Give to the Max!

It's the ides of November, and I never forget that. Pretty much sense the middle of October I have been reminded daily about the ides of November. In Minnesota, November 15th is Give to the Max Day, a celebration of charitable donations. Every donation given today to qualifying non-profits that are sign-up for Give to the Max day on GiveMn.org has a chance to win even more money for your chosen charity. Many of the non-profits have matching grants today too, so if the reach their goal of, say $1000, their matching grant kicks in and they get an additional $1000! It's a really exciting day of giving.

In addition to the polite invites to donate, some organizations go even further to thank you for your support. Hilarious dance videos (made by non-dancers), cat themed threats (Mixed Blood Theater, I am looking at you are your horrible adorableness) an 28 hour improvathons.

What 28 hour improvathons?

That's right, one of my favorite organizations, Huge Improv Theater is hosting a 28 hr improvathon for Give to the Max day. It started last night with 4 hours of pre-party improv. My team performed last night in the 11:30pm slot. The improvathon goes until midnight tonight as Huge works towards reaching their fundraising goal. Here's the info on how to donate http://givemn.razoo.com/team/Improv-A-Thon-2012. My team is Last Action Movie. We performed an improvised action movie right before your very eyes, based on a title given to us from the audience.

My friend Michael has pledged to watch all 28 hours of the improvathon. That's a lot of funny. 

I always find Give to the Max Day exciting. It is fun to see groups work towards their financial goals and to help people receive matching grants through my donations. There are so many groups I want to support: Animals, Women, Children, THEATRE!

In addition to all the charitable giving, the date of Give to the Max day provides a nice contrast to the upcoming hullabaloo of Christmas shopping and giving and getting. There is a lot of fun in that part of Christmas, but Give to the Max Day relieves us of the need to rush and shop and freak out and drive in the snow and have to return the wrong item and forget to get something for your boss and then realized the Ipad you bought for your niece is broken and wrap and wrap and wrap until feel like you have wrapped your cat up in a box but don't know which box because your cat is an aspiring Maru and loves boxes, but then you get a text message saying the your brother got the same thing for your mom as you and now you have to be the one that finds that ancient VHS tape of that one trip to Wyoming to turn into a DVD in order to not ruin Christmas, and then get mad when your second cousin forgets to send you a thank you card.

Everything on Give to the Max Day is appreciated, there is no "wrong" present on Give to the Max day. So it's more stress free. And you can participate from your computer, or attend an even (like the improvathon!).

And you get to choose the organizations in which you support. So in that way it is exactly like shopping!