One of my favorite days as a JustGive employee was when the staff volunteered at a soup kitchen in the San Francisco Haight/Ashbury neighborhood. We served a hot meal to homeless war veterans, students struggling with high cost of living, and low-income seniors. It was a vivid reminder that rough economic times mean more people than ever need help meeting basic needs.

According to the 2008 US Conference of Mayors, requests for emergency food assistance increased by 18% last year. 36 million people in the U.S. (12% of the total U.S. population) are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to receive food stamps. For those Americans, the food budget for a family of four is a mere $11.46 a day. Shocked? I was! Prior to the American Recovery & Investment Act of 2009, the daily allotment was only $7 per day.

Sadly, even with these programs, the most recent estimates show 50 million people—including almost one child in four—struggled last year to get enough to eat.

Reaching out to those in need

Panera Bread’s Day-End Dough-Nation program packages unsold bakery products at the end of each day to donate to local food banks and charities. In 2008, more than 50 million dollars worth of bread and baked goods were distributed to organizations helping to address the need for food in our local communities.

Children’s Hunger Fund Food Pak program provides a 20-pound box of food to families in need all over the world. The program allows churches and community groups the opportunity to get directly involved in helping needy families. Each member fills a box (or two). Then CHF distributes the boxes right to the doorstep of families in need all over the world.

WIC (Women Infants and Children) provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

Fighting hunger with your actions

JustGive makes it easy to act globally or locally to make a difference:

• A $75 donation to Seattle-based FamilyWorks provides a two-week supply of formula, diapers, baby food and cereal for an infant. For $100, a homebound elderly person will receive 2 deliveries of canned goods and milk/produce.

• Your gift of $70 allows Meds & Foods for Kids to provide a child with one year of malnutrition treatment. This peanut-based therapeutic food is ready to eat and requires no refrigeration.
• The Bay Area Rescue Mission can provide 10 people with a hot meal this Thanksgiving for only $20.
• You can feed a pregnant or breastfeeding mother for a year, helping her children grow up healthy and strong, with a $60 donation to the Friends of the World Food Program.

This holiday, as you pause to be thankful for what you have, consider giving of your time at a local Food Bank or making a donation to help someone else who may otherwise go hungry. In my experience, it’s something you’ll always remember.

Tell a friend about JustGive, and share your ideas with us on Facebook and Twitter.

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

On November 15^th more than 50,000 people in 100 communities will participate in National Philanthropy Day®. The annual event, organized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, recognizes donors, volunteers, businesses, foundations and young people for what they do to improve the quality of life in their communities and around the world.

With the current economy and so many in need, what can we do to encourage and inspire giving in our everyday lives? The answer is simple:

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Teach and inspire philanthropy

Learning to Give, in partnership with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, has developed lesson plans for K-12 educators to explain the importance of philanthropy, the significance of National Philanthropy Day, and the role of AFP in the community.

Create a giving challenge among friends, family and colleagues – the person who raises the most money gets to choose the cause. Organize neighbors to participate in a bake sale or yard sale, then donate the profits to a local charity. It’s fun, easy, and helps spread the joy of giving.

Give from the heart

With JustGive, it’s easy to set up a monthly donation, making giving affordable for every budget. Whatever your favorite cause, a little really does go a long way:

• A $25 donation to Reading Partners will supply a student with books and learning materials for the Take Reading Home program; $10 will buy two books for the reading center.

• Want to inspire curiosity and creativity in children? For $50 the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation can refurbish a musical instrument; $20 buys a hands-on science kit for the classroom.

• Blue Planet Run can provide one person with lifetime access to safe drinking water for only $30.

Since 1999 JustGive has sent over $100 million to more than 60,000 charities around the world. We’re driven by our mission to connect you with the causes you care about most! Check out more tips on giving wisely. Feeling inspired? Tell a friend!

We’d love to know what you’re doing to celebrate National Philanthropy Day. Share your thoughts and ideas with us on Facebook or Twitter.

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

What are you doing Saturday?

Participate in Make a Difference Day, America’s largest national day of service, and your charity could win a $10,000 donation from Newman’s Own! Hosted by USA WEEKEND Magazine, you can easily find a project in your community or create a new one. In 2008, 3 million people volunteered in their communities that day, completing thousands of projects in hundreds of cities.

I volunteer regularly with an animal adoption agency, but on Make a Difference Day, I want to go the extra mile. My friends and I will be on the clean up crew after the MTS “Kick Gas” Festival in San Diego. This solar-powered event features local musicians and showcases green alternatives to fuel technology. Supporting events that promote easy ways to “live greener” is important to me.

If you’ve never volunteered before, Make a Difference Day is the perfect occasion to get started! Even one day of commitment can make a big difference – offer to run errands for an elderly neighbor, serve a hot dinner at a local food bank, organize friends to clean a park, or visit your local shelter and walk the dogs.

Already have plans this weekend?

Make a difference by making a donation to a charity that is changing the lives of others. Conveniently choose a charity using the JustGive Guide or make a donation to any of the nearly 1.7 million charities on the site to support a cause you care about.

Feeling inspired to do good? Spread the word!

Recruit your friends, find inspiration and even share updates through Facebook. Check out facebook.com/makeadifferenceday or tell us about your experiences facebook.com/justgive. We’d love to hear what you’re doing!

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

JustGive is excited to take part in Blog Action Day 2009! For one day nearly 7,000 blogs, with more than 11 million readers in 130 countries will write about a single issue—Climate Change. The goal? Raise awareness for an issue that has global importance.

Imagine the difference 11 million people can make. Act locally! Find a charity in your neighborhood and volunteer to plant a tree or clean up a beach. Or visit VolunteerMatch and find on-going or one-time opportunities for everyone. Bring a friend or two and increase your impact.

If 11 million people donated $1 each, the National Arbor Day Foundation can plant 11 million trees. A $25 donation to American Forests plants 25 trees where they are needed most—removing carbon dioxide from the air and cooling the planet. Get five coworkers together and bring lunch tomorrow instead of going out. You’ll save $50, enough to “Adopt an Acre” or “Adopt a Reef” through the Nature Conservancy. The benefits of individuals acting collectively are huge! Join us and take action on October 15, with your gift of time or a donation—and be proud to take part in this international day of change.

Blog Action Day reminds us of the impact one person can make when we act together. Share these ideas with someone today and inspire change for a better tomorrow!

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

P.S. JustGive is now on Facebook and Twitter. Come check us out!

An 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook the South Pacific, triggering tsunami waves that damaged most of the Samoan Islands. Numerous businesses and homes were destroyed in it’s wake. The current death toll is over 100, with many more injured or missing. Numbers are expected to rise as rescue workers search through debris.

CNN.com reports the White House has declared a major disaster, making federal funding available. The US is currently sending planes with assistance to affected areas.

“I thought it was the end of the world,” said Dr. Salamo Laumoli, director of health services in American Samoa. “I have never felt an earthquake like that before.”

In Indonesia, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake left over 1,100 dead, 2,181 injured and thousands still unaccounted for. More than 2,650 buildings have been damaged in the area and landslides have disrupted power and communications.

Your donation to the following charities will help provide basic services for  those in need to restart their lives.

Americares

International Federation of Red Cross

Mercy Corps

Save The Children

World Vision

You may also search the JustGive Guide for additional Disaster Relief charities.

Looking for a way to make a difference without a big budget? When getting together with friends for dinner this weekend, choose a less expensive restaurant. Everyone can pitch in the $5 or $10 saved as a donation to a charity that will provide food and clean water to those in need.

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

“To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.” – Chinese Proverb

They say it takes a village to raise a child. My Grandparents raised me, making them a very significant part of my “village.” My Grandpa served our country as a Marine in WWII then supported his family working for the City of San Diego. My Grandma raised four children, then took on the responsibility of raising three grandchildren. My life would not be the same without their love and wisdom.

Celebrating the difference my grandparents have made in my life

In 2004, my Grandpa passed away from lung cancer. This Grandparent’s Day, to help create awareness and prevention, I’m honoring him with a Memorial Donation to the American Lung Association. My Grandma taught me everything I know in the kitchen. Pierre’s Place, a café near my house, employs alumni of Toussaint’s Youth Villages, a residential program for teens. Profits from the café, along with my Gift Donation in her name, will help provide training for youth to succeed in the restaurant industry.

History behind the tradition

Grandparent’s Day was first celebrated nationally in 1978. Marian McQuade, a housewife in West Virginia, started it to create awareness of elderly men and women in nursing homes. She also hoped to inspire grandchildren to tap into the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide.

• Learn more about the Forget Me Not program, which connects youth with seniors, and benefits both generations. It may be something you’d like to participate in!
• Use the JustGive Guide to find the perfect cause to honor your Grandparents. Are Grandma and Grandpa tech savvy? Buy them a GiveNow charity gift card and they can choose from any of the more than 1.5 million charities on JustGive to donate to a cause they care about.

Sarah Myers
Program Manager

Share this idea with friends and family—it’s almost as sweet as Grandma’s fresh baked cookies.

It’s that time of the year again! Kids are getting ready to meet new teachers, and make new friends. Parents are stocking up on sharpened pencils, new notebooks and more. Teachers are setting up their classrooms—often spending their own money for what they need.

Education not only shapes a child’s future—but the future of our workforce and society. During times when  school budgets are stretched and funding is cut, there are several everyday ways you can help your local schools:

Cash for Cans

As long as I can remember, my family recycled aluminum cans. We collected cans in a bin in the garage. Each month we turned them in at the recycling center, using the money to buy ice cream on the way home. It was a fun family tradition my Grandparents eventually brought to our schools. We coordinated with teachers to put bins in the classrooms. Once a month we recycled the cans and gave the money to the school. It’s a simple way to raise money for your child’s school and help the environment!

News for Schools

When you go on vacation, donate your regular newspaper to a local school. Teachers use the papers for in-class education and to promote literacy. If you live in the California Bay Area, you can set up a donation by calling 1-866-444-READ. Find out more at NewsSchool. Or contact your local paper to ask about similar programs in your area.

Nominate a Great Teacher

Visit ExpoEducator and nominate your child’s inspiring teacher! Through the program, ten teachers will win a year’s supply of Expo products for the classroom. The Grand Prize is $5,000 and a trip to an NBC late night show in New York or Los Angeles. The site also features an Expo coupon for markers (you can give this to a teacher too) and a checklist for back to school items.

Make Your Donation Dollars Count

• A $30 donation to World Vision supplies a schoolchild in the U.S. with a backpack filled with pencils, paper and art materials

• A $50 donation to Teach for America provides Summer Institute training materials and professional development for a new teacher. For $75, learning materials are supplied to a teacher in an under-resourced community.

• A $60 donation to Performing Arts Workshop provides 20 children with an hour of art instruction in the classroom.

Pass this on and get your friends, family members and colleagues who care about education involved!

Mine is next month. Instead of an expensive dinner and flowers, or jewelry that will sit in a box, when friends and family ask, “What can we give you this year?” I tell them what I really want are GiveNow charity gift cards.

Gift cards give me the freedom to choose the charities I want. At a time when so many need a little extra help, the best present is one that lets me give back to others. The animal adoption organization I volunteer for was recently raising funds for a kitten to have surgery to make her healthy enough for adoption. With GiveNow cards I can give throughout the year to projects that need it most.

As summer winds down and you’re getting together with friends and families—building sandcastles at the beach, enjoying a BBQ in the backyard, or listening to a concert at the park—you may be celebrating someone’s birthday too. Or an anniversary or wedding. Or you may just want to thank your host in a special way. For any of these occasions or reasons, JustGive’s GiveNow charity gift cards are a great choice.

And right now, it’s a hot gift that comes with some cool saving. Through the end of August, you can Buy one charity e-card and you’ll get each additional one free!

This special JustGive summer offer and a new selection of e-cards for every occasion and cause make it easy to select the perfect gift. Saving you money ($2 on each additional card) while giving your recipients the freedom to choose their favorite charity.

Pass it along: Tell a friend how to give a hot gift and enjoy cool savings while making the charity choice.

- Sarah Myers, Program Manager

I joined JustGive two years ago. With my Social Work degree, I was looking for a position with growth potential in an organization that created change. Today, I not only give more financially, but I’m more active in my community—recruiting friends for beach clean ups, and volunteering weekly for the animal shelter. I love being part of a team (through work and volunteering) that is passionate about helping charity make change in the world.

This month, I’m thrilled to announce a huge milestone for JustGive—we’ve sent more than $100 million to over 60,000 charities in the past 10 years. Thanks to the generosity of thousands of donors like you, together, we have made a difference!

Our founder, Kendall Webb, proudly commented, “Given today’s economy and the growing need, this milestone makes us personally and professionally proud! It’s very rewarding to know we’ve helped so many charities by creating new channels of giving. We know that online giving is making a difference and are committed to continuing to design powerful and easy-to-use tools and services for the greatest good . . . conveniently connecting donors to charities and helping charities raise more support for their valuable work.”

A few real life examples of how your donations have helped…

The Gathering Place is a Denver-based charity helping homeless women and their children. Using JustGive’s donate now button, they have raised more than $35,000—allowing them to provide nutritious meals, health and legal services for thousands of women they would not have otherwise had what they needed to move their lives forward.

Menlo Park’s Hope Ethiopia has raised over $54,000 to support several mission organizations where there is a great need and a few dollars can go a long way in making someone’s life better. They are providing scholarships for children to attend school, and support and training for women coming out of commercial sex trade, helping them develop marketable skills.

These are just two examples of how online giving through JustGive has made a difference.

Life is full of milestones, big and small. Owning your first car. Graduating from college. Buying a home. Starting a family. I’m so proud to be a part of JustGive and to reach this significant milestone through the work we do—making a difference, online, by effectively connecting individuals and the charities they care about.  And I’m inspired and motivated to achieve more! Join me and tell a friend about JustGive. Together, we’ll continue to create change in the world through charity.

– Sarah Myers, program manager

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. – Mark Twain

This Father’s Day, the JustGive team is sharing stories about our Dads and the ways we can honor what they’ve taught us.

“Weekends with Dad meant being outdoors—road trips to Yosemite, hiking through local waterfalls or riding motorcycles in the desert. He inspired my love of travel, nature, and conservation. We put the saying ‘take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints’ into action. A Gift Collection that supports four environmental charities is a great way to thank my Dad and preserve the great outdoors for future memories.” – Sarah, Program Manager

“My Dad had a big heart. He was a crew cut, salt of the Earth, no-nonsense farmer and blacksmith who worked hard to provide for us. He gave of his time fighting fires in our community and became the Chief of Wanatah’s Volunteer Fire Department before he died. In his memory and to help my hometown, I started a recurring online donation to the fire department. For all my Dad was, what he gave to our town and what he taught me by his example, it’s one of the best ways I know to honor him.” – Candy, Marketing Consultant

“Whenever my bike broke (or later my car), he would always be willing to fix it, but we’d have to help him. We couldn’t go do something else. We had to get the wrench or screwdriver and listen to him moan about ‘if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. For Father’s Day I make a gift to Big Brothers and Big Sisters because not everyone has a mentor like my dad.’”– Andrea, Director of Programs

Supporting charities that provide mentoring and enrichment to children carries that lesson forward. And a $10 gift allows Boys & Girls Clubs of America to reach out to kids who cannot afford community programs.

“For the last few Father’s Days, we have celebrated my dad who died four years ago. Typically this is done with champagne and an elaborate meal because he would have wanted it that way. My dad was big time into gadgets and culinary extravagance. While he got great pleasure from splurging in this fashion, he also was one of the most generous people I knew—adopting surrogate relatives right and left, showering them with the same enthusiasm. In this spirit, I have sought my own means for helping others—more in a volunteer capacity than a gift-giving one.

This Father’s Day is the first for my husband, since we welcomed our first child this March. So we will have a new way to celebrate and new traditions to establish.” – Marina, Design and Production Manager

A $50 donation to Foster Care Support Foundation in memory of her Dad’s generosity towards others will buy an entire wardrobe for an elementary foster child. Volunteering locally is simply a matter of getting in contact with organizations in the area. From feeding the homeless to planting trees, find ways to make a difference in your community at Volunteer Match.

“My Dad and I live in different states, so we’ll be celebrating over the phone. He has always been supportive of me, no matter what. One meaningful lesson that my dad taught me is to always be true to myself. He encouraged me to challenge the status quo, and to not worry about what others thought. He also taught me about compassion and helping others, which influenced my choice to work for a non-profit and give back to the community. My dad has been a case manager working with the elderly and disabled population for over 20 years, and he has always been very dedicated to his work. He showed me that a job is not just about money, it can be so much more.” – Kelly, Customer Service Manager

A GiveNow Charity Gift Card lets Kelly’s Dad (or any Dad) choose from nearly 1.5 million charities and support the cause that he cares about most.

For Fathers everywhere—On your special day, we celebrate, thank and honor you!