TOTJO Charity and Publicity?

I had this idea while I was walking around campus a couple of days ago that I have been kicking around in my head, and I decided I'd throw it out as a I think it'd be a great way to not only give whatever would could to those who may need it more, but also as a way to get our names out there and show that we are a serious group and get ourselves some positive attention maybe.

So basically my idea would go like this. Br. John or anyone else we decided upon would be in charge of a fund, and as members we could donate as little or as much as we could afford and would like to donate towards this fund a month or whenever really it wouldn't matter when. We could set a certain point and when we reached that amount of money, we could send one of our trusted members out to a local charity and have them donate it on behalf of the temple.

I don't know if this is something realistic for us, or if it's something that's been suggested before and been shot down, but I feel like it's something reasonably achievable and if nothing else a positive thing for us to be doing.

I feel like it's easy to donate something, I mean I'm a broke college student and even I can find some money to kick towards this.

Thoughts? Any better suggestions?

broke college students aren't broke. Get a couple of kids and a 4 bedroomed house to pay for. then you'll know what broke truly means, despite all the overtime you'll be doing.

Anyway. I could be wrong but, a: the Temple does not seek publicity, and b: Does not approve of the "middle man" approach to charity funding you are suggesting.

If we had our paypal account back and people actually donated to totjo to cover its costs, maybe pay for some fancy extras, such as ID, pins etc and there still was leftover money, then yes I guess totjo could make a contribution to a charitable cause... But we're really far from this.

Why do we not have a paypal?

And I guess I shouldn't have really used the word publicity because I don't think that would be the intent, it's not like we'd be out being like "look at us!" but more of just a gesture of good will from us.

Because somebody is playing games.....

We are working to resolve the issue...

If you would like to donate to the TOTJO upkeep, send Br. John a PM and he will take care if it...

Otherwise, do what you can locally, I personally started writing TOTJO on the little cardboard things at the gas stations and stores....

I don't know how to put a quote replied but I agree with Jestor, I think it's more about how you use your teachings from the Order to positively affect your personal environment. It's clear your intention is to better our world and charity is a common way of organizing to do that but ren is also right, the middle man can sometimes cloud the situation.

Also, I don't think you need money to make a difference, sometimes it's as simple as being that person that walks by the litter and actually picks it up and carries it to the trash. Or maybe could use that little extra money to buy a meal for a homeless person you saw. These are direct affects you can have on the world where you can see the difference you make.

That being said I can also see the benefit of a larger scale organized action that could be done as a group through the Order, but that could be done in addition to action we take as individuals.

About PayPal

After we had an account for some time PayPal wanted all sorts of things from us to prove we were a non-profit organization. They refused to look it up themselves online and demanded we send certified copies of all sorts of things.

We are in the process of getting new PayPal accounts in both The US and The UK.


About Charities

When anyone donates to us through PayPal, PayPal gets part of the money. That's OK for money that's for our current and future operation expenses but not such a good idea for money dedicated for other charities as it reduces the amount. The charities get more money if members give as individuals. That's why we don't try and collect money for causes and then redistribute it.