The Pinellas Community Foundation Membership Program has made helping charities easy.

The Pinellas Community Foundation Membership Program is a community-wide support organization for Pinellas County charities. Membership revenues go directly to our grants program and are not used for our operations or overhead. Here’s why our membership program is so beneficial to the Pinellas County community:

Direct Donations to Charities – We maximize your donation because your annual membership donation goes directly to charities.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors – Only Pinellas County charities benefit from our membership program – so your gift stays in Pinellas County.

Very Low Administrative Costs – The Pinellas County Community Foundation’s administrative expenses are far lower than those of most community foundations and charities.

Local Community Decisions – A group of Pinellas County professionals, who are on the board of the Pinellas Community Foundation, decides how your membership dues are distributed. The Summer and Fall Competitive Grants Committees reviews all requests and make grants.

Public Foundation – The Foundation qualifies for the “public support” requirement by the IRS, with the help of the membership’s donations.

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Tax Deductible – The Pinellas County Community Foundation is a recognized charity under Section 501(c)(3) of IRS regulations.

To join, click here to print our annual membership form and mail it to: The Pinellas Community Foundation, 5200 East Bay Dr., Suite 202, Clearwater, FL 33764.

Best Charities Pay-it-Forward: An Inspiration

Fifteen years ago, Catherine Ryan Hyde‘s novel Pay It Forward was published and adapted into a film of the same name. In her book and movie it is described as an obligation to do three good deeds for others in response to a good deed that one receives. Such good deeds should accomplish things that the other person cannot accomplish on their own. In this way, the practice of helping one another can spread geometrically through society, at a ratio of three to one, creating a social movement with an impact of making the world a better place.

A Pay it Forward Movement and Foundation was founded in the USA and helped start a ripple effect of kindness acts around the world. They had an idea for encouraging kindness acts by having a Pay it Forward Bracelet that could be worn as a reminder. Since then, over a million Pay it Forward bracelets were distributed in over 100 countries sparking acts of kindness. Few bracelets remain with their original recipients, as they are passed on to other recipients when demonstrating an act of kindness.

In 2007, International Pay it Forward Day was founded in Australia and has now spread to 70 countries with over 50 state and city proclamations. It is estimated that it has inspired over 5 million acts of kindness and has been featured on ABC, NBC, Fox and global news.

On April 5, 2012, WBRZ-TV, the American Broadcasting Company affiliate for the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, did a story on The Newton Project, a 501(c)(3) outreach organization created to demonstrate that regardless of how big the problems of the world may seem, each person can make a difference simply by taking the time to show love, appreciation and kindness to the people around them. It is based on the classic pay-it-forward concept.

If you are so inspired, you can pay-it-forward with help from the Pinellas Community Foundation, who can help you establish your personal Pay it Forward vision for good deeds and acts of kindness – right here in Pinellas County!