#GiveBetter
Change Lives.
An ELM Foundation initiative to increase community impact.
Maybe you’ve seen one of our new billboards…
... or heard a radio public service announcement, or seen one on TV. All are communicating one message: let’s be wise in our approach to panhandling.
Why you need to
#GiveBetter
When well-intentioned people give hand-outs to those in poverty, they create dependency and diminish dignity.
By reevaluating their giving practices to support relational, responsible, and outcome-driven charity,
people can provide real opportunities for those in poverty to move towards self-sufficiency and abundance.
Let’s be wise in our approach to panhandling.
Realizing this is not a problem for city government to solve, but rather citizens in the community, The ELM Foundation, in conjunction with the True Charity Initiative (truecharity.us) has embarked on a months-long campaign to encourage Madison County on ways to #GiveBetter when you see someone flying a sign on a street corner.

Not that people with signs don’t have needs. It’s just unlikely their real needs can be met with your money. And it’s not that we want a community without compassion. We just want our community to join compassion with relationship and responsibility.

We can’t do all three when we just drop change into a cup. But when we #GiveBetter, we become a community that puts struggling people on a new path of hope.
Let’s change the culture of panhandling.
When you see someone with a sign, get to know that individual or send him or her to a place (preferably an organization who is a member of the True Charity network) who can.  And when you have extra change or time on your hands, remember that giving to effective charities is a way to be a part of real solutions by engaging the poor and homeless relationally, responsibly, and compassionately.
Volunteer
#GiveBetter by investing your time in and building relationships at organizations that practice relational, responsible, and outcome-driven charity.
Contribute
#GiveBetter by investing your resources into organizations that help individuals become self-sufficient through goal-setting, work, and accountability.
Spread the Word
#GiveBetter by challenging your friends, family, and colleagues to be intentional with their giving to ensure their resources effect long-term change.
that #GiveBetter
#GiveBetter Sponsors
Thank you for investing in ELM's vision of bringing authentic, accurate, and actualized charity to our community.