Charitable giving for a 4-year-old?a

December 14, 2008 6:49 AM

Help me present my 4-year-old niece with a way to donate to charity, as part of her Christmas present.

For Christmas this year, I have a small gift for my niece who already has more toys than she'll ever need, but wanted to add a charitable side to it as well. I was thinking of giving her a relatively small sum of money (maybe 20-25 bucks) and telling her that she can use it to help someone else. My problem is how to frame this. Originally, I was thinking of asking her "do you want to help sick people, hungry people, kids, or animals?" and then donating in her name to American Cancer Society, a local food bank, a local children's home, or the ASPCA (or something along those lines). Is there a better way to do something like this on a level that a 4-year-old would understand? I'd like to make this a recurring theme for her birthday and other holidays where I would normally buy her gifts.

I came across this in the search, but it didn't seem to have the same focus as what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

posted by um_maverick to Work & Money (8 answers total)

I would recommend researching a few charities and presenting her with choices.

Because of her age, it might help your cause to have charities in mind where she can see what her donation is doing or where she might have a connection to it.

A nice starter, the World Animal Federation has 'adoption kits' where she would receive some information about the animal she chose to sponsor - there is a huge list. The photographs and certificates would be a nice incentive for a young child.

Or maybe recommend a local charity (playground improvement, helping the homeless) and take her to visit to see what she's helping. Take her shopping and buy canned goods and deliver them with her to the shelter. Or maybe have her pick out some gently used toys or books and deliver them as well. It's easy to just send money somewhere, but getting physically involved might help her to get your message about giving and she can first hand experience the warm feelings of giving and sharing with others.

Depending on her maturity level (and the parents' consent) you might talk about the Make a Wish foundation as she can relate to kids her own age.
posted by NoraCharles at 7:20 AM on December 14, 2008

I'm not around kids much so you'll have to be the judge of whether or not this has merit.
Letting her see in person what her donation will be and who it will help seem like it would be more exciting for a child than a check to a charity.
I'd give her a present, then say you'd like to help out someone or group this year by giving them a present too and would she like to help. It'd be from both of you. Give her a few choices (maybe 5?) and let her pick which one. I'd pick charities that want physical donations like food pantries, animal shelters or any that have a wish list. Next, take your niece shopping for whatever you've chosen. When you drop off the what you've bought, let your niece be the one to tell the staff that the two of you are making a donation. Most kids I've met really like being able to help.
posted by stray thoughts at 7:21 AM on December 14, 2008

Donate books in her name to her local public library. Or a zoo, children's museum, etc. That makes the giving more concrete, because when she visits these places, she'll be reminded that she helped. For example, if you donated to the Friends of Library association, when she borrows out a book, and it has a label on it saying, donated by the friends of. . ., she can be reminded that she helped make it happen. Or, "adopt" an animal through a local animal shelter, wildlife refuge association, etc. Example: Manatee adoption here, zoo adoption (for Philly, but other zoos probably have similar programs) here. Anything that you can make concrete, so that the child can see how she helped, would be good.
posted by jujube at 7:25 AM on December 14, 2008

My wife and I have been wondering about this as well. We want to introduce the concept of charity to our sons as early as possible, but money is still a very abstract idea for them. In our area, we have "angel trees" at some retailers. You take a card from the tree and purchase specific items like clothing, toys, etc. for a needy child. We've decided that picking out a tangible item with the little ones might help them understand the idea a little better than a monetary donation in their name. Another idea we've had is to shop for and actually deliver some food to our local foodbank with them rather than sending our usual check. Our hope is that this type of approach may also have the added benefit of teaching them to actually spend time and effort as well as money, and that they can have some fun along the way.
posted by gimli at 7:40 AM on December 14, 2008

You might be interested in Oxfam Unwrapped (or the US version), which enables you to shop for a specific thing to donate. You then get a card to match the chosen item. I think it's a charming campaign, and the card makes the donation specific and more relatable.
posted by sueinnyc at 8:47 AM on December 14, 2008

Each Christmas, our children have to choose one toy to donate for each toy that they receive. They may not donate broken or non-working toys. It's been a good introduction to charitable giving.
posted by DWRoelands at 2:09 PM on December 14, 2008

Do something tangible....take her shopping to buy a toy (she chooses, within a dollar range) for a Toys for Tots program, a local children's hospital, etc. Charities in nearly every state have been reporting that toy donations are down this year, while enrollment has increased.
posted by availablelight at 2:32 PM on December 14, 2008

Every pair of shoes you buy from TomsShoes.com donates a pair of shoes to a child in Africa. They have mens, womens, and childrens shoes too. They run a bit more than you were planning to spend, but I think it would be cool for her to have shoes just like the ones she's donating.
posted by Amanda B at 11:37 PM on December 15, 2008