Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World

I am a Good American After All!

My 25 - 50 dollar donations to a couple things each year gave me more a sense of guilt than a feeling of contribution. How could anyone or anything REALLY benefit from such a small donation? When I happened upon this title "Give a Little" I thought yep, thats me. But after reading just the first couple of pages I was utterly inspired. My small donations were adding up to a MASSIVE sum. I suddenly felt empowered by my small donations, not guilty. Moreover, Wendy Smith takes all the worry and guess work out of donating. She leads the reader to the most efficient and beneficial charities in the world, assuring that you'll get the most "bang for your donated buck". I am very thankful I came across "Give a little". I am now quite sure we CAN change the world. Every family across the globe needs to have this book!

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Give A Little: How Our Small Donations Can Transform the World: Make A Difference

Give A Little: How Our Small Donations Can Transform Our World
By Wendy Smith


Everyone at some time has given money to a specific charity of his/her choice or a cause that they are passionate about. Some people even give monthly donations to organizations that help provide food and medicine to a child or family in a different country. But where does the money really go and who is profiting from your donation? Are the people that you are trying to help really getting the money for food, medicine and clothing or are the administrators of this organization getting most of it and those in need not very much? In her book Give A Little, author Wendy Smith provides the reader with the tools necessary to answer not only these questions but which charities, which organizations and which areas your donations will help the most and how to choose the ones that are the most reputable.


The book addresses four major issues related to poverty today: hunger, health, education, and access to tools, technology and infrastructure. The purpose of the book is to help the reader learn the facts that will empower you to make wise and intelligent philanthropic decisions.

She begins by describing the four big secrets of giving which are: Americans are extraordinary givers, affordable donations do make a difference, giving changes You as well as the world and the millennium project that I will now explain. This project has eight goals that the author states are achievable. These goals are targeted to help eliminate poverty and improving prospects for those living in the poorest nations.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child morality
Goal 5: improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat AIDS/HIV, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.

Who and where these goals will target and how they will benefit everyone you will have to read for yourself.

In order to ensure that your donations go far the author then goes on to explain how the ripple effect stretches your donation and how that works. You affordable donations will create as she states, ripples of positive change.

1, Positive changes in the lives of those receiving the donation
2. Long term, demonstrated, positive outcomes that are measurable
3. Generate high returns
4. Builds self-sufficiency
Just how this works in detail you need to read pages 28-30 to learn about the ripple effect for yourself.

The main thrust of the book is to help the reader learn which charities or organizations might be considered for donations and how to choose the right one.

Let's start with those that deal with Hunger, then Health, Education and finally Technology. Eliminating poverty and hunger are the author's main focus. How do we do that? By contributing to the right organizations that will help people to get food and stay healthy. Programs like KickStart that provides needed technology to help farmers and Kids Café that provides a program that helps youths develop and maintain positive lifestyles. Students are able to participate in quality out of school experiences, which provide opportunities to improve their academic, life skills and more. Read Chapter 8 and learn more about this program and how you can become part of it. That is only one program described in that chapter there

Excellent, easy to read, inspiring

Great book to make us count our blessings and see how much good we - the little people - can do with fairly small cntributions. Wonderful stories of how real people can make a difference to problems that seem unending and without solutions. Extremely readable, very interesting. My sister in law bought 7 copies to give as gifts! Give it a try!

Call to Action

When it comes to philanthropy, I am as cynical as you can get. I did not support the victims of the Tsunami or Katerina. Why? I was sure most of my contribution would be diluted by overhead and/or misuse of funds. Yet, I'm not a piker. Historically, I have given generously. I support my alma mater, any friend or relative who hits me up, and charities that support causes/research for subjects that have personally effected me. Do I really do my duediligence? No. Do I really believe my donations make a difference? Not sure. Why do I give then? Because no one can say I don't. Like I said I'm a cynic.

GIVE A LITTLE by Wendy Smith is a game-changer for me. Not only does Ms. Smith debunk the myth that the Bill Gates' of the world are the major donors -- they're not. Every day American families provide almost two-thirds of all donations to charity and those donations are less than $250.00. While there are so many 'good causes' out there, Ms. Smith makes a convincing case that our first dollars should go to ending poverty. Several years ago in Sports Illustrated, Rick Reilly wrote that ten dollars bought a mosquito net and prevented a child from malaria in Africa. Ms. Smith takes this several steps further and shows that saving one child creates a ripple effect that impacts postively not only the child and his or her family, but an entire community. Done often enough the effect can be exponential. In her book, she clearly outlines the causes of poverty and shows how we -- every day ma and pa citizens -- can transform the world thru small donations to dozens of organizations that provide goods as mundane as mosquito nets, water pumps, water filters whose impact ripple.

I challenge you to read GIVE A LITTLE and not come away with a new mindset about your charitable giving. And... not be inspired to give small donations to many of the worthy organizations profiled in her book.

A MUST READ highly recommended by a former cynic.

Great Book

Loved the message - empowers everyday people.
Perfect holiday gift book!!

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