It’s our second donation of 2018. Here’s a little bit about the 3 charities we chose. P.S. If you want a donation team to help you find the best charities to support, join a giving circle, today!

People for Pets Giving Circle
Red Rover, located in Sacremento, CA, helps animals who are in crisis situations due to disasters, neglect, illness or domestic violence. For people dealing with domestic violence, Red Rover’s offsets the cost of temporary pet boarding while a client is in a domestic violence shelter and helps create more pet-friendly emergency shelter options for survivors of domestic violence.

When a disaster hits, they set up and operate temporary shelters when large numbers of animals are affected by storms, fires, floods, or other emergencies or when they’re rescued from large-scale cruelty situations such as puppy mills and hoarding cases.

And they have a childhood education program teaching empathy while at the same time helping students make responsible decisions and become more aware of themselves and their communities.

Poverty Busters
Over the past several years, research has revealed the profound and long lasting impact of childhood trauma. What makes children good learners is also what makes them especially sensitive to events such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse either to themselves or to other family members; drug abuse in the home; the incarceration of a family member; family members’ depression or other mental illness; neglect; and food insecurity. The risk factors have been compiled into the Adverse Childhood Experiences test, and high scores correlate to a wide range of emotional, financial, physical, and mental health problems as adults.

The good news is that early interventions can build resilience in kids so that they can cope with these early challenges and grow up to be healthier, happier adults. That’s exactly what this charity aims to do.

Hampton Healthy Family Partnerships is a public donation organization that supplements the city of Hampton, Virginia’s Department of Healthy Families. Founded 25 years ago, they serve children, youth, and families through a variety of free and/or low cost programs designed to help strengthen families and promote school readiness.

Veterans Giving Circle
The Semper Fi Fund provides financial assistance and lifetime support to post-9/11 combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured service members and their families. They commit to life-long support once a veteran enters their world. They run 3 main programs.

Service Member and Family Support Program
Includes services like financial support, caregiver support & retreats, housing assistance, kids camp, transportation assistance, canine program, specialized & adaptive equipment, horsemanship program.

Transition Program
Includes services like education & career assistance; veteran & unit reunions; Veteran 2 Veteran Support (V2V); Semper Fi Fund Odyssey Retreat which is a six-day, holistic transition assistance program for injured and critically ill service members which helps them transition into civilian life by learning about life planning skills, establishing goals, employment resources, and by learning to balance mental, emotional, physical and spiritual components; and the Semper Fi Fund Apprenticeship Program which assists service members with a 70% or greater disability rating find meaningful trades, careers and small business opportunities through short-term vocational education and apprenticeships.

Integrative Wellness
Includes services like PTSD and TBI support; NeuroFitness which is neurofeedback training to help restore cognitive function, improve memory, manage pain and assist with other stress-related issues; High-Tech Medical Devices which provides grants for specialized equipment such Alpha-Stim, AVE, Emwaves, Irlen glasses, and Celluma; Post-Traumatic Growth video resources; holistic health solutions which provides grants for costs associated with therapy and counseling not covered by military benefits; counseling; a sports program where team members participate in various athletic clinics and competitions around the country to build community, raise awareness, and inspire fellow service members on their own road to recovery.

We just completed our first quarterly donation of 2018, and I wanted to share with you the 3 charities we chose– in case you might want to support them, too.

Street Dog Coalition

The People for Pets Giving Circle chose the Street Dog Coalition, because as many as 10%-25% of people experiencing homelessness have pets. To have a pet as a homeless person often means giving up access to shelters and transportation. But the bond between a homeless person and their pet can be exceptionally strong as this person has very little consistency, companionship, and love outside of their relationship with their pet. Many will feed their pet before they feed themselves.

Street Dog Coalition provides free medical care and other services to pets of the homeless. Through pop up clinics, they give rabies shots, parvovirus and distemper, deworming pills, and vouchers to free spay/neuter services.

Based out of Fort Collins, they are regularly contacted by other veterinarians who want to open chapters in their area. They have teams in Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs each providing about 1 clinic per week and helping about 500 pets a year. Chapters through the country serve another 500 pets per year.

Homeless Gear

The Poverty Buster Giving Circle chose Homeless Gear, because if you’ve spent any time here in Northern Colorado, you know that the number of people experiencing homelessness is drastically increasing. Based out of Fort Collins, Colorado, Homeless Gear operates a ‘family’ of six programs that provides a continuum (or pathway) of services to individuals and families who are homeless or — in some cases — at risk of becoming homeless.

Here are just a few of the programs the operate:

The Distribution Program provides life-sustaining supplies. Since 2008, they’ve distributed $8.3 million worth of products, 265,000 meals, 2,100 shipments of product to more than 100 agencies that serve people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.

The Children in Need program centers around quarterly service events for and product distribution to children and families. Since 2009, they’ve served 3,000 families at quarterly service events, distributing supplies and connecting those families to dozens of community resources, distributed the equivalent of 29,500 meals to children and families in the Thompson School District (through a partnership with the Loveland Rotary Kids Pak program).

In the Night Street Outreach program, volunteers go out onto the streets three nights per week to engage with people experiencing homelessness. They’ve recorded 35,000 interactions with thousands of unduplicated individuals in 861 consecutive (Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday) Street Outreach shifts.

SSG Travis Mills Foundation

The Veterans Giving Circle chose the SSG Travis Mills Foundation. Veteran families who have been injured in active duty or as a result of their service to our nation receive an all-inclusive, all-expenses paid, barrier-free vacation in Maine with the SSG Travis Mills Foundation where they participate in adaptive activities, bond with other veteran families, and enjoy much-needed rest and relaxation in Maine’s outdoors.

Located on 17 acres, they have a fully handicap accessible 11,000 square foot facility. In 2017, they hosted 84 veteran families over 11 weeks that were able to participate in adaptive sports and activities. Those activities included: Yoga, Archery, Kayaking, Canoeing, Boating, Fly Fishing, Bass Fishing, Guided Fishing Trips, Pottery, Painting, Culinary Arts (Cooking Courses, Baking), Guest Chefs, Martial Arts (Self Defense), Challenge Ropes Course, Cycling, Horseback Riding, Shooting Sports, Hiking, Golfing, Massage therapy.

Read the testimonials from the veterans and families who’ve been to the retreat: https://www.travismills.org/foundation/our-retreat/testimonials/

Inasmuch as love grows in you, in so much beauty grows; for love is itself the beauty of the soul.
Augustine of Hippo

There is a variant translation to this quote.

“Beauty grows in you to the extent that love grows, because charity itself is the soul’s beauty.”

Philanthropy is love in action. Through your actions, through your philanthropy, through your charity, you share your love for the world with the world. When love is shared, love grows making yourself and the world a little more beautiful.

In whatever way that looks like in your life, I want to thank you for bringing more beauty, more love, more charity, and more change to this world.

As 2017 comes to a close, we mark the end of another year at Change Gangs. It was a great year, and together we donated $13,683 to great charities around the world. Since we founded, we’ve given $65,243.50 to nearly 100 different charities.

Here are our final recipients of the year.

People for Pets Giving Circle

This year, the Pets Giving Circle gave $5,335 for a total of $25,833 to great pet charities. For our last donation in 2017, we chose Big Bones Canine Rescue.

Big Bones is a 100% volunteer based shelter and foster based rescue network for all breeds of Mastiff and Great Danes. They receive dogs that are about to be euthanized from shelters in CA, TX, OK, KS, and NM. They have a 13 acre property in Windsor, CO with 4 buildings that can hold up to 30 dogs. All the dogs have indoor and outdoor areas that they can access, plus there are isolated kennels to keep new or sick dogs until their health and temperament can be assessed. In 2015, they adopted out 598 dogs. In 2016, they adopted 860 dogs- 250 of whom were puppies.

Poverty Busters

This year, Poverty Busters donated $4,727.50 for a total of $26,460. For our last donation in 2017, we chose Project Self-Sufficiency.

Located in Loveland, CO, Project Self-Sufficiency creates opportunities for single parent families to become selfpowered by providing intensive support to parents who are ready to build new career pathways. When participants enter the program they are partnered with a skilled advisor who helps them calculate a living wage for the family and then customizes a career planning curriculum and time frame for meeting that living wage. While in school or training for a new career, participants receive help to improve the family’s health (physical and mental), access to reliable transportation, child care, and affordable housing. It can take several years to graduate from the program.

Veterans Giving Circle

This year, the Veterans Giving Circle donated $2,745.50 for a total of $10,625. For our last donation in 2017, we chose War Horses for Heroes.
WarHorses for Heroes provides equine-assisted therapy to veterans who have sustained service-related mental or physical injuries. As a therapy partner for those with mental illness, a horse is intuitive and non-judgmental, providing a trusting and open environment for processing and healing. Veterans with histories of depression or PTSD who participate in equine assisted therapy experience consistent improvement in depression symptoms and increased sociability. Veterans with physical injuries also benefit. Horseback riding benefits the rehabilitation process because the rhythm of a horse’s gait is similar to that of a human’s. It provides the sensation of movement to those with severe injuries affecting mobility. Veterans with spinal cord injuries or other physical disabilities experience improved muscle strength and better balance after participating in equine assisted therapy programs.

Do you want a donation team?

I’d love to welcome you to one of our giving circles. Just click here to choose the cause you care about most.

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2018.

Change Gangs: Virtual Giving Circles just completed our 3rd quarterly donation of the year. Below I’ll share with you the charities we chose.

But first… All these hurricanes! If you’re like me, your heart is breaking for Puerto Rico right now. It seems we have had a spate of emergencies around the world. Between hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes, there is a lot of need. As you are considering your donations, consider this advice I wrote for Hurricane Harvey. It actually applies to all types of donations you might make to help out in case of a natural disaster: https://changegangs.com/hurricane-harvey-donation-tips/

People For Pets

The Pets Giving Circle had a tie vote. Half our donation went to Island Dogs which is making a dent in the pet overpopulation problem in Puerto Rico by implementing a spay and neuter program and shipping dogs off the island to rescues and adoptive homes in the States. Their spay and neuter program has neutered more than 4,000 dogs and cats since 2007 on the NE coast of Puerto Rico. Many of these animals have their ear marked to indicate they’ve been fixed and then are released back on the streets. They’ve had such success reducing the stray dog population in this area that they expanded and now have a spay and neuter program on the SW coast of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico sustained serious damage in the most recent hurricane, and I’m sure their need has just skyrocketed. I’m so glad we were able to help out in some way.

The other half of the Pets Giving Circle donation went to NoCo Friends of Ferals. They work to address the problem of feral cat overpopulation in Colorado through monthly trap-neuter-return (TNR) clinics. Every month, they trap feral and stray cats, neuter or spay them, vaccinate them, treat them for medical conditions, then either return them to their colonies or place them in foster care if they are adoptable. TNR is evidence-based and is the most efficient and humane way to decrease feral cat numbers and stop the mass euthanasia of these cats in shelters.

Cat colonies are often located in poor and or rural areas. These two 60 something women are traipsing around trailer parks tracking down colonies and cajoling people into helping them. They’ll go into a trailer parks and try to connect with the care takers (people in the area who feed the cats) who can give more information on how many cats are there and where they live. They’ll go 2 or 3 months in a row to get about 80% of the cats. Otherwise, it’s not going to make an impact on the birth rate. So they’ll visit 5 or 6 times and trap 50 or 60 cats. As of July 20, 2016, NCFF has trapped, altered and vaccinated 6297 cats, found homes for 760 kittens and strays.

Poverty Busters

The Poverty Busters Giving Circle last donated to Give Directly organization in December 2012 shortly after they were founded. At the time they were granting $1,000 (USD) to qualifying households (aka extremely poor in Kenya) over a 1-2 year period. They launched on the basis of several scientific studies that showed that direct transfers of cash was a more efficient and more effective way to provide aid. When cash is provided directly, the charity doesn’t need a large staff or a large variety of programs. Instead the money comes in and goes directly to the people who need it. While there used to be some concern that people who received cash transfers would blow it on alcohol or stop working, the reality is that they used it to increase their earnings, their assets, and their psychological well-being.

They studied their results rigorously and have concluded that not only is it more effective, but it inspired them to create a bold vision for a new model. Give Directly is launching the largest basic income experiment in history in which thousands of recipients will receive enough money to live on for 12 years while they rigorously study the impact.

Basic income is a specific type of cash transfer. In its fullest form, it’s unconditional (recipients don’t have to work or do anything else to be eligible); universal, with all members of society receiving’ enough to cover basic needs; and guaranteed for the recipients’ lifetimes.

Because basic income has never been implemented or even sufficiently tested, there’s a lot we still don’t know. But if it works, basic income could change social protection and aid policies that affect poor people all over the world. According to Give Directly, it would take $80 billion in cash transfers to move everyone above this poverty line, while the world spends almost twice that in global aid every year.

Their basic income experiment will shed light on how cash transfers impact economic status (income, assets, standard of living), time use (work, education, leisure, community involvement), risk-taking (migrating, starting businesses), gender relations (especially female empowerment), and aspirations and outlook on life.

At a minimum, we’ll help some of the poorest families on the planet significantly improve their lives. At best, if their theories are right, we help create an entirely new way to end extreme poverty.

Veterans Giving Circle

The Veterans Giving Circle donated to Team Rubicon which is an international non‐profit disaster response organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy disaster response teams, free of charge to communities affected by disasters across the country. Team Rubicon can work under the direction of a governmental entity or agency (based on requested function) and integrate fully into an existing Incident Command System structure to perform disaster response functions.

Through continued service, Team Rubicon seeks to provide veterans with three things they lose after leaving the military: a purpose, gained through disaster relief; community, built by serving with others; and self-worth, from recognizing the impact one individual can make. Coupled with leadership development and other opportunities, Team Rubicon looks to help veterans transition from military to civilian life. 33,000 veterans have joined as members of Team Rubicon. Of those, 47% reported learning and developing new skills since joining TR; 32% have leveraged the skills learned in TR for current or new employment opportunities; and 87% would help a fellow TR member in need under most circumstances.

In 2016, they responded to 38 national or international disasters. They sent 6 flood water rescue teams and 89 volunteers to Texas when Hurricane Harvey hit and helped rescue 73 people and 43 pets. Team Rubicon will begin mobilizing volunteers to Rockport, TX, where over 1,500 homes sustained damaged from Harvey. Since they have had an influx of volunteer and financial support, they are identifying additional areas of operation and a long-term recovery phase.

In the case of Puerto Rico, they have deployed a recon team and a medical team. They are actively evaluating how they can be of best assistance without adding to the chaos that is currently happening on the ground.