It’s already the first Monday in May 2012, and I’m announcing this month’s recipient of the HeidiTown.com Gives Back Campaign. Each month, a charity of my choosing receives free ad space on the blog and a write-up on the first Monday of the month.
This month’s organization, Change Gangs, is close to my heart because I am good friends with the founder, and I am one of the founders of the first Change Gang, People with Compassion for Pets (PWCFP).
So what is a change gang? It’s a virtual giving circle, but those are just fancy words that may not mean anything to you, so I will expand. A giving circle is when ordinary people come together and pool their donations in order to raise a larger amount of funds to donate to a specific cause. Currently there are two Change Gangs, PWCFP and Poverty Busters. If neither one of those gangs fits your passion for giving, you are welcome to form your own Change Gang – the formula is already set, so it’s relatively easy.
Here’s how my Change Gang, PWCFP, works. Currently, we have 11 members from across the United States – and one currently serving overseas in the US Army. Every month we each give $25 to our gang, and each quarter we give away the money we’ve been raising. How do we decide what organization gets the money? Members can nominate a deserving animal-related charity, and then at our monthly meeting we vote on which charity will get that quarter’s funds. A few charities that have received monies from our gang include Longhopes Donkey Shelter (Colorado), Detroit Dog Rescue (Michigan) and Companion Animal Advocates (New Jersey).
I like belonging to this gang because it allows me to help deserving organizations in a bigger way than I could as just one individual. Since our gang formed in March 2011, we’ve given almost $2000 to animal charities, an amount I never could have given on my own.
To learn more about Change Gangs, go to ChangeGangs.com.
This YouTube video gives a straightforward explanation of what a giving circle is:
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Thanks for the sharing our story, Heidi. And thank you for being the sort of person who doesn’t just wish the world was a better place. You’re doing something about it!
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