http://www.exquisitesafaris.com/index.php/journal/more/your_children_philanthropic_travel/

Proof of Concept: It all started when I was 7 years old.... http://tinyurl.com/5h38kn


Posted by Quinn Donovan at Oct 28, 2008 11:54 PM CDT
URL: http://www.connectioncafe.com

Thank you everyone for your postings and thoughts. This is obviously a topic that we are all passionate about and your ideas are fantastic. I wanted to call out a few great resources that I found on the link that Beth provided us. Beth has done a really nice job on her blog discussing this exact topic with a lot of great links and ideas that we should all be using with our kids. If you haven't read it yet, take a look - http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/11/encouraging-phi.html. One of the ideas I really liked was the Free Rice Game (http://freerice.com/). It is a vocabulary game for school aged children and teens that donates 20 gains of rice through the UN World Food program for each correct answer. Its a win-win. Your vocabulary will improve, you're having fun, and supporting a great cause. The other link I wanted to share from Beth's posting is the one to AFP Youth Blog (http://afprc8.blogspot.com/) which highlights stories of how our youth are making a difference in philanthropy. Enjoy!


Posted by Angie at Oct 28, 2008 11:51 PM CDT
URL:

Loved reading what you wrote.. I truly believe that anything we want to be engraved in the adults of our future we should start by teaching it to children.. and watch the results show 10 years from now.. As a teacher for "2yr old" children I can say it can be difficult to teach them to share or give something they believe they "own" to someone else.. But watching them learn and grow is the most amazing thing on earth teaching children to give and help others should be a joint process between parents and educators at the child's school


Posted by Roger Carr at Oct 28, 2008 11:51 PM CDT
URL: http://www.everydaygivingblog.com/2008/06/get-fully-funde.html

As a Dad and blogger on the topic of giving, I really enjoyed this post. It is a great reminder of what we can do to instill the value of giving into our children and the power they have to make a difference today.


Posted by Best Children Websites Guide at Oct 28, 2008 11:50 PM CDT
URL: http://www.visitthebest.com/

Hi this is a cool collection of best websites available in the net....checkout...Visitthebest


Posted by Beth Kanter at Oct 28, 2008 11:49 PM CDT
URL: http://beth.typepad.com

Great piece! I wrote about this back during the holidays - and thought you might like a few more resources. I'm going to add your post to the links http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/11/encouraging-phi.html


Nickname
Date:   
Your Website's URL:


Enter your Web site starting with http://, example http://www.connectioncafe.com

Your Comment:


(some HTML tags, such as <b>, <i>, <a>, are supported) 

Enter this word: Change

For security purposes. 

Convio

Subscriptions

Subscribe to the RSS feed

Subscribe to receive posts via email:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Convio Clients

Get answers to product questions, submit and rate product ideas, join "Birds of a Feather" discussions, and more. Join the Online Community

Videos

Loading...

Photos

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from Connection Cafe blog. Make your own badge here.


follow convio at http://twitter.com

Alltop, all the top stories
NTEN member
Convio Facebook page

Categories

Blogs We're Following

Archives