mamaraby Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Ever since we added current events to our school day, one of my kids has been interested in doing something while confronted with her own limited financial resources. We were brainstorming ideas today, but I got to wondering if there are other resources out there (books, websites, etc) that might help inspire her. Like effective altruism, but for kids? Or a toolkit for kids to help make the world a better place? It absolutely has to be secular - no tithing and no religious justification/resources. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 I don't have a one stop source, but here are some of the things DD does (her passion is reptile and amphibian conservation and ecology for the most part, but similar things could apply to almost any interest). https://experiment.com/ is a crowdfunding site for research projects, mostly graduate student or early career science research projects. Many of these are ecology and environmental science projects, where it is difficult to get funding from normal government and industry sources. DD has donated to quite a few this way. Even $5 and $10 donations are often very, very welcomed, where she found that bigger organizations often largely ignored small donations. She has also written/illustrated a couple of children's books that are sold on Amazon, and all royalties go directly to a snake conservation non-profit, which is meaningful to her. It's not all that much-I think she had $150 in royalties from her first book, with almost all sales being to friends and family, but it helps. We do a big homeschool park day/party/educational event. We sell our used homeschool materials (and DD's used pleasure reading books) and encourage others to bring their materials to sell as well, donating some or all of their proceeds to Save the Frogs! to benefit amphibian conservation and research. DD plans activities and crafts for kids to do to learn about environmental education, collects materials to share from the EPA, Forestry Service, and state wildlife and parks agencies with families, and generally coordinates the whole thing. This year will be her 5th. Finally, she creates gift sets and handmade jewelry to donate to non-profit charity auctions, like local schools, domestic violence prevention, benefits for homeless shelters or soup kitchens, animal shelters, etc. She has gotten good at collecting low priced items to make these gift sets. She gets a lot of the funding for such projects as gifts to her for her birthday and Christmas, plus doing odd jobs at home and the like. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Justserve.org is run by the LDS church, but anyone can add service opportunities or sign up for service. The idea is to make service needs known in your community. Ours often has secular options, such as building lunch boxes for kids who suffer from nothing to eat home. Each will opportunity will have a description letting you know if minors are okay to attend and help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 I've posted a bunch of ideas here to help kids learn more about the refugee crisis. The main page has lots of ways to help refugees that don't cost anything including some suggestions of things to do if you don't have refugees in your community. And I'm constantly posting new ideas on the Facebook page in my signature. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Great thread! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Free Spirit Publishing has a bunch of good books on community service. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 She has also written/illustrated a couple of children's books that are sold on Amazon, and all royalties go directly to a snake conservation non-profit, which is meaningful to her. It's not all that much-I think she had $150 in royalties from her first book, with almost all sales being to friends and family, but it helps. Want to link them? I know a kid or two who'd be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Jane Goodall has a set of local children's nonprofit clusters called Roots and Shoots. Each chapter is encouraged to do a local project for animals, one for people, and one international one, and then repeat. It's nice to get very young kids involved. Also a lot of fraternal benefit societies sponsor projects that can involve pretty young kids. Re finances, three buckets for allowance--Spend, Save, Church (Charity, if more appropriate) are how we taught this from an early age. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Re finances, three buckets for allowance--Spend, Save, Church (Charity, if more appropriate) are how we taught this from an early age. We really like the Moonjar for this purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Want to link them? I know a kid or two who'd be interested. This is the more factual one that she co-wrote and illustrated. https://smile.amazon.com/What-About-Snakes-amazing-reptiles/dp/1514211734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479695480&sr=8-1&keywords=What+about+snakes This is her independent one, based on a presentation she does for kids. https://smile.amazon.com/Stripie-Snakies-Guide-Serpentville-Little-ebook/dp/B01M0URUV7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479695519&sr=8-1&keywords=Stripie+snakie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 This is a local non-profit aimed at getting families volunteering together. They have websites for 6 major metros (NYC, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Silicon Valley, Boston, Baltimore) and has some other general info and suggestions about family volunteerism. http://www.doinggoodtogether.org/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Is she wanting to raise money to donate to an existing organization? Or does she want to organize a drive of some sort? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 This is the more factual one that she co-wrote and illustrated. https://smile.amazon.com/What-About-Snakes-amazing-reptiles/dp/1514211734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479695480&sr=8-1&keywords=What+about+snakes This is her independent one, based on a presentation she does for kids. https://smile.amazon.com/Stripie-Snakies-Guide-Serpentville-Little-ebook/dp/B01M0URUV7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479695519&sr=8-1&keywords=Stripie+snakie So proud of your dd! How awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 Is she wanting to raise money to donate to an existing organization? Or does she want to organize a drive of some sort? Probably more the first to start. She's my think big kind of kid so I suspect it will grow from there. For that reason, I don't think the finances/bucket type education is really germane to our situation. It's more along the lines of - what can I do as a kid to make my world a better place. And by world, she's really thinking the broader world. Lots of good ideas in the thread so far! We'll take all solidly secular ideas. Emphasis on the secular part, please. I'm going to check with dd's Girl Scout leader to see if there's a badge we can work on to get started, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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