Tag Archives: charity

Day it Forward – January 2020

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, readers are encouraged to submit the charity of his/her choice by sharing a charity on one of our social media posts (or Sylvia’s)!

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one or more to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

The charities Sylvia has chosen for the month of January 2020 are WWF-Australia’s Koala Crisis Fund and the Australian Red Cross.

WWF

WWF-Australia is one of Australia’s most trusted conservation organizations. WWF works in Australia and throughout Asia-Pacific to protect endangered species and habitats, meet the challenge of climate change, and build a world where people live in harmony with nature.

Australian Red Cross

The Australian Red Cross supports and empowers people and communities in times of vulnerability. Their purpose is to reduce suffering across Australia and internationally through mobilizing the power of humanity.

Sylvia donated $750 USD ($1032 AUD) to each charity, and you can, too, here (WWF-Australia) and here (Australian Red Cross).

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of February, please comment on our Facebook page, Instagram, or Twitter #DayItForward post(s) or Sylvia’s Facebook page, Instagram, or Twitter #DayItForward post(s). We appreciate and consider all submissions!

Did You Know Volunteer Vacations are a Real Thing? Here’s Where You Find Them

Not finding anything interesting in those glossy travel photos and site reviews? Why not think about acts of kindness as you plan your next getaway? Global volunteer opportunities allow you to spend your leisure time helping others, which we guarantee will deliver the most rewarding vacation. Maybe you’re tired of trying to avoid the touristy crowds or you’ve had your fill of relaxing on white sandy beaches on holiday. Or perhaps you just want to try something new and feel good about it at the same time!

If you’ve got some vacation days coming up, and would like to use them to help the world, here’s a handy list of organizations to explore:

Volunteer Abroad

Volunteer Abroad is among the largest programs for volunteer vacations. Choose from a huge selection of trips by interest, from archaeology to environmental conservation and building.

Teaching in Fiji:

Organized by Projects Abroad, this trip integrates volunteers into the local culture.

Environmental Conservation in Peru:

Located in the Amazon rainforest, volunteers take part in environmental conversation and agriculture projects.

 

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

WWOOF links volunteers with organic farmers to learn about organic and sustainable farming.

 

Go Eco

Go Eco offers affordable trips to solve real-world problems.

 

Rustic Pathways

If you’re a student, Rustic Pathways offers programs of various lengths in weeklong increments for middle school to college students and even offers a gap year program for high school graduates. In locations like Costa Rica, Fiji, and Thailand, with leadership- and service initiative-focused courses, Rustic Pathways is “redefining how to integrate education, travel, and philanthropy in a world where all people are connected by a shared humanity.”

 

Find your own international volunteer opportunity

If you still aren’t sure about where you’ll best spend your time and energy, check out Volunteer HQ, where you can search for the perfect travel and volunteer abroad opportunity to fit your timeframe, skills, and preferred destinations. You can also research the site for tips on volunteer travel, such as the best options and locations for singles, and even take quizzes to help you decide what volunteer vacation might be best suited for you.

No matter where you choose or who you decide on to take you there, you can spend your free time gaining new experiences, making friends, bettering your understanding of other people across the globe from you, and finding things within yourself you may not have known existed. Sounds like a ‘win-win’ to us.

Have you taken a volunteer vacation? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Write to Give: 7 Charitable Authors

One of the only things better than sitting down with a good book is knowing that the author who penned it cares deeply about giving back to his or her fanbase and communities. There are many authors who have learned the value of generosity and selflessness, and they exercise it on a regular basis. Did your favorite novelist make the list of authors who are giving back? Here are seven charitable authors we love.

1. Sylvia Day’s Day It Forward

Sylvia Day

Aside from being a #1 New York Times and #1 international best-selling author, Day also connects with her fans to bring attention to a new charity every month. Readers have the option to submit a one-paragraph essay on their favorite charity. Day reviews each submission and picks one to personally contribute to. Each selection is featured in the monthly installment of Day It Forward. Thus far, charities have included Alexandra’s House, the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, and Gentle Barn.

2. The Dean and Gerda Koontz Foundation

Suspense-thriller author Dean Koontz and his wife Gerda have generously donated in the past to Canine Companions for Independence — an organization that trains and provides assistance dogs — as well as Saint Michael’s Abbey in California. The Koontzes frequently focus their donations on people with disabilities and severely ill children.

3. J.K. Rowling

Aside from her ridiculously popular series, J.K. Rowling is also known for her generosity. In fact, she wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them as part of a two-book pair of Harry Potter schoolbooks. Proceeds have gone to Comic Relief, a charity that uses entertainment to help eliminate poverty.

4. Romance Novelist Nora Roberts

This bestselling author’s foundation, created in 1991, supports not only literacy but also the arts, children’s programs, and humanitarian efforts. The foundation donated time, money, and energy to working with libraries, museums, and theaters.

5. The Jonathan and Faye Kellerman Foundation

Jonathan Kellerman is not just a gifted suspense novelist; together, he and his wife have also formed a foundation that’s given grants to the Children’s Hospital of LA, the Boston Institute of Music, and the University of Southern California.

6. Dave Eggers

Known for his best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers wrote What Is The What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, with proceeds going to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation. This foundation works to build schools, libraries, and community centers to create educational opportunities in South Sudan.

7. Isabel Allende

Allende seeks to empower women and created her foundation in honor of her daughter, who passed on at a young age. In remembrance of her daughter, who volunteered in Venezuela and Spain, Allende donates to organizations like the Global Fund for Women, in addition to Oritel, which offers human services to low income families.

Does an author you’re a fan of give back to charity? We’d love to hear about it! And don’t forget to contact us if you have a charity you’d like to be considered for Day It Forward. You can reach us at editorial@beyondwords.life with “Day it Forward” as the subject line.

Helping Without Harming: How to Be a Good Voluntourist

Say what you want about my generation, but millennials are some of the most generous people around. We want to help—we were born into a globalized world, and when we see our fellow woman and man overseas living in poverty or indignity, we’re overcome with the need to do something about it.

It’s that same global curiosity that tickles our itchy feet and flings us off into every corner of the world to study, work, and play way more than our parents did. When you mix our wanderlust with a generational desire to fix the world, you get voluntourism, a global trend whose name sounds like our two favorite things wrapped up in one neat package. But in this case, the whole can be less than the sum of its parts. If not carried out thoughtfully, voluntourism can do much more harm than good. Here are some things you should know about voluntourism and ethical volunteering.

Work to Empower, Not to Save

Sustainability is more than a tree-hugging buzzword: It should be the goal of absolutely every volunteer effort, because its absence usually leaves a community worse off than it was. The number one goal of any good volunteer project is capacity building: empowering communities to address their own needs by sharing expertise and effecting systemic changes.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Flying into Burkina Faso to help distribute purified drinking water definitely keeps a few people healthy for a day; but if you’re not there tomorrow, they’re going right back to the polluted well they were using before. Volunteer projects like this don’t address real systemic problems like water insecurity.

When projects like these are carried out by two-week tourists instead of vetted international organizations working with local governments, they run the risk of disrupting the local purified water industry. This can lead to industries collapsing from lack of demand, putting more people out of work and leaving them totally dependent on foreign aid organizations for clean drinking water.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

But a volunteer project working with local universities and government organizations to produce affordable water purifiers, improve the city water treatment system, or provide financing and support for water technology startups has the total opposite effect. These kinds of projects empower local people to take control of their own drinking water and determine for themselves what kinds of initiatives will serve their communities best.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Even if you don’t know the first thing about water sanitation, you can still help out with great projects like these. Volunteering to help with social media awareness-spreading or fundraising for an organization like PureMadi, which works with the University of Venda in South Africa to produce sustainable water purifying technology, may not seem as sexy as personally handing out drinking water to the thirsty, but it gives you a chance to help permanently quench a community’s thirst.

water purification puremadi
Image courtesy of PureMadi

Are You Really Qualified to be Doing That?

There are broadly two kinds of volunteer roles we can serve in: skilled jobs and unskilled ones. Both carry important ethical concerns that you should consider before ever booking your trip.

Providing tuberculosis vaccinations in Uganda or teaching computer skills in a rural Nicaraguan school are fantastic ways of facilitating social change, but only if you’re actually qualified to do them. Skilled labor like this requires a particular kind of education and experience. If the extent of your medical experience is your two semesters of college bio classes, the fact that your passport comes from a country with fantastic hospitals doesn’t qualify you to be a doctor or a nurse in a developing country.

doctor helps children in africa
© Francovolpato | Dreamstime.comA Volunteer Female Doctor Visit An African Child Photo

On the other hand, unskilled labor is something most people can do with little training or technical knowledge. Be skeptical of simple construction, clean-up, or other manual labor projects: If anyone can do it, why do they need you? Are you a more talented trash-picker-upper than your neighbors in Haiti? In participating in these kinds of projects, you’ll usually be squashing employment opportunities for locals who could support their families with jobs like these.

If you’re still building your professional skills, look to programs that offer training tailored to the communities in which they work. WorldTeach, for example, offers year-long teaching placements that include initial and ongoing pedagogical training and support tailored to the needs and requests of the communities they work with.

woman teaching students
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

If you’re not ready to invest in a professional skill just yet, try offering some sustainable unskilled help. Voluntourism organizations like All Hands Volunteers let local governments and NGOs take the lead, and carefully screen incoming volunteers for sustainable long-term reconstruction projects after natural disasters. 

Don’t Be a “Poverty Pornographer”

Not objectifying people is about more than just not hurting someone’s feelings: Images of poverty and people in suffering have the power to either humanize and spread awareness and empathy or to dehumanize and promote debilitating stereotypes.

canon camera
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

It’s incredibly important to remember and be actively cognizant of the fact that the people you are helping are human beings first, and poor or disadvantaged second. Most people around the world daydream, laugh at good jokes, love their mothers, get frustrated with their homework, feel lonely at times, and aspire to be able to care for themselves, just like their neighbors in developed countries.

family laugh bali
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Poverty porn is the use of images of poor people and poverty to encourage us to make a donation or otherwise use our superior position to “save” them. The problems with this approach are many: Not only is it literally using people to generate income for a foreign aid organization, but it also perpetuates the dangerous myth of the helpless poor person whose only hope lies in the charity of an empowered white Westerner.

Look for organizations whose imagery depict humans in dignified, human situations and in poses and settings that you wouldn’t mind being photographed in if you were in their place. It’s no coincidence that high-impact organizations like Cordaid also have excellent track records of using imagery that presents the people they work with as dignified human equals.

In 2016, if you’ve got a desire and an internet connection, you can help. There’s absolutely zero wrong with combining some volunteer work with your summer backpacking trip, or with picking a volunteer project that will boost your own professional or personal growth, as long as you do your research and ask yourself the right questions about your plans regarding voluntourism.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Whatever you do, don’t let bad voluntourist projects turn you off from volunteering altogether. Voluntourism exists because there’s a lot of good to be done in the world and, refreshingly, a lot of people out there who want to do it. If you’re one of those people, go out and see the world; and while you’re out there, make a thoughtful choice about how you can change it for the better.

Day it Forward – November 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, readers are encouraged to submit the charity of his/her choice by emailing us. (You can also easily submit a charity on one of our social media posts!)

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one or more to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

 

The charities Sylvia has chosen for the month of November 2017 are Vetsports and the Elephant Sanctuary.

 

vet sports logoVetsports was “founded in 2012 by three combat Veterans, VETSports aims to set the standard for how to improve Veteran’s physical, mental, and emotional health through sports, physical activity, and community involvement.” Vetsports was submitted by Cara Gadero on Facebook.

 

 

elephant sanctuaryThe Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee exists to provide captive elephants with individualized care, the companionship of a herd, and the opportunity to live out their lives in a safe haven dedicated to their well-being, and to raise public awareness of the complex needs of elephants in captivity, and the crisis facing elephants in the wild.” The Elephant Sanctuary was submitted by a reader on Instagram.

 

 

Sylvia will be donating $750 to each charity, and you can, too, here (Vetsports) and here (Elephant Sanctuary).

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of December, please send submissions by November 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “December 2017 Day it Forward”, or comment on our Facebook page, Instagram, or Twitter. We appreciate and consider all submissions!

Day it Forward – October 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, readers are encouraged to submit the charity of his/her choice . Tell us as much or as little as you like, such as what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you wish to share with us – we want to know all about it! (You can also easily submit a charity on one of our social media posts.)

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

 

The charities Sylvia has chosen for the month of October 2017 are the Las Vegas Victim’s Fund and United for Puerto Rico/Unidos por Puerto Rico.

 

LV victims fundThe Las Vegas Victims’ Fund is in place to assist the victims of the tragic Las Vegas shooting that occurred on October 1st, 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Funds will be used to provide relief and financial support to the victims and families of the horrific Las Vegas mass shooting​.

united for puerto rico logoUnited for Puerto Rico is an initiative brought forth by the First Lady of Puerto Rico, Beatriz Rosselló, in collaboration with the private sector, with the purpose of providing aid and support to those affected in Puerto Rico by the passage of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane María. 100% of the proceeds will go to helping the victims affected by these natural disasters in Puerto Rico.

 

Sylvia will be donating $1,375 to each charity, and you can, too, here (Las Vegas Victims’ Fund) and here (United for Puerto Rico).

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of November, please send submissions by October 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “November 2017 Day it Forward”.

Day it Forward – September 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, readers are encouraged to submit the charity of his/her choice. Tell us as much or as little as you like, such as what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you wish to share with us – we want to know all about it! (You can also easily submit a charity on one of our social media posts.)

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

The charities Sylvia has chosen for the month of September 2017 are Team Rubicon and SBP: Disaster Resilience and Recovery

We can’t prevent natural disasters. But we can prevent some of the suffering they cause. By increasing resilience before disasters occur and streamlining the post-disaster recovery process, we’re able to fortify people against unnecessary stress and trauma. -SBP

SBP is providing recovery efforts in Houston, TX following Hurricane Harvey, as well as many other places where they also provide resilience training.

 

Team Rubicon‘s primary mission is providing disaster relief to those affected by natural disasters, be they domestic or international. By pairing the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders, medical professionals, and technology solutions, Team Rubicon aims to provide the greatest service and impact possible.

Sylvia will be donating $1,375 to each charity, and you can, too here (Team Rubicon) and here (SBP).

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of October, please send submissions by September 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “October 2017 Day it Forward”.

Day it Forward – August 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, readers are encouraged to submit the charity of his/her choice . Tell us as much or as little as you like, such as what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you wish to share with us – we want to know all about it! (You can also easily submit a charity on one of our social media posts.)

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

The charity Sylvia has chosen for the month of August 2017 is The 52nd Street Project. Here is a little about them:

52nd street project“The 52nd Street Project (The Project) is dedicated to the creation and production of new plays for, and often by, kids between the ages of nine and eighteen that reside in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in New York City. The Project does this through a series of unique mentoring programs that match kids with professional theater artists…”

“The Project is about making children proud of themselves. The Project is not about teaching children to act, although they will learn to. It is not about teaching them to write plays, although they will learn that as well. What it is about is giving a kid an experience of success. It is about giving a kid an opportunity to prove that he or she has something of value to offer, something that comes from within that he or she alone possesses, something that cannot be taken away.”

 

Sylvia will be donating $1,500 to the The 52nd Street Project and you can donate, too, here.

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of September, please send submissions by August 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “August 2017 Day it Forward”.

Day it Forward – June 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, you can submit the charity of your choice (detailed instructions at the end of this post). Tell us what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you feel is important to share with us – we want to know all about it!

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

The charity Sylvia has chosen for the month of June is The National Constitution Center:

The National Constitution Center is the first and only institution in America established by Congress to “disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.” The Constitution Center brings the United States Constitution to life by hosting interactive exhibits and constitutional conversations and inspires active citizenship by celebrating the American constitutional tradition.

Sylvia will be donating $1,500 to the The National Constitution Center and you can donate, too, here.

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of March, please send submissions by June 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “July 2017 Day it Forward”.

Day it Forward – March 2017

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause important to them.

Every month, you can submit the charity of your choice (detailed instructions at the end of this post). Tell us what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you feel is important to share with us – we want to know all about it!

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to learn about and possibly donate to help its cause, too.

One of the charities chosen for the month of March is Families4Fauqier, submitted by Rachel Pierce. Here is her submission:

My charity is Families4Fauquier. It’s important to me to help others in little ways that can really add up big! We offer families in the Fauquier community and beyond ways to help make our community better and help spread cheer to others such as our military hero[e]s at Walter Reed Medical Facility, local senior citizens, special needs children and Foster Care children.

Sylvia will be donating $750 to Families4Fauquier and you can donate, too, here.

Sylvia has also selected the NEA Foundation. (From the NEA Foundation’s Mission Statement):

nea foundation logo

The NEA Foundation, through the unique strength of its partnership with educators, advances student achievement by investing in public education that will prepare each of America’s children to learn and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Sylvia will be donating $750 to the NEA foundation and you can donate, too, here.

If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of March, please send submissions by March 25th, 2017 to contact@beyondwords.life with the subject line “April 2017 Day it Forward”.