I have meandered back and forth from my original intention here – which was to document the new things I do this year. 

One thing I was interested in was planning some kind of event, and doing something fundraiser-y that wasn’t my job. For those who don’t know, I have been a non-profit fundraiser for a few decades. I am now doing this freelance, which is nice because I can still do a lot of good, but I don’t feel so pummeled by the process on a daily basis. I have been asking people for money (or, as we say, “giving them the opportunity to be part of something meaningful”) for most of my adult life. But aside from collecting money for walkathons and my kid’s PTO fundraiser, I’ve never done fundraising just for the heck of it. And I was curious how that would feel. 

My local library does a spring and fall book sale each year and collects used books to sell. The profits go back to the library to purchase things like museum passes, and pay for special programming (next month we are getting a visit from the Poop Museum, which offers a kid-friendly presentation on the history of poop, and I kind of feel like if our tax dollars were spent the way the library budget was spent, no one would be mad about it). 

So I decided to host a Book Swap at my house. I asked about 50 people to come over on a Saturday, and bring some books they no longer wanted. While we were here, people could take whatever they wanted from the pile for free. Free books! Then whatever was left over would go to the library. 

This was all well and good, but then I got this email that was like “Would you like to raise money for your favorite non-profit by collecting clothes” and for whatever reason, I was very intrigued by this and said “Yes!” so I am now also collecting clothing at my Book Swap party to benefit a group that brings more fresh food to residents of a local city. 

The party went really well. About 30 people came throughout the day. I ended up with 10 boxes of books and 20 bags of clothing in my garage. Now of course, I want to go bigger, so I am, next weekend, doing a pop up collection at a local plant sale hosted by the org (if you’re near Lowell on May 24th, you should absolutely come and bring your old clothes!)

and I have started working with a commercial property manager, putting collection bins in their office buildings. (I know, this escalated quickly). 

For the moment, I’m storing all of the stuff in my garage. The books will be donated before the book sale, and the clothing will be brought to a reseller, who will make a donation based on the number of pounds of clothing I present. 

As I have been telling people about this, many asked me why I decided to do it. Aside from this personal goal of doing new things, and my love for free books and good causes, I think part of me wanted to be the donor/volunteer I always dreamed about when I was working so hard to raise money. The person I dreamed of was this: a donor who cared about my cause beyond our conversation; who went out of their way to raise more funds than they could give on their own; who told other people about my mission with as much excitement as if she wrote it; who could design and pull off an event without my help or resources; and at the end of the day, present me with not only a check, but also a whole new group of people who were now interested in my cause. 

This was my ultimate dream. The UberDonor. I imagined her, tried to manifest her in the flesh. And while I met a lot of really great, passionate donors who did lots of good things, she never materialized. And so, part of doing this project was to make my dream a reality – even if it was for someone else. 

It remains to be seen how much money this will actually make. But in the process, I am making lots of great connections, telling new people about these causes, and hopefully (hopefully) inspiring them to do a little more for their favorite cause. Because Lord knows, every organization doing good out there could use more help right now. 

If you have a favorite cause I’d love to hear more about it, and what you do to support them throughout the year!