You’re Incredible

On the morning Christmas eve day, I put on a nice shirt and some makeup, asked the kids to excuse me for a little while, then sat in front of my computer for a TV interview accompanied by Benevolent supporter and believer Lisa Bloom (she was in a studio in LA). What happened next was nothing short of incredible.

If you haven’t been following Benevolent from its tiny inception this past year, here’s a recap. Benevolent started as an idea in February of 2011. By December of 2011 we were running a small pilot in the Chicago area. In September, we were ready to branch out and started working with just a few nonprofits in other cities to see if our systems stood up to the test. We were bolstered in that month when I was invited to speak to a gathering of philanthropy leaders at a White House Forum on Philanthropy Innovation. Benevolent began to get attention, and the opportunities started to flow.

In the weeks before that Christmas eve, a few wonderful grants were committed by some excellent foundations to help us expand into three to four new cities in the new year (stay tuned for those announcements next month). So on Christmas eve, the Benevolent office had been closed for the holidays. We had divvied up the responsibilities for responding to questions and managing the site through New Year’s, and then the interview ran on HLN – first live and then in one city after another across the country throughout the day.

Immediately, there was so much traffic on the Benevolent website that our servers had trouble keeping up. Within 33 minutes, 35 contributions came in, completing the funding needed for seven people. We filled all the needs that were posted, and people continued to reach out.

Since the 24^th, almost 200 new people have liked our Facebook page, over 90 signed up for our email mailing list, dozens posted to and liked messages on our Facebook wall and twitter feed, and several more sent us emails of encouragement, offers of help, ideas for expansion and contributions to fuel our work. Here’s one staggering (for us) number: on and after December 24^th, over 8,000 people – new people who had never heard of Benevolent before – visited our site.

What an amazing holiday gift. We’re thrilled to have helped so many people this year, and to have added so many members to the growing Benevolent community all in one day was breathtaking. We’re so pleased you’re all here.

There’s a flip side to this story, though. By the end of Christmas day, over 100 people had reached out directly to Benevolent asking for help. Homeless families, people with medical needs and debts too deep to tackle, seniors living without heat, students unable to continue their studies because of tuition burdens, and more.

So many stories of people sidelined by illness and injury, so many stymied in their efforts to reach sustainability for themselves and their families. They came in all at once and they’re still coming – like a flood, really. Each story tests my social worker mettle - my ability to continue to move forward and help, even when the stories and situations before me are painful and overwhelming.

In the middle of the flood of needs, on Christmas day, I took a breath and took a moment to focus on and read the outpouring from people wanting to help others in their communities, people eagerly awaiting new stories and new needs we’d put up on the site after the holidays, people asking how they could help bring Benevolent into their communities. I realized at that moment that this was it, this was the original idea I had woken with on February 13^th, 2011 – not even two years ago – the certainty that there was a match to be made between those facing one-time challenges with those who want to help.

I believed that if we made it possible for low-income adults to tell their stories of striving and to invite others into their success, then we, their neighbors, would step up to the challenge, eager to know who we’re helping and how we’re helping; that the way we give can transform someone’s life at a critical moment.

I believed in you, and you came through. Thank you for that. Thank you for believing in people who need our help to reach their goals. Thank you for sharing your stories and your personal experiences with us. Thank you for proving in Benevolent s first year that this is a way we want to give and get help, and that the way we give really is transforming.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you. May this year prove to be one in which you get to be the person you want to be. May this be the year we bring light into one another’s lives and hearts.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net

Giving With Kids

It’s the giving season, the perfect time to invite kids to get into the spirit and the act of giving. How, though, do we instill understanding and generosity in the kids in our lives without making those who live in challenging situations seem “other” or in a world apart from the lives our kids are living? It’s not simple, but it’s where we -- coaches, parents, teachers, grandparents, cousins and neighbors -- can make all the difference.

Kids are always listening. When we talk with kids openly and with an empathetic lens about what we see around us, we’re building responsible, thoughtful kids. When we make it personal through visiting Benevolent.net, reading people’s stories together and talking through some of the reactions that kids might have to reading about people’s circumstances and needs, we’re stretching all our perspectives, learning from each other as we go.

If we give with our kids, not just once a year but as a part of our family’s weekly life, and if we talk about the needs and ambitions of people who have greater challenges than ours, we’re modeling something they’ll carry with them into adulthood and into their own children’s lives.

I asked a handful of people to share the ways in which they weave giving into their family life. Here are three that I think I’d like to try with my kids:

1 – One family collects money throughout the year, setting some aside from allowance and spending money every week. At one set time each year, the parents sit down with their kids and each family member suggests a cause or effort they think the family should support. They talk about what issues are important to them, come up with a list of organizations that address their chosen issues, and make sure each kid gets to direct at least some of the funds for the year as they send off their family donations.

2 – A second family does a range of things, both as a family and as individuals. They go together as a family throughout the year to bring donations to the local food pantry and shelter. They have regular conversations about their own blessings and how fortunate they feel they are. Their oldest started teaching classes to younger kids as a required community service, but then got hooked and kept on volunteering.

3 – A third family has a rule that 10% of any money the kids get (as gifts, from working, etc.) is saved for giving to others. Each kid decides how to give his or her money and when. Sometimes they give to a cause or project through their church, sometimes to a person in need in their community, sometimes to a nonprofit. This way, each child is learning to set aside some of his or her own funds for others and then gets to decide on his or her own priorities for giving.

What if you chose a person a week on the Benevolent site? What if I did this with my kids? We could use that one person’s story and need to spark conversation, talk about choices and personal commitment, to imagine ourselves in another person’s shoes. Then we could give.

Maybe this week, it’ll be Tiffany who has already been certified as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) but wants more for herself and her family than minimum wage. She wants to be a Nurse, an LPN.

Tiffany shares a great deal of her story, including the fact that she had been pregnant with twins, but lost the babies, then lost her job. She shares which college she’ll attend and how she will use the laptop she’s hoping to get to help with online classes. There’s a great deal to talk about there – goals, loss, setbacks, plans, and balancing kids, school and work – a lot to talk about at the dinner table or on the drive to school.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net

Let the Giving Begin!

It’s early Thanksgiving morning, so perhaps my blog post should be titled “Let the Eating Begin!” or “Let the Shopping Begin!”

I hope you get to eat with your family, hug those you love, and shop for your friends and for yourself this week. Then, on Tuesday, when you’ve lived through the turkey, through Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, you’ll be ready.

You’ll have made it through the melee and you’ll have earned the calm fulfillment of Giving Tuesday. Benevolent is a Founding Member of the GivingTuesday movement and we’re hoping that Tuesday will, in fact, be your most rewarding, most self-rewarding day. After all, shopping is stressful - we worry about how much we’re spending and whom we’ve forgotten on our list; we worry about getting the best deals and about the buying decisions we’ve made.

Giving to help someone else, by contrast, is stress-free. We can do it without worrying that we’re paying too much, without worrying if the person we’re buying for will like or appreciate the sentiment behind our gift.

This Thanksgiving day, I’m thinking about Bart. He and his wife and kids could have such an excellent holiday season if we come together to help them over these few months while Bart’s training to become a welder. They need help with winter clothes for their three kids, including school uniforms and snow boots.

Here’s how Bart describes himself:

“I think of myself mostly as a great dad, loving husband, provider, humble, positive, and self-motivated. I live with my wife of 11 years and three beautiful kids - two sons and a daughter. I am going to school at JARC to become a welder. I've worked at jobs including parking attendant, machine operator, sales rep, security officer, and a material handler. Something interesting about me is I enjoy reading books, playing video games, playing sports, and traveling. I have a positive attitude and am a good father.”

Today is the opening bell of the giving season. Today I invite you to join me: take a breath and reward yourself by stepping away from holiday stress and helping someone out when it really matters.

When you take stock of all you’re thankful for today, remember to be grateful that you have the opportunity to give. I know I am.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net 

Stand up for someone this election season

A case for voting with your empathy foot forward

Last year, my son stood up to someone who was taking horseplay too far and crossing the line into bullying. He stood up to his own friend on behalf of a kid who was not a friend. Afterwards, the boy who had almost gone too far thanked my son and told him he’d been right to stop him. I can’t recall a time I’ve been more proud of my kid.

This election season, I’ve found myself thinking about what it means when we stand up for someone, even if that person is not our friend, not in our community, and perhaps quite different from us. I’ve been thinking about apathy and about those who consider not voting because they don’t feel certain that the candidates represent them or reflect their needs or beliefs. I’ve been thinking about people who believe that their vote won’t make a difference in their own lives and therefore refrain from voting.

To me, voting is the epitome of standing up for someone else. When we vote, we have the opportunity to stand up, as my son did, for someone who needs backup, even when that person is not a friend.

So this year…

- If you believe that those who live in low-income circumstances need a country which affords them the opportunity to achieve, vote.

- If you believe that the children of families quite different from your family deserve a safe, respectful start in life, vote.

- If you believe that hard work should result in improved earnings and security, vote.

- If you believe that something that might incrementally improve your own circumstances is less important than something that others need more critically, vote.

This year, I’ll be thinking about some of the amazing people whose stories we’ve read on the Benevolent site, thinking about what they might need, thinking about their children, and I’ll be voting.

One person I’ll be thinking about will be Stefanie. Stefanie is really different from me. She was a teen mom, made some decisions that derailed her life, and has been without permanent housing for about six years. Now she’s about to get a job, be ready to pay her own rent, and reunite with her daughters.

I want her to succeed. I want her kids to have stable, successful lives. So, thinking about what will affect their lives, I’ll consider what it will take to ensure the availability of affordable housing, a job with a living wage, high quality education and health care for her girls, and I’ll vote.

This year, stand up for someone who needs, really needs, something that you can help make possible. 

Vote.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net 

External Validation

It does something for us when someone who's not on our team gives us props for what we're doing. When we get external validation from someone who doesn't need to care, it fuels our drive to push onward towards what might seem impossible goals.

Here at Benevolent, we've had a great couple of weeks in the external validation department, but when we stopped to think about it, we've been brokering just this sort of positive reinforcement to our recipients all along. 

When I had the honor of speaking about Benevolent to a group of movers & shakers in the field of philanthropy at the White House Forum on Philanthropy Innovation on September 20, I was met with a warm and generous reception from people I hold in great esteem. Leaders like Jean Case, Clara Miller, Ellen Alberding, and Jonathan Greenblatt* responded to my presentation with excitement and appreciation, and that meant the world to me. To know that people who were virtual strangers to me felt moved and inspired by our creation of Benevolent has been the wind beneath my wings in the week or so since.

I'm experiencing just the kind of reinforcing vigor that Benevolent recipients have been sharing with us from the start. They tell us that it's more than the fact that they've received help in overcoming their obstacles; what Benevolent has given them has been that warm revelation that there are people out there -- people who aren't already friends or family -- who believe in them so much that they felt moved to step forward. 

In the early, early stages of Benevolent, my mom sent a note to the office along with a contribution. Her note read: "I am honored to step forward and support Benevolent as it faces challenges and hurdles along its way to success and sustainability." She was poking fun at the language we use when we're explaining to potential contributors how their donations can make a direct impact through giving to Benevolent recipients, but the parallel she was drawing resonated. 

In our early months, Benevolent is striving, facing down challenges, learning, and overcoming hurdles along our own path towards sustainability. The external validation from professionals engaged in sparking community solutions to social problems, and the financial and pro bono support we receive today will make the difference between stagnation and forward momentum. 

Today I'm feeling especially moved by the power of external validation. So, thank you to the dozens of people who made sure I knew you felt excited about Benevolent on September 20th. Your wind-power has impelled Benevolent forward and we'll be storing up those positive feelings to get us through the coming challenges and opportunities. 

- megan kashner

  founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net

* Jean Case is CEO of the Case Foundation.  

  Clara Miller is President of the F.B. Heron Foundation. 

  Ellen Alberding is President of the Joyce Foundation.  

  Jonathan Greenblatt is the Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation.