What’s your reason to give back to New Hampshire?
When we help others, we often feel intrinsically satisfied. A 2008 study by Harvard Business School professor, Michael Norton, found that giving money to someone else lifted participants’ happiness more than spending it on themselves. Maybe that happy feeling is what brought you here today, to learn about ways to give back to New Hampshire.
At Davis & Towle, we’re deeply rooted in our community. We provide our services to help the area’s businesses and individuals. By the same token, we rely on their trust and continued support to stay in business. So all year long, we take advantage of opportunities to give back to New Hampshire.
Giving back is easy if it fits nicely into your lifestyle. While grand acts of kindness are nice, you can have an ongoing impact if you find opportunities that dovetail your lifestyle. Follow along with this article to identify feasible ways you can give back to New Hampshire throughout the year.
Starting your search for opportunities to give back.
There are countless organizations in New Hampshire that deserve help and support, and countless resources to help you determine which one is best for you. For the purpose of this article, we are
To begin, review some important causes that impact our community. Are any of them relevant to your interests/hobbies? Values? Personal Goals?
Arts & Culture
Education
Basic Needs
Addiction & Recovery
Community Health
Environment
Animal Advocacy
Equality
Once you find a cause that’s relevant to your life…
Decide how you would like to give back.
The goal is to create a convenient, feasible plan to periodically give back to New Hampshire. Make sure you consider your schedule, personal obligations, and financial situation as you decide how to give back. On the whole, you should pursue opportunities that won’t interfere with other responsibilities in your life. Keeping these factors in mind, decide what you will give back to New Hampshire:
– Your time (volunteering)
– Financial support or goods (donating)
VOLUNTEER
Volunteer your expertise:
If you are going the volunteering route, allow this question to guide you: What skills can you offer?
Think of things like hobbies and professional training as resources that you can offer. Donate your expertise to support the cause you’re interested in.
Example: You are a craft enthusiast, interested in the wellness of community members. How can you offer your craft skills to contribute to community wellness?
– Call the volunteer coordinator at an area hospital and offer to make tray favors to place on each patient’s dinner tray for an upcoming holiday. It makes patients SO happy.
Volunteer your time:
Alternatively, you can make a difference by volunteering easily transferable skills. Things like planning, fundraising, supervision, record keeping and physical labor are needed for the functioning of many organizations.
Brainstorm some community events, venues, and services that are relevant to the issue you’re interested in. They could likely use someone with a general skill set, and some spare time to help them meet their operational needs.
Dig around until you find contact information for the committee, or coordinator and reach out to them.
DONATE
Donating money:
Now that you’ve found a cause, you can search for an organization of like interest. Explore various outlets to donate to by searching Volunteer NH’s database. Search their directory of organizations, and filter the search
Spend some time getting to know the players until you find an organization that makes you want to be part of their success. Use the contact information provided in their profile and request information on donation needs.
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Another great method to easily show your support through donations is AmazonSmile. We recently stumbled upon this mechanism for giving back. By shopping on smile.amazon.com, you will have the EXACT same Amazon experience except products marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” (of which there are millions) will send money to your designated charity, upon purchase.
As of right now, there are 1,500 some-odd NH charities you can support using amazon smile.
Donating Goods:
There’s always a soup kitchen, food pantry, clinic or shelter that needs help providing basic living necessities to our neighbors in need. Unlike the other options we’ve discussed, we think it makes sense to simply donate goods based on the immediate needs of the area.
This list, The Concord Insider’s “Guide to Gifts and Giving”, provides information (including deadlines) on the current donation needs of various local organizations. We can make a difference in New Hampshire if we all routinely take stock of excess in our lives, and spread the abundance areas that are deficient.
It’s important to recognize the work being done around us that benefits the greater good. For this reason, we extend an ovation to our employees for their admirable effort to give back to New Hampshire. Amidst the chaos of the holidays, the Davis & Towle team found time to purchase enough winter apparel to fill a four-foot box. The new clothes were donated to the Salvation Army of Concord; Ultimately helping them answer the calls for help coming from our community.
Here’s to individuals and organizations everywhere who make an effort in the name of altruism. We thank you for seeing (in spite of the eggnog, sugar plum fairies, and holiday distractions) that we are not here for ourselves alone. In other words,