Welcome back! Today is Altruismo-Sponsored DAY OF GIVING
Literacy of the Day · Day of Giving
Words that move people to give
Today is our Altruismo Day of Giving — and across the country, it’s also Giving Tuesday. Every giving campaign in the world starts the same way: with someone writing the right words.
Word of the Day: GIVE. To give means to hand something to someone else because you want them to have it. Today our Altruismo house — the House of Givers — is leading a Day of Giving!
Four things you can give — three of them are free!
Let’s talk
Which of these four things could YOU give today?
Three of them don’t cost any money at all. Which ones?
How does it feel when you give something to someone?
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Your time, your help, and your kind words are all free — and sometimes they matter the most of all!
Try it
Give something right now! Turn to a partner and give them a compliment — that’s a gift made of words. Watch what happens to their face!
Quote of the day: “Service is the rent we pay for living.”
Who said it?Hide
Marian Wright Edelman — the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi bar, and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. She has spent her life advocating for children in poverty. This line comes from her book The Measure of Our Success.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Every giving campaign runs on persuasive writing. And the ones that work all share the same structure.
Need, ask, impact — in that order.
Let’s talk
“Service is the rent we pay for living.” Why did she choose the word rent? What does that imply?
Which of the three parts do you think people most often leave out — and why does the appeal fail without it?
Is giving still generous if it makes the giver feel good? Defend your answer.
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“Rent” implies service is something you owe — not a bonus or a favor, but the ongoing cost of taking up space in the world. Most appeals skip the impact: people will give when they can picture what changes, and hesitate when they can’t. And yes — feeling good about giving doesn’t cancel the generosity. It’s how humans are built, and it’s what makes givers keep going.
Try it
Write the appeal! In three sentences — need, ask, impact — write a pitch for something worth giving to. Read it to a partner. Did they actually want to help, or did it sound like a form letter?
Additional Notes/Activities
If additional activities are needed for the Morning Meeting, they will be added here.