Unique and Ambitious Charity Idea

At Charity Intersection we are always on the lookout for promising new charity ideas. We recently ran across this intersting post on the forum "Personal Development for Smart People":


Hi, I have come up with an idea recently that I have been thinking about for ways to help less blessed people and animals then us, below is a copy of the e-mail I have been sending out to colleges in the country, right now I am just sending it out to all the colleges athletic directors, and volunteer clubs in hopes that they would forward it to all the schools athletic teams and sports clubs I would really like to hear your opinions on how I could improve this and ways to get it out there better. I have been thinking that I need to find an online volunteering organization that could devot several people to it, but I haven't found one yet btw, ok here it is.

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Hello, I'm a student that has been recently thinking about ways to help less fortunate people and animals, I have come up with an idea that I think could really impact thousands and hopefully millions of lives, along with raising money for the organizations providing the services.

It started with an idea I had for my rugby team to raise money, I proposed the idea of walking dogs for money, we would raise money for our team by fund-raising on the idea that for every dollar donated to the team we would walk one dog at the local shelter.

This works time wise because if the average team or other organization has 40 people each person would only have to volunteer once every 4 or 5 weeks. This breaks down like this, 4 people on a team would go for three hours to the shelter were they could each take 9 dogs for a walk or run for 20 minutes. This would allow 32 dogs to be walked during that time, if the team volunteered twice a week then each volunteer would only have to go to the shelter once every 5 weeks for 3 hours, but 64 dogs could be walked every week.

Each team could print out a single paper handout to be given to each member with the idea for the fund raising to show to the potential givers, or they could set up a stand in the union building, I think around campus students would gladly give up to 5 dollars for such a cause and faculty and other older members of the community would probably give up to 20 or more dollars.

I think teams could easily raise 5,000 dollars each semester for there organization and bigger teams such as football teams with 100 men on the roster could easily raise much more. All this money could go to the teams for their personal use as the dogs would still be getting walked or other services provided at the shelters or they could agree to donate part of the earnings to the ASPCA or other charity, I think 20-60 % of donations should be stressed to give to the ASPCA or other charities as the team would still have a significant financial benefit.

I then started getting the idea that I could e-mail this plan to every colleges athletic director, and volunteer organization, in hopes that they would forward it to all the schools sports teams, and college clubs such as the rugby club and geology club, it could also be e-mailed to all the churches in the community.

Here are a list of some of the potential recipients of this idea via e-mail
Every college in the U.S
Every church in the U.S
Every high school and middle school in the U.S
All the major newspapers,

In the future it's possible that this e-mail could also be translated and e-mailed to every University in the world, church, etc...

I have also thought about including other charitable causes to include in the E-mail as to give all the organizations receiving it, more choices for charitable causes to raise money, such as for every dollar donated we will spend 30 minutes in a children's hospital, or for every dollar donated we will serve five meals at a local soup kitchen etc.

I think the list should have about 10 or so other charitable ideas, because every sports team and club of a University couldn't possibly volunteer at the ASPCA or humane shelters there would simply be too many people. Some of the charities I was thinking about putting on it were, Children's Hospitals, Homeless and Abuse shelters, Orphanages, Big Brother organizations, the ASPCA, the Humane society, Camps for blind children, local Environmental causes, Soup kitchens.

Ideas or Help with this?

Sincerely,

Angelo Leon


Ed Note: Charity Intersection would be extremely interest to see if this idea has taken flight.

Here's A Switch - Dogs Give To Humans

Dogs are everywhere.

On Beartrap Meadow atop Casper Mountain, mushers, dogs and winter sports enthusiasts gather to raise money through Canines for Charity, an annual event hosted and sponsored by Timbermist Tracks Kennels.

Mushers pay entrance fees and friends and family sponsor sled teams. Money raised goes to the Arc of Natrona County, a non-profit organization in Casper that provides services and programs for people with developmental disabilities.

Ed. note: This is a great way to introduce family to the joys of giving and the discipline of animals and competition. Charity Intersection's hats off to the participants and organizers of this event.