The first idea seems simple. 

100 000 people give $10 each to a struggling single mother of two. 

100 000 people each give $10 to the man who set up after school programs for inner-city kids so they have a safe place to play.

100 000 people gift $10 to some random deserving family or individual.

I suggested this idea to my mom who is a part of the Red Hat Society.  I said, “imagine if 100 000 women in the red hats each gave just $1 to one of their sisters ever month.  My moms’ response was like a lot of other people.  “yeah right, why would they just give up their money to someone?”

Why not?  

I can’t tell you the amount of times that I spent $4 on a crappy latte at Starbucks.  I obviously don’t like lattes.  They leave a gross film on my tongue and I feel like I’m about to have a panic attack after.  But I digress.

“Currency” as we call it was meant to be circulated.  Money is a circle.  When we hold onto it in fear it becomes like trapped energy and begins to stagnate.  I could understand the fearful reaction of people giving money if the amount was something like $100 or $1000…

 but $10?  $1? 

It begs the questions:  Why are we so afraid of giving and receiving?  How did we become so complacent to a system that perpetuates getting and taking?  The point of this idea is to remind us that money is meant to facilitate our enjoyment of life and that we have more than enough when we give to one another. 

I think this would be as easy as setting up a profile site where we nominate people who are doing great things in this world and then ‘vote’ for them with $1 or $10.  Another great thing about this is that the money would be tax liability free because it is a gift.  When enough people clue into this, ‘giving’ may just become the new economy.  The economy where we actually work for one another rather than just our self.

Is it a pyramid?  Kind of, but I challenge you to name me one business or non-profit that isn’t?    

The idea of paying it forward is so simple yet it challenges each of us to shed our fear of not having enough for ourself or feeling the temporary discomfort of selflessness and generosity.