It’s the calm before the end-of-year slash holidays solicitation storm and it’s got me thinking about what we can pay forward this year. I like to have a donations plan in place before the holidays, lest I go broke responding to every return address mailing and “last chance for a tax deduction” email over the next few weeks. And thinking about how much to give always brings me back to my childhood.

I first learned about tithing back in Sunday School when contributing 10 cents of my one dollar allowance seemed oh, so manageable. When the novelty wore off, and I looked around and saw a struggling congregation, I began to think that tithing – at least in the traditional sense of the word – was something that was done in older times, particularly when religious institutions were the only organizations feeding the hungry and providing other outreach, and those contributions went beyond church expenses to uplift an entire community.

Traditionally, to tithe means to give one tenth of one’s income. For most people, that’s a staggering number of funds earmarked to pay a mortgage in order to stay out of foreclosure, to cover the cost of daycare while two parents go to work or to travel to see grandparents who no longer live down the road. So I prefer to think of tithing as any contribution to a religious institution or another non-profit organization that fulfills a societal need in which the donor believes. The key to uplifting our global community is to have as many people contribute as possible, at whatever level they can.

If all 8.4 million residents of New York City (with a median household income of about $48,000 according to the 2010 census) gave just 1% of their pre-tax income – $486 – to the charity of their choice, that would come to $3.9 billion, a little over what the American Cancer Society has contributed to cancer research since their inception in 1946. Imagine what could be accomplished by that much cancer research in just one year.

Still too much, you say? If every adult living in the tri-state region gave just 1/2 a percent of their income, $16.8 billion would advance the efforts of thousands of worthy causes.

This year, we’re trying to do our part by donating our fund for printed holiday cards and sending an e-card instead. To join our holiday card mailing list and learn about the organization we’re supporting this year, click here.

Thank you for reading, and for tithing – any amount you can.

This autumn was our busiest yet with seven single day events in New York and New Jersey and three multiple-day conferences in Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

We started the season by helping a law firm with a client conference at the Harvard Club in NYC when they were short-staffed. Ten days later we moved downtown for the Autism Speaks to Wall Street Chef Gala to manage the check-in process and volunteers. Then, mid-October, it was time for the five New Jersey Light the Night Walks that take place on two simultaneous Saturdays. One of our biggest projects of the year, we started working on the logistics for these events back in March and were thrilled to see the growth in attendance and funds raised by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

This month, we executed two more of Public Interest Projects’ convenings, including our third for the U.S. Human Rights Fund and our first for the Elev8 middle school initiative, a conference that ends today. These events included booking travel for over 100 people each and coordinating meeting, meal and transportation needs.

None this would have been possible without the help of such a dedicated team. Now it’s time for the rest and recuperation that comes with the holidays and planning for 2012 events, including the 5th Annual Communities for Education Reform Convening.

What events are on your horizon?

Last night I returned from handling the logistics for the U.S. Human Rights Fund’s (USHRF) convening in Philadelphia. For the past three years, this event has brought together funders and advocates working towards common goals such as criminal justice reform, racial equity and developing youth leadership for social justice causes. Much of the convening was devoted to small-group workshops but the first day was devoted to a motivating opening plenary, followed by a presentation of the first USHRF Human Rights Hero Award to Jessica Lenahan.

Prior to working on this convening, I had never heard of Jessica Lenahan. But before I made the travel arrangements for our VIP, I knew I needed to know more. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights showed up first on google with this information:

“Jessica Lenahan…obtained a restraining order against her ex-husband from the Colorado Courts in May 21, 1999.  Not knowing the whereabouts of her daughters, Jessica Lenahan had eight contacts with the Castle Rock Police Department during the evening of June 22, 1999 and the morning of June 23, 1999.  In each of her telephone calls and discussions with the police agents, she requested efforts to locate her daughters and she informed them that she possessed a protection order against Simon Gonzales. Her contacts were met with a police response that was fragmented, uncoordinated and unprepared, and it did not respect the terms of the restraining order. That morning, Simon Gonzales drove his pick-up truck to the Castle Rock Police Department and fired shots through the window. There was an exchange of gunfire with officers from the station in the course of which he was fatally wounded and killed. The deceased bodies of the three girls were found in his truck.”

Luckily, I was sitting down when I read this and when I learned the rest of Jessica’s story while at the convening. I thought that what had happened to her was a blow so fierce that a person would never be able to withstand more hurt and heartache within their lifetime. But it was only after viewing this video at the convening, did I learn that Jessica’s struggle only just began with that violent day in 1999:

Jessica has spent the past 12 years fighting for women’s and children’s rights against domestic abuse and for enforcement of the laws that were meant to keep her family safe. It was a humbling honor to help to bring together a group that will use Jessica’s story as inspiration for their ongoing human rights advocacy.

On Saturday October 15^th, I was a part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk in Princeton, NJ.  Approximately 2,500 people were on hand in Forrestal Village to walk with lighted balloons and help raise money for the fight against blood cancers. It was also a day of firsts for me as an event planning assistant: my first all-day event and my first outdoor event. It was amazing to see exactly what goes into staging and executing an event attended by so many people. The walkers did not start arriving until 4:00PM, but the day started hours earlier, with tent setups and positioning mapped out and assembly of the tent city beginning.  Once I oriented myself to both the map and the site, I was educated enough to start answering questions and helping out where needed.

Three things that I used during the preparations:  a box cutter, a generator for a 12-foot high light tower, and an Allen wrench.   Here is what I found out about being the on-site planner for an event of this magnitude: it’s all about juggling!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff had a vanload of disparate items, ranging from  signs, food donations, carnations, and what seemed like a million cases of water that needed to be unloaded and distributed.  This is where the box cutter came into play – three of the signs that were supposed to fit into metal stands did not fit. I found a box cutter from one of the tent guys and went to work.  They sure fit by the time I was done (and I’m happy to report, no injuries!). Next came the Allen wrench – there were actually two of them used to assemble the site map stand. I was able to manage that fine, but not knowing where to put them so that we would have them at the end of the day, I held them in my pocket for the next 10 hours – and do you know how hard it is to use an Allen wrench in the pitch-dark? Thank goodness for the lovely volunteer with a flashlight app on her phone! Whatever help I was able to provide on Saturday, as rudimentary as it was, I was certainly not going to lose the Allen wrenches.

“All hands on deck” would be a great way to describe much of the day – help wherever you can. Unload boxes, unpack signs, tell volunteers where to go, keep track of all the vendors’ deliveries, learn how to operate the generators for the  light towers, hand out balloons , and clean up, clean up, clean up! The coordination of all the volunteers was a massive undertaking – you want volunteers there early, but what if the equipment they are going to use is late? I guess there’s never a worry of too many volunteers showing up, but you also don’t want people standing around with nothing to do.  The 40 mph winds didn’t deter us too much – thank goodness they died down by the time the walkers began arriving. The balloon task was definitely labor-intensive – well over 3,000 balloons were blown up, then had to be distributed individually – and the wire cords for the special light-up balloons did not get the memo about not getting tangled!

It turned out to be a wonderful, successful day, and a really inspiring event. Volunteers, walkers and staff were all so engaged and supportive of each other, and the atmosphere was so upbeat.  Aside from being completely exhausted and having my first case of “event headache,” I felt privileged to see and be part of such a great event, and to be able to truly appreciate all the work that goes into it.