Let’s turn Valentine’s Day into Generosity Day. Let’s spend today saying YES to everything: to anyone who asks for help in any way. Let’s seek out opportunities to be as open and generous as we can be, because today is supposed to be about love – not just romantic love, but love for everyone. And what better way to express love than through acts of generosity?
About a year ago, I conducted a month-long generosity experiment (here’s the original blog post, and here’s the video). It started because, on a cold December day, rushing home on the subway, I passed a homeless person on the street asking for money. As usual, I walked by, head buried in my iPhone, and didn’t give him any money. I knew I’d made a mistake, that my gut response was to say “No,” and this was keeping me from being the open, generous person that I want to be.
The next day I announced that I’d spend the month of December saying YES to everyone who asked me for money (whether a homeless person, a street musician, a nonprofit,….). I found it transformational.
My goal is to turn Valentine’s Day (today!) into Generosity Day, by having people spend today saying YES to everything. But I can only pull this off with your help.
If your IN, here’s what you’ll do.
1. Spend the whole day saying YES to everything and being as generous as you can be. For example:
- Give money to anyone who asks: that street musician you typically walk by; a homeless person; your favorite charity…not because they asked.
- Take old clothes from your closet and give them to goodwill
- Leave a $5 tip for a $2 coffee
- Introduce yourself to someone you see every day but have never said hello to
- Bring in lunch for your co-workers
- Give someone a complement
- Take a $7 taxi ride, give the driver a $20, and say “keep the change.”
2. Share updates on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, wherever makes sense for you. If using Facebook or Twitter, please use the hashtag #generosityday to spread the word. Here’s a sample tweet:
- I just left a $5 tip on a $2 coffee, because Valentine’s Day should be about generosity. http://bit.ly/generosityday #generosityday
3. Affirmative comments and stories on this blog post are also welcome!
I can seed this idea, but only you can make it happen. Let’s do it, together!
Sasha Dichter is Director of Business Development at Acumen Fund. Check out his blog where he writes on generosity, philanthropy and social change.
Check out Generosity Day’s write up in Fast Company and add yourself to our Facebook Fan Page!
Tags: generosity, philanthropy, Sasha Dichter
This is such a wonderful idea. Your story about walking past the homeless is a daily and common sight among people because we are often too afraid to be kind or being afraid that we will be taken advantaged off. The interesting thing about it is as people with needs and wants, we don’t think about how much $5 is going to be used in the next second and often, it goes towards buying “fashionable” coffee.
What a great way to spend Valentine’s Day that includes everyone!
Thank-you for sharing your idea with the AF community. I enjoyed embracing generosity day:
Gave up my seat on the train into work, held the door open in the train station, donate money to a friend participating in a bike race, bought coffee for a co-worker, dropped money in the hat of two street performers, and bought lunch for a homeless woman. I was overwhelmed by the response to my small acts of generosity!
The day was transformational for me in more ways than one, and turned my least favourite holiday into an aspirational day that allowed me to engage people in a conversation about my work with Toronto for Acumen Fund and the Acumen Fund approach.