Phil Haslanger has a nice piece in the Capital Times highlighting more Madison area churches who are encouraging members to think about donating their checks to church projects.
Certainly it is not only church folks who will respond to this call for careful consideration of how this money may be used to benefit the maximum number of people?
-Carol
The NPR program Marketplace Money did a segment this weekend on people who are giving their stimulus check to charity. “Yours Truly” has a few seconds of air time in the story, and they did mention this web site.
The point I was making is that the government is going into debt to give us this stimulus check. It’s debt that someone has to pay off, either me in my future years, or the next generation. Basically, no matter how you spend your stimulus check, the debt is going on a credit card belonging to your kid, your niece or nephew, your grandchildren. It’s debt they have before they even get their first job. Does that influence how you spend it? It should.
If you have an interesting plan for your stimulus check, let me know at carol (at) forwardmadison.org
_Carol
The Washington Post today has a different suggestion for spending your stimulus check: donate to groups that help veterans of the Iraq war. Whether you are for or against the war, everyone is for the troops getting the equipment they need over there, the support their families need here, and the care that they need once they’re home.
It’s another approach to the stimulus check: putting it where the government should be putting it. It puts you on the Appropriations committee. You can support a national non-profit, or you can choose one closer to home for the troops from your state.
I think this might be especially meaningful in terms of supporting National Guard troops, who signed on thinking they would be serving their state as much as their country, and more home than abroad. These soldiers and their families probably got a lot more than they bargained for as “weekend warriors.”
So, make your choice for your check, and tell your friends, family, and media what you’re doing!
-Carol
Today I got a great email from Colin of RISE, Rebates in Service of Everyone. Great name!
His group is in Portland, OR and they point out that if 83,300 households donate a full $1200 check, that’s $100 million! Well, we all know way more people than that will be getting checks. RISE is aiming nationally and they have a good list of links of where you can donate online, so check them out!
Colin also pointed me to Give it 4 Good, a program of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. At this moment, their ticker says 268 people have pledged $75,369. That’s great!
So, like I said, church folks seem to be getting this idea loud and clear, and that’s no surprise. What non-church organizations are stepping up the plate and pledging some time and energy to redirect the nation’s stimulus checks from gadgets and vacations to meals and shelter? Send me a link and we’ll mention it here.
Today, May 1 is International Worker Day, so perhaps you want to donate your stimulus check to a vocational program? A jobs training program? The opportunities are endless…
-Carol
The United Church of Christ, is a national Protestant denomination recently made famous, or infamous, by Rev. Wright and Sen. Barack Obama. Some UCC churches sure get the notion that we can do good with our economic stimulus checks.
The United Church News reports in the April/May issue that church members of Circle of Mercy UCC in Asheville, N.C., have voted to give away all or part of their stimulus checks. They wrote a letter to President Bush expressing great concern over the pattern of economic disparity in the US and elsewhere. “We do not believe that shopping is an appropriate response to our trauma.”
Even at only 33 households, they’ve done the math and figure the $25,000 or so coming to them offers an “exciting opportunity for us to consider extravagant missions funding.”
Will non-church folks be equally moved by the US prosperity gap to donate all or a portion of their windfall?
Stay tuned…
-Carol
Today’s Cap Times ran a follow-on letter, of a fashion, to my letter about where to spend your stimulus check. In the letter, the writer urges people to first pay down debt, which I agree with entirely.
The writer also says that folks should have a “cushion” of money in the bank, and to invest in stocks for the long term, but not to spend it!
I have to disagree, to some extent. It’s a typical “All About Me” response, and we don’t all live in little bubbles. If your financial house is pretty much secure, then I think we all have a moral duty to help others who are not so secure.
By “investing” by spending in the local economy (whether with a nonprofit or a business), we spread the money a little wider, create jobs, help startup businesses, and contribute to the fabric of this unique city. If we don’t do this, and we instead hoard this windfall, then in our comfortable future retirement, where will the coffee shops, farms, and small businesses have disappeared to that we didn’t support? Where will the children, who are saddled with the debt created by this largesse, find jobs to work and pay it off?
Pay your debt, then spread it around!
-Carol
A Madison church has issued a call to members to donate half their stimulus check toward the church’s sponsorship of a Habitat for Humanity project here in Madison, WI. Habitat’s new initiative targets existing neighborhoods rather than new developments, and aims to have condo units at a more affordable price than their single family homes. (Link to the newsletter article)
In May, members of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Madison will vote on whether to commit $65,000 in church funds toward the project. Proponents aim to raise at least half that amount by asking members to “let their actions match their passions”. They want to make a more lasting impact by improving our community infrastructure and helping to provide affordable housing. Habitat’s condos are owned rather than rented, creating more stable neighborhoods and an entry to homeownership at lower income levels.
This is also an excellent way to keep the stimulus money in the local economy, by helping a local non-profit, purchasing construction materials locally, and revitalizing an urban neighborhood rather than an suburban development that requires a longer commute.
Bravo! Keep the ideas coming!
-Carol
Thank you to Madison’s Capital Times for publishing my Letter to the Editor on April 1, 2008.
I hope they don’t think it was an April Fool’s commentary!
I do want to hear from people what projects they would like to fund with their stimulus checks. If anyone wants to join me in funding a 1 year scholarship at MATC, let me know!
carol (at) forwardmadison.org
Elections bring out the worst in people. Or perhaps I should say campaigns do.
In a discussion of where to best put our economic stimulus checks, some folks suggest donating it to the Democratic National Committee, with the promise to donate more only if Obama is made the presidential nominee.
Come on, folks. Is that really in the spirit of giving?
-Carol
Forward Madison was started out of a desire to put the government’s 2008 “economic stimulus” checks to work for Madison. On February 8th, Congress passed an economic stimulus package that will send most US taxpayers a check. On February 9th, this web site was launched, for the purpose of discussing and investing this windfall to the benefit of the City of Madison, Wisconsin.
If each taxpayer in Madison will get $500, how much money will Madison get in total? If Madison has, say, 150,000 adults, we could get as much as $75 million from Washington. If, say, 2% of those residents donated their $500 check, that would be 1.5 million dollars we could invest in our own “stimulus” package.
So, rather than running out and buying a gadget or a recliner, Forward Madison challenges those of us fortunate enough to afford it to invest our stimulus checks in the people of Madison. To create strong local economy, we need to help each person to get a job, keep a job, or make a job.
We’ve issued a challenge to our friends: Join us in funding an MATC scholarship. 10 people, 10 checks, 1 college education.
How will you challenge your friends? Let us know on the forum. Strike up a conversation, present your idea, challenge your friends and the community to join you.
Join the conversation in our online Forum. Tell us what you would do to help a Madisonian get a job, keep a job, or make a job.
-Carol Bracewell