Please share your donation strategy/plans for 2012....

[DianneS]

Please share your donation ideas/tips/plans for 2012. I love to hear about what others are doing. I think the inspiration and practical ideas help us all donate more effectively.

Here's what I'm thinking! In 2011 the bulk of my donations happened at Christmas time, although I did some donating during the year as well. The sheer volume of items I collected became a storage problem. I am planning to 'switch it up' a little this year by drawing on some great ideas from other SCers.

#1 Inspiration from Erilou: Make more frequent transition house/shelter donations so that recipients have items when they need them (and not only in December when everyone else is thinking about them, too). My first project will be Valentines Day.

#2 Inspiration from Patty Smyth: Budget $10 per week (plus tax) and see how far I can make it go. (Although I don't buy Tim's, I do buy lunch too often, so $10 is certainly do-able without feeling the pinch.) This will require some discipline on my part as I tend to get carried away at times and lose track of what I am actually spending.

#3 Inspiration from all of you non-stacking couponers: While I can stack, I am challenging myself to sniff out as many non-stacking deals as possible. I am hoping I can prove that even though prices tend to be higher in the West, we can get fantastic deals with single coupons.

#4 Inspiration from the Food Bank's "Christmas in July" campaign: I have been 'Secret Santa' to a family for the last few Christmases and delivered hampers each year. This year my goal is to secretly help them out at other times of the year as well, with a special focus on September when back to school time gets very expensive.

Again, I'd love to hear what others are planning to do....

[Patty Smyth]

My new plan.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/263580-...little-canada/

Although if there are good P&G coupons whereby I can get H&B items for almost free or just the tax(which has gone up 1.05% ) I will still buy stuff for the Brewery Mission when I can.

[Giving-Small]

So after three years of big hamper projects and donations throughout the year, I'm going to change it up some more.

In year 1 and even 2 we were able to get tons of board games (thanks to the cereal box hasbro coupons) to put one in each hamper or two where there kids.
The last 2 years we've put a deck of cards in each hamper.

This year I had an idea for the hamper gifts - make up a creative play bag of things for each child with supplies and then "things you can make/do" -. instructables for kids.

Well I scooped up lots of packs of 24 pencil crayons with fall sales but didn't move ahead much more on it.

As time marched along, I had different ideas pop in my head like sources of paper and fabric scraps.

So I have some plans for this year:
- hopefully find a couple people tried that last year too) who like this idea and can build on it and we can create these creative kits

[DianneS]

My new plan.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/263580-...little-canada/

Although if there are good P&G coupons whereby I can get H&B items for almost free or just the tax(which has gone up 1.05% ) I will still buy stuff for the Brewery Mission when I can.

What a wonderful thing to do! Fresh, healthy food is so important for everyone, but especially for children.

[DianneS]

So after three years of big hamper projects and donations throughout the year, I'm going to change it up some more.

In year 1 and even 2 we were able to get tons of board games (thanks to the cereal box hasbro coupons) to put one in each hamper or two where there kids.
The last 2 years we've put a deck of cards in each hamper.

This year I had an idea for the hamper gifts - make up a creative play bag of things for each child with supplies and then "things you can make/do" -. instructables for kids.

Well I scooped up lots of packs of 24 pencil crayons with fall sales but didn't move ahead much more on it.

As time marched along, I had different ideas pop in my head like sources of paper and fabric scraps.

So I have some plans for this year:
- hopefully find a couple people tried that last year too) who like this idea and can build on it and we can create these creative kits

When my kids were small I had a house full of 'creative' supplies. I watched like a hawk for great sales. Thanks for the reminder that I should start doing this again to add to my hampers.

[hollyhill]

I love your Strategies Dianne.

I will be have to hold off with serious plans until I graduate and have a job. But in the mean time I will still be taking food to our schools food bank when I find very good deals.

[recessionisnotfun]

Well, this year we have decided no more buying for friends. We bought many gifts for our friends and no even so much as a card or phone call back, nothing. It kinda hurt but it has opened our eyes. I am going to start as soon as new coupons start coming out and do more hampers this year to families in need. I was only able to do 11 Christmas hampers this year, so would like to forget about my friends, and worry more about the people who need it and will appreciate it.

[Jody22002]

I am still going to target the usual...Christmas Cheer and individual hampers...but I would like to add some new places to my donation list.

One of my daughter's is in a LifeSkills class rather than a regular classroom(She has Down's Syndrome). She has the most amazing teachers and I know that they use a lot of money out of their own pockets to put on all the special dinners and events that they hold. I am going to see what I can do for them beyond what I am already doing.

We have two Homeless Shelters and one Women's Shelter here. One of the Homeless Shelters, I know, misuses the donations and the staff takes a lot of it so I no longer want to donate there. The other, which is run in conjunction with the Women's Shelter, has turned me away a few times because they get so many donations. There isn't any other organizations that I can think of. I would like to donate to organizations that help kids. Any ideas?

I am going to make a call to the Pediatric Floor at the hospital and see what I can do there.

We always do the animal shelter as well.

[sheetsofemptycanvas]

I love all of your ideas! This will be my first year donating and I want to do two things...

We've relied on the food bank a lot over the past few years and now that I'm saving enough money with coupons to keep the fridge/pantry full, I want to give back! So my goal for Christmas 2012 is to make a huge donation to them- food, soaps, personal care items, etc.

I also want to make a huge basket up for a family in need. I've decided to start small because this is the first time I've ever done something like this! I might do two, but I'll be happy to do one I'm thinking of providing a basket of personal care items, fixings for a Christmas dinner, maybe some fun items like movie tickets... a gift or two for their kids. I can shop for most of these items out of my stockpile but I want to budget $20 a month for other things. I'm excited about it but nervous at the same time! You have all inspired me to give back and I hope I can do even half as good as all of you!

[Patty Smyth]

What I spent on my donation project last year was less than the money I spent in previous years on COFFEE from Tim's. To think that with coupons and sales that I was able to buy almost $4000 with that money makes me kind of embarassed that I spent that money on something stupid like coffee. Not that I don't love a Timmies now and then but I think long and hard about every dollar I spend now.

[DianneS]

I am still going to target the usual...Christmas Cheer and individual hampers...but I would like to add some new places to my donation list.

One of my daughter's is in a LifeSkills class rather than a regular classroom(She has Down's Syndrome). She has the most amazing teachers and I know that they use a lot of money out of their own pockets to put on all the special dinners and events that they hold. I am going to see what I can do for them beyond what I am already doing.

We have two Homeless Shelters and one Women's Shelter here. One of the Homeless Shelters, I know, misuses the donations and the staff takes a lot of it so I no longer want to donate there. The other, which is run in conjunction with the Women's Shelter, has turned me away a few times because they get so many donations. There isn't any other organizations that I can think of. I would like to donate to organizations that help kids. Any ideas?

I am going to make a call to the Pediatric Floor at the hospital and see what I can do there.

We always do the animal shelter as well.

In our community one of the high schools has a program for teen moms. They provide childcare, life skills and the tools to help them graduate. If one of your schools has a program like this it might be a good place to donate personal cares items for young moms and dads who find themselves in a very difficult position in life. Another option might be to talk with a counsellor at your local high school to see if s/he has students who could use a (very discreet) hand. Being a teenager is tough enough...when families don't have money to buy adequate personal care items I can only imagine how much stress it adds to these young people's lives.

[mfm955]

So after three years of big hamper projects and donations throughout the year, I'm going to change it up some more.

In year 1 and even 2 we were able to get tons of board games (thanks to the cereal box hasbro coupons) to put one in each hamper or two where there kids.
The last 2 years we've put a deck of cards in each hamper.

This year I had an idea for the hamper gifts - make up a creative play bag of things for each child with supplies and then "things you can make/do" -. instructables for kids.

Well I scooped up lots of packs of 24 pencil crayons with fall sales but didn't move ahead much more on it.



As time marched along, I had different ideas pop in my head like sources of paper and fabric scraps.

So I have some plans for this year:
- hopefully find a couple people tried that last year too) who like this idea and can build on it and we can create these creative kits

When I was involved with Beavers & Cubs, I needed fabric scraps. I approached upholstery stores that provided me with their old sample books - they usually throw them out when new sample books arrive. This is a great source!

[TeriB]

I really recommend that people planning to donate consider donating at the end of January or in February, instead of at Christmas. It's better for organizations that serve people all year long to get things spread out a bit more, and it's less stressful for the giver not to be planning donations during the Christmas season.

The last 3 years my community group has done a 'essentials bags' for an emergency shelter run by organization in Downtown Vancouver. Their clients show up with very little - sometimes only the clothes they are wearing. Our bags thoroughly cover personal hygeine needs, and we add underwear, socks, gloves and a toque - and a treat as well.

We do the drop-off at the end of January. They are glad to get the stuff at that time of year and encourage us to continue to do so. By late January, the largesse of Christmas has been distributed, donations have dropped off... yet there is lots of winter left. So our bags help to fill that gap.

[TeriB]

I'd love to do some art supplies kits for them, now that I'm aware of how healing creative practice can be for someone who is ill (their clientele is largely physically and mentally ill with addictions). But I'm not sure if that would be an appropriate donation when they are in desperate need of simple soap and toothpaste for so much of the year.
I keep it in the back of my head, in case I see sales. It is possible that there is a group doing art therapy in the DT eastside for street people.

[Tantum]

I know my ideas for this year may not be too popular, but I plan on scaling back my donations this year.

Last year I donated a LOT to friends and neighbours. All year one family in particular that I had given about $2000 in items to, that were always giving me a hard luck style story invited us over for supper over the holidays. While there I found literally her whole entire basement was shelf upon shelf of items... come to find out she's been using multiple food banks (when I doubt very much she even qualifies to use ONE food bank), me and various other friends to get anything and everything she can for free. When she gets too much she sells it on kijiji, so much that it's paid for her to take her family to Disneyland over march break. I'm still really upset over this. I do couponing as a way to provide for my family, given that it's so large and we survive on one income...not so that other families can take dream trips.

This year I'll be concentrating on organized charities rather than on helping friends.