Ask HN: How to Give Back?

2 points by abhinav22 4 years ago | 4 comments

It’s always on my list to give back to the community / broader society. But I often put it off or feel like I am not doing enough. The easiest way is to financially support some charities or even OSS / FSF projects, but while I do that to a minor amount, it feels not enough and also feels like a tax vs a genuine effort to give back. It’s very easy to get caught up in a busy day or week and then this becomes out of sight and out of mind.

Other things I was thinking was mentoring or providing knowledge to others.

I would be very grateful and keen to hear of ideas of how to give back both financially and also non financially?

hihat 4 years ago |

A friend of mine wanted to give back financially, but not infrequently donating to some random charity. He became a member of https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/pledge/ (there might be other, similar projects, but if I remember correctly it's this one) and for a few years now he has been giving away 10% of his income as part of that community. Of course it doesn't have to be that much, but the pledge - even so it's not binding - and being part of a community helped to stick with it.

abhinav22 4 years ago | |

Thank you, that is a good idea

Minor49er 4 years ago |

Mentoring would be useful. One idea is to create a technology workshop for kids and offer it at your local library.

abhinav22 4 years ago | |

There are no local libraries here but perhaps once I head to my home country, I can reach out to local schools & universities for this