Category: Uncategorized

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“Did you hear Mary Poppins is retired and living in Miami?” – Lesley, Cleveland, OH

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“Cheers to whatever year it is.” – Carla Ponting

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“Gobble?” “Gobble.” – Eric, Ann Arbor, MI

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“When I grow up I want to be a pie” – Sam, Philadelphia, PA

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“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. 

1. Invest Your Time

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. 

Volunteer

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.

• For an ongoing way to volunteer, reach out to local environmental nonprofits, tap into national organizations working in your community or start a chapter yourself.

Make sustainable changes to your lifestyle

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. 

• Here’s a list of simple ways to lower your carbon footprint. Take the time to try a couple and see what sticks!  
• If you’re curious about how your diet impacts the planet, this is a helpful resource to learn more about our foodprint and what we can do about it. 

 

2. Invest Your Voice

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.

Educate yourself

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.

• To satisfy your scrolling itch, you can also follow social accounts like EcoTok on TikTok, a collective of environmental educators and activists who are spreading education + inspiration. There are many TikTok and Instagram accounts posting helpful content. Do a quick hashtag search for things like #climateaction #sustainableliving or #ecofriendly and follow some that speak to you. 

Talk about it

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.

• Here’s tips for having an emotionally intelligent conversation about it and some tools to help the conversation.

Get civically involved

Sign petitions, write your representatives, vote for elected officials that support climate action. 

• Earthday.org has curated several petitions, such as calling on the U.S. to act on climate change, and telling businesses to stop deforestation. You can check them out here. 
• To make your voice heard on an ongoing basis:
  • First, find your representatives.
  • Citizens Climate Lobby has tools to help you write and call your representatives.
  • You could also see what town halls are happening in your city and attend one.

 

3. Invest Your Money

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.

Align financial decisions with your eco-friendly principles

This is a great overview of ways to do this, from having a green investment strategy to sustainable banking.

• Shop local, and at retailers with sustainable, ethical practices. 
• Explore top green investing opportunities. 

Donate

Support nonprofit organizations that are addressing the climate crisis.

• If you have a favorite, send them a nice donation on Earth Day!
• If you’re not sure where to start, or want to have an ongoing strategy with your giving,  support the Climate Change cause on PennyLoafer! This is a simple way to invest in the planet on an ongoing basis. Each month, your donation is combined with like-minded donors and given to a different, vetted charity fighting climate change. You stay updated on your impact via our monthly newsletters. 

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! 

Donate to Climate Change

 

Looking for last minute holiday gifts or a way around the supply chain drama?  Consider the gift of giving!

Here is everything you need to know about PennyLoafer gift cards.

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:

• To
• From
• Message

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!

Buy A Gift Card

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.

So here I’m going to keep it simple. And talk about 4 tangible steps you can take to help fight climate change.

 

Before I jump in, I’d like to make 3 notes:

• This will not be exhaustive. It’s a starting point from which to grow.
• No one person can fix climate change, and it won’t be solved overnight. Be gentle with yourself. Focus on what you can do, with what you have, where you are.
• We can all play a part in mitigating climate change, but when it comes down to it – individual shifts are not enough. Policymakers and corporations have the big levers to pull, and must be held accountable to do so.

Let’s do it!

1. Educate Yourself

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.

Heated by Emily Atkin

• Weekly newsletter “to expose and explain the forces behind past and present inaction on the most existential threat of our time.”
• Called one of the foremost climate journalists in the U.S., Atkin’s newsletter feels like peeking behind the curtain at what’s actually happening.

The Crucial Years by Bill McKibbin

• A newsletter about the climate crisis from someone who has covered it for decades.
• McKibbin is the co-founder of 350.org, journalist and author of over a dozen books about the environment, including The End of Nature (1989), the first book written on climate change for the general public.

 

2. Talk About It

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.

• Here’s tips for having an emotionally intelligent conversation about it and some tools to help the conversation.

With Community: Climate change is a collective problem, that’s why collective action is so important.

• Tap into groups already working in your community or start a chapter yourself.

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.

• First, find your representatives.
• Citizens Climate Lobby has tools to help you write and call your representatives.
• You could also see what town halls are happening in your city and attend one.

 

3.  Make Tiny Changes to your Behavior

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.

• This article breaks down the different changes you can make. See what you can start with and try to chip away at it.

Carbon offsets are another option. It’s essentially investing in projects that reduce or capture greenhouse gases to compensate for personal emissions.

• This is a carbon offset calculator for flights.
• Wren is an interesting startup that helps you calculate and offset your carbon footprint.

 

4. Donate Money

There are many amazing nonprofits working to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Below are 3 nonprofits we’ve supported on PennyLoafer, and why.

Clean Air Task Force

• What they do: push the change in technologies and policies needed to get to a zero-emissions, high-energy planet at an affordable cost.
• Why we chose them: CATF has a strong track record of achieving policy changes. They focus on realistic, scalable solutions to decarbonization. And their impressive team regularly contributes leading research to the field.
  • For more, read their 2020 Report or this endorsement from Founders Pledge, a leading charity evaluator.

Rainforest Foundation U.S.

• What they do: partner with indigenous peoples in Central and South America to protect their rainforest ecosystems.
• Why we chose them: their work is evidence-based, cost-effective and scalable. RFUS recognizes that indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the forests and directly invests in those on the frontline.
  • For more, read the CEO’s article about the urgency of this work.

Native Renewables

• What they do: use off-grid solar installations to address energy access challenges and provide power to families on the Navajo and Hopi Nations.
• Why we chose them: Native Renewables is catalyzing clean energy for Native American families and communities, and building the technical capacity of the local workforce. They have strong leadership and focus on low-cost solutions.
  • For more, read this interview with Ms. Singer, the now Executive Director.

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!

Donate to Climate Change

 

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.

Here I’ll dig into what you can expect as a donor.

 

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?

 

When you check out with a cause…

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.

At the beginning of each month, you’ll receive a newsletter

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.

 

We’ll start with the intro

Classic greeting and setting you up for reading success.

 

Now onto the “Giving” section

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.

 

Next is the  “learning”  section

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.

 

And finally, the “playing section”

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.

START GIVING

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!

START GIVING