I want to talk a little bit about the joy of being able to give away money since you have brought it up and I have a experience of being able to do that for a short period of time. It’s an experience to be able to do this and is probably a different kind of experience for each person. Everybody doesn’t get the chance probably so I should be just grateful that I did have the chance and maybe I will again. If you are like me, you probably hear on social media occasionally of someone “paying it forward“ by paying the bill of the next person in line wherever that line happens to be. And whoever that person happens to be I guess. And then there are the people who make large donations to good causes. Sometimes large enough to get their name put up on a wall or a room or a building.
I have been a conscientious objector to paying for killing for quite a long time. I decided that if I was not going to go myself to Vietnam, I would not pay for someone else to go. I would not pay for a military, the trains, good people to kill other people. I discovered there was a movement called war tax resistance where people refused to pay their federal income taxes because about 50% of it has gone to the military for a very long time. I decided to call myself a pacifist and I decided that instead of sending the money to the IRS that would send most of it to the military I would instead give that money to good causes and especially to causes that met human needs. I never earned very much because I often worked in human services and often enough worked in the Peace movement for not very much money.
But then in 2016 my father died. He died after a quick month of decline after a fall. And all of a sudden, as the only remaining part of his nuclear family I found that I had inherited $1 million! In as well, my dad told me that he wanted to have me distribute his money to a variety of relatives and special people and he gave me a list with names and numbers. He wanted to be sure that I gave them the money in a way that would not be taxable to them. But because the money was in an annuity, it would be taxable to be as the person who withdrew it. He had never talked to me about this in advance, but he certainly knew about my WTR experience so I think he set me up with the greatest opportunity in my life to do some very good things with quite a lot of money!
I quickly did pass the money out to everybody on his list which included grandchildren as well as people who were especially important to him for a variety of reasons. But after that money was all sent out there was still a pretty good chunk of money left.
So I began the experience of pretending that I was “rich“ and that I could give away thousands of dollars in the way that I determined was best. I gave money to Peace organizations and I gave money to arts and cultural organizations, and I gave money to human service organizations. And I gave some money to a number of people who I had met on Facebook and I wrote a few paragraphs about those people and called it “Facebook philanthropy“!
I filed my federal income taxes each year as I was playing at being rich in 2017 and 2018 and 2019. The three years that I came to call my years of Massive Resistance! I told everybody about what I was doing, including all of the politicians in Washington DC. I told the IRS. I told my friends and family. I called the local newspaper and talked them into sending out a reporter and a photographer. Someone in town who was a filmmaker called me and said we should get together and talk. We did talk, and the end result was a one hour documentary titled The Pacifist, which is still available on Amazon. All of a sudden I was a movie star.
Ultimately, I gave away $250,000 that would have otherwise gone to pay the federal income taxes. I waited to hear from the IRS and part of me really hoped they would do something dramatic because then I would get more publicity and my civil disobedience might have more impact! But just about all the IRS has done so far is to send me a lot of letters, and they never fail to include an envelope with every letter so that I will be able to send them the money that I owe! They have also assessed interest and penalties and each year when they send me three letters, one for each year, they add up today to me owing something like $350,000. I don’t have $350,000 of course! And the IRS has 10 years to collect and those years have been clicking off and they are getting down to the end of their time. Maybe they will decide to do something dramatic before their time runs out. As it says at the end of the documentary film, “they know where I live”!
No matter what the IRS does. There is nothing they can do about the fact that I have had the delightful experience of giving away over $250,000 to all sorts of good causes and even to some good people personally. I am not losing any sleep worrying about what the IRS might do to me. But I can’t tell you how good it feels to have been able to give my tax money for many years to things that I really support rather than having our Congress with bipartisan agreement continue to give more and more to the military! As a friend in Massachusetts used to say about paying to support the military, “I ain’t gonna!”
If you want to explore this way of taking money from the war chest and investing it in a hope chest, visit nwtrcc.org and see what you can do if you choose.
If been considering doing this for quite awhile. I think there are many people out there who probably would tip me on occasion, but don't want to be locked into an auto-renew subscription. Thank you for another useful and information tip Kristi (no pun intended) :)
Paying it forward is marvelous. I think of buying someone a coffee the same way I would if I tossed $5 in a street busker’s (musician or other artist) hat while they perform. It’s no different from the homeless people who buy the “Real Change” newspapers for sixty cents, then sell them for $2. They get to keep the change for their efforts at improving their lives. It gives both dignity to them and allows others to respect their process.
Personally, I find it deplorable that many authors here are not subscribers to at least one Substack. It’s only $5 !! For gosh sake. If they cannot afford a promise of $5 per month, they shouldn’t be soliciting paying subscribers (and every single one I’ve seen DOES solicit paying subscribers)
Do they think we don’t notice? OF COURSE WE NOTICE! Everyone should proudly wear that little flower symbol after their name showing they support others.
Their clear double standard (they deserve to get paid but they won’t give the same respect to others) is a glaring neon sign of their lack of character. (Ok… rant over)
I agree with everything you said. I haven't been adding a Ko-fi button to my newsletter. Yours is so cool. Did you make it on Canva? How do you integrate a great button like that with a Ko-fi account URL? I want one now. Mine would suggest covering the cost of my spoiled cat's treats. 😁
I agree, completely. We added a tip jar to our posts this year, and I’m amazed at how many folks leave tips for our work. It’s quite validating and encouraging to be recognized…especially during those times when it feels like no one cares about the work you pour your heart into.
There is a Bible verse that states, “You have not because you ask not.”
First let me say that this is a case of each to their own and that I do give $$ subscriptions to some Substackers I follow, so I am not going to say it’s fundamentally wrong to seek payment. BUT, I will personally never set up paid subscriptions because I would rather be thanked by comments and questions and conversation. I am 100% uncomfortable with asking for financial recompense for ideas and words. If I was offering something physical, let’s say a printed and illustrated book, then that would be different - there are tangible costs in production. Words, ideas, time though - they cost me nothing so why should I ask for payment. If you find my writing of interest just say so and that is enough.
What are your thoughts on adding this to the welcome email for free subscribers? I added it to mine briefly and then retracted it because I was afraid that readers would suddenly unsubscribe. 🙃
My only thought on that is maybe a welcome email might be too soon. If they have only just subscribed, they might not know you well enough to make that move. The end of posts feels like the more logical spot.
I was just talking about this with Chris Stanton. You and I completely agree on this. The more ways we offer opportunities to say thank you, the better for everyone. xo
I want to talk a little bit about the joy of being able to give away money since you have brought it up and I have a experience of being able to do that for a short period of time. It’s an experience to be able to do this and is probably a different kind of experience for each person. Everybody doesn’t get the chance probably so I should be just grateful that I did have the chance and maybe I will again. If you are like me, you probably hear on social media occasionally of someone “paying it forward“ by paying the bill of the next person in line wherever that line happens to be. And whoever that person happens to be I guess. And then there are the people who make large donations to good causes. Sometimes large enough to get their name put up on a wall or a room or a building.
I have been a conscientious objector to paying for killing for quite a long time. I decided that if I was not going to go myself to Vietnam, I would not pay for someone else to go. I would not pay for a military, the trains, good people to kill other people. I discovered there was a movement called war tax resistance where people refused to pay their federal income taxes because about 50% of it has gone to the military for a very long time. I decided to call myself a pacifist and I decided that instead of sending the money to the IRS that would send most of it to the military I would instead give that money to good causes and especially to causes that met human needs. I never earned very much because I often worked in human services and often enough worked in the Peace movement for not very much money.
But then in 2016 my father died. He died after a quick month of decline after a fall. And all of a sudden, as the only remaining part of his nuclear family I found that I had inherited $1 million! In as well, my dad told me that he wanted to have me distribute his money to a variety of relatives and special people and he gave me a list with names and numbers. He wanted to be sure that I gave them the money in a way that would not be taxable to them. But because the money was in an annuity, it would be taxable to be as the person who withdrew it. He had never talked to me about this in advance, but he certainly knew about my WTR experience so I think he set me up with the greatest opportunity in my life to do some very good things with quite a lot of money!
I quickly did pass the money out to everybody on his list which included grandchildren as well as people who were especially important to him for a variety of reasons. But after that money was all sent out there was still a pretty good chunk of money left.
So I began the experience of pretending that I was “rich“ and that I could give away thousands of dollars in the way that I determined was best. I gave money to Peace organizations and I gave money to arts and cultural organizations, and I gave money to human service organizations. And I gave some money to a number of people who I had met on Facebook and I wrote a few paragraphs about those people and called it “Facebook philanthropy“!
I filed my federal income taxes each year as I was playing at being rich in 2017 and 2018 and 2019. The three years that I came to call my years of Massive Resistance! I told everybody about what I was doing, including all of the politicians in Washington DC. I told the IRS. I told my friends and family. I called the local newspaper and talked them into sending out a reporter and a photographer. Someone in town who was a filmmaker called me and said we should get together and talk. We did talk, and the end result was a one hour documentary titled The Pacifist, which is still available on Amazon. All of a sudden I was a movie star.
Ultimately, I gave away $250,000 that would have otherwise gone to pay the federal income taxes. I waited to hear from the IRS and part of me really hoped they would do something dramatic because then I would get more publicity and my civil disobedience might have more impact! But just about all the IRS has done so far is to send me a lot of letters, and they never fail to include an envelope with every letter so that I will be able to send them the money that I owe! They have also assessed interest and penalties and each year when they send me three letters, one for each year, they add up today to me owing something like $350,000. I don’t have $350,000 of course! And the IRS has 10 years to collect and those years have been clicking off and they are getting down to the end of their time. Maybe they will decide to do something dramatic before their time runs out. As it says at the end of the documentary film, “they know where I live”!
No matter what the IRS does. There is nothing they can do about the fact that I have had the delightful experience of giving away over $250,000 to all sorts of good causes and even to some good people personally. I am not losing any sleep worrying about what the IRS might do to me. But I can’t tell you how good it feels to have been able to give my tax money for many years to things that I really support rather than having our Congress with bipartisan agreement continue to give more and more to the military! As a friend in Massachusetts used to say about paying to support the military, “I ain’t gonna!”
If you want to explore this way of taking money from the war chest and investing it in a hope chest, visit nwtrcc.org and see what you can do if you choose.
If been considering doing this for quite awhile. I think there are many people out there who probably would tip me on occasion, but don't want to be locked into an auto-renew subscription. Thank you for another useful and information tip Kristi (no pun intended) :)
You're welcome Daria! I think it's definitely worth trying.
Charisse (and Jenny), I created my graphics in Canva and add a hyperlink to the image. Here’s a post I wrote about adding image links:
https://share.google/G2TbW4mGKShOclFiX
Paying it forward is marvelous. I think of buying someone a coffee the same way I would if I tossed $5 in a street busker’s (musician or other artist) hat while they perform. It’s no different from the homeless people who buy the “Real Change” newspapers for sixty cents, then sell them for $2. They get to keep the change for their efforts at improving their lives. It gives both dignity to them and allows others to respect their process.
Personally, I find it deplorable that many authors here are not subscribers to at least one Substack. It’s only $5 !! For gosh sake. If they cannot afford a promise of $5 per month, they shouldn’t be soliciting paying subscribers (and every single one I’ve seen DOES solicit paying subscribers)
Do they think we don’t notice? OF COURSE WE NOTICE! Everyone should proudly wear that little flower symbol after their name showing they support others.
Their clear double standard (they deserve to get paid but they won’t give the same respect to others) is a glaring neon sign of their lack of character. (Ok… rant over)
Too often a writer is asked for „pick your brain“ style of support and then has no way to make that happen.
When I meet people for real coffee (see https://42coffees.com) I typically have a book with me.
And finally created a profile on „Buy me a coffee“ where I also placed my book and a coaching hour.
I agree with everything you said. I haven't been adding a Ko-fi button to my newsletter. Yours is so cool. Did you make it on Canva? How do you integrate a great button like that with a Ko-fi account URL? I want one now. Mine would suggest covering the cost of my spoiled cat's treats. 😁
Thanks for asking this, I have the same question!
Here’s a post I wrote about adding image links:
https://share.google/G2TbW4mGKShOclFiX
I can't wait to see the answer. 😊
I agree, completely. We added a tip jar to our posts this year, and I’m amazed at how many folks leave tips for our work. It’s quite validating and encouraging to be recognized…especially during those times when it feels like no one cares about the work you pour your heart into.
There is a Bible verse that states, “You have not because you ask not.”
Thank you for your sage advice.
That's awesome Michelle! I'm glad it has been working for you as well. We have to open the door in order for others to walk through.
First let me say that this is a case of each to their own and that I do give $$ subscriptions to some Substackers I follow, so I am not going to say it’s fundamentally wrong to seek payment. BUT, I will personally never set up paid subscriptions because I would rather be thanked by comments and questions and conversation. I am 100% uncomfortable with asking for financial recompense for ideas and words. If I was offering something physical, let’s say a printed and illustrated book, then that would be different - there are tangible costs in production. Words, ideas, time though - they cost me nothing so why should I ask for payment. If you find my writing of interest just say so and that is enough.
You're right, to each his own. 😊 Some of us consider our writing as our work, therefore, compensation is logical.
It’s a sign! I was just asking someone how to set up a tip jar.
Ha! Perfect timing 👌
I make myself open to this all the time with my platforms. But hardly anyone cares.
Lol ditto. I rarely receive but the option is there.
What are your thoughts on adding this to the welcome email for free subscribers? I added it to mine briefly and then retracted it because I was afraid that readers would suddenly unsubscribe. 🙃
My only thought on that is maybe a welcome email might be too soon. If they have only just subscribed, they might not know you well enough to make that move. The end of posts feels like the more logical spot.
I was just talking about this with Chris Stanton. You and I completely agree on this. The more ways we offer opportunities to say thank you, the better for everyone. xo
Yup. I don't tend to want to commit to an entire subscription but tossing a few bucks here and there is no problem!
This is called “Value for Value”.
As you pointed out, it’s not tip money. It someone saying “I got something of value out of your work and I want to return value to you.”
Exactly!! Paying it forward...