Jill Harness
Secrets of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy
by Jill Harness - March 31, 2010 - 10:51 AM

Regular _floss readers may remember the article I posted last month about The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. The group gives away $100 grants to people, as long as those people promise to give away the money in a creative way. We got so many excellent reader ideas in the comments section, we decided to take a closer look at the Society’s past giveaways.

Before we get started on the actual philanthropic practices of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, let’s take a quick look at the history of the program. In my original article, I mistakenly said the Society was based in the Bay Area. As it turns out, the San Francisco and Athens, Georgia, branches are only chapters of the original group, which was started by Courtney Martin in New York City back in 2006.

Miss Martin was an aspiring writer who had just finished her first book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and suddenly found herself in possession of a six-figure royalty advance. Unlike most people, who would be thrilled to have this amount of cash in their pockets, Martin felt guilty that she suddenly had so much money, so she decided to give some of it away to charity. The only problem was that she didn’t know how. In the end, she decided to give nine of her friends and family members $100 and then ask them to give it away as they saw fit. She only asked that they reported back to her a month later.

And thus, the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy was born.

[Image by Flickr user Surat Lozowick.]

The organization met together on a regular basis, but in the last year, their publicity has exploded. The no-longer-secret society was featured in the New York Times, Forbes, and San Francisco Chronicle. Aside from the San Francisco and Athens chapters that have already sprung up, Martin says there are chapters being planned for Maui, Krakow, Houston, Santa Fe, Vancouver and Los Angeles. If your city isn’t on the list, Martin encourages you to just start your own anyway. Based on the comments section in our last article, I’d say plenty of you have grand enough ideas to start a chapter in your neighborhood.

Now what about the giveaways that have already taken place in the existing chapters? Here are 15 that definitely stand out as prime examples of creative philanthropy in motion.

  • Editor Kate Torgovnick collected the works of young New York students involved in a nonprofit literacy program and is turning their writing into a book.
  • Brett Lockspeiser broke his $100 into dollar bills and sat in a San Francisco BART station with a sign that said, “I will give you $1 for you to give to someone else.” Many people gave it to a grateful musician who was playing in the same subway station. One passerby posted a note to Lockspeiser on Craigslist later, assuring she did pass on the dollar.
  • Television writer Becky Friedman broke her $100 into 10,000 pennies and then passed them along to friends who lived throughout the country. She then asked her friends to spread them out in their cities in order to make lucky pennies easier to find.

[Image by Flickr user Cobalt123.[

  • Helen Coster, a journalist for Forbes, put $100 into a “thank you” card and then asked her friend to give it to the friendly clerk at the local drug store who always manages to brighten her day when she buys toothpaste.
  • Kamy Wicoff, the founder of SheWrites.com, offered the award to the most frequent commenter on her woman’s writing website. The winner of the $100 ended up being a former corrections officer who was looking to take up writing.
  • Alphabet City resident Michael Radparvar spent his $100 to fix a bike he found on the street, which he then gave to a person whose bike was recently stolen.
  • David Ibnale tried to give away umbrellas to passersby during a Bay Area rainstorm, only to find that many people thought it was a suspicious act.
  • Jocelyn Wyatt filled up two boxes with Reese’s peanut butter cups, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and red licorice and then sent them to college students who were doing volunteer work in Guatemala and Senegal. Since she spent the full $100 on the treats, she had to spend an extra $120 of her own money to ship the food.
  • Christina Zanfagna lived out a movie scene and offered to buy drinks for everyone in a restaurant. How many times have you wanted to yell out to everyone “the next round’s on me”?
  • Clark Kellogg put the $100 in a bank account and estimated that it will turn into $2.1 million (??) in 100 years. He has left written instructions for his great-granddaughter to distribute the funds to strangers when she retrieves it in the next century.
  • Jeremy Mende brought a stack of dollar bills to San Francisco’s Union Square and then offered to pay people $1 if they had a conversation with one another. He videotaped the results and it’s now a popular online video:

100 Dollars 50 Conversations from MendeDesign on Vimeo.

  • That’s not the only viral video showing the works of these guerrilla do-gooders. Andrew Marantz paid strangers in New York’s Bryant Park to hold his hand and share secrets while he taped the connections:

  • Joshua Krafchin walked along New York’s B train and begged people to take one dollar bills from him. Like Ibnale, he found a lot of people were surprisingly suspicious to take something from a stranger with no strings attached. The expressions of the distrustful subway riders are pretty amusing:

  • Martin’s mother broke the $100 into 400 quarters and spread them around a grammar school playground, which provided the kids with one of the most stimulating recesses they had ever had.
  • Amy Coenen wrote inspirational messages about giving on the back of $5 bills and then left them as tips throughout the city.

I know many readers already left comments about what you would do with $100, but if you haven’t already, share your ideas here. Also, tell the tales of the time a stranger’s generosity helped brighten your day.

I think between all of you we can easily spark enough inspiration to bring a few new chapters to the Society.

As for me, I’d send anonymous cash donations to a few of my favorite blog writers. There are a lot of bloggers out there that bring me hours of joy and I know they get minimal thanks and compensation for their time.

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Comments (29)

  1. I would break it in half and give it to two people that have helped me when I didn’t have much money.

    posted by Drina on 3-31-2010 at 11:16 am

  2. I would walk around town and purposely “meet” a few homeless people and take them to buy some basic goods like undergarments and blankets and make sure they got a hot meal

    posted by Dan Bullock on 3-31-2010 at 11:27 am

  3. I want to know how $100 = $2.1 million in 100 years. Unless I have my math wrong, 100 years = 1200 months. At gaining 5% interest per year, that’s a 0.00417% gain each month. Compounded monthly, that comes to $14,685.33 after 1200 months.

    Still a nice $ amount to spread around, even with whatever inflation will do to it.

    posted by Wayne on 3-31-2010 at 11:37 am

  4. I will have an art contest at the local elementary schools and first price would be a $75 bond, second place 15, and 3d, 10.
    The theme to draw a good memory.

    posted by Tina on 3-31-2010 at 11:40 am

  5. I would have an art contest at the local elementary schools. First prize 75, second 15 3d 10.
    The theme to draw a good memory.

    posted by Tina on 3-31-2010 at 11:42 am

  6. The only way that $100 is going to turn into $2.1 million in 100 years is to find a bank account that has an interest rate of about 10.5 percent (and keeps that interest rate for the same 100 years). I’d love to know where the bank is that’s giving that kind of rate in this kind of economy.

    Further, the proposed scheme isn’t likely to work — without any further activity into the account, it’s likely to be considered as dormant and abandoned by most states and would be required to be turned over to the state as unclaimed property after three to five years.

    posted by Mike on 3-31-2010 at 12:19 pm

  7. I’ve written an email to the Society asking to join, but if I get no response, I think I’ll raise $100 myself and go ahead with my “what I would do” plan: give $5 to 20 volunteer artists (including myself) who agree to use the money to buy art supplies, then draw/write simple, happy pictures and notes to give out to people however they see fit.

    posted by Jina on 3-31-2010 at 12:30 pm

  8. Pay the bill for people who are angry and impatient in line, to remind them not to sweat the small things. We have all been stressed out and in that place before.

    posted by Huckle Cat on 3-31-2010 at 12:31 pm

  9. If there’s a local group like Meals on Wheels, you could buy a flower (and maybe a bud vase) for each recipient, and have the volunteers give them to the homebound along with their meals.

    posted by G on 3-31-2010 at 12:32 pm

  10. I would use the money to set up a Middle School summer reading program at my town Library. The kids who check out and read the most books from the last day of school till Labor Day would get to pick out $25 worth of new books for the library and have a “biikplate” placed inside the books “This book is Donated through the hard work of (name)”

    posted by PTBartman on 3-31-2010 at 12:43 pm

  11. I think I would use the money to purchase plants (or easy to care for fish like betas if it was deemed safe) to be delivered to residents in senior assisted living homes. Something that could go in their room that would be their responsibility. If I recall correctly, studies have shown people who have something that needs them (such as plants) do better. It would give them something to take care of and be proud of. The cards would simply say that they were from “Someone who cares”.

    posted by Moth on 3-31-2010 at 1:34 pm

  12. As for when someone else’s generosity brightened my day: I worked as a Front Desk Clerk at a hotel through college. We had a lot of regular customers who I would try to go out of my way for to make their stay better. In particular there were three ladies who would stay regularly as kind of a “Ladies Night Out”. We would talk for a little while every time they stayed, they’d ask me about school and tell me about their kids and grandkids. When I graduated from college, they gave me a congratulations card and $60. I was really touched by their thoughtfulness as, at the end of the day, I was really just a clerk at the hotel they stay at.

    posted by Moth on 3-31-2010 at 1:48 pm

  13. I would live out my dream of emulating Roald Dahl’s Henry Sugar and throw the bills out the window of a tall building.

    posted by Gina on 3-31-2010 at 2:06 pm

  14. I would buy several copies of “The Pushcart War,” stand outside a grocery store, and give them to random people with elementary-school-age children. I always loved the book, and I think it might help get the kids interested in reading.
    Of course, I would need to have a sign nearby saying something like “Giveaway sponsored by Society for Creative Philanthropy” in order to reduce the problems that might arise.

    posted by amaneaux on 3-31-2010 at 2:54 pm

  15. This is a brilliant idea. If I were part of it I’d get notebooks and pens then give them out to people on the subway to work out their dreams.

    posted by Derek Thompson on 3-31-2010 at 3:23 pm

  16. i would buy new books of some of my favorites and some new classes, pick a low funded elementary school, pick a class and give each student a book inscribed with their name…..every child deserves a good book to call their own

    posted by Rachel on 3-31-2010 at 3:48 pm

  17. As for the generosity of strangers… The night of my junior prom, my date and I had our dinner paid for by strangers that left before we could thank them. The waitress said the couple thought we looked so sweet all dressed up, they wanted to do something for us. When we asked the waitress what we should do, she told us to “pay it forward.”

    posted by Jen on 3-31-2010 at 5:57 pm

  18. I always write on my bill at a restaurant “Best server ever.” whether or not they did a good job. I like to think they are inspired to do a better job for the next table. And hey, that kind of philanthropy costs nothing!

    My $100 goes to the animal shelter. People can work or beg.

    posted by Rob on 3-31-2010 at 7:08 pm

  19. My mother is currently staying in a rehab home after a hospital stay. She’s 83 years old, but she will be coming home sooner or later.

    OTOH, there are dozens of older people there in varying stages of aging with its related debilitating maladies such as Alzheimers, dementia, loss of sight/hearing/motor skills. For want of a better word, they are being warehoused there until such time as they die. Some have relatives who come visit from time to time; others have nobody.

    With $100 I would wait for the next holiday and then hit the card aisle at our local dollar store and purchase as many cards as I could; sign them all as merely “A Friend”; and try to see that as many of these elderly people would get at least something on, say, Thanksgiving or Christmas.

    As for people who want to give away books, there already is a site/program out there called bookcrossing.com — click on my handle for the link.

    -”BB”

    posted by Bicycle Bill on 3-31-2010 at 9:47 pm

  20. My $100 goes to babies…they can’t work or beg.

    recaptcha: download spending (to others?)

    posted by kris on 3-31-2010 at 10:38 pm

  21. I would go buy a bunch of wet dog food to give to my local animal shelter. Those poor caged puppies would love a good treat.

    posted by Steph on 4-1-2010 at 12:10 am

  22. The kindness of strangers: I worked at a discount shoe store one summer during college and had a lot of mom’s coming in with their kids to buy shoes for the new school year. One kid asked her mom if she could have a pair of sneakers as I was about to ring them up, but the mom said the $20 price tag was too much so she and her daughter went to go see if they could find someone else while I rang up the next person in line. The guy who had been behind them bought his work boot and then handed me a $20 saying “Get the girl her sneakers. Every kid should have new sneakers for school.” When the mom and daughter came back to the register (empty handed) I just rang the sneakers with everything else and didn’t even mention what I was doing but she saw me and kept telling me that they couldn’t get them. I explained that the man who had been behind her had already paid for them she just got very quiet and thanked me. When she left I took a minute in the stock room to cry.

    posted by Jen on 4-1-2010 at 12:54 pm

  23. This reminds me of something my church did a couple years ago. The paster of the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, gave $50 to each person sitting in the congregation on one Sunday. He asked them to use their talents and the $50 to raise funds to give to charity. People baked, knitted, gave motorcycle rides — anything they could think of. Seven weeks later the congregation bought back $40,000 in proceeds. The proceeds were split between three charities in the area. It was an empowering experience for everyone.

    posted by Emily on 4-1-2010 at 6:13 pm

  24. I would buy 400 $0.25 dog bowls and distribute them to local animal shelters.

    Or, I would make up shoeboxes filled with new baby essentials to be sent to Haiti and other disaster areas. I REALLY want to put this idea into motion. Anyone know of other grant sources?

    posted by Brandy on 4-3-2010 at 3:09 am

  25. I asked my 6year-old daughter Ally “If you where given $100 to do something nice for a person you didnt know what would you do?”

    She replied

    ” I would make and cake A BIG cake, and share it with the sick kids, and homeless people because they need to have a happy birthday.”

    this made me smile, gave me alot to think about.

    posted by rae and Ally on 4-3-2010 at 10:41 pm

  26. Having had a preemie in the hospital for months, I would buy preemie clothing (socks & hats especially) for those who have babies in hospitals. Preemie clothing, being “specialized” is more expensive and harder to find than newborn sizes…and worrying mothers shouldn’t have to deal with shopping when they’d rather be by their childrens’ sides.

    posted by Amanda Brock on 4-5-2010 at 3:09 pm

  27. If I were given $100, I would either go to a certain orphanage in Romania and make sure each kid got at least a toy and candy, maybe even some clothes since most of them wear ratty, old things…….or, I would invest it somehow (I really like what the pastor of the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio did—comment posted by Emily)…..There are so many things I would love to do to help out and make this world a better place!

    posted by Patricia on 4-5-2010 at 7:42 pm

  28. how fabulous ! anybody in the Omaha, Neb. area want to get together for this ? I could get a tie-in with a group in Great Britain and we could exchange with each other [and compete with one another :)]. I get my fix from buying the $4 fresh flowers and giving it to the family with kids in line ahead of me. And as they used to say, kids will say the darnest things !

    posted by bongobillybob on 2-7-2011 at 1:58 am

  29. nydd id tip 2011-14291

    posted by john kadija on 9-23-2011 at 12:16 pm

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