We’ve had some great successes, including hosting a dinner, baking cookies, organizing events, asking for holiday, birthday or special event donations or giving a talk. Read below to find out how these have worked for other DGH members. See which one would suit you best!
Host a dinner
I held a soup and salad supper. I showed the DGH video from the website, discussed my family’s involvement in DGH and answered questions about DGH. I put out a bowl where donations could be dropped. I thought it could also be fun to make food from the countries where DGH has partner communities. (Shirley N)
Holiday, birthday and special event donations
For my birthday I asked my relatives to donate to DGH instead of buying me a birthday gift. (Dan B.)
I made donations on behalf of my division at work at holiday time to a particular DGH project. The reason I chose this project was that it was most obviously related to child health. Some of the other doctors would give gifts, but I thought that a donation would be more meaningful. I printed up cards and hand-wrote my appreciation for all the staff in the division with a statement that I had donated money on their behalf to the project. Even better was the reaction - other people in the division started to donate to charities for the holidays in subsequent years - a llama was donated to Heifer International, donations to Meals on Wheels - and everyone felt good about it. (Elyanne R)
For some DGH members, in lieu of wedding and bar/t mitzvah gifts, attendees were asked to make a contribution to DGH. A card was made up explaining a little about DGH as a tax-deductible organization. Some people signed up with “I Do Foundation” and that group sent DGH a check. In the case of a family member’s death, DGH was named in the obituary, asking that donations be made in memory of a loved one.
Bake cookies
I baked a few different kinds of cookies and then packaged them in boxes and asked people to donate $25 -or maybe it was $35- to DGH in exchange for a box of about 2-3 dozen. It was around the holiday time, and so they were in holiday shapes like stars. I put a sticker on the boxes and I tied them with ribbons in the DGH teal. I had a flyer that came with the cookies about DGH and a form that showed them how to learn more about DGH (www.dghonline.org/update-membership). This might be a good project for a group. It would be fun as a cookie-making party, or to have each person make one kind. (Karen L)
Organize an event
I held an art sale in my home and donated 50% of the money that I earned to DGH. People felt good about buying art and supporting a great organization, I was able to connect with some great local people and talk about health and social justice. I think the same idea could work for a yard sale. (Emily B)
Give a talk
After Larry and I returned home from a trip to DGH project sites, we invited family and friends to an event at a local community center (that we rented for a nominal fee) where we presented our trip together via PowerPoint and discussion. We made a variety of desserts and served beverages before and afterward. Donations to DGH were accepted from those who wanted to help. This would be good for all DGH volunteers to do for their family and friends as a way of sharing what they did abroad and spreading the word about DGH. (Shirley N)
