If you’re looking for ways to teach your kids philanthropy, you are of course in the right place, and here’s another great idea: TVF specializes in finding and promoting volunteer opportunities for families. In fact, this is the only organization in the country exclusively dedicated to finding local volunteer opportunities for individual families! They were founded in 2003 because the founder was looking for family volunteer opportunities herself, and discovered how difficult it is. In their first two years, they connected 200 families and 400 volunteers with opportunities in their own neighborhoods. They have collaborated with 150 Greater Boston charities, and have developed over 200 continuing opportunities. They are sensitive to different interests and needs for different families, so they pay close attention to suitably matching families and charities. Building volunteering into your family’s lifestyle is a great way to teach values by example; kids feel important and valued, acquire new skills, and develop empathy for others. The charities benefit from this community outreach, and everyone is doing some good. TVF is a good organization to support as well; it has almost no overhead, but the website always needs work. Somewhere in all this there’s an opportunity for you.