Day 14 & 15: A Call to Give - Twice!

Yesterday (Day 14) was slow on the giving front, though Amber did take cookies to her class at Ivy Tech Community College. I did, however, spend the day at work listening to the audiobook The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand, which provides an intriguing counterpoint to my motivation for exploring giving. (More on this in a coming post.)

Come into today (Day 15), Amber and I had no idea really what we were going to give. Come evening, however, two giving opportunities came our way, both taking the form of phone calls. The first came from the Police Protective Fund, which I have given to in the past. In fact, this sort of tele-charity, which contacted me about donating, used to be the only kind of charity I ever really gave to. Since making charitable giving a priority, however, I haven't been particularly enthusiastic about giving money to them.

In fact, I was about ready to give my normal, "No, thanks, we're already giving enough," when I remembered the project. The whole point is that there is no "giving enough" for these 40 days, after all. So I agreed to give the Police Protective Fund $50.

Then, just an hour or so later, the phone rings again. This time, it is the Indiana Repertory Theatre. This is a really great organization in the Indianapolis arts community and, again, one that Amber and I have chosen to support in the past. They, too, were calling to ask us to continue providing additional support for their various educational programs. I agreed to donate $200, and then discovered that donations are being matched by the Lilly Endowment. My company also matches donations to arts and culture organizations, so in total my donation is being tripled - a $600 gain for the Theatre, at only $200 expense to our family!

Given the level of donation, it turns out that Amber and I will receive invitations to a donor event sometime next month, and we'll be able to invite some guests. This is great, because it provides us with the opportunity to share the experience with friends, and possibly encourage them to begin giving to a worthy cultural organization in our community.