Winner
“Did you hear Mary Poppins is retired and living in Miami?” – Lesley, Cleveland, OH
Winner
“Did you hear Mary Poppins is retired and living in Miami?” – Lesley, Cleveland, OH
Winner
“Cheers to whatever year it is.” – Carla Ponting
Winner
“Gobble?” “Gobble.” – Eric, Ann Arbor, MI
Winner
“When I grow up I want to be a pie” – Sam, Philadelphia, PA
Winner
“My Mom said 3rd grade is where you sink or swim” – Johnny, San Juan, PR
Friday, April 22nd is the big day for this blue marble. The theme for Earth Day 2022 is ‘Invest in Our Planet’. And the focus is on “accelerating solutions to combat our greatest threat, climate change, and to activate everyone – governments, citizens, and businesses – to do their part.” A reminder that it’s our collective responsibility, and we’re running out of time.
Here I’ll break down 3 ways you can invest in the planet this Earth Day, and beyond.
Time. We only get so much of it. And there are many things vying for our attention all the time. As author Zadie Smith says, “time is how you spend your love”. Here are a couple ways to show the planet our love this Earth Day, by taking the time to care for it.
Participate in the Great Global Cleanup on Earth Day. Earthday.org has an interactive map to find a clean up near you and other events happening in your city.
Our small acts add up. Things like using a reusable water bottle, buying local food and eating what’s in season, taking reusable bags to the grocery store, avoiding fast fashion and buying less stuff.
Learning and talking about the climate crisis with our family, friends, and community is incredibly important. This is how we increase collective accountability and build pressure for businesses + elected officials to take climate action.
Earthday.org has a ton of fact sheets on a variety of environmental topics from plastic pollution to the importance of bees. Or stay up-to-date on environmental policy and climate change news with these trusted resources.
Bring it up with friends and family, and share what you’re learning. People trust people they know and it helps spur collective action. Remember to come from a place of empathy and understanding.
Sign petitions, write your representatives, vote for elected officials that support climate action.
Money talks. Where and how we spend our money is important, and an opportunity for us to align our finances with our goals for a healthier planet.
This is a great overview of ways to do this, from having a green investment strategy to sustainable banking.
Support nonprofit organizations that are addressing the climate crisis.
There is certainly no shortage of ways to invest in our planet. I hope you’ll find a way to do so this Earth Day, and every day!
Looking for last minute holiday gifts or a way around the supply chain drama? Consider the gift of giving!
The gift cards are one time purchases (not recurring).
The recipient can use the gift card towards setting up a monthly donation to a cause on PennyLoafer, or opt for a one-time donation to a cause.
When you order a gift card, you’ll choose the amount and provide the following information:
You’ll receive an email with a PDF attachment within 24 hours that includes the personalized gift card and instructions on how it works (see below). You decide when and how you gift it!
Happy holidays and thanks for considering to #GiftGiving this holiday season!
November 10, 2021
Here is the world.
Here is the world in a pressure cooker.
It’s called science!
You’ve likely been following the headlines about the UN Climate Change summit (COP26), the most consequential gathering of world leaders since the Paris Agreement. Or Big Oil’s decades long climate misinformation campaign.
These stories come on the heels of a report released by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that offered the most up-to-date physical understanding of climate change and issued a ‘code red’ for the planet.
It’s enough to want to crawl under your blanket and watch TikTok videos until you lose track of time and space.
Well, the good news is there are better things we can do.
I know that when looking for ways to help it can feel overwhelming to sift through the sheer volume of information on the internet.
Before I jump in, I’d like to make 3 notes:
Let’s do it!
The following are two newsletters I’ve found helpful. I know there are so many resources that deserve to be mentioned here, but again I want this to be digestible and doable. It’s also convenient that these are delivered to your inbox.
The Crucial Years by Bill McKibbin
With Loved ones: It’s often easier to avoid uncomfortable conversations, but one of the most important things we can do is talk about climate change with friends and family. People trust people they know and it helps spur collective action. Remember to come from a place of empathy and understanding.
With Community: Climate change is a collective problem, that’s why collective action is so important.
With your Representatives: Writing and calling your representatives tells them fighting climate change is important to their constituents. Get involved in local campaigns and vote for representatives that support climate action.
A good place to start is quantifying your carbon footprint. The University of California-Berkley’s CoolClimate calculator can help you. Take stock of your behavior and consumption habits.
Then there are a number of changes you can make to lower your individual carbon footprint, including eating less meat, driving less and walking, biking or taking the bus more, and avoiding fast fashion and buying less things.
Carbon offsets are another option. It’s essentially investing in projects that reduce or capture greenhouse gases to compensate for personal emissions.
There are many amazing nonprofits working to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Below are 3 nonprofits we’ve supported on PennyLoafer, and why.
If you like these nonprofits and are interested in a simple way to regularly support the planet, consider supporting the climate change cause on PennyLoafer, and let us do the work for you.
Each month, your donation will be combined with other supporters and sent to a vetted nonprofit addressing climate change. You’ll learn along the way via an informative monthly newsletter. We also don’t take any percentage of the donation, so that your money is going to the charities. Join us in creating a more sustainable world!
Ah, the age old question: what do I get?
I’m happy you asked.
Perhaps you’ve been on the fence about signing up for PennyLoafer – you like the idea, but you’re not quite convinced or at least unsure of the benefits.
The real benefit of PennyLoafer is how easy it is to support the cause(s) you care about most – proactively and on a regular basis. Not just when dooming headlines occur or someone asks it of you.
In short, you can expect:
💡 To support and learn about different nonprofits doing amazing work
😃 To feel good about your ongoing giving strategy
🔥 To receive informative, digestible newsletters
✔️ To contribute tax-deductible donations
Ok – but what actually happens?
You join a like-minded community of donors who are supporting that cause.
Let’s say you select Climate Change and a monthly donation amount of $10/month.
At the end of every month, your donation is combined with all the other donations to that cause, and given to a different nonprofit. This increases the impact of your donation, and reduces overhead costs for nonprofits.
It will be specific to the cause you’re supporting. In this example, you and everyone else supporting the Climate Change cause would get the Climate Change newsletter.
Below is an example of what this newsletter might look like – and I’ll break it down section by section.
Classic greeting and setting you up for reading success.
Here we’ll tell you where your donation is going and more information related to the nonprofit, such as their leadership, strategy and why they were chosen.
Here we’ll highlight information or news related to the cause. We may also provide some tiny actionable items, so you’re staying informed and engaged in the cause beyond your monetary contribution.
This is for all you witty people out there. If you don’t like coming up with cartoon captions, you can still participate by voting on your favorite caption from the previous month’s cartoon. Only subscribers can submit!
The newsletter format will likely change overtime (based on donor feedback), but this should give you a sense of what to expect when you sign up.
Our goal is to get more individual donors meaningfully connected to causes, learning and feeling like they’re making a difference.
I’d love to hear what you think or any questions you may have – please send me an email at [email protected]
About a year ago, in the midst of a global pandemic and racial justice movement, the idea for PennyLoafer began to roll around in my mind.
After the murder of George Floyd, I found that people (myself included) were scrambling to help, yet often unsure of how or where to give. This uncertainty mixed with urgency led to sporadic giving or, in some cases, apprehension and even inaction.
Many turned to social media to find organizations to support, modeling the generosity of friends and celebrities that filled their feeds. In one extreme example, this led to a small organization, Minnesota Freedom Fund, receiving a sudden influx of $30 million in a matter of weeks.
I only use that example to demonstrate that where we give is often influenced by what’s conveniently put in front of us.
I took stock of my own giving habits, and realized this rang true even prior to 2020.
My giving was sporadic and reactive; almost a direct reflection of events happening in the world or requests that came my way. A natural disaster. A friend’s fundraiser for classroom supplies. The guy that often sits outside my grocery store.
I considered what it meant to have a giving strategy: what did I care most about? And why wasn’t I doing more to support it strategically and on an ongoing basis?
I began to do some research.
So many things get in the way of our giving: not knowing where to start, not having time to do the research, not feeling like it’ll make a difference, work, school, kids — life.
I learned that while the amount of total charitable giving continues to rise every year, the number of individual donors is actually decreasing. This concentration of wealth in philanthropy is also a concentration of power — those with money deciding what causes and nonprofits get to be supported. I wondered what could be done to get more people donating, and feeling like they have the power to influence change.
I also considered the convenience of donating for the wealthy: they can often start their own foundation or open a Donor Advised Fund, hire staff dedicated to researching and vetting their giving strategies, all while maximizing their tax benefits.
I wanted to create this experience for the average donor, who might only have $5 or $50 a month to give.
My hypothesis is: more people would donate if it were convenient. PennyLoafer seeks to provide the everyday donor, who has limited time and resources, with an ongoing giving strategy they can feel good about.
PennyLoafer addresses:
The paradox of choice: There are over a million nonprofits operating in the U.S. PennyLoafer researches and curates a diverse collection of great nonprofits so you can simply start giving, and have one less aspect of your life overwhelmed by choices (see: grocery store aisles or podcasts to listen to)
Busy lives: Responsible giving requires time — something many people don’t have. PennyLoafer is easy to set up and provides an ongoing giving strategy, so being short on time doesn’t have to mean being short on giving.
Feeling overwhelmed by issues: we’ve all been there – what can I do as one person? Especially for big issues like the mental health crisis or climate change. With PennyLoafer, you’ll join other like-minded donors in your giving strategy. Five dollars a month might not seem like a lot, but if 10,000 people are donating, it really adds up.
Information overload: there is so much to understand about big issues and solutions. PennyLoafer promises digestible amounts of information via one monthly email. Donors will be updated on the impact of their money and stay engaged beyond their monetary contribution.
At its core, I want PennyLoafer to get more individual donors meaningfully connected to causes, learning and feeling like they’re making a difference — no matter the amount they can give. If you’re in, let’s get loafing!