Warm The Children is a co-operative effort of a newspaper and the communities it serves, acting alone or in partnership with a local charity, which provides new winter clothing for the children of needy families.  Here's how it works.

Beginning in the fall each year a newspaper asks its readers, with articles in the news columns and "house ads," for monetary donations to the newspaper's Warm The Children Fund.  The money that comes in is deposited in a local Warm The Children bank account, and is used exclusively to buy new winter clothing for needy children in the newspaper's community.  None of the money is ever used for "administrative fees."

The newspaper, acting alone or in concert with its local charity partner, arranges with a local social service agency or the local school system (teachers and nurses are great resources), for it to provide names and contact information of needy families.  The newspaper and/or the charity partner recruits volunteer shoppers from employee ranks, and from the community (local service clubs and churches can be a good source). These volunteer shoppers meet the families at local stores (designated by the newspaper) and take them shopping, spending (usually) $80 on each child.

Arrangements are made with local stores for the volunteer shoppers to receive discounts off regular price, and for the Warm The Children Fund to be billed for all purchases. The program is simple and easy to administer, and has something for everybody.  Mostly, needy children get nice, new winter clothing (quite often it’s the first new coat or pair of boots the child has ever owned). The newspaper's image in the community can be enhanced because it is using its resources to make good things happen.  People in the community benefit because, as volunteer shoppers, they have a direct and immediate impact on making life a little better for those in need. 
 
Warm The Children, Inc.'s job is, first, to help the local program get tax exempt status (desirable so that donations are tax deductible). This is accomplished in one of two ways: the sponsoring newspaper “partners” with a local charity – meaning, mainly, that the charity’s EIN # goes on the local Warm The Children bank account. The second way is for a newspaper to start its own Warm The Children non-profit tax exempt organization. The advantage of this is maintenance of independence. The disadvantage is cost and the time it takes to get IRS exempt recognition.

Either way, Warm The Children, Inc. is here to help establish the program.

After the above is accomplished, Warm The Children Inc.’s job is to guide the newspaper (and its charity partner, if there is one) in implementing the program. This means providing the formula or recipe for making the program work with the least cost and effort. It means training and providing on-going support for all involved in the program – be they employees of the newspaper, the charity, or volunteers from the community. It means licensing the newspaper (and charity partner) to use its registered trademark (logo). For all this Warm The Children Inc. asks each program to pay a small annual fee – an amount equal to the cost of one 15 column inch ad run one time in the local newspaper.

For more information contact Mack Stewart: