The Mansion just put up a very small and inexpensive Wish List – three items, none of them more expensive than $13. Take a look.
The Army of Good Work has stayed small in many ways but brought some big ideas to fund-raising. The Wish Lists have become a significant part of our work, well beyond my expectations. This is part of the legacy we’ll be leaving behind, I think.
We’ve inspired the creation of three different Amazon Wish Lists that have greatly changed the experience of helping people.
And they have all been successful. We are given voice to the elderly, essential tools to refugee students.
They give donors the opportunity to choose the help they want to offer, pay for it directly without intermediaries.
We have given tens of thousands of dollars to RISSE, the refugee and immigrant center in Albany, to the Mansion, and to Bishop Maginn High School.
These institutions get to decide what they want and need, and the money goes directly to the purchase of those things, no middlemen or mysterious administrative costs.
I am no longer involved with RISSE – they loved the Wish List but declined to agree to the transparency I insist on in terms of eyes-on visits and photographs. While I was involved, we transformed the afterschool and the library and bought thousands of dollars of badly needed school supplies.
The Mansion and Bishop Maginn give me full access to staff and students (with their permission) and allow me to document in words and photos all of the things people pay for. I appreciate it, it makes the system work.
The list has transformed the classrooms and the lives of the school teachers, who for the first time in years have all of the supplies they need without having to pay for them out of their own pockets.
These lists have up-ended and democratized fund-raising. They are easy to use and give the donors full control of their money and decisions. And they sure feel good.
I keep my own role small and in focus – I provide personal effects and items that are not suitable for public wish lists and that require personal knowledge, even intimacy. In the case of class trips and tuition support (or helping a teacher bury his son), Wish Lists really don’t work, and again, the money goes directly to the institutions.
At the Mansion, which uses the list sparingly – small and inexpensive items – the list has been effective concentrating on crafts and items like garden supplies and DVD’s. I’m very proud of these lists, they put our money right where it belongs and focuses on the real needs of the young and the elderly.
They have done an enormous amount of good. And I like the role I am playing – I am your eyes and ears, I focus on the personal.
Please check out the new Mansion Wish List. Only three items, ranging from $9 to $13. I believe this is the future of this personal and focused way of fund-raising, and I am especially proud of this experiment. It’s gotten a great deal of attention.
The Wish Lists were up and running long before we got there, but we are using them in an especially effective way.
Small acts of great kindness. We don’t get bigger, we get better for more effective. Thanks.