The library
Kind things you can actually do
Every one of these is specific enough to do today. No grand gestures, no fundraising page, nothing that needs a free weekend.
323 ideas. Try a situation — grief, new baby, neighbor, hospital.
Know roughly what is going on but not what to search for? Start from a situation — fourteen short lists of what actually helps, from somebody new on the street to somebody having the worst year of their life.
Showing 31–60 of 323 ideas
Put water out in a heatwave
A shallow dish at ground level, refilled daily. In a dry week it is the difference between a bird surviving the afternoon and not.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Ask about the thing they mentioned last week
The difficult meeting, the scan, the argument with their sister. They probably assume you forgot, because most people do.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Slow down at dusk, where the road meets the fields
Most animals are hit in the half hour either side of dark, on roads people know well enough to stop concentrating on.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Let one corner of it go wild
Stop mowing a square yard. Leave the log where it fell. Neatness is the expensive part, for everything that is not you.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Say the specific thing you noticed today
Not that you appreciate them. The actual thing, from today, that you would not have noticed about anybody else.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Leave the accessible toilet alone
It is not the spare one when there is a queue. For some people it is the only one in the building.
5 minutesFreeA stranger3 people did this
Not rated yet
Read the form out loud for someone
Around one in six adults reads below the level most official forms are written at.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor1 person did this
Not rated yet
Keep sending the birthday card after the divorce
Children lose half their extended family in a separation, usually without anyone deciding that should happen.
5 minutesUnder $10A friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Read the book your teenager is reading
It gives you a subject that is not school, not their friends and not anything they have to defend.
OngoingUnder $10A friend
Not rated yet
Give money without making it a loan
A loan between friends creates a debt that outlasts the need. A gift, clearly stated, does not.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Buy two and leave one
Suspended coffees, paid-forward meals and school-fund top-ups exist. Most people have never noticed the option.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Wait for someone who stammers
Finishing the sentence of someone who stammers is meant to help and does the opposite every time.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Keep including the person whose language it is not
Groups drift back into the majority language within minutes, and the one person left out never says anything.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Find the subscriptions someone forgot about
Most households pay for several things nobody uses. Finding them is an hour's work and a permanent saving.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Buy from the list rather than guessing
Food banks and shelters publish exactly what they are short of. Donations that ignore it create sorting work.
Half an hourUnder $10An organization
Not rated yet
Offer somewhere quiet without making it a thing
Loud rooms are genuinely painful for some people, and asking for quiet in a group is socially expensive.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Give the good version away, not the worn-out one
Charity shops and refuges throw away an enormous amount of what is donated because it was not really a gift.
Half an hourFreeAn organization
Not rated yet
Offer to take another child as well
You are already doing the trip. One more in the car is the cheapest help a parent can give another parent.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor1 person did this
Not rated yet
Let a child finish the sentence
Adults complete children's sentences constantly, and the child learns that their version was not worth waiting for.
5 minutesFreeA friend4 people did this
Not rated yet
Notice who eats lunch at their desk every day
It is sometimes a preference and often the visible end of being outside every group in the building.
Half an hourFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Make leaving early unremarkable
Chronic illness, anxiety and pain all mean sometimes going home. The hard part is having to explain in front of everyone.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Ask something other than where they are from
For anyone who looks or sounds different, it is the first question of every conversation, forever.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Go to the thing even though it is dull
The assembly, the match, the recital. Children scan the audience, and they are counting.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Say something when the room lets it pass
A remark lands, everyone pretends not to have heard, and the target learns exactly who is in the room.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Tip in cash where the card tip may not reach them
Card tips are sometimes pooled, taxed through payroll or partly retained. Cash usually goes to the person.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet
Ask what they did before they came here
A great many people doing low-paid work were engineers, doctors or teachers somewhere their qualifications do not count.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Learn the names of your child's friends
Knowing who is who turns 'how was school' into a conversation that can actually go somewhere.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Buy the thing they would never buy themselves
People under financial pressure cut the small pleasures first, and those are the ones that hold a life together.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Let a child overhear you praising them
Praise reported to a third party is believed in a way that praise delivered directly is not.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a freelancer what the going rate is
People new to freelancing price from fear. One honest number from someone established resets it permanently.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet