The document discusses the benefits of including sharing and philanthropy as part of one's financial plan. It notes that sharing can provide happiness, pride, and a sense of purpose. The document recommends starting to share and volunteer from a young age. It provides examples of organizations for teens to get involved with through donations, volunteering, or microloans. Overall, the document encourages teens to find causes they care about and begin sharing their time, money, or talents.

1. Sharing as Part of a
Financial Plan
Share, Save, Spend

2. Did you know?
Did you know that people who focus
less on spending and more on saving
and sharing report being both happier
and healthier? A professor studying
the effects of materialism has found
data to back up the old phrase “money
can’t buy happiness.”

3. Did you know?
Young people age 21 and under in America
spend and influence the spending of more that
$1 trillion a year.
Imagine the result if 10 percent of that money
were shared with charitable organizations at
home and around the world.

4. Why Share?
• Many young people might wonder why they
should include sharing or giving in their
financial planning. After all, students do not
have a lot of money to begin with.
• Who would expect someone with a limited
income to do that?
• What difference could the small amount that
one could give away do for anyone, anyway?

5. There are many reasons why…
…it is important to consider sharing…
When you share your resources with causes you
are passionate about, you are more connected
to your community and the world.
• Sharing earns you a sense of pride and well-
being.
• Sharing allows you to discover what you
believe in and to figure out a way to
contribute to those causes.

6. Philanthropy
…the act of giving away money, goods, services
or time to support a cause.
• Many people associate philanthropy with
serving the poor or needy—but sharing what
you have can also benefit other causes.
• You can help the environment, abandoned
pets, organizations for the elderly, health-
related causes, political or cultural activities,
and educational programs.

7. Altruism
• Another term that can be used to describe a
form of sharing.
• It is the self-less concern for the welfare of
others.
• Donors to charitable organizations are not all
wealthy.
• Eighty-six percent of all adults in the U.S.
identify themselves as donors.

8. Millionaires?
• Seventy-three percent of people whose
annual household incomes were less than
$30,000 regularly gave money to charitable
causes.
• Almost half of all households earning less than
$25,000 per year gave at least $100.

9. Start Sharing NOW!
• Surveys show that most of the people who
give to charity started giving early.
• If you make sharing a part of your life—and a
part of your financial plan—you will not have
to wonder where to find the money or how to
do it later.
• A large number of teens share their money,
their time, and their talents with others.

10. Get Involved
• Sharing with an organization you feel a bond
with makes the gift more meaningful to you.
• You will feel like you are making a difference in
something you believe in.
• Dog lover? Think about what you can give to
your local animal shelter—financial gifts are
always welcome, but you can also donate your
time.

11. Reap the Benefits
• Investing yourself in an organization you believe
in can have benefits for you in other ways as well.
• Volunteering can provide you with valuable job
experience and material for your college entrance
applications.
• You will meet friends who share your interests
and worldview.
• The people you work with may become future
character references.

12. Reap the Benefits
• Sharing your time and talents will also help
you make the world a better place.
• You will feel better about yourself.
• If you choose to volunteer, you are in good
company.
• More that 65% of high school students today
are volunteering in their communities—a
greater percentage than ever before.

13. Teens CAN Make a Difference
You might think that a young person without
much money cannot really do a lot to help
others financially.
But that assumption is not always true.
The following slides will introduce you to
some organizations created just for teens like
you.

14. Find an Organization
• There are numerous charities and causes that
stand to benefit from the talent and financial
resources you can share.
• Kiva (www.kiva.org) is an organization that
helps you to “sponsor a business” by making a
small loan—as little as $25—to one or more
entrepreneurs in the developing world,
empowering the to lift themselves out of
poverty.

15. Find an Organization
New Global Citizens is a campaign recently
launched by Youth Philanthropy
Worldwide. Its goal is to mobilize teens
around the world to help solve the earth’s
biggest problems—poverty, access to
education and health care, gender
inequality, environmental degradation, war
and natural disasters.

16. Find an Organization
Facebook Causes allows individuals to
create Web pages that give visitors
information about various causes as well as
a chance to join the cause and, in some
cases, even donate to the cause.

17. Find an Organization
Humane Teen is a program of the Humane
Society of the United States which offers a
variety of opportunities for young people
to help animals and make their voices
heard on issues such as animal cruelty,
factory farming, and animal
experimentation.

18. Find an Organization
Do Something is an online community
where young people can learn about
causes, get ideas for charitable projects,
and take action to make the world a better
place.

19. Find an Organization
Youth Volunteer Network is a Website
sponsored jointly by Network for Good and
YouthNOISE which helps teens find
opportunities to share time and services close
to home. It has message boards where young
people can communicate about different
causes and can also help you find the
charitable organizations that best fit your
values.

20. Find an Organization
Youth Venture is a global network that
inspires and invests in teams of young
people who design and launch their own
community-based charitable organizations.

21. Find an Organization
Student Conservation Association matches
young people with internships and other
conservation opportunities in a variety of
environments—such as urban parks,
national parks, and state forests.

22. Find an Organization
Landmark Volunteers provides summer
volunteer opportunities for students at
more than fifty conservation landmarks
around the country—from the Grand
Canyon in Arizona, to the Morgan Horse
Farm in Vermont, to Colonial Williamsburg
in Virginia.

23. Find an Organization
You can help hungry families around the
world by purchasing a share of an animal
from Heifer International. Heifer gifts can
be wool-producing sheep, milk-producing
cows, chickens, rabbits, even honeybees.
The simple yet powerful idea of this group
is to give families a source of food rather
than short-term relief.

24. Find an Organization
One online resource that can help you
match your interests with nonprofit
organizations is VolunteerMatch.

25. Find an Organization
MercyCorps is a nonprofit organization
that inspires young people to fight global
poverty.
It exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and
oppression by helping people build secure,
productive and just communities.

26. Why Do People Share?
Too often the act of sharing money takes a
backseat to all of the spending choice that
tempt us day in and day out.
But throughout history there have been people
whose sharing ultimately made a big impact on
others.
Take Ben Franklin

27. Why Do People Share?
Benjamin Franklin…
It has been said that if someone needed money
to start a business or help his or her family, Ben
Franklin would share what he had and not ask
for the money to be paid back. His instructions
to the person he was helping: “If someone you
know needs money someday, I hope you will pay
it forward and help them out just as I have
helped you.”