Eat lunch, raise dough for CARITAS

In the spirit of Goodwill stores and Junior League resale shops, CARITAS just opened it "Do Good Deli," a downtown, delivery-only sandwich shop. It's a for-profit buisness that CARITAS hopes will help maintain the bottom line of the nonprofit CARITAS.

Here's how it works: You choose a sandwich or salad from the menu, with prices ranging from $5.99 for the Vegan Velvet Elvis to $8.99 for the Rockin' Roast Beef. Call or fax them with a big group order, more than $20. They appreciate your calling the day before you need the sandwiches, but they might also be able to handle later notice.

The delivery area is between Lamar to I-35 and Cesar Chavez to 12th Street, but that includes a lot of people who like to eat lunch. When you get the lunch, you pay, and the profit Do Good Deli makes goes back to CARITAS.

You like to eat lunch? Work in the downtown area with another person who likes to eat lunch? Of course you do! We all love lunch.

Some notes: The food is not prepared by homeless people, so don't picture people under an overpass making your sandwich off a found mattress. The whole operation is separate from CARITAS client services. And the place is run like a business, with all the employees earning a fair, living wage. And one of the driving forces behind the deli is a board member who also happens to own a chain of sandwich shops called Thundercloud Subs. So they probably have a solid business plan under them.

... just another example of nonprofits and volunteers finding new ways to support their missions. I hope to hear some good news coming from them soon!

Did you donate your Taco Bell taco?

This I love. From The Chronicle of Philanthropy blog, Give and Take:

"The fast-food company Taco Bell is giving away free tacos to any person who stops into one of its restaurants this afternoon as part of a promotion tied to the World Series. But instead of encouraging consumers to stuff themselves with free food, an anonymous group has started a Web site that seeks to turn the promotion into an effort to raise money for victims of the California wildfires.

DonateYourTaco.com is encouraging those who aren’t planning to cash in on the free taco promotion to sign an online petition. For every name collected on the petition, the site’s organizers plan to ask Taco Bell for a cash donation equivalent to the value of a free taco to the American Red Cross."

Read the rest of the blog entry here: http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/article/362/donate-your-taco-to-charity

Well, free taco day was today, Tuesday, for a couple of hours this afternoon. I don't know how many people lined up at Taco Hell to get their free nasty taco thing, but the taco-donation site reported just over 9,200 unclaimed tacos.

Will Taco Bell run for the border? I mean, this means that - at 77 cents a taco - the mega food chain will have to hand over ... more than $7,000 to the Red Cross! I think they shred that much in twenties every day when they run out of lettuce.

Come on, Taco Bell! Make a clever marketing promotion even better. Give the Red Cross it's dang money.

I have never eaten at Taco Bell in my life (I'm a native Texas Mexican-American, after all. We just don't do these things as long as our mothers are alive.) BUT if I hear that Taco Bell does donate the money, I will buy one of those dang 77-cent tacos.

Though I might give it away.

Let's hear from the donors and volunteers

It was great to read this blog entry, "Paul Brest Needs a Blog," in the Stanford Social Innovation Review email I got last week. (Paul Brest runs the Hewlett Foundation, the famous, 50-year-old, $7 billion foundation that makes huge awards to nonprofits of all kinds.)

The author, Sean Stannard-Stockton who wrote a book (Edit! Per Sean's comment below, it's actually a blog.) called Tactical Philanthropy, believes strongly in the power of blogs to not only increase the amount of data and information to donors by helping create a philanthropy information marketplace. But, he adds, the beauty of blogs - and really the Web - is that they allow for a two-way conversation. He notes, in particular, that the voice of the funder is rarely heard in any philanthropic conversations. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Funders, donors, and volunteers "talk" with their time and money, I suppose. By deciding where to invest their wealth, they let NPOs know what they feel are the most pressing needs. But that doesn't seem to be a strong enough voice in the conversation. After all, you can only interpret a donation as being a vague show of support for an NPO's mission. Maybe what they really want to say is a bit more complicated than a thumbs-up. Because a blog allows readers to comment and discuss posts, it can be a good place for donors/volunteers to engage in the philanthropic conversation.

When I think about the potential of GoodCause, the magazine we're working on, one of the things that excites me the most is the prospect of giving donors/volunteers a voice. The magazine will be targeted at them, but it will also be about them and what they believe. Like Mando Rayo, I think that people take the first step toward civic engagement by educating themselves about the needs of their community, and many of them become donor/volunteers, and even civic leaders. As a result of all this education and engagement, I believe each of them develops a strong opinion about what the change they want to see in Austin.

So what's going to keep this magazine from becoming preachy, sentimental, or maudlin?

The way I think about it, as someone who's interviewed probably more than 100 very different people, is this: People's passions make them interesting. If you ever think someone is boring, it's probably because you're asking them the wrong questions. When you find what makes that person get out of bed in the morning, what makes them sit on the edge of their seat when they talk, what makes them animated and comfortable... you'll be amazed at how interesting that person can be. And interesting people - along with compelling stories and useful information - can make a great magazine.

I think there are a lot of people in Austin whose passion for good causes will make for an interesting read. And if it encourages other people to join in the conversation, all the better.

(IN FACT... I am lining up interviews with active Austin donors and volunteers now - two next week, so far - and I plan to write about these interviews here. Maybe even get a little video in, if they let me. If you're an active donor or volunteer - or if you want to be one - let's talk!)

What CARITAS is about - Plus a video interview!

To be a development professional at an Austin nonprofit seems to require a diverse array of skills. The more I learn about their job, the more impressed I become.

On the one hand, it seems to take the persistence and professionalism of a seasoned salesman. You have to know your product inside and out, and be able to identify what about it sticks most with your customer.

On the other hand, development people need to be passionate about their mission. They need to truly believe in the cause and be able to communicate the need in a way that inspires - rather than depresses - their audience.

Whenever the development team at CARITAS begins a relationship with a donor, partner, or volunteer, they give them a tour of the facility, and that's what I got yesterday. I was in good hands with development associate, Sarah Michel. Watch the video (below) of her describing her job. She obviously loves it.

She seemed most proud of the reception area, and I can see why. It's ... well, dignified and professional. In my ignorance I thought it would be a loud, dingy area where stressed-out people at the end of their ropes would sit impatiently, and equally stressed-out receptionists would pant behind desks trying to make sense of the chaos. This was not the case at all, and it's a credit to the entire staff - especially the intake specialists who greet new clients - that the reception area was so calm, quiet, and well-kept.

"This is where our clients first walk in," said Sarah. "And our intake specialists are great at finding out how we can help, so it's important that their first experience with CARITAS be one of caring and patience."

She also walked me through the food pantry and the working kitchen. We stood among a hectic group of paid staff and volunteers in the middle of lunch (it was high noon), and watched food trays proceed through a finely tuned assembly line. CARITAS serves more than 400 meals a day out of this kitchen to anyone who wants one, no questions asked, and they were certainly busy when I was there.

We proceeded to the classrooms upstairs - large, windowed rooms with lots of natural light and long tables - where CARITAS offers 450 classes a year, all free. They teach everything from ESL to job and financial skills. Sarah told me that a recent survey of their classes by a national service group ranked the Austin classes to utilize "best practices" when compared to similar groups. She also said each class would likely cost each student about $200 in the for-profit world - at CARITAS, they're free.

We proceeded through the offices, though she quickly led me through the client managers' offices in order to "protect the privacy of our clients." We did spend time in development, finance, and other support offices. It was a busy office - there happened to be a board meeting that day so there was a definite buzz in the building.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I was surprised I would be so impressed by the whole facility. Everything looked new. Everyone looked busy. People.... smiled. I have to say that I've worked in lots of offices where the atmosphere was far less positive. Sarah credits this to the diversity of the staff and the compassion they have for their clients. CARITAS is a credit to Austin... but it's not just the staff, of course. Austin would be a terrible place if not for the board, the volunteers, and the donors who work together to keep this place operating.

But please don't read this and think everything's under control and that CARITAS doesn't need your help. Step outside the CARITAS building and you'll know immediately that there's a great need in Austin for food, shelter, clothing, education, and support. The people waiting for a hot lunch come every day, nonstop. And the people in the lobby were desperate for a helping hand. And the refugees CARITAS picks up and acclimates to this country are desperate for a new, better life.

There's lots of ways to help.

• Go to Sam's and buy a pallet of bread, drive it to CARITAS, and drop it off.
• Write a check for $100 to CARITAS and specify - or not - which program you want it to support.
• Host a canned food drive in your building and compete with another building for who can donate the most.
• Instead of listing your furniture on Craigslist, drive it over to CARITAS so they can provide a furnished apartment to a refugee.
• If you run a business and need workers, tell CARITAS and they'll send over former lawyers and doctors from the Sudan.
• Take the CARITAS volunteer training and spend the morning preparing and serving lunch.

Or take a development professional to lunch, find out about their organization, and tell your friends why you should all give now.

Touring CARITAS tomorrow

A few weeks ago I met Sarah Michel, part of the brilliant CARITAS development team, at an AFP lunch. She was very supportive of the idea behind GoodCause, and invited me to take a tour of CARITAS. Of course, I'm taking her up on the offer.

Now that the organizations hugest fundraiser of the year is over (the annual Harvey Penich Award Dinner held at the Four Seasons), Sarah has generously offered to introduce me to what they do at CARITAS.

CARITAS is one of those organizations that has a hard time coming up with an "elevator pitch." On their Web site they say they, "provide rent, utilities, food, and support to people in need," but - gosh! - isn't that like saying "We do everything?"

I'll definitely have more details about what this incredible organization does after my tour tomorrow. I'm so excited!

Should Austin's charitable efforts join forces?

In her blog entry today, Andrea Ball asks, "Does Austin have too many nonprofits?" And I think that's a totally fair question. Not just because of the ratio of nonprofits to people, but also because of redundancy of efforts.

A school supply drive is a good example of how redundancies of efforts don't alway make for a better outcome (though it's not applicable to this group). It's not difficult to organize a school supply drive, but it is a lot of work. You need some fliers and emails, a marked bin for everyone to drop off the supplies, and someone to collect all the supplies and organize the pick-up by the nonprofit group. In the end, an medium-sized office can gather quite a bit of school supplies, and everyone feels great about it.

But at some point you have to measure your ROI. Consider that within that same building, there were two other offices having their own school supply drive. It seems each office - or at least the few people from each office who organized it - could have banded together for building-wide drive with a better result. Also consider that, while donations of school supplies are always welcome, the group that collects school supplies and hands them out to needy students, For the Children, can actually make better use of cash donations because they get great deals on supplies that they buy in bulk. So one person's $5 worth of crayons and glue might have actually been better spent by For the Children, which might have gotten three boxes of crayons out of it.

In no way am I trying to discourage anyone's efforts to reach out and help. In the end, regardless of redundancies of efforts, everyone wins. But could we fulfill our missions better by pooling our efforts?

In fact, this is a major tenet of GoodCause. One of the regular departments we have in mind would be something I've nicknamed "Gather 'round the cause." Each month we would choose one cause - say, children whose caretakers can't afford school supplies - and list every organization that is doing something about it, including contact information and how you can get involved. That way, each organization starts to learn about the other, and if you think that's a mission close to your heart, you can find your place in the effort.

What do you think?

Mando in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

There is no one in Central Texas nonprofitland who does not know Mando Rayo. If you don't know Mando Rayo, you're probably not doing a very good job at fulfilling your mission.

I'm new to this world, I know. But I haven't met anyone who doesn't know this guy. His name is on everyone's Rolodex because he's the director of Hands On Central Texas, a United Way agency whose core responsibility is to find and place volunteers for dozens of nonprofits. You need volunteers? You need in-kind donations? You call Mando.

But it's not just his position that makes him so popular. He also happens to be effective, passionate, charismatic, and smart. And, I think, continually understimated. He's one of the examples used in a story published in a recent issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the lack of minority nonprofit managers.

Mando's Mexican-American. He's also young (33 years old), has at least one visible tattoo and tends towards jeans and black T-shirts. Not your typical middle-aged white female nonprofit manager, I guess. And once you start talking to him, you realize that's what makes him so great. He's exactly the kind of person you wish would care so much about the needs of Central Texas because he looks so different from the usual bunch of do-gooders. That he also happens to be the same nationality as so many of the neediest people in Austin makes you think he'd have an edge.

Not when it comes to moving up the ladder, according to the article. "Organization leaders didn't understand his background or their own biases, he says, which kept him from moving ahead."

Too bad for them. I've worked in nonprofits a little bit but I've worked at plenty of for-profit organizations as well, and the people like Mando are the ones who should move up, but fast. He seems to be in a position that suits him now, but - if it's at all possible - can someone get him more resources, funding, and staff? This guy can make good things happen for Central Texas, but this MexiCAN is going to need some help.

The missing step in getting Austin to give?

I'm glad Andrea Ball wrote today about Austin's lagging charitable donations. What's the takeaway from a story like that? I hope readers don't just throw up their hands in rhetorical "What's to be done?" defeat. I think I'm going to make this my next task: Finding stories that answer that question.

It's really the main idea behind GoodCause magazine. The magazine's mission assumes there are more Austinites who want to donate money and volunteer than those who don't, but that they need to be inspired and shown the way.

Demonstrating the need is the first step, and if people read closely enough, there are plenty of stories in the newspaper every day that accomplish that. Still, the folks behind the I Live Here, I Give Here campaign for philanthropy conducted a survey in which respondents said they did't really understand the needs in Austin, but if they did understand the needs better, the survey respondents said, they would donate more money.

Telling stories about the needs, then, is certainly important. But I think there's another step between understanding the need and actually sending the check. I think the next step is to make it easy to give.

A few months ago I was at the Inflatable Wonderland in Lakeline Mall (I know this sounds like a non sequitur, but bare with me), and while my son and I were putting our shoes back on, a woman about 30 years old came over and sat down next to us. She was bearing a stack of large postcards and politely explained that she was a child photographer and a mother herself, and that she was offering a special discount on her work for a limited time.

She explained that she was donating a portion of each portait session to the Austin Children's Shelter. She had read a story in the Statesman about the lack of space for Central Texas children taken from their homes due to abuse or neglect. She knew they were raising money to build a new, larger facility, and she wanted to help. She had printed up special cards about her efforts and was passing them out where she thought parents with small children congregated. (And at Inflatable Wonderland, that's like shooting fish in a barrel.)

This was a great idea, right? Here's a young mom who's also a portrait photographer, and she's trying to raise more money than she herself can give for a cause close to her heart.

Well, not to single them out based on one woman's experience, but she did say that it wasn't exactly easy to make this arrangement with the Children's Shelter. She described how it took a few phone calls and a few forms before she could get permission to embark on her project. But she felt strongly enough about it to follow through. I can see the Children's Shelter's point of view: They can't have just anyone claim to be raising money for orphans and using that claim to garner more clients. But it made me wonder if the process could be easier. And whether other charities made it easier or more complicated to conduct a fundraiser in their names?

Earlier I talked about the Food Bank's process, which seems pretty straightforward according to its Web site. Can't every Austin charity make it this easy? Would it increase donations if they did?

The first-person donation request works, at least it does on me

Yesterday I got an email from someone named Bruce. The subject line read, "Hello from Bruce," and remarkably - considering I have made a living in the past by devising spam subject lines (I know... there's a special place in hell for people like me) so I know spam when I see it - I opened it.

Turns out it wasn't spam at all. It was an email from Bruce Brooks, who happens to be the boyfriend of one of the best people I know, Mimi Eckstein. Among all the people I've met since I moved to Austin almost 10 years ago, Mimi is a standout. I met her when she was looking for contributors to AustinWoman magazine, of which she is the founding editor. I spoke with her on the phone quite a lot, even when I wasn't working on a story, because she was just so darn entertaining, supportive, and interesting. She was also one of the few people I knew - and know - who care so passionately about making a good magazine.

Mimi also worked like a dog. I don't mean late nights and weekends, I mean all night and all weekend - all the time. She managed, wrote for, laid out, assigned, edited, proofed... everything for AustinWoman. Her boss ... well, let's just say her boss didn't seem to appreciate it. At times I know Mimi was at the end of her rope, but she was always professional and committed to making AustinWoman the best it could be. I really believe Mimi taught the owners of AustinWoman how to make a magazine. During her time there, the magazine's page numbers more than doubled - and with more pages comes more work, of course.

Toward the end of her time at AustinWoman (five years, I think), Mimi started to get weak. Her legs would just fall out from underneath her. She eventually quit AustinWoman, exhausted, and was soon thereafter diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She quit smoking and eating dairy for a while. She uses a wheelchair or a cane now, or just holds on to the walls. Some days are better than others. She still freelances her butt off to make money, but she has a hard time generating the income she used to at AustinWoman (which was not even close to what she deserved to make, but it was something). The good news is that she's still highly entertaining, sharp, and more positive about her future every day.

So back to the email.... Her boyfriend, Bruce, is riding in the MS 150, a 150-mile bike ride from San Antonio to Corpus. He had sent this email to all of Mimi's friends asking us to support him on his bike ride by donating to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The email came with a link to the NMSS donation page, and the form to make the donation could not have been more simple. I donated $30.

How else would NMSS have gotten my money? Direct mail? An ad in the paper? A flyer in the breakroom? I don't think any of those strategies has ever worked on me. But here was Bruce, the boyfriend of one of the people I like the most who also happens to have MS, personally asking me to donate money to this cause for which he will undertake this grueling, two-day bike ride. He's been training, bought equipment, taken the time from work, etc... I just need to click twice and type in a number and my address. Mine was the easy part.

It helped that he was helping Mimi. It also helps that the two times I've met him I thought he was amazingly nice. One time, Mimi and Bruce came over to my house for a party. There were a bunch of kids in my backyard, and one of them got a ball stuck in a pear tree. Bruce didn't know anyone at the party much less the kids, but he's the one who climbed up the tree to retreive the ball.

The I Live Here, I Give Here people are on to something with their grassroots approach, I think. It seems they've invested a lot of their effort in training 70 Austinites to go out and spread the word about donating money to local, Austin charities. I don't know how they chose these people, but I'm willing to bet they're a bunch of bike riders and tree climbers.

More interesting findings from Austin's campaign for philanthropy

I attended a lunch meeting today of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Austin chapter, at Green Pastures. The speaker was Patsy Woods Martin, executive director of the I Live Here, I Give Here campaign that aims to increase local donations and gifts to to Austin charities.

Patsy presented the findings of the campaign's initial survey. What made today's information so interesting was not just the survey results themselves, it was also that the results were presented to nonprofit professionals who live in that world every day. I was curious to see how professional fundraisers would react.

I don't think many were surprised by the survey results, but I think many of them felt better armed to go out and do their jobs. These are people who meet with, honor, and plan events for donors on a regular basis - all in an effort to get them to send those checks. They have to have their missions' stats and "elevator pitches" down. They have to be able to tell the stories of their clients and encourage donors that their gifts make a difference.

Three of the major points Patsy made at today's luncheon were the following:

1. While 97% said they thought the quality of life in Austin was good, 64% said they'd move away for a better job.

What the campaign gathers from these numbers is, according to Patsy, "The message that giving money to make our community better doesn't resonate with more than half of Austinites." These are people who don't have roots here, who don't see themselves benefiting from an investment in the community.

2. 82% of respondents said they would donate more if they had a better idea of what nonprofits do and, according to Patsy, 2/3 of them reported that they don't know enough about the needs in the community.

"Austinites don't know enough about the needs," she said, "and if they knew more, they'd give."

Later in the presentation, one of the audience members spoke up and said that Austinites just don't see the need. We look around and we see all these young, healthy people, these beautiful parks, and new construction.... To me, it goes back to the east-west divide of Austin and how so many of us think of the city as two separate communities and populations.

Another person said that he noted that the same cities that ranked so low in charitable giving were the same cities at the top of the Richard Florida's list ranking the cities with the largest "creative class." Is there a correlation between these young creatives and a city's level of philanthropic giving? Musicians, small business owners, artists, writers... Ford labels this group as "well paid," but maybe giving to charity isn't part of their culture. He quotes members of the creative class as valuing things like nightlife, outdoor recreation, and cultural diversity. Good schools, low crime, more opportunities... maybe these don't register with the creative class.

3. Patsy noted that Austin's culture of fundraising is based on events.

I spoke with Carol Thomas, Caritas's development director, and Sarah Michel, Carol's "right-hand man," about their biggest fundraisers. I was surprised that their annual Penick Award Dinner grossed so much for the nonprofit. They credit it to keeping a keen eye on the bottom-line costs of the events, and performing detailed analyses of how much to charge attendees in order to make the even profitable. Very smart.

I remember from my experience at a nonprofit that not all events make sense, in terms of profitability and return on investment. The staff and volunteers can put in a significant amount of time organizing an event that might make some money. But two weeks later, something as simple and straightforward as asking a bunch of volunteers to come in and make phone calls to get pledges can yield so much more.

The question is, does it make sense to focus fundraising efforts around events, even if they don't give you a great ROI?

That's a tough decision for a nonprofit to make. Events like those are typically the baby of an important board member, who can be stubborn about letting go. "Our board is made up of these very smart, business-oriented people," Carol told me, "and when you show them the numbers and that bottom line, they tend to make good decisions."

Not all nonprofit boards are like that, unfortunately. Even if it's obvious to the staff, the staff is in an awkward position selling it to the board. I've seen it happen before - egos can get in the way. Having a fundraising culture based on events is not necessarily a bad thing. But the events (duh) have to actually make money.


There's so much to unravel about why Austinites don't donate more to local charities, and all of it is important to know if we want to change that fact. The I Live Here, I Give Here campaign has already succeeded by helping us put some data to what we think we know.

How cool is Operation Turkey?

Operation Turkey is one of those philanthropic organization that can inspire the rest of us to forget our inhibitions and do something obvious to help someone else.

I first read about Operation Turkey in June. Andrea Ball had a bit about the project in her philanthropy column, and reading it was one of those "A-ha!" experiences. What got me about it was the story about how it all started - basically - with one guy just having the guts and willingness to do what we all think about doing.

Thanksgiving 2000: Richard Bagdonas and a few friends were enjoying one of the great big Thanksgiving dinners, complete with all the fixings. Turkey, dressing, rolls, potatoes... all that food piled high on their plates - and there was plenty left over for second and third helpings. After having their fill of Thanksgiving goodness, Bagdonas realized that there was more than enough food left. Plenty. It all made him realize how lucky he was.

Then he thought of the people in Austin who might not get a Thanksgiving dinner that day and, in fact, might not eat anything at all. What a waste. Wasn't there a way, he wondered, to get his leftovers to someone else who might need a good, hot meal? Well... there was.

Why not put some on a plate and drive downtown to find someone to give it to?

Could it be that simple? Would it really help? What if that person was offended, told him to go away, threw the food back at him? Or worse, what if that person tried to rob him or hurt him? It just could't be as simple as putting food on a plate and giving it to someone. If it were, why weren't other people doing it?

That year, despite his fear and hesitations, Bagdonas did it anyway. He drove to Sixth Street, spotted a homeless man in a wheelchair, and offered him the food. The man couldn't speak, but another homeless man sitting nearby thanked Bagdonas and proceeded to feed the man in the wheelchair.

I met Bagdonas for lunch at Casa de Luz this summer. He told me all about that first year.

"I admit it, I cried all the way home," says Bagdonas. "I had just never done something that affected me so much. It was this unbelievable feeling."






Seven years later, Bagdonas is still plating up Thanksgiving dinner, driving around Austin, and handing it out to people on the street. In 2006, he handed out 500 Thanksgiving dinners. And in 2007, Operation Turkey will hand out hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners in 13 cities across Texas and Lousiana. He doesn't do it alone, of course. He's enlisted dozens of volunteers to cook, package, and distribute the food. He's gotten the support of Austin Community Foundations to administer the Turkey fund. He even throws two concerts earlier in the year to help pay for all the food and packaging.

One of the most interesting things about Operation Turkey is that it has had no shortage of volunteers. Aren't there a lot of other places people can volunteer around the holidays? "I think we make a great volunteer experience because I let people choose how they want to help," says Bagdonas. "And we make an effort to find something interesting for people to do." Last year, he remembers, a number of volunteers brought their children, which were quickly enlisted to decorate and color the styrofoam boxes used to serve the food. "We had kids writing 'Happy Thanksgiving' on all these boxes, drawing turkeys, flowers, hearts... it was a great way to get them involved."

Intrepid people in other communities have contacted Richard to figure out how they can start an Operation Turkey of their own. (See this page, "Start in your city") Richard walks them through it, even contacting that person's local police department to find out where it would be safe to deliver food to people in need.

Bagdonas's story and organization continues to stick with me because of its straightforward, entrepreneurial approach to giving. He didn't head for a soup kitchen where he'd be one of many ladeling food. He didn't just write a check the next year to the food bank. ...not that either of these options are bad choices. The point is, Bagdonas found a way to help that best suited him.

It reminds me that there's an opportunity out there for everyone to give.

Make it easy to give

I wondered if was easy to tag-on a canned-food drive to an event. It seems like lots of events do, and it's certainly not asking much of attendees to "pay" for attending the event with a food donation.

We went to a party at my son's Little Gym yesterday in South Austin, and they were collecting cans and cash donations for the Capital Area Food Bank. The party was to celebrate Little Gym's new relationship with Disney - some kind of marketing partnership, I assume - so I didn't expect a fundraiser on top of that.

The Little Gym's staff is small, though they're very dedicated to the children. Pulling off an event this size seemed like a big enough feat in itself - two moonwalks, games, free snacks, and Grupo Fantasma to play (the lead singer is my son's teacher). So to add a food drive on top of it all... must be easy to do, right?

I went to the Food Bank Web site and found a nice sidebar listing - in easy-to-follow language - all the steps to take to have a successful drive. The downloadable Food and Fund Drive Coordinator Kit goes into more detail, and even offer suggestions and downloadable posters and promotional material. And the food-drive registration form is easy to complete, too.

The overall impression I got was that hosting a food drive is easy. How great is that?

I wonder how much this contributes to the Food Bank's success. The forms and downloadable posters are one thing, but they've also obviously thought all this through. They didn't just put it all in plain language and simple instructions, they made the process easy itself.

I also wonder how many other organizations are missing out on donations and volunteers because they make the process and instructions overly complicated. It seems like a big challenge for Austin NPOs is in creating easy and obvious ways for people to give - money, books, toys, clothes, food, school supplies...

I can see this as a regular department in GoodCause. A "So you want to give..." section that features something different each month. A "So you want to give... children's clothes" story would list all the places that take children's clothes and give them directly to the people who need them. Personally, I would appreciate this kind of information. I know these days some people take their stuff directly to eBay or Craigslist or hold some kind of garage sale, but a lot of us are too lazy/busy to do all that ... and Austin charities should captialize on our laziness!

By the way, if anyone knows any charity that needs gently used wedding decorations, please let me know.