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Kind things you can do on your own

No coordinating, no asking anyone, no waiting for a group. You can do every one of these today without telling a single person you are doing it.

Showing 1–30 of 244 ideas

• 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 stranger2 people did this

• 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 neighbor

• 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 friend

• 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

• 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 stranger

• 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

• 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

• 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 $10A stranger

• 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 hourFreeA stranger

• 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 stranger

• 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 stranger

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Plan someone's first week, not their first day

  Onboarding is concentrated in day one, which is the day nobody retains anything.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Invite the new family twice

  The first invitation is often declined out of uncertainty. The second is the one that establishes it was real.

  5 minutesFreeA neighbor

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Ignore the assistance dog

  A working dog that gets distracted can miss a seizure warning or walk its handler into traffic.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Learn to say their name properly

  People with unfamiliar names spend their lives being mispronounced and told it does not matter.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger