By Lucy Smillie - If you have a birthday coming up, you may be starting to think about ways to celebrate; because after all, it is your special day!
You may have started looking through online shops for something you want. Maybe you reluctantly said 'yes' the tee-shirt or necklace your aunt showed you as a potential birthday present.
But why waste time searching for gifts, or receiving presents you don’t actually need, when you could use your birthday to fundraise for good causes!
Nothing could be more special on your big day than making a positive impact for causes you care about - and The Good Registry has 65 awesome charities you can choose from.
This year, your birthday has the potential to help restore biodiversity, support children and families in Ukraine, provide meals for struggling Kiwi families, provide care to Kiwis living with chronic illnesses, and much more!
So, as we get into the swing of celebrating birthdays for 2022, here are three extra good reasons to use your birthday to fundraise for good causes this year:
1. The pandemic
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to separate families and disrupt our social lives, many birthdays will be spent in isolation, or with empty seats around the dinner table.
With social separation and restricted gatherings, using your birthday to fundraise is a great way to celebrate, and to come together (virtually) with friends and family in a collective effort to make positive impacts.
Fundraising for your birthday will also take the pressure off friends and family to go shopping - so they don't have to risk catching or spreading the virus.
Instead, friends and family can celebrate with you by donating to a cause of your choice via The Good Registry, from a Covid-friendly distance and in the comfort of their homes.
2. Community need
Another good reason to fundraise on your birthday this year is to help charities respond to greater community needs.
Many charities are having to do more with less at the moment. Families are struggling financially, there are more pressures for housing, people are suffering from food insecurity and mental health issues, and more people need help from charities. However, Covid-19 has reduced the vital revenue of these charities, as regular donors have had to put giving on hold, and many fundraising events have been cancelled.
There are communities overseas that also need our help. Communities in Ukraine are among those most in need, as invasion by Russia has left many families with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Communities in Ukraine have extremely limited, or no access to necessities like food and water, warm clothing, shelter, or safety. They are in desperate need of our support.
With an opportunity to use your birthday for good this year, you can fundraise for causes that you care about, and make a significant impact on the lives of those most in need.
3. The environment
A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says, we all have to make conscious efforts now, more than ever, to avoid significant “loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure” caused by climate change.
To be part of the solution and influence positive change, we all have to make environmentally conscious changes to our own lives, and birthdays are a great place to start.
Purchasing physical gifts on birthdays buys into consumer culture, which can have harmful effects on our environment. There are environmental impacts from the production of physical gifts, their packaging and wrapping, as well as their disposal. Gifts and packaging often end up in landfills where they produce carbon emissions.
So instead of falling into the trap of consumerism, using your birthday to fundraise is a great way to take immediate action and protect the planet we all share.
All reasons considered, if there was ever a year to give your birthday to good causes, it would be this year. Our birthdays provide a great opportunity to support important causes and make meaningful impacts.
If you have a birthday coming up, have a look through The Good Registry's 65 charity partners here and find a cause that you care about and could fundraise for.
To use your birthday to fundraise through The Good Registry, you can ask friends and family for Good Gift Cards (which you can redeem to donate to your favourite causes), or you could set up a Good Registry and invite loved ones to donate to your chosen charity through your registry.
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