Marketing & Fundraising Ideas

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I have a dilemma. I bought 6 dozen socks to give to the homeless. I did it while shopping with my kids and we went home and we rolled them so they would be easier to give away. But a storm kept us from getting out to give them away.

Now I still need to give them away. But what is the best way? Do I drive to a shelter and hand them out as James Brausch suggests and as I had planned, or do I donate them to the shelter or Salvation Army and let them give them away? (And so you shouldn’t think that I am delaying this, I do know the best thing to do is to give them away quickly and will do so first thing in the morning.)

One of the greatest Jewish scholars of all time, Maimonides, wrote 800 years ago about how to best help those in need. He actually dileneated 8 levels of tzedakah, a Hebrew word we will loosely translate for now as charity. (As I wrote about in a previous post, there are important things to learn about a culture and its value system by looking at its language, but we will save the analysis of the difference between tzedakah and charity for another post.)

The highest form, he notes, is to help the needy get a job or to become partners in a business venture with them. In toher words, teach them to fish, help them get to the point where they don’t need charitable gifts.

Maimonides says that the next level is to give in a such a way where the donor and recipient don’t know who each other is, such that the gift is anonymous and the giver does not even know the people being helped. If I were to follow Maimonides advice on what to do with the socks, I should just go drop them at the shelter and let the agency distribute them. Donor and recipeient remain anonymous.

However, I lose something in that transaction. One of the reasons I wanted to involve my kids in this project was to teach them some lessons. Some of those lessons I hoped to learn from the people we gave the socks to. I wanted to hear their stories and I wanted my kids to hear their stories. I want to learn and I want my kids to learn from other’s mistakes. As I understand it, about 80% of homeless brought themselves there through abuse of alcohol or drugs. I want my kids to see and hear that.

But that is one of my challenges. Tzedakah literally means justice. I give because it is the right thing to do. And Maimonides is trying to teach me that the act of giving is not about me, but about the recipient. I need to be concerned about the dignity of the recipient more than how I feel about giving. That’s right, while Maimonides recognizes that the intent of the giver is important, it is not as important as the good the gift does for the recipient.

The Chabad website translates Maimonides eight levels of Charity like this:

Mishneh Torah, Laws of Charity, 10:7-14

There are eight levels of charity, each greater than the next. [1] The greatest level, above which there is no greater, is to support a fellow Jew by endowing him with a gift or loan, or entering into a partnership with him, or finding employment for him, in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others… [2] A lesser level of charity than this is to give to the poor without knowing to whom one gives, and without the recipient knowing from who he received. For this is performing a mitzvah solely for the sake of Heaven. This is like the “anonymous fund” that was in the Holy Temple [in Jerusalem]. There the righteous gave in secret, and the good poor profited in secret. Giving to a charity fund is similar to this mode of charity, though one should not contribute to a charity fund unless one knows that the person appointed over the fund is trustworthy and wise and a proper administrator, like Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon. [3] A lesser level of charity than this is when one knows to whom one gives, but the recipient does not know his benefactor. The greatest sages used to walk about in secret and put coins in the doors of the poor. It is worthy and truly good to do this if those who are responsible for distributing charity are not trustworthy. [4] A lesser level of charity than this is when one does not know to whom one gives, but the poor person does know his benefactor. The greatest sages used to tie coins into their robes and throw them behind their backs, and the poor would come up and pick the coins out of their robes so that they would not be ashamed. [5] A lesser level than this is when one gives to the poor person directly into his hand, but gives before being asked. [6] A lesser level than this is when one gives to the poor person after being asked. [7] A lesser level than this is when one gives inadequately, but gives gladly and with a smile. [8] A lesser level than this is when one gives unwillingly.

I suspect not all of my readers will agree with that ranking of the levels of giving. But my question to you is whether you think I should give directly which would correspond to the fifth level or should I just drop off the socks at the shelter and go for the second highest level? Do the additional lessons I might learn and impart warrant the “lesser” level of giving?

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