The family benefit project

Last Christmas we started a new family tradition.

It began with my desire to make December a month of giving and focus on loving and serving others, along with the excitement of Christmas and all that comes with it. We decided to hold a hot chocolate stand and bake sale and donate 100% of our proceeds to a local organization that disperses funds to several charities.

We had such a wonderful experience that this year Jason and I sat down and decided to have a year-long family benefit project. We chose a charity that we feel strongly about and set a modest goal to meet throughout the year--not by simply putting aside cash out of our budget every month, but by working together as a family to raise the money.

We could have simply budgeted an amount every month to put towards our goal, but we want to have an experience as a family; we want to teach our children the joy of giving back, working hard, and achieving a goal in a concrete way. By making this a year-long project, we're hoping to instill in them a lifelong desire to serve others.

If you're interested in doing a similar project with your family, here are some ideas to help you get started:

• Choose a charity. There are so many wonderful organizations to choose from! Make sure to do your research into how the organization disperses funds. GuideStar is a good start. Choose something that you feel strongly about and are passionate about. We chose a local charity because we want to show our children the impact that can be made in our own community.
• Set a goal. It's better to set a lower goal and surpass it than to set a lofty one and not meet it. Be realistic about how much money you can raise.

The next step is the fun part--find ways to raise money! We have had success with all of these ideas:

• Decluttering the house and selling things on Facebook yardsale groups
• Selling homemade giant cinnamon rolls (I took orders in advance for Easter weekend; I did keep 50% of the proceeds due to the huge time committment in making 15 giant cinnamon rolls--however, the cost of ingredients came from my 50%, so I didn't really make any money) 

• Selling homemade "birdseed biscuits" to hang in the trees for the birds to eat.
• Bake sales or lemonade stands--We host a bake sale every August and every December. 

• Find small businesses or self-employed friends who will match what you raise. This is a great way to get more bang for your buck! When we did our bake sale, we had a neighbor approach us and offer to match our proceeds 100%. Wow! You don't have to ask for a 100% match; every little bit helps. 

When you've decided how to raise money, don't forget to advertise. I advertised our bake sales on Facebook yard sale groups and our neighborhood Facebook group, making sure to name the charity and the percentage of the proceeds that would be donated. After our first bake sale, I tagged our local news station on Instagram and we were invited to present our money in person at the news studio, have a tour, and do an interview for a human interest story (it never aired, because I am so incredibly awkward on camera for unknown reasons).

The most important thing is to keep your children involved in the whole process. My kids make posters, help bake cookies, go door to door taking orders, and man the stands. They know we are raising money for our chosen charity. They know who the charity helps. We talk about it all the time and it's become a real part of our family life. We count our blessings more, we feel satisfied with what we have more, we have more empathy for others, and we have a stronger desire to serve and love others. It has been such a wonderful experience in our family.

Please comment and tell me what you have done to encourage charitable giving in your family!