Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World

"With open hearts and open hands, we gave what we could, and a little became a lot." --from Give a Little

Dimes destroyed polio. Five bucks can beat malaria. Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World not only contains remarkable, inspiring stories of how small donations are making an extraordinary difference in the lives of millions both here in the United States and around the world, but also lays out where and how to start giving . . . today.

Together, ordinary Americans have far more transformational power than any government or big foundation. In 2007, giving by American individuals amounted to $229 billion--that is, 82 times the amount the Gates Foundation gave that same year. Simple, inexpensive things--a water filter, a bike, an irrigation pump, a bed net, a goat--cause a ripple effect that lifts a whole family, a town, and, astonishingly, even a nation out of poverty.

Inspired by Smith's twenty years in the nonprofit sector, Give a Little shows how easily we can dip into our pockets and, with just a few dollars, change the world.

Wendy Smith has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than twenty years in direct services, program administration, development, consulting and board membership; she is a Certified Fundraising Professional. She also has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in marketing. To write Give a Little and pursue its promotion and mission , she has taken an indefinite leave from her job as the Director of Foundation and Government Relations at Building with Books, an international organization that constructs schools in developing countries and runs youth development programs in the US. She is lives in Highland Park, Illinois, with her two daughters.