Donate five dollars to charity

Characters of Character focuses on teaching children:
- Behavior
- Perseverance
- Friendship
- Healthy Habits
- Manners
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Self-Esteem
- Kindness

Donating to our organization will allow us to share our Characters nationwide. It allows us to show parents and educators what we have to offer to help them, children get introduced to our Characters and encouraged to writ to them (even getting to meet them in costume), and we are able to donate our products and services at no cost to communities. I know that you may not look at our organization and think, 'wow..what a great thing'. You may look at our organization and think that all we offer is a cute animal for a child to hang on their wall. That's far from what our organization does.

The key advantage of Characters of Character is that we teach children all of the main character traits that builds better citizens. Our organization provides support for early childhood and elementary education by offering an effective academic base with strong health, social, and emotional services that help to improve the education and life outcomes of children of all races, creeds, and cultures. Quality early childhood education is an investment that pays off for years by preparing all children for a lifetime of social and learning behaviors.

As a result, the children's achievements are much greater in academics, in social well being, and in emotional skill building. This program allows whole class teaching, whole school teaching, and/or district wide teaching of these character traits. These traits are then carried by the children at school, at home, and in the community; allowing families and parents to become involved in their child's good character.

So, while you may look at our organization and think that all we do is offer children an outlet to express themselves, that's far from the case. Our organization reaches children at an early age, helps them to internalize the nine traits, and allows them to make better decisions in their lives, long after the Characters are no longer an active part of their life.

By donating to our organization you are helping children across the nation better themselves, creating a better-quality society for everyone, and reaching children during their most impressionable age to encourage them to succeed in their adult life.

A five dollar donation could allow our organization to create, produce, and distribute 25 writing packets to 25 different children. Each time that our organization attends an event we provides engaging activities for children to build character, without looking at is as something they should dread. If you told a child to behave, what would that mean? What would they do with that information? Would they start to act out even more because they are upset with you? Characters of Character creates fun and engaging ways for children to internalize nine traits, without making it seem like they are being forced to do so. We've created a unique way to get children excited about becoming a better citizen to the community.

Each writing packet includes:
- 1 half sheet that includes an introduction from the Character, with a coloring picture of the Character on the same page (black and white)
- 1 piece of Character stationary
- 1 envelope with the Character's address on it

Now, keep in mind that when the child receives this package the Character is usually (not always) there in costume, giving the child more encouragement to write, while a member of Characters of Character is excitedly asking them to write to the Character, because all of our Characters love making new friends! This packet incorporates reading, writing, social skills, fine motor skills, and could even become a safe outlet for the child to express an issue they are having trouble with but are unable to communicate to anyone else about.

Your $5 donation could allow us to donate one activity book. Each book (seen the right in the photo) includes coloring pages, a different activity for each Character, and 9 trait focuses. There are 2 pages for each Character, 18 activity pages in all. Provided that we had enough funding, these would be a wonderful way to introduce our Characters at an event and provide the child with a positive outlet. These activity books provide a good message for children, and are something that can be displayed as posters around the house, or even be taken out if the child is acting up or needs a boost of confidence, just to be used as a simple reminder.

I know what you are thinking right now. Colored postcards, really? Give me a minute to explain. Most children will spot our Characters and go, 'oh, look at the cute duck!'. It isn't until we are able to explain that it's not just a duck, Do'er Ducks helps to teach you that you need to continue trying, no matter how difficult a task might be, that the message becomes clear. We are able to get almost 100 (due to processing fees when a donation comes through and shipping charges to purchase the postcards, we can't get 100 with $5 but close to it) with a five dollar donation. 75 children would be benefiting from your small donation of five dollars. 75 children will receive the opportunity to connect to a Character that displays a core trait needed to succeed in life. 75 children could be given a reminder to always use their good character.

We were recently at an event where a parent came up and asked if she could take one of each, so that she could put them on her son's door and use them as a reminder when needed. So even though you may look at it is a colored copy of a picture, it becomes so much more when our Characters are attached to it.

Stickers? Now, really. How effective could stickers be for a child? When you were a child, or maybe you have children now, what got you more excited than receiving something such as an award, ribbon, or even a sticker? It's a positive reinforcement to get the child excited about using their good character at all times. Stickers can be provided to parents, leaving them in control to reward their child when they portray the character trait, or given to the child to wear right then and there. Stickers are a great way to get a child excited. Nothing is better than being rewarded for positive behavior, even if it's something as tiny as a pat on the back, or in this case a sticker.

Each sticker is about 1-2/3" in diameter. Each sticker also has a colored picture of the Character as well as a saying along the lives of, "I have good character!" and the photo of the Character, then at the bottom it lists the trait. For example, Behavior. As time goes on and we create other designs, and more engaging ideas, the styles may change.

I have learned that it doesn't matter how wonderful of an organization that you are, if you can't market yourself properly, you can't get your name out there. As important as it is to create products for the children to benefit from, it's just as important that we have funding for marketing costs. A $5 donation would allow us to print about 75 black and white tri-fold brochures explaining who we are, what we do, and how to learn more about us.

A $5 donation would allow our organization to create, produce, and distribute about 150 half size coloring and/or activity sheets. Why half size? It's large enough for the child to color, include information about the Character as well as trait, and we can get about double what we would get if we did a full page. The more products we can make with a small amount, the better it is for the child. They are the ones that are benefiting from what we provide them with, and if we are able to cut the costs and reach more children, we're going to do it.

Your $5 donation would allow us to donate a single children's book. Literacy is such an important factor in the life of a child. A child should yearn to read, not be forced to do so. Giving them books that are fun, colorful, engaging, all while providing a good message is a great way to get a child excited about reading. Our organization has a variety of children's books, and we continue to create more as time progresses. We can only go so far in creating these books until we need a way to distribute them to children, who are the ones who will benefit from reading them. This is also a great family activity. It's so important to get parents involved with their child's life. Our books not only provide a good message for a child, but it opens up discussion for the adult.

Your $5 donation could go to allowing our organization to write back to 9 children's letters. Each month we receive a numerous amount of letters to our Characters, each receiving it's own personal response. The cost to send these continues to rise. Our organization does not take any of the money to write back as the Character. The funds go straight into things like envelopes, postage, stationary, and printing costs. Sending a single letter may not seem like a lot of money, but when you are multiplying that number, especially when encouraging children to write to the Characters, it quickly adds up.

For starters, it could help us fund a single project above 10 times. It could also help us fund part of a community visit in the continental US. Your $50 donation could be helping a classroom receive an entire set of books, or it could be providing an entire school with printed materials from our Characters. Did you know that if we were able to print $50 worth of black and white copies (whether it's a coloring page, information, activity, discussion, or even something for the teacher to use over and over again) you would be helping us reach over ONE THOUSAND children? Helping 1,000 children for around $50, you have to admit that would be pretty darn impressive.

Our organization offers an extensive character education program for educators. Due to limited funding, our organization is no longer able to simply donate these programs, as much as we would love to. A donation of $350 would sponsor an entire facility with a single trait character education program. What does that mean? It means that your donation would give a facility (sometimes a classroom, an entire school, and sometimes even a daycare center) an individual character education program. The program reaches children from pre-k through late elementary, without having to purchase other programs or renew at any time. Once a facility receives the program, it's theirs to keep until they no longer want to use it. That means that your donation of $350 is going to help children for years to come, and even better it's going to allow that facility to create a better environment for everyone once our program is in place.