As parents and caregivers, we are responsible for raising healthy, compassionate, and well-adjusted kids. We can do this by engaging our children in giving programs as early as possible.
Whether you contribute time or money, monthly giving programs enrich your and your children’s lives. But what are monthly giving programs, and how can we use them to nurture more compassion in our families?
Understanding Monthly Giving Programs
A monthly giving program is a type of responsive fundraising that focuses on the donor by personalizing the giving process based on preferences and interests.
Participating in monthly giving programs as part of your monthly family time together can positively impact the lives of others while allowing you to enjoy quality time with your children.
But how can parents use monthly giving programs to teach kids important altruistic values like compassion, responsibility, and gratitude? Read on to learn creative ways to use monthly giving programs to promote altruism and philanthropy in kids.
Play to the power of choice
Engaging in monthly giving programs should not be a broccoli affair: something you have to force your kids to do because they hate it.
If your kids don’t enjoy engaging in philanthropic endeavors, rest assured that it’ll only be a matter of time before nothing you do or say can encourage them to do it.
That’s why giving them the power of choice is the first and most important thing you can do to use monthly giving programs to encourage a commitment to lifelong altruism in your children. Think about it.
If your kids know that “every last Saturday of the month, we go to support charity X’s endeavors of doing Y good” in the world, don’t you think they’d feel intrinsically motivated to want to go? They would.
Empower your kids by letting them play an integral part in deciding which charitable causes you support as a family. For example, if your family is passionate about puppies, you can volunteer together at a local animal shelter.
The trick here is to find a way to support a charitable cause near and dear to your hearts as a family and do your best to turn every giving instance into a learning experience.
Start by researching different charities together, visiting their websites, watching different videos and content related to that charitable cause, and engaging your kids in authentic conversations about why that cause matters to you as a family.
Knowing that they’re supporting and giving their time and perhaps part of their allowance to a cause that matters to you as a family will leave your kids feeling like their voice matters—which it does—and they will take ownership of the giving journey.
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Match allowance-based giving
If you are like most modern parents, you probably give your kids an allowance that, perhaps—and unfortunately—seems to disappear faster than a magician’s rabbit.
You can turn things around and use that monthly allowance to teach kids financial literacy and promote lifelong altruistic values like compassion for others and gratitude for everything they have. Here is how:
After choosing a charitable cause that matches your family values, sit together to create a budget for your child’s allowance, ensuring you dedicate a portion of that allowance to charitable contributions.
Then, and this is where the fun kicks in, tell your child that, for every month they give to their chosen charitable cause, you will match their donation. For impact-driven kids who want to make a difference, this will be a big, big thing that will make them feel like they’re having the most impact, which they are.
Instead of stopping there, you can also use this monthly budgeting and giving ritual as a springboard for open discussions about the importance of being compassionate towards others, grateful for what we have, and being responsible for the things we commit to—because when your kids see you matching their contributions, they’ll subconsciously learn the value of commitment.
Turn volunteering into a fun adventure
It’s so unfortunate that when most of us think about giving, money is the first thing that comes to mind.
That doesn’t have to be the case, and there’s no reason why giving should be about how much money you can give to charitable causes monthly. You can start changing this social narrative by showing your children that, even when they cannot give money, they can give their time and energy.
The best way to do this without turning the prospect into a screaming match between you and your kids is to get every capable family member involved in adventurous volunteer outings.
For example, if your family loves spending time at the park on weekends, volunteer for park cleaning and turn that into an adventure by highlighting the importance of clean green spaces. You can take things further by creating challenges and rewards for whoever hauls the most trash bags. If you’re into puppies, volunteer at the local animal shelter and turn the endeavor into an adventure, perhaps by seeing who will clean the most kennels.
The main point here is to turn giving and volunteering into kid-friendly adventures and competitions that create shared memories and entrench the value of giving and helping others in your kids.
Conclusion
Monthly giving programs are rare opportunities to teach your children valuable life lessons and values, such as compassion, responsibility, and gratitude.
They are also opportunities for family fun and meaningful experiences with your family while doing good.
Give it a try, and you might be surprised by how much you can learn and grow together as a family through monthly giving.
