For everybody including myself, we always have this one question. How can I give a little bit more to others and when to start? With the holidays coming up, we feel extremely happy to donate money to our favorite charity or cause and cherish the moments. For others, we still want to give but we could not find the time, motivation and priority to make this happen?

I had this struggle for a long time where I had been an intermittent success in giving. Finally, it dawned on me that why cannot I start this on my birthday? 😉 I started donating time instead of money for the last 3 years to a non-profit who needs my skill set for help.

On my birthday which was today, I am happy and grateful to say that I spent 2 to 3 hours serving food for the homeless in Wilmington Delaware and helping to donate clothes for a nonprofit in Delaware. The very act of giving gives me immense happiness for me and makes this one of my memorable birthdays of my Life!! I am very thankful to Jay and Charity Crossing to make this happen for me. 😐 I also want to thank my wife Indu for her support and my kids Adith and Neha who help me to make this happen for me.

I do Salesforce CRM consulting and so I pick an hour with a non-profit which is Solar Youth which I talk about below and help them with their intermediate needs and challenges. I wanted to extend this further this year to write about these nonprofits which would expand the power of giving and help these great people who are working on the great causes.

Charity Crossing

The mission of Charity crossing is to provide food, clothing and basic needs to the community. Hats off to Jay Muthukamatchi who is the founder of this great organization!!. His relentless drive to help people in need has created a huge awareness for the Indian community in Delaware to contribute to the local community in Delaware and India. I have been involved in huge clothing drive which we did 2 years ago to help the people in Chennai during floods. We currently serve the homeless in Delaware by organizing food drives on a weekly basis providing food and clothes to the people in need. Please click on this link to find more on about charity crossing.

How you can contribute

If you want to contribute your time, Charity crossing does weekly events where you can participate in food serving events or spend time sorting out clothes. Please click here to see the schedule and pick a time which works for you.

Solar Youth

Solar youth based in Connecticut Delaware is a great organization run by Joanne Sciulli. The mission of solar youth is to empower youth to lifelong success with a holistic approach to programs in most challenged neighborhoods. They interact with kids at an early age and have programs which involve environmental exploration, problem-solving, leadership, mindfulness, and nonviolent communication.

I have been working with Joanne for the last 5 years and have helped her setup salesforce for her organization and manage her programs. I make it a point to donate at least 1 hour of my time on my birthdays to them where I use my skills to help them with current salesforce challenges and save time for them. I would recommend this organization to anybody who is looking to help Youth and their integrated holistic approach has yielded long-term results. Please click here to donate or volunteer your time with this great nonprofit.

How you can contribute

For those in the tech community, here is a way to work with a nonprofit and volunteer just 1 or 2 hours of your time and you can create wonders in the lives of others. If you are looking for such volunteer opportunities, you can check the following sites to start donating your time now.

I want to do a big shout out to my favorite entrepreneur Mark Benioff who made it a mission with a 1-1-1 model for people working in Salesforce to donate 1% of their time. You can check this link to go through the official salesforce probono program.
Community Corps
Tap root foundation

TNF

TamilNadu Foundation is another great organization I am associated with. They help rural kids in Tamilnadu India with education needs. One of the key programs called ABC program is a great program which provides the following to rural Kids.

A – Achieving grade-level proficiency
B – Boosting the morale
C – Championing for higher aspirations

I had visited one of the schools during my visit to India this year to a girl’s higher secondary school in Chennai India. TNF rebuilt the library and has provided infrastructure support to this school which was hugely impacted by Chennai floods. I was greatly impressed with the organizational skills and process followed by the team in India.

How you can contribute

If you happen to go India on your vacation, you can visit one of the TNF schools which would be a huge morale booster for the kids in India. This is another great opportunity to contribute your time during your visit in India.

How do you benefit by donating time?

I know everybody knows giving and donating time gives tremendous benefits to yourself. But here are 3 key benefits which you would see immediately in your life.

By donating 1 hour of your time to your favorite charity on your birthday, you would feel extremely happy and it will create a memorable birthday for you throughout your life.
For people working in technology or wanting to start their career, learning new skills and getting experience is always a must to boost your career.
1. Choose a nonprofit who has a need for this new technology and donate your time to solve their problems. You can do this with a small project which fits your schedule.
2. Have the nonprofit write a recommendation for you on your linked in profile which gives you the experience to start your new career.
For people who are parents, this is a great way to tell our kids that we have contributed to the society and make our kids feel proud of us.

So my friends, do not keep postponing the desire to give your time for long. Start on your birthday!!! If you want to know where to find a nonprofit or volunteer your time, feel free to post your comment and I will make the connection for you.