Why small donations can make a big difference!

Last week, Engage Globally began our annual fundraiser for our Education Fund. Like many non-profit organizations, we timed the start of our fundraiser to coincide with Giving Tuesday, a ten-year old effort to encourage charitable giving. This movement has helped encourage many donations, but sometimes people can feel overwhelmed by the number of requests they receive. While others may read about multimillion-dollar donations in the media and wonder if their contribution is really needed. And, this year as many feel financial pressures, we often hear the question, ‘I can’t donate much, is it really worth it to give $10?’
 
For a small organization like Engage, the resounding answer is YES! These contributions genuinely help us for many reasons.
 
First, $10 is not a small amount of money in our partner communities where most people live below the global poverty line of $1.90 in daily income. In some rural international communities, $10 really can provide a child with a month of school lunches. This is especially true if the organizations, like ours, are community-led. We hire staff from the local area and food supplies are grown in the community or purchased in local markets, which greatly reduces costs.
 
Second, by donating any amount, you join, and help grow, the non-profit’s community of supporters. Larger non-profit communities can provide more helpful ideas, expand networking and partnership opportunities, and make it possible for the organization to share educational resources with a wider audience. Additionally, it is often easier to receive grants and to form small-business partnerships when non-profits have a larger donor community.
 
Third, your contribution often inspires others to give. By sharing that you donated on an organization’s website or social media, you help others learn how they can also make a difference.
 
Finally, for Engage, one of our most important goals is to build a global community of people who learn from and find inspiration in each other. Our partners are genuinely excited when people show support for their work. Making small donations, writing positive comments online, and sharing social media posts or resources (like this blog!), can all be very empowering.
 
This holiday and giving season, if you are hesitating to donate to any organization whose work you care about because you feel you can only give a little, we hope that you will remember that any amount matters and will be greatly appreciated.  
 
If you would like to support Engage Globally’s Education Fund, you can contribute on:
·      Our website
·      MightyCause
·      Facebook (no fees)
·      On Venmo - @engage_globally (underscore in the middle)
·      By check to 257 Haywood Rd. Unit 201, Asheville NC 28806 (no fees)

Therefore, my challenge to each of you ... is that you ask yourself what you can do to make a difference.
And then take that action, no matter how large or how small.
Graca Machel