Riley Snider, a 12-year old girl living in Seattle, has been partnering with her grandmother, Jan Hively, a Minneapolis-based teacher and activist. Jan helps Riley give both time and money. This story is based on an interview in November 2005.

Why Give? It all started with Riley, at age 11, helping out in her school. Riley told her Gran (Jan) what she was doing. Together they discussed ways for Riley to expand her giving. Here is why Riley believes giving is important: “To express gratitude, to help people who need help, to make things better in the world, to develop a habit of paying attention to the needs and interests of others.”

Riley says, “I think one of the big things about volunteering and giving money is that you can learn about what’s happening in the world. That’s really important. Because then you can be more, know more and then tell more people so then they can maybe help too.”

The Money. Gran financed the money ($500) part of giving. Riley made the decisions. She chose to give to her school, a homeless shelter for families, and Heifer International. Riley mailed each contribution with a letter telling why she had chosen them.

Volunteering. Riley decided to expand her volunteering at school. She began to read books with younger children in the after school care program last year. That expanded to a part-time teacher’s aide last summer. This year she helps to manage the entire tutoring program for the middle school to mentor elementary, first, and second graders.

Riley has another idea for volunteering, which is an outgrowth of her responsibilities at home – doing bills and household finances with her dad. Riley uses Quicken. “I think its fun”. (She enjoys it far more than her alternative home task of vacuuming.)

Riley offered to use her financial skills to help her school manage the finances for the students’ fund – paying for things that were broken or for fun activities. People donate to the fund. The school needs people to see that it comes out fairly even.

Life Tasks. Jan sees Riley’s volunteering and charitable giving as part of Riley’s future plan, part of what Jan calls a “lifework plan.” Riley wants to be a pre-school teacher when she grows up.

The Partnership. Jan plans to continue working with Riley and contributing money and ideas later this year. Riley says, "It’s really good if you have another person, like I have Gran, that you can do it with, because then you can get the other person’s insight and yours, mix them together, and come out with something really good."

"One of the things that is really, really fun is getting to spend time with Gran, because we all live so far away from each other. It’s kind of hard to stay in touch but this gives us another reason to talk, communicate more. When she came over the summer, we hung out and talked about it."

Thank you for your generosity.

This year was our seventh Fischer on Finance Charitable Match. Personal thanks to everyone who is helping to make the world a better place. Here is a list of our clients’ favorite charities in 2005:

• Adath Jeshurun: Siegel-Jacobs Fund
• Alliance for Sustainability
• Bertha Stebens Children’s Theatre Foundation
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rice County
• Catherine’s Cottage Capital Campaign – PHJC
• City Songs c/o U of Minnesota School of Social Work
• Episcopal Community Services
• Grant County Food Shelf
• Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
• Humane Society of Rice County
• James P. Houck Memorial Fund – MN CEE
• Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis (2)
• Jewish Free Loan Program of Minneapolis
• Last Hope
• Mason City Community Theater
• Minneapolis Jewish Day School
• N.C. Little Memorial Hospice (2)
• National Alzheimer Association
• St. Anne School
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
• Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
• Twin Cities Jewish Middle School

Each of you was able to leverage your own contribution through our match. The total, including our match, was $7,730 this year.