Five Dollar Heroes

Weekly Charity: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

2009-01-18T18:56:00.004-05:00

More than 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. told us about his dream. On Tuesday, part of that dream will be realized with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th president.

But Obama would be the first to say that his election is but another step in the journey. Indeed, as time has gone on, that journey has become both more complex and more inclusive. Dr. King's work was not only focused on African-American rights, but civil rights for all people. He also championed victims of economic inequality as well.

So as long as there's injustice, there's a need to remember the efforts to fight it. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., will do just that. This new memorial, to be located on the National Mall, will be left intentionally incomplete, so that victims of injustice and champions of equality can be memorialized in the future.

There's a lot to celebrate this week, and in the midst of celebrating where we are, it's good to remember where we came from. So click here to learn more about the memorial, and click here to donate $5 or more. In thanks for your donation, you'll receive a "Build the Dream" wristband and lapel pin. You can also download a search toolbar to support the memorial; for every search you make using the toolbar, the memorial gets another five cents.

Have a great holiday weekend, and good luck to our new president!

Weekly Charity: One Laptop Per Child

2009-01-11T17:46:00.005-05:00

We're starting to see news articles about charities having to cut back due to the recession -- most recently it's been the One Laptop Per Child program, which, according to The Associated Press, has cut its staff in half.

The program is a good one, and deserves support. One Laptop Per Child provides low-cost, rugged laptop computers to children around the world who need them most. This gives kids in poor nations an opportunity to learn technology skills and link up with the broader world.

Right now, a laptop costs $199, though the group hopes to lower that to $100 in time. Thankfully, you can help by donating less that $199; perhaps if enough people donate $5 this week by clicking here, we'll have funded one more laptop that can bring one more child into a brighter future.

So check 'em out and give!

Five Dollar Heroes' first corporate partnership?

2009-01-04T14:43:00.007-05:00

I got a pretty unusual e-mail during the holidays. A new hotel search site, HotelsCombined.com, offered to donate $20 to a charity of my choice if I mentioned them here on the blog.

Well...I admit, I'm not one for product placement or offering endorsements or anything like that. For one, my endorsement probably isn't worth the server space used to store it (roughly $0.000037 or thereabouts). And I'm a firm believer in letting folks make their own decisions about how they spend their time and money.

But it IS $20 to charity. So I ran a few searches on the HotelsCombined.com site, and it works pretty well in aggregating hotel prices from a bunch of other travel sites and finding cheap rates. Plus, you gotta give the company points for a creative and charitable way to market their new site.

So there you have it...Five Dollar Heroes' first corporate partnership. I'm going to ask 'em to throw that $20 at CARE, our weekly charity. And I'll go ahead and ask you to click on over to the HotelsCombined.com site and check it out.

As an added incentive, any readers who are Facebook users can "become a fan" of HotelsCombined.com and the company will throw another $5 at the charity of your choice. Check out the details of this offer here.

Weekly Charity: CARE

2009-01-04T14:27:00.003-05:00

Both at home and abroad, poverty has been on the rise, and women continue to take the brunt of it, especially in rural areas and developing nations. CARE, which has been around since 1945, has focused on helping to lift women out of poverty, both here in the U.S. and around the world.

The nice thing about CARE is that while they help treat the symptions of poverty, such as providing food and shelter, they're primarily interested in stamping out poverty altogether by offering work programs, microloans, training and other long-term solutions.

This charity is a particularly good steward of donations -- all their financial information is right online here, and you can see that the bulk of donations go right to people who need help, instead of on mailings, hosting fundraisers, all that superfluous stuff.

So go ahead and check out what CARE does by clicking here, then go to their donation page and put down your $5 next to mine!

No excuses

2009-01-04T14:11:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's been more than a month since I've last posted. Indeed, it's an entirely new year now. I could, of course, blame the end-of-year crunch at work, the holidays, vacation, whatever...but the fact of the matter is I didn't get it done. And I really do regret that.

So let's call this a 2009 resolution. I'm going to get back on top of this blog and do my best to update it at LEAST weekly. Apologies to all those who have followed this blog...I'll do better. After all, the coming year promises to be a difficult one for many both here and abroad, and charities are going to need our help more than ever.

As always, of course, if you have any suggestions for this blog, or worthy charities that you feel should be featured, please drop me a line at fivedollarheroes@gmail.com. Or if I slip up again and don't post, call me out on it!

Thanks for your patience with me and this blog. Happy New Year, all.

Suited for Change

2008-11-24T21:36:00.006-05:00

The economy is bad, folks, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. Low-income women, some of who may be either the primary family wage-earner or a single parent, are particularly vulnerable these days.

Suited for Change is an excellent charity in the Washington, D.C., area that helps these women obtain professional clothing and career counseling that can help them get and retain better-paying jobs. Clients come from a variety of disadvantaged backgrounds, and the charity "suits up" more than 100 women each month. Since 1992, the charity has helped 13,000 women transition to the workforce.

Yes, the right clothes and the right counsel can make all the difference. And so can we, especially when charities like Suited for Change will see more and more clients in the coming months. So check out their good work here, then click here to donate your five bucks. Together, maybe we can add one more woman to the workforce and help change a life.

If you're looking for a charity a little closer to your own home, check out The Women's Alliance, co-founded by the Suited for Change folks as an organization of charitable groups dedicated to helping low-income women gain employment.

More visitors...and props from a fellow blogger

2008-11-24T21:02:00.008-05:00

Hello, everyone! Naturally, I join millions of bloggers across the globe when I say...I never get to blog as much as I'd like. But I'm still pretty good about getting that weekly charity up there, and I hope everyone is putting up their five bucks!

In the meantime, FDH (my new acronym for the blog!) had its 200th unique visitor over the weekend. That's over 200 in just three months which, given the number of offerings out there in the blogosphere, is pretty darn good. Thanks, of course, to the Blogger's Choice Awards and BlogCatalog for driving some traffic over here.

Also, the Five Dollar Heroes blog got an award! The owner of the Baby Bundles Int ernat i o nal blog has given FDH her "Gracious Givers Award." Normally, I wouldn't necessarily post about one blogger giving another blogger props, but in this case, I'm taking the opportunity to point out the good work that the Baby Bundles blog does.

Baby Bundles International is collecting diapers, bottles, formula, wipes, etc. to bundle up and donate to new parents who need a helping hand. Overall, a really noble effort. So head on over there and check out that blog, too. And if the spirit moves you, be a Gracious Giver and bundle up some baby stuff!

Marine Corps Toys for Tots

2008-11-17T20:51:00.004-05:00

'Tis the season, my fellow Heroes! The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is going up outside my office, and the bins for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots are already in place. And this is a very worthy charity, folks.

Toys for Tots is a program of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Like the Army Reserve and National Guard, these citizen soldiers are the same folks being called up to Iraq or Afghanistan. Each year, the reservists in communities around the country gather toys and distribute them via other charities to kids who might not otherwise have a present for Christmas.

So surf on over to check out the Toys for Toys program, and then click here to make a $5 donation along with me to help support their good work. And if you see those bins around town...even a simple gift would really make a difference to a kid.

Finally, for those concerned about the ever-earlier arrival of Christmas, don't count this post as evidence! Even the Marines need time to collect and distribute all these toys to the kids who need them. (Amphibious assault vehicles are much slower than reindeer.)

For those who served...the Wounded Warrior Project

2008-11-11T19:21:00.005-05:00

I'm a day late, but for a good reason. Today is Veteran's Day, and I wanted to blog today about the Wounded Warrior Project in honor of this special day.

The WWP helps wounded soldiers not only cope with their injuries, but gives them practical and emotional support as well. Their programs aid severely injured soldiers with the new difficulties of everyday life, help wounded veterans get jobs after their military duties are done, and provide support groups so that the wounded soldiers can help each other contend with the stresses of both war and peace.

This is a great organization, and I urge you to check it out here. And then donate your five bucks by clicking here.

And to all our nation's veterans...thank you. Our nation owes you more than can ever be repaid.

Free Cakes for Kids!

2008-11-02T18:02:00.002-05:00

First off, welcome to my new friends from BlogCatalog! Nice to see you drop by! Now go spam everyone you know and tell them to come here, too.....!

Now then. This week's charity comes courtesy of my sharp-eyed spouse, who saw an article on this in People and suggested it to me. Foster parent Toni Poulos of Trenton, Ga., made a birthday cake for one of her foster kids -- and it turned out the eight-year-old had never had a birthday cake before. Toni rightly figured that other kids didn't have a cake, either, and that someone should do something about it.

So she did. And others joined her. Today, Free Cakes for Kids is a network of dozens of home bakers who do what they can to bring a little happiness to the lives of kids around the country. They bake for the poor, the hospitalized, really anyone who needs one. Check out their site here, and you'll see that this little band of bakers are making a big difference.

And then click here to donate $5 to the cause -- in this case, that'll likely pay for the cake mix and icing!

UNICEF for Halloween!

2008-10-27T21:14:00.010-04:00

Sorry about the delay in posting...busy weekend! But it's not for lack of inspiration. My daughter already has her little UNICEF collection box for trick or treating! So this week, in a show of solidarity, I'm featuring UNICEF on here, too.

For those who might not remember collecting for UNICEF as a kid, this is the United Nations Chidren's Fund, which helps underprivileged children around the world. These are kids who are suffering from hunger, disease, war, you name it. Sort of makes the Wall Street meltdown seem tame by comparison, doesn't it?

So refresh your memory and check out UNICEF U.S.A.'s Web site, and then click here to put your five bucks down! And hey...if you're taking your kids around on Friday, it's a great way to help educate them about helping others.

The Nature Conservancy: Plant 5 trees for $5!

2008-10-19T18:34:00.006-04:00

I've been meaning for a while now to feature one of the great evironmental charities out there, the Nature Conservancy. But with hurricanes in the Atlantica and, well, hurricanes on Wall Street...I'm just getting around to it. Forgive me, Mother Nature!

In any event, the Nature Conservancy has a great program out there right now called Plant a Billion Trees. This fund drive hopes to reforest Brazil's Atlantic Forest. No, this isn't the Amazon rainforest. This is a strip of forest along the Atlantic that's just 7 percent of what it used to be. It's biodiversity is rivaled only by that of the Amazon. And the golden lion monkey is just darn cute. Even though it's a tamarin and not a monkey per se.

So anyway, check out the campaign, and click here to donate your $5 worth of trees. Mother Nature will thank you for it!

Feeding America

2008-10-12T16:55:00.011-04:00

I saw a headline in a local freebie paper today about how our area food banks were running out of food. Already, many one-time food donors are heading to the food bank to accept donations, and more and more people squeezed by bad mortgages and job losses are heading to their doors.

Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest) is a national association of food banks. They're in 200 cities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and they're there for thousands of people when the going gets rough. They're also really efficient --more than 97 percent of the money taken in goes toward helping the hungry.

So check out Feeding America's charitable programs and learn more about how food banks help people in your area. Then, click here to donate your $5 for the week. And finally, check out the cupboard in the kitchen for some of that non-perishable food that's been sitting around, and drop it off at your local church or food bank. Heck, buy some extra at the grocery store next time.

We're all in this together, after all.

Giving is more important than ever

2008-10-12T16:37:00.005-04:00

So here we are in the midst of an honest-to-God global financial crisis. Stocks have lost 20 percent in the past seven days, and are down roughly 40 percent for the year. This is bad, no question.

But it's only going to mean that there's going to be even more demand for charitable giving, and this is where Five Dollar Heroes comes in. Sure, people are going to cut back on the big gifts and efforts as they tighten their belts. But I think people can still come up with five bucks a week. How, you ask?

Bring your lunch to work.
Skip the latte one day a week, or switch to drip coffee for the week.
Store brands are your friends when food shopping.
Save on your electric bill (and the planet) by shutting off all unnecessary electronics at home.

There are plenty of other ideas, of course, and if you have one, e-mail me and I'll post it on the blog. But hey, the whole idea is that we can all find a way to scrape up five extra bucks and give it to folks who really need it. So find that extra fiver, and give it up!

Creative Arts Workshops for Kids

2008-10-05T19:57:00.005-04:00

Sometimes, you've got to change the world one neighborhood at a time. So this week, Five Dollar Heroes is going local to help kids and teens in New York City to learn about leadership and community through art.

The Creative Arts Workshops for Kids provides after-school, weekend and summer programs for kids and teens in Harlem and Washington Heights. The kids work on a variety of art projects, all designed to benefit the community. For their part, the kids gain leadership and public-speaking skills, along with a great venue to express themselves.

Check out the great work of the Creative Arts Workshops for Kids by clicking here. The gallery page is downright cool; these artists have real skill that deserves to be supported. And finally, click here to donate your five bucks for the week. Use the big DONATE button, which will take you to PayPal. Put in 5.00 in the amount field on the top of that page, and you're good to go.

One final note: This charity is indeed local to me, and perhaps to one or two regular readers. It's a great charity, too, and no matter where you're from, your $5 will be well spent. Of course, if you have some other local charity in mind, feel free to donate there, too. And drop me a line about it -- I'm always on the lookout for a good cause!

October is breast cancer awareness month

2008-09-30T20:47:00.004-04:00

I've been meaning to put up some ideas on volunteering and more active charity work, and now's a good a time as any. October is breast cancer awareness month, and there's plenty to do to help battle this illness.

For starters, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is hitting New York City on Oct. 4-5, so if you're in the NYC area like I am, check it out. The walk helps under-insured women to get checked out, since early detection is so critical. For any North Carolina readers out there, the Charlotte walk is next up, at the end of October.

The American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks are certainly more plentiful -- they're happening throughout the nation, throughout the month. Click on over, register, and help fund research and education about breast cancer around the country. Thanks to loyal Five Dollar Hero (and amazing, wonderful wife) Kate for the links!

And, of course, keep an eye out for the weekly charity postings; Five Dollar Heroes will be sure to get in the spirit by devoting a week's worth of donations to these important efforts.

Hole in the Wall Camps

2008-09-28T19:07:00.010-04:00

Paul Newman readily confessed that he exploited his celebrity. Indeed, it was on every bottle of salad dressing, pasta sauce, salsa and popcorn his company produced: Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good.

The talented actor, director, producer and, yes, salad dressing impresario, died Friday at the age of 83. His Newman's Own Foundation got all the proceeds from his food business and, over the course of Newman's life, donated $250 million to various charities. Newman, of course, was rich, but he wasn't Bill Gates rich; the foundation probably gave away more than Newman earned over his entire career.

One of Newman's favorite charities was the Hole in the Wall Camps, which he helped start in 1988. These camps allow chronically ill children a chance to have a normal, fun camp experience. Over the past 20 years, more than 119,000 severely ill kids have been able to leave the hospitals, hospices and confining bedrooms and know what it's like to spend some time in the sun.

So in tribute to one of the great philanthropists of the past 30 years, Five Dollar Heroes is naming the Hole in the Wall Camps as the weekly charity. So check out what the camps do, and please, donate by clicking here. And yes, it's another $10 minimum. And yes, once again I think I need to rename the blog...!

Finally, if you're of an athletic bent, consider joining Team Hole in the Wall for your next race, and run on behalf of a local camp!

The Grameen Foundation

2008-09-21T16:08:00.008-04:00

You've heard the old adage about the benefits of giving a guy a fish versus teaching him to fish. The Grameen Foundation, this week's charity, puts that into practice by providing poor people with the means to start businesses and lift themselves out of poverty.

The Grameen Foundation offers microloans to people around the world, mostly women, so they can start businesses. A loan of $100 may not seem like much here, but in Africa or Asia, that seed money can be used to start a business to save an entire family from hunger and homelessness. The foundation's partners set goals for the borrowers, in terms of business success as well as social success. Through Grameen and its many partners, thousands of people aren't just getting fed -- they're out of poverty for good.

A little money goes a long way...just like the Five Dollar Hero spirit! So click here to learn more about the Grameen Foundation, and then click here to donate your $5. I bet if all the blog's readers chipped in, we could, at the very least, fund one microloan somewhere, and help change a family's life.

Update: I may have to change the name of this blog...Grameen is only accepting $10 donations online. I'm going for it anyway, because I admire what they do. So make it $10!

Five Dollar Heroes is a month old!

2008-09-21T09:31:00.005-04:00

It's been a little more than a month since I started Five Dollar Heroes, and it's already doing better than I thought it would at this point. The blog has had over 100 unique visitors, logging in from 16 different states (and D.C.) and five foreign countries on three continents. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed their friends and colleagues about this blog!

As you can see from the badges on the right of the page, I've registered Five Dollar Heroes at BlogCatalog.com, a blog directory, and with Bloggers Unite, a group of bloggers concerned about social issues. (Bloggers Unite will be blogging about refugee issues on Nov. 10, and I've begun researching an appropriate charity to receive the Five Dollar Hero treatment.) I've also nominated the blog for the Bloggers' Choice Awards for Best Charity Blog, in hopes of getting more people to surf over and join us.

I don't really have a tally of how much the blog's readers have given over the past month, but we've received e-mail thank-yous from Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross and the U.N. World Food Programme. So I'll extend those thank yous, and add my own, to everyone who's been reading and contributing!

And if you have any ideas on how to make this site better, or have a good charity you'd like to see promoted here, drop me a line at fivedollarheroes@gmail.com.

Play a game online and fight hunger

2008-09-18T21:33:00.004-04:00

Forget about Minesweeper -- this is a much better way to waste time at work, and it helps fight hunger at the same time. FreeRice.com is a multiple-choice game that tests your vocabulary. For each right answer you get, the site's corporate sponsors donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme. You may be thinking, "Twenty grains? Big deal." Well, in just five minutes of playing, I donated 500 grains of rice. That's somebody's dinner right there.

FreeRice is a partner site to Poverty.com, which was started by John Breen, an Indiana computer programmer. Since the site started in October 2007, thousands of people have chipped in to learn new words...and feed two million people. This is, needless to say, all kinds of awesome.

So close out the Solitare program and dial up FreeRice.com. It's better for your vocabulary, and you'll be helping to feed the hungry around the world. And if vocab isn't your strong suit, click "Options" on the toolbar on the top of the FreeRice page to play games based on art, foreign languages, math and even chemistry.

Hurricane Ike disaster relief

2008-09-14T16:41:00.012-04:00

This week's Five Dollar Hero entry gives you a choice in your efforts to assist those hit hard by Hurricane Ike out in Texas and Louisiana. This wasn't a Hurricane Katrina, but it was certainly bad enough to leave thousands homeless -- most temporarily, and some permanently.

I've always admired the work of Habitat for Humanity, but I never realized they were a ecumenical Christian ministry. For me, I'm perfectly fine with that; I think there are too few religious folks who put their money and time where their mouth is, and I give Habitat huge props for doing so. So check out Habitat's site and if you like what you see, donate to their Ike relief efforts.

All that said, I also promised to keep religion out of things as best I could on here. So if an ecumenical Christian housing ministry isn't your cup of tea, then I strongly encourage you to revisit the Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund and donate as much as you can.

Note that neither Habitat nor the Red Cross are actually accepting $5 donations on their sites; it's a minimum of $10. But this is a big-deal storm, with lots of people who are suffering. So we can all collectively skip another latte this week, right? Go for it! Be a TEN Dollar Hero!

Vote on where $2.5 million will get spent

2008-09-09T18:46:00.006-04:00

The folks at American Express are having a competition of sorts to determine where $2.5 million should be donated. American Express members nominated 1,190 charitable projects, which were then winnowed down to 25 worthy causes by AmEx's advisory board. Now, everybody -- not just cardholders -- can vote to see which get funded. The top five projects get $500,000 each.

I think it's pretty cool that everyone on the Internet can chime in on this, and I'll be quite interested to see which projects make the top 5. It'll tell us a lot about what problems people think need to be tackled first.

So check it out at membersproject.com. You have to sign in as a guest to vote, but if this speaks to you, go for it. Voting ends Oct. 14, so be sure to chime in!

Save the Children

2008-09-07T20:57:00.009-04:00

This week's charity comes courtesy of another reader (Thanks, Terri!) who noted the work that Save the Children was doing in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. I surfed on over to Save the Children's site and was immediately impressed.

Save the Children really does immense amount of work to help children through such an incredible variety of difficulties. Here in the U.S., they have literacy programs and aid for poorer kids, along with disaster relief. Abroad, they're fighting to give kids a better life no matter the circumstances -- poverty, war, disease, you name it.

They're also good with their money, too -- 90 percent of what they collect goes right to kids in need, with only 10 percent going to administrative costs and fundraising. (In nonprofit terms, that's really impressive.) Plus, they won't spam you unless you want more e-mail from them.

Really, this is just a wonderful organization, and I'm proud to slap my $5 down for them. I hope you join me. To learn more about Save the Children, click here. And to donate to the Global Action Fund, click here. You can also make memorial and gift donations, too.

You've got mail! And more mail...and more mail...

2008-09-03T21:11:00.005-04:00

I'm glad I opened a new e-mail address (fivedollarheroes@gmail.com) for this site, because there's been an unforeseen by-product to all this giving. I'm already getting a bit of charity spam coming my way, and I'm sure it's only going to get more intense.

So here's a helpful hint: If you're planning on becoming a regular Five Dollar Hero, you might want to get a free Gmail or Yahoo e-mail account for your charitable efforts. Not only will it spare your personal e-mail some extra spam, but you'll also have all your electronic contribution receipts in one handy account come tax time.

And you can also use that account to sign up for the semi-official Five Dollar Heroes mailing list by dropping me a line at the above e-mail, too...!

Obama and McCain are both Five Dollar Heroes

2008-09-03T20:45:00.011-04:00

So the Obama campaign took a day off from filling inboxes with pleas for campaign contributions, instead filling inboxes with pleas for contributions to the National Disaster Relief Fund. Putting small-dollar contributions to work en masse...that's the Five Dollar Hero spirit! (Which I borrowed from the Obama campaign in the first place.)

And on the other side of the aisle, First Lady Laura Bush and would-be first lady Cindy McCain opened the Republican convention by encouraging delegates to each contribute five dollars (sound familiar?) to relief efforts.

So Barack Obama and John McCain, you are hereby declared Five Dollar Heroes. Now, both of you, don't make me regret it. Play nice.

And if you, dear reader, haven't contributed yet, the link in this post will take you there. Next week's charity pick will also focus on Hurricane Gustav relief, so stay tuned.

Hurricane Gustav: How to Help

2008-09-01T18:13:00.003-04:00

So it looks like Hurricane Gustav managed to miss New Orleans, and thank God for that; the Big Easy hasn't had it so easy of late. But Gustav did hit somewhere -- a little place called Cocodrie in Cajun Country, about 72 miles southwest of New Orleans. And those folks will need help.

It's too early to tell the extent of the damage, but right now, emergency services likely will be key. So here is a link to the American Red Cross' National Disaster Relief Fund, since helping survivors and those without homes is the top priority. The minimum donation is $10, so we get to be Five Dollar Heroes twice over. How cool is that?

I'll blog some more this week on Gustav as the situation sorts itself out and needs are better identified. Be well, and be generous!

The Achilles Track Club

2008-08-31T19:46:00.006-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts this past week, but business travel always takes a little more out of you than you expect. Especially when you end up in Cleveland for no good reason. But I digress.

This week's charity is also Five Dollar Heroes' first one that's reader-suggested (Thanks, Keith). The Achilles Track Club is a worldwide organization, with chapters in 60 countries, that purchases equipment and entry frees for disabled runners. The New York City chapter, for instance, is helping disabled runners get into the NYC Marathon. The organization even sponsors a triathlon team...and if that doesn't motivate you to hit the gym, nothing will.

To check out the team, click here. And to add your $5 to mine, click here. (On the drop-down list of programs, go ahead and put Achilles Track Club, unless surfing around the site has drawn you to a specific program.)

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

2008-08-24T22:38:00.004-04:00

Hello, heroes! This week's charity focuses on homelessness and poverty right here in the United States. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty is the only national legal advocacy organization dedicated to preventing homelessness. They do it through litigation and public policy, as well as educational outreach. And they have a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, which means the bulk of our five dollar donations will be put to use directly helping the homeless.

For more information on the work of the NLCHP, click here. And to make your donation, click here. This is a PayPal site, so on top of the page, just enter 5 in the Unit Price field, and then enter your info below. And no, you don't have to have a PayPal account to donate. So get clicking, donate your $5, and then e-mail everyone you know so they can donate, too!

New e-mail and mailing list

2008-08-19T22:01:00.005-04:00

OK, so I don't really have a mailing list; this is a pretty shoestring project. However, I've established a new e-mail address for use with this blog, and anybody who sends me e-mail there will be included on a weekly e-mail announcing the next $5 charity. So drop me a line at the new address, fivedollarheroes@gmail.com.

And hey, if you have ideas for nonprofits that deserve the Hero treatment, or thoughts on how this little project could be better, send 'em along!

Buy stuff and feel good about it!

2008-08-18T21:02:00.013-04:00

There are over 13,000 nonprofits raising money on eBay.com, the auction site. And the cool thing is, you can also sell your useless crap for a cause too!

eBay's Giving Works site not only features the usual array of charity auction items, like a Napa Valley honeymoon or a chance to be a roadie for The Who, but also thousands of more typical eBay auctions -- jewelry, vintage clothing, books, antiques, sports memorabilia, you name it. These items are sold by everyday people who want to earn a little something for their favorite cause.

Everything works just like the typical eBay auction, except the proceeds to the seller's choice of nonprofits. If you're buying, read the whole listing carefully to see how much of the proceeds will go to charity (It's a range 10% to 100%), and what organization will benefit. Be sure to look before buy something cool, only to realize it goes toward some cause you can't get behind.

If you're selling, you determine how much goes to charity and how much you want to keep, and you get a break on your listing fees commensurate with the donated proceeds. All charity auctions are marked with the little ribbon you see in the image on this posting.

So check it out, clean out the attic, and sell some old junk for a good cause. Or fill your attic with new junk, also for said good cause. Whatever works for you.

Doctors Without Borders

2008-08-17T20:15:00.001-04:00

Here we go! The first organization I want to spotlight is Doctors Without Borders. Every day, some 27,000 doctors, nurses and medical professionals from all over the world go to where they're needed most -- usually the worst places on the planet, where plague, natural disaster and armed conflict have resulted in a critical need for medical care.

These medical professionals are the doctors and nurses next door, but instead of playing golf in their free time, they're going to Darfur or Georgia to care for others. They're making huge sacrifices, and in some cases, they're putting their lives on the line.

Our donations will help get these professionals to the place they're needed most, and give them the tools they need to treat those in desperate need. For more info on Doctors Without Borders and their activities, click here. And to put your five bucks down next to mine, click here for the donation page. And remember, when you donate, e-mail this blog to others so they can join us!

So many charities...which one to pick?

2008-08-15T20:43:00.019-04:00

The whole premise of this blog begs the question: Exactly how am I going to choose which charities to post? Short answer: I want to find genuine charities that can really use the money to make positive changes in the world. I do not want to throw money at something because it's, well, shiny. A Five Dollar Hero is smarter than that.

So for starters, each charity featured here will be a real 501(c)(3)-registered charity, as recognized by the IRS. (Save your receipts!) Furthermore, I'm going to check each charity against sources like the American Institute of Philanthropy, Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance to make sure they're on the up-and-up.

Next, I'm going to choose organizations that I feel serve a broad population in life-changing ways, the ones tackling the big issues like poverty, health, homelessness, the environment and human rights, for example. Ideally, this is stuff that every Five Dollar Hero can get behind.

And I'll have a few caveats, too. I'm not going to post items on faith-based charities or religious groups. Religious organizations do immense good around the world, no doubt. But I'm trying to build something that people of all backgrounds can contribute to, and I don't want to alienate anybody. The same goes for political groups, whether they're tied to a party or just particularly slanted one way or the other.

There are certainly some issues which are critically important and need support, but also involve intense differences in how to help. Teen pregnancy and the whole abortion vs. adoption argument springs to mind. In cases like those, I'll likely provide two or more donation options, so that folks feel they can put their money to work in good conscience.

Despite all that, I'll might choose an organization you don't agree with. If that's the case, I hope you'll take your five bucks and give it to someone else, then come back the following week and see if I've come to my senses. And if you have ideas on organizations that could use the Five Dollar Heroes treatment, drop me an e-mail and tell me all about it.

Oh, the guy in blue? He's The Tick. It might have been a stretch, but I'm happy I got him in here.

"We are the change that we seek."

2008-08-14T21:08:00.026-04:00

This quote is from one of Barack Obama's speeches, and I liked it so much that I gave the Obama campaign $15 a few weeks ago. That's not a lot, but it was the first presidential campaign contribution I ever made.

Obama's campaign has thrived on so-called "small dollar" donations, to the tune of $340 million from two million people. A little bit of money, coming from a lot of people, can make a huge difference.

That got me thinking. Could someone do the same thing to more broadly help charities and other worthy causes on a regular basis? I pondered the idea for a few weeks, and you're now reading the result.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pick a charity that operates locally, throughout the nation, or around the world. I'm going to give that charity $5, and post the link on this blog every Monday in the hopes that you'll match my Mr. Lincoln with a fiver of your own. I'll also post some ideas on charitable giving, upcoming events and opportunities to give of your time, and also some links to buy stuff that goes to support good works.

I'm hoping you, my friend, will do two things. One, match that five bucks each week. Skip the vente latte at Starbucks, for example, or pack a lunch. An "extra" five dollars shouldn't be that hard to find. Two, if you're going to take up this challenge, tell others about it. Drop this URL in an e-mail and send it to as many folks as you're comfortable with. The more people we get to join us, the more good we can do for the world.

So there you have it. Be the change you've always hoped for, and do it with the spare change in your pocket. Take five minutes each week, spend five bucks, and be a Five Dollar Hero. Hokey? Yeah, maybe...but with enough people behind us, we all might wear the title with pride some day.