Give Kindness.
Get Happiness.
KindnessDollars.com is a website I created to give people money (up to $100) so they can do acts of kindness for others, including strangers. While there are plenty of simple and free ways to do kind acts for others (like holding the door, smiling at a stranger — this is a personal favorite that can’t be done with a mask on, unfortunately), I want to help people who want to do a specific kind act that requires financial resources they may not have, like paying your friend’s phone bill, covering your mom’s medication copay, or buying a winter jacket for someone in need.
KindnessDollars.com is a social experiment for me to see if doing this will make me feel happier and more socially connected during this time of personal loss (I’m going through a divorce) and social isolation (due to COVID-19). But hopefully those same benefits — happiness and social connectedness — extend to the people who I give money to, who then give that money, directly or in kind, to others. Give Kindness, Get Happiness for All!
Who can receive Kindness Dollars?
Anyone! By completing the Survey, anyone is eligible for the chance to receive Kindness Dollars. All I ask is that you please review the Honor Code. Are you the kind of person this website is intended for? Someone who truly intends to use the money in support of a kind act for someone else that you would otherwise not be able to afford? Only you can answer that question, but please be honest.
Why give away Kindness Dollars?
Research shows that being kind to one another actually makes us happier. We get even more happiness bang for our buck when we do kind acts for other people, even strangers. This happens for a few reasons including an enhanced sense of social connectedness and a curious way our brain processes information that makes us see the rewards of others as our own rewards. That said, the ability to do acts of kindness or kind things for others is often afforded, literally and figuratively, by having something (money, time, energy) to give — and not everyone has that.
So, I created this website to feel happier by doing acts of kindness for others and enhance my feeling of social connectedness, which has changed since COVID-19 upended seemingly everything. But, hopefully, that’s not all that happens through this website. I also want other people to derive happiness by doing kind acts for others. Give Kindness, Get Happiness for All!
How does it work?
Every Sunday, I will randomly select a submission from the prior week and pay that individual up to $100 in whatever way they ask. I will message you personally if your submission is selected and get you your money in the way you requested (i.e., Venmo, PayPal, check, etc).
STEPS:
Complete the 10 question Survey (only one submission per week, please)
If your submission is selected, I’ll give you money to help you do the act of kindness you committed to do
[Optional] I’ll send you a follow-up 3 question survey that I would kindly ask you to complete after you do your act of kindness
If your submission is not selected and you still want to do that act of kindness, submit your survey again the following week
You can submit a Survey whenever! I will randomly select a submission from the prior week on Sundays and let the “Kindness-Giver” know on Mondays.
I don’t know who will use this site, if anyone, but I intend to run this website and give away money until my birthday on February 19. If at that point, I’m happier and feeling more socially connected — and am still employed, so I can afford to do this — then I will continue to give away Kindness Dollars as long as I financially can. Again, hopefully, I’m not the only one getting the benefits of happiness and social connectedness!