Let’s be honest: when something, regardless of how noble or important it is, doesn’t fit easily and seamlessly into our lives, it doesn’t happen. We’re busy. And we gave at the office. Who has time to volunteer? Then there’s the added hurdle of not only finding time to volunteer, but sorting through local non-profit organizations, syncing up with the right cause, and taking the steps to find out when and where help is needed. With Do Good Date Night, we handle all the legwork to find great volunteer experiences that are perfect for couple time.
We make it fun and easy to volunteer together by facilitating a date night activity that’s unique, fun and connective but also rewarding. Couples are having oodles of fun, laughing together, reconnecting, making new friends, and discovering new sides to each other that even decades of togetherness can’t often reveal.
Another bonus is that our volunteer experiences are commitment-free. Event attendees aren’t obliged to do orientation or commit to ongoing volunteer hours.
We’ve created a blueprint for expanding Do Good Date Night beyond its hometown of Orlando, FL and have already facilitated events in Ohio, Indiana and Louisiana. Hope to see you in your neck of the woods soon.
Do Good Date Night has become the gateway to volunteering and giving, spawning countless more volunteer hours, service projects, community events and donations. An incredible friend-raising tool for non-profits, we know that 21% of our event attendees return to our non-profit partners to give more time and more money.
According to the Corporation for National Community Service, 25.3 percent of Americans volunteer, with the largest proportion of those doing so through their church or school. But what about those who’ve long since graduated or who don’t belong to a formal religious institution? How do we find our way to a worthy cause and make a well-meaning impact? And once I’m signed up and reporting for duty, will it be fun or pure drudgery? With so little leisure time to go around, is it wrong to want to enjoy my service work? Will I feel part of something? Will I feel like the few hours I hand over from my time-starved life make a difference?
Since 2007, I have been blogging about things for couples to do on date night. Beginning with Orlando Date Night Guide then expanding nationally in 2017, these websites have given me the opportunity to inspire couples everywhere to create more connection and joy.
In 2015, I was taking photos of our school’s fourth through sixth-graders arranged in a giddy assembly line on the sunbaked sports court. They were volunteering, creating hundreds of non-perishable meal kits fated for hungry, impoverished recipients on the other side of the planet. Far from complaining, these kids were having a blast doing good. I had never seen volunteering look like so much fun. And I wanted in.
Days later, I arrived at the offices for Feeding Children Everywhere, the non-profit our school had partnered with. Armed with a catchy name and my idea for a unique, new event series, I laid out my case for why combining volunteering with date night could be revolutionary. Would they partner with me on my first event? Their answer was an immediate “yes” and Do Good Date Night was born.
The Do Good Date Night™, a 100% non-profit event series, was born and launched on September 26, 2015.
Three years and dozens of sold-out events later, Do Good Date Night has partnered with Habitat for Humanity, Clean the World, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Harvest Time International, Goodwill Industries and Feeding Children Everywhere, resulting in over hundreds of volunteer hours and thousands of donations. Plus, we’ve now hosted events in Ohio, Indiana and Louisiana.
We’ve sorted books for children’s literacy programs, bagged thousands of pounds of produce, created after-school meal packs for kids on the free breakfast and lunch program, and assembled thousands of hygiene kits for the homeless. We’ve banged nails and sawed drywall as three houses for families needing a fresh start came to life. We’ve created hundreds of stocking-stuffer bags filled with donated goodies, and we’ve sent over 22,000 non-perishable meals around the world.
Since Do Good Date Night launched in 2015, we have partnered with the following nonprofit organizations:
We’ve had 25 events so far with 1,500 attendees, which translates into roughly 1,500 volunteer hours.
We’ve also given media exposure to our nonprofit partners in over a dozen local and national outlets including Good Housekeeping Magazine.