Giving Archives

Family-friendly charities focus on issues that children will likely want to invest in. So, we’ve put together a list of five to choose from to make your holiday giving easy.

You amazing church leaders and parents likely have family-friendly charities you love to support. Share with us in the comments how giving has encouraged generosity in the kids you nurture.

Raising Funds to Donate

There are a few ways to gather holiday giving funds with your child to donate to charity.

First, simply tell your child a set amount you will allow them to give. Then, go online and have them go through the screens necessary to donate to the charity they choose.

Second, if your child has a piggy bank, or something similar, invite them to take funds from there. Then, send that money (or a check of equal value) to one of the family-friendly charities you choose. Or drop the money in person, if the organization is local.

Third, create easy ways for them to raise funds to donate. For example, invite them to be in charge of saving aluminum cans in your home. Then, take them to the recycling center to redeem the cans for coins.

To best teach children about holiday giving, connect them to concrete actions as often as possible. Keep this in mind, especially if your child is young. On the other hand, youth are better equipped to think abstractly. Encouraging teenagers to give can be a bit less involved for this reason.

5 Family-Friendly Charities to Support

No Kid Hungry

No Kid Hungry knows that we have plenty of food in the United States. And we have meal programs that work. The problem is that not enough kids are able to access them.

That’s a problem they know how to solve. And your kids can be a part of the solution.

DONATE to No Kid Hungry.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! knows that kids are missing out on the childhood they deserve. Play is disappearing at home, at school, and in communities, particularly for the 14 million children living in poverty.

So, the organization pairs funding partners with under-resourced communities who come together to build safe playgrounds, in just one day, resulting in kids feeling valued.

DONATE to KaBOOM!

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Alex’s Lemonade Stand strives to change the lives of children with cancer through funding impactful research, raising awareness, supporting families, and empowering everyone to help cure childhood cancer.

Alexandra “Alex” Scott held a front yard lemonade sale to raise money for childhood cancer. She herself was diagnosed with cancer just before she turned one and passed away at the age of eight. So, her family carries on her legacy through this organization.

DONATE to Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Defenders of Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife is a major national conservation organization focused solely on wildlife and habitat conservation and the safeguarding of biodiversity.

It is one of the family-friendly charities that focuses on the inherent value of wildlife and the natural world, and this defines their important niche in the environmental and conservation community.

DONATE to Defenders of Wildlife.

Hope International

Hope International focuses on something more abstract: entrepreneurship in developing countries. Therefore, it may be a good choice for youth in your family. This charity assists individuals turn their talents, education, or skills into sustainable businesses.

For example, your child may be able to help a woman buy a stove to set up her bakery. Or, they may buy a share of a greenhouse to help a farmer grow vegetables to sell.

DONATE to Hope International.

Giving is a Gift

All of us here at ICM hope you and your family find joy in holiday giving this season. Making this time to encourage generosity at home is a gift to your kids, for sure. So, we hope our list of five family-friendly charities helps. And don’t forget to tell us in the comments how you’re encouraging generosity in your kids!

Below is a message from our founder, Adam Walker Cleaveland. Whether or not you can give financially to support the work of Project Amal ou Salam, we invite you to join us in prayer for all of those children in Syria who are suffering.

If you are like me, you’ve probably been hearing the news about Aleppo, seeing the images, and grieving for all those innocent men and women and children who have lost their lives amidst the escalating violence. It’s tragic to imagine the lives of the children in Aleppo, and we’ve been trying to imagine how Illustrated Ministry might be able to make a difference in the lives of these children in Syria. It’s often difficult to know where to give or who to support, but as I’ve been talking with people and learning about various ministries and organizations working with children in Syria, I keep coming back to Project Amal ou Salam, and I want to invite you to join me in supporting their mission.

Project Amal ou Salam is working to empower the future of Syria – and their work is primarily with children in Syria (Deraa and Idlib) and in refugee camps in Jarash, Jordan and in Guvecci, Turkey. This is a description of their mission from their website:

Project Amal ou Salam, meaning Project Hope and Peace, is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering Syria’s children to rebuild their country and work for peace. This is done through day camps with Syrian children, material donations (such as coloring books, games, and sports equipment), holiday events, and monetary support of schools both inside and out of Syria.

They have a passion for working with children in Syria, and as a business and ministry that focuses on children’s ministry and families, their mission is one that we’d like to support. This is another quote from their website:

Children are the future of Syria. They are the sole hope of reviving the country, and we believe it is important to empower them. It is important to inspire hope, to put smiles on their faces, and to remind them of what Syria once was and what it has the potential of becoming again. We want to give them the chance to be kids and not victims – to be more than “the lost generation.”

Watch this short video for an example of the type of work they are doing:

They are currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo here. Their goal is $20,000, and we’d love it if the Illustrated Ministry community could help them toward that goal. So, here’s what we’d like you to do.

Take a look at their fundraising campaign page on Indiegogo and decide what you can give.
When you donate to their Indiegogo campaign, be sure to email us at illustratedcm@gmail.com and let us know how much you donated. Or you could choose OTHER under Contribution Appearance and type your first and last name, followed by (ICM). That would help Project Amal ou Salam track gifts from the ICM community. For example, you could type in the OTHER box, Adam Walker Cleaveland (ICM).
Be sure to share on Facebook and other social media sites about Project Amal ou Salam.

We are asking you to let us know how much you’ve all donated, because Illustrated Ministry is prepared to offer matching gifts, up to $2,500, to support the work of Project Amal ou Salam. We will contact Project Amal ou Salam on December 31, and see how many donations have come from the Illustrated Ministry community, and then we will write a matching check, up to $2,500, to support them for 2017.

If you want to learn more about Project Amal ou Salam, you can check out their website here or Like them on Facebook here.

Let’s see what this Illustrated Ministry community can do to help support the creative spirits and dreams of children in Syria.

children-in-syria

Giving