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 61–90 of 323 ideas
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
Go to the celebration that is not yours
Turning up to somebody else's festival, service or national day is a bigger gesture than it costs you.
An afternoonFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Caption the video you posted
Captions serve deaf viewers, people in loud places, and anyone watching with the sound off — which is most people.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Pay the small invoice the day it arrives
Late payment is the main reason small suppliers fail. Paying on receipt costs you nothing and can matter enormously.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Never park across a dropped curb
A car over a dropped curb can strand a wheelchair user on the wrong side of a road with no other crossing.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Look, the tenth time they ask
A child asking you to watch the same trick again is asking whether they are still interesting to you.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Teach a child something genuinely useful
Changing a tire, wiring a plug, making one good meal. Competence is a form of confidence that lasts.
An afternoonUnder $10A friend
Not rated yet
Stay in touch with the person who left
People who leave a workplace, a church or a town are dropped quickly, and it is rarely a decision anyone made.
OngoingFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Know when their important days are
Everyone knows when Christmas is. Far fewer know when Eid, Diwali or Rosh Hashanah fall, or acknowledge them.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Check whether someone is on a social tariff
Discounted broadband, water and energy tariffs exist for low-income households and take-up is tiny.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Explain the rule nobody writes down
Every workplace, school and country runs on conventions that insiders cannot see and newcomers cannot guess.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Apologize to a child properly
Adults rarely apologize downwards, and a child who is never apologized to learns that power decides who was wrong.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Ignore the assistance dog
A working dog that gets distracted can miss a seizure warning or walk its handler into traffic.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Offer to put it in writing
Spoken instructions vanish. For anyone with hearing loss, dyslexia or brain fog they may not have landed at all.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Warn someone what the phrase actually means
'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Ask someone to teach you their food
Being asked to share something from home reverses the usual direction, where the newcomer receives and thanks.
An afternoonUnder $10A neighbor
Not rated yet
Answer a child as if they could understand
Children ask real questions and get deflections. A serious answer is memorable precisely because it is so unusual.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Let a child help badly
Doing it yourself is faster every single time, and the accumulated effect of that is a teenager who cannot cook.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Be a reliable adult for a child who is not yours
Every resilient childhood account includes at least one adult outside the family who was consistently there.
OngoingFreeA neighbor1 person did this
Not rated yet
Say what you are pointing at
'It's over there' is useless to someone who cannot see you gesturing. Words cost nothing extra.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Be in the same room doing nothing
Children disclose things sideways, during dull shared time, not when asked directly how they are.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Put the real details in the invitation
How long, how far to walk, whether there is seating. Missing details mean somebody has to ring and ask.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Check the venue before you invite someone
Asking a disabled friend to check whether somewhere works puts the whole job on the person it affects.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Buy the work rather than praising it
Artists, writers and makers get a great deal of encouragement and very little income. One is a great deal more useful.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Ask before you help, then do what they say
Grabbing a wheelchair or an arm without asking is both dangerous and startlingly common.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Move your bin off the pavement
Bins, bikes and parked cars narrow pavements to the point where a wheelchair has to go into the road.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Say keep the change before they count it
A small overpayment is worth more as a decision you announce than as coins you leave behind.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet
Be the house where the friends come
Teenagers need somewhere that is not a bedroom and not a street. Somebody's kitchen is the whole infrastructure.
OngoingUnder $10A friend
Not rated yet
Learn five signs and use them
Hello, thank you, sorry, please, your name. Five signs is enough to change an encounter completely.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Tell a young person about your own failure
Young people assume competent adults were always competent, which makes their own struggle feel disqualifying.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet