Six ways to give, this week

Starting September 26 (Sunday) and ending October 2 (Saturday) is the Joy of Giving Week in India, an initiative organised by a network of non-profit organisations to promote charitable giving across the country. This ‘festival of giving’, as the organisers are calling it, is in its second year, and, significantly, ends on October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.

The idea behind an event like this is to nudge, and sometimes prod, people into giving something – money, time, other resources – to someone else who needs it more. So, to save you the confusion and trouble of figuring out what to do, we’ve put together some ideas on what you can do to help:

1. For starters, to know more about this giving extravaganza, visit http://www.joyofgiving.ning.com/.

2. Check out the incredibly pro-active and useful blogs – http://www.fundacauseposterous.com/ and http://www.jaagore.com/ – for ideas and inspiration.

3. Write, text, tweet and talk about the incredible work non-profits and social entrepreneurs are doing. They can use all the publicity you can give them. Visit http://www.mumbaiaction.org/ to see what people all over Mumbai are doing.

4. Charity begins at home. Give your kids’ old books, clothes, crayons to your domestic worker/driver/office peon’s kids. On a bigger scale, collect clothes, household items and school supplies from people in your neighbourhood and drop them off at the Goonj collection centre. Read more about Goonj and their countrywide recycling campaign here: http://www.goonj.org/

5. Volunteer your skills. There are hundreds of NGOs doing great work, who could use help from trained professionals to plan events, write their newsletters, design brochures, handle their legal work, and more. Log on to http://www.ivolunteer.in/ to see who needs help.

6. Pledge your support to Mumbai Smiles :) Your time, your resources, your skills, anything can help us in our efforts to help thousands of people in Mumbai have access to a better life and a better future. Visit http://www.mumbaismiles.org/ to know more about us.