People do all sorts of things to raise money for charity. Just a few examples…

• Walk across the United States (Jonathon Stalls - Kiva Walk)
• Run 7 marathons, on 7 continents (Joel Runyan - 777 Project)
• 36 hour dance marathon (Sheryl Mihalik)
• Shave your head (Kerry Melcher & Jillayne Schlicke)
• Rappel down one of Seattle’s tallest buildings (Special Olympics)
• Organize group meals (GroupRaise)
• Put a dress on, and run across Melbourne (Dave Dean)
• Auction vacation rental properties to benefit the local Parent Teacher Association (example)
• Climb Kilimanjaro (Craig Parker)
• Hike from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney for Team Reeve (Jon Sterling)
• Party in 7 cities over 7 days (Sloane and Doug with Cause It’s My Birthday)

And, of course, unless you’ve been on another planet for the past month, you know thousands and thousands of people will dump buckets of ice water on their heads for #ALSIceBucketChallenge.

Why not provide hospitality?

If you’ve ever hosted friends, family, you know it’s not socially acceptable to accept money from your friends when they stay at your house. But the concept of a house gift - beers, a fifth, a bottle of wine, a meal, or even appetizers and h’orderves - is part of the social contract that goes along with staying in someone’s home.

Replace the traditional “house gift”, with a donation to charity. Let’s face it. While we all appreciate a bottle of wine or a fifth, we are not the ones in need of the $15 or $20 it would cost to buy those for ourselves. The 2.8 billion who live on less than $2 a day are.

Travel by giving.

Note: If you’re traveling to Santiago, Chile & care about Kiva, we’re testing the concept out.

Interested in providing accommodation to others to raise money for charity?