Generosity | Bucket List

About a year ago, I started trying to examine what I wanted my life to look like as I grew older. What kind of goals do I want to accomplish. Really what I've been asking is how can I live my life well.

So I wrote out a bucket list, and I started trying to accomplish some of those things.

One of my goals is to give away 90% of my income and live on 10%. This isn't an original idea, but I really like it. I've been given so much in my life, and I can't take any of it with me anyway.

Now, I'm not currently in a position to live on 10% of my income, but someday when my income is greater, if I haven't practiced, it will be really hard to say, "now I'm going to give all this money away." Giving and generosity is a heart state, but it's also a muscle to work and grow. 

I give tithe and offerings to my local church each month which is about 11% of my income.

In 2016 I paid off all my debt and decided with some of that extra income I now had, I wanted to practice giving.

Starting in January of 2017 I picked charities or people that I cared about and gave to them. It's been so fun. It's not a lot, but I get to give and have a small part in organizations I care about.

My intention with this is to share a bit about these organization and link to them so others can learn too. If you read this as bragging or feel guilt in it, please skip this post and move on to something else. It's not worth entertaining those feelings. 

So for anyone who's interested, this is my list that I've given to in 2017.

January
Preemptive Love

The founder Jeremy Courtney and his family have been living in Iraq for years and have been helping the Syrian refugees for along time. They seemed like one of the best organizations to really understand what's happening with the refugee crisis.

February
Convoy of Hope

I went on a short term trip with Convoy of Hope to Haiti in 2013. Fortunately they had a vessel docked when the earthquake struck, so they were some of the first responders to that tragedy. They are first responders to many tragedies including all of the hurricanes and fires that hit the US this year.

March
People's City Mission

I had the pleasure of working for People's City Mission in Lincoln, NE for a little while as one of their marketing staff. The CEO used to run a Fortune 500 company, so he runs a non-profit with a similar perspective. I'm a big believer that more non-profits and ministries needs that influence.

April
Adopt Together
Adopt Together was started by Hank Fortener and his parents to help families raise money to adopt children. It's a really great story. If I can find a link, I'll share that here. He also started World Adoption Day celebrated on November 9th. The goal is to raise awareness for adoption by having individuals share pictures on social media of smiley faces on their hands.

May
Royal Family Kids Camp
RFK is camp specifically for children in foster care. Groups who host one of the camps raise money so the kids never pay anything. Foster care serves a purpose but it's not always the best circumstance for these kids. They may not get to go to camp without something like this.

June
Tornado Victims in Bellevue, NE
A tornado created some real damage about 5 miles south of where I call home. Families lost their homes or roofs. As much as I love giving to big, national organizations, you take care of those close to home too.

July
Three Different Friends
And just like you support your local community, I want to support the dreams and needs of friends. These are friends who are pursuing their dreams as writers and their need to care for their ailing mom. These 3 live in LA. I miss them lots, and I believe in them, so I'll do what little I can from halfway across the country.

August
Global Leadership Fund and Convoy of Hope
The Global Leadership Fund helps make it possible for pastors and leaders around the world be able to be apart of the livestream of the Global Leadership Summit held each August. The conference focuses on developing leaders by inviting speakers from companies like Facebook and Google, the head lawyer from the International Justice Mission, a writer who lived through the Rwanda genocide amongst many others.

Hurricane Harvey hit Houston at the end of August. That was just the start of the hurricanes that hit the US, and I knew Convoy would need help responding. 

September
charity:water

This is one of my favorite organizations. The story of why and how they exist is incredible. All of the money you and I donate goes directly to helping to provide clean water throughout the world. There's a separate foundation that pays for the administration and overhead fees of the employees. When I was in New York City in August, I toured their offices - because I'm a nerd like that - and watched the VR story they created of one of the villages that received clean water.

October
Convoy of Hope

Natural disasters were overly abundant this year in the US. I'm writing this in December 2017 and I can't even remember which natural disaster had happened at this point, but I knew Convoy could use more help.

November
Halloween Event + Feed the Multitudes Thanksgiving Event

My local church puts on two big events for the community in October and November. Take care of those close to home too.

December
Christmas gifts for foster children

This may have been my favorite way to donate. Most of the time organizations would be best served through financial donations because they know the inner workings and what's needed better than the general public. I have a friend who works with foster children in the Omaha area and I asked her if there was a way to help at Christmas. The organization had a list of kids and what they'd like for Christmas. I picked an older brother and sister and went shopping. I don't like shopping, but I do love picking out gifts. I wrapped them up in big boxes, because who doesn't love having the biggest present under the tree. I hope they liked the gifts and had a Merry Christmas.