The Philanthropic Family

How do you start a philanthropic family? If you want to embed the culture of giving into everyday life, shouldn’t it also be built into the big celebrations of life? Why not start with your wedding?

The I Do Foundation is a great resource for ideas to infuse your charitable impulses into your family traditions right from the start.* Probably the biggest feature of the I Do Foundation is the ability to create a wedding registry at well-known national partners (like Target, Home Depot, JC Penney). When guests buy wedding gifts through the I Do Foundation site, part of the funds go to a charity chosen by the couple (at no additional cost to the couple or their guests).

Selecting your Charity

The I Do Foundation does have a set of “recommended” charities (mostly focused on social justice issues) but couples can nominate any charity to receive their donations-as long as it’s a 501(c)(3) public charity that doesn’t promote violence or hate.

But how does a couple begin to select the charity that should receive donations from their wedding?  Grant La Rouche, Executive Director of the I Do Foundation, tells the story of one couple who wanted to honor the bride’s mother, who had died of breast cancer.  You might think they chose a breast cancer charity.  But they didn’t want to focus on the thing that killed her.  She had breast cancer, but that’s not the person that she was.  Instead, they chose to donate to a charity she felt passionate about, one working to save the manatees.

In the absence of a special charity like this, it may be a great opportunity for the couple to start thinking about their shared identity and passions.  I would encourage a couple, rather than picking a charity that only one of them is involved in and passionate about, to pick something that resonates with both of them, something they can see getting involved with, together.

Beyond Charitable Gift Registry

A gift registry that includes funds for charity is a great way to get your guests in on the gig. Want to go deeper? How about these ideas:

• Go green on wedding supplies, like using recycled paper for invitations (which can have a very boutique, cultured look)
• Give a donation to charity and provide a small acknowledgement card for each guest rather than buying tchotchkes with ribbons that match the bridesmaids’ dresses (hey, the font color can match the bridesmaids’ dresses instead.)
• Donate flowers to a nursing home after the wedding; use plants rather than cut flowers for centerpieces and find a great place to plant them afterward (like your new home together).
• Ask the caterer to donate unused food to a local food pantry or shelter
  Use service providers that somehow include a charitable purpose: for example, serve fair trade coffee, or put folks up at a local B&B (where profits stay in the community rather than heading back to corporate headquarters).
• If you think you’ll never have a daughter or you might but she won’t want your wedding dress (come on, let’s not fool ourselves that the mermaid tail will still be hot in 30 years), the I Do Foundation will accept your cleaned dress and sell it through a consignment partner. The charity of your choice will get 20% and the I Do Foundation keeps the rest to support its work
• Bridesmaids not attending another black tie event soon? Maybe they want to donate their dresses, too. There are charities that take these dresses and give them to high school girls who can’t afford to buy one. The I Do Foundation has a link to one in Chicago called “The Glass Slipper Project.”
• For couples who are older and more established, there is often no real need for sheets and towels. Maybe some guests would like to donate to a charity of your choice in lieu of gifts.

These are just some ideas, many of which can be implemented with the help of the I Do Foundation. Here are some other resources you might want to explore further:

• Treehugger article: How to Green Your Wedding
• Find all kinds of specific advice by searching for “charity” at The Knot

Technically Speaking

The I Do Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, but they call themselves a “public foundation.” The gift registry partners make grants to the I Do Foundation, which in turn grants the money out quarterly to the recipient charities chosen by couples. The I Do Foundation receives an additional 4.75% of the value of gifts purchased through the charitable gift registry, up to $200. They also receive grants from individuals and foundations to support their operations. The executive director tells me that the annual operating budget is about $350,000 and they granted out about $1 million last year.

Footnote: Social Entrepreneurship Idea

*I see a whole niche industry on the horizon: wedding planners that specialize in helping couples create a charitable event. As Grant La Rouche, executive director of the I Do Foundation, told me, “weddings are local,” so it seems like a great business for someone to find all the local resources to help couples make their wedding a celebration of life and humanity. Surely some enterprising wedding planner in a major metropolitan area has already done this? Leave me a comment if you know of any…

Tags: celebration, charitable wedding, charity, donate dress, gift registry, green, green wedding, I Do Foundation, philanthropy, wedding favors, wedding planner, wedding planning

This entry was posted on May 22, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.