Thanks so much to everyone who attended a live small. GIVE BIG party this year. We hosted two parties– one in Charlotte on December 1 and one in Davidson on December 2- and between the two of them local non-profits received $6065 in support from about 45 guests. This amount tops last year’s total by $518.25 and boosts our positive impact on the work of our non-profits. We also collected canned goods for two area food pantries and will be delivering those goodies in the coming days.
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in live small. GIVE BIG 2009. We’re honored to live in such a generous community and to be able to support the work of such vital non-profits.
Yes, we are hosting livesmall.GIVEBIG in 2009.
Guests can come and enjoy the holiday spirit, get some shopping done, and make a huge impact on Charlotte and Davidson area non-profits who are especially in need of our generosity this year. Guests will be able to honor friends and family by making a donation to the non-profit(s) of their choice. It’s a wonderful way to learn about some local non-profits and help them out in a year of great need. For every donation, guests receive a beautiful card (with that eye catching logo above) to present to your gift recipient, along with information about each organization. It couldn’t be easier!
livesmall.GIVEBIG Charlotte will take place on December 1st. The following non-profits will join us:
2009 Organizations:
KinderMourn
A Child’s Place
Community School of the Arts
Crisis Assistance Ministries
Men’s Shelter of Charlotte
Animal Adoption League
Teen Health Connection
The Council for Children’s Rights
The Refugee Resettlement Office
Thompson Child and Family Focus
Charlotte Community Health Clinic
We are asking guests to the Charlotte party bring canned goods that we will donate to Second Harvest Food Bank.
livesmall.GIVEBIG Davidson will take place on December 2nd The following non-profits will join us:
Ada Jenkins Center
Circle de Luz Community Arts Project
Davidson Community Players
Davidson-Cornelius Day Care Center Davidson Housing Coalition/ HAMMERS
Hospice & Palliative Care Kids Path Lake Norman Animal Rescue
We are asking guests to the Davidson party to bring canned goods that we will donate to Loaves and Fishes.
Crisis Assistance Ministry gave live small. GIVE BIG a mention on their web-site as they talked about innovative ways that people are supporting them during this holiday season and trying economic times. We’re so happy that we were able to offer support to them and other vital non-profits.
Turns out our math was a little off, and we really raised $5546.75 at livesmall. GIVE BIG 2008.
The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
As party invitations go, this one was a bit strange.
It wasn’t only that Perri Kersh, the hostess, was asking guests to bring their checkbooks. Plenty of parties are organized around selling items, from Tupperware to Avon. The odd twist was that Kersh offered no merchandise at her spendfest, only good will. More…
Angelina Jolie isn’t the only woman wielding her philanthropic power. As a result of their growing earning power, wealth, and financial control, women have surpassed men as the biggest givers, leading to shifts in how the philanthropic world operates.
Check out the rest of this US News and World Report article.
Here are some photos from live small. GIVE BIG 2008
Here are some of our international non-profits. 
Lake Norman Animal Rescue
Davidson Cornelius Day Care Center 
Avery and David McGuirt share the Community School of the Arts’ sound and story with party goers.
Hostess Kristi Walters explains how everything works to party goer Mary Kathryn Elkins. 
The Animal Adoption League
A Child’s Place
Congratulations to the Chapel Hill Giving party whose 80 guests gave $15,000 in alternative gifts to various non-profits on December 4. With a matching donation of $2,000 from Habitat for Humanity of Orange County and $5,000 from DonorChoose.org, their impact was $22,000 in their second year. Bravo!
And another hearty congratulations to the Low Country Giving Party in Charleston, South Carolina whose giving party generated $7,000 in alternative gifts.
These three parties generated over $34,000 of impact.
Thank you to everyone who helped make live small. GIVE BIG 2008 a wonderful success. In under four hours, just under 50 people came together to financially support 13 non-profit efforts to the tune of $5490.75. We’re so grateful to everyone who participated and are already looking forward to live small. GIVE BIG 2009. In the meantime, though, we’ll be back in the days and weeks to come with new posts that feature photos from the parties, updates, and information on how you can still reach out to the non-profits featured at the party. More soon…
So, you know that you want to live small and GIVE BIG but it doesn’t mean that everyone else around you is necessarily on board. In Kiwi Magazine’s November/December issue, Thomas P. Farley gives these suggestions for getting the rest of your family– especially your children- on board with the idea of alternative giving for the holidays.
1. Enlist your partner. You can’t make a significant change to your family tradition without your significant other on board.
2. Prepare and involve the family. Way before Christmas, sit down with your family and talk about alternative giving and how it can positively impact the world. Brainstorm how you as a family might engage in the issues or activities that make you passionate.
3. Alert the extended family. They need to know what you are planning so that they can participate in a meaningful way (rather than sabotage with a crate of Wii games).
4. Get one fantastic thing. Don’t go cold turkey on Christmas morning. Instead of giving your children 18 gifts of marginal interest to them, give them one thing they will just love and then concentrate the rest of your efforts on giving alternatively with their interests and passions in mind.
5. Watch the movies that remind all of us of the true meaning of the season. Younger kids might like A Rugrats Chanukah or A Charlie Brown Christmas. Older kids might enjoy It’s a Wonderful Life and everyone can agree on The Grinch that Stole Christmas.
