Give to the World’s Largest Autism Foundation

As like any other cause or disease, there have been many organizations created to bring awareness to help Autism. All of them are great organizations, but the most popular and well known is the world’s largest autism foundation, Autism Speaks. I had heard of the organization before, but it was really brought to my attention when I was watching one of my favorite shows Celebrity Apprentice. In 2010, Holly Robison Peete was runner up in Celebrity Apprentice. She was playing to bring awareness to autism because she has a son with the disease. With her being able to stay on the show so long she was able to talk about and raise a large amount of money for her own personal organization but also the Autism Speaks organization. I encourage you that if you are wanting to give to this cause then start by helping out Autism Speaks.

Autism Speaks was started in 2005 by two grandparents, Bob and Suzanne Wright. They were wanting to do something for their grandchild who is dealing with autism. Their initial purpose for the organization was to be able to give a voice to the millions of families affected by this disease. They never imagined it would turn into the largest autism advocacy organization committed to funding research, increasing awareness, and meeting the needs of autistic individuals. For a more detailed writing about what they do follow this link to their mission statement.

 

                                           

 

They use a puzzle piece as their logo because each person with autism is unique, and autism is a puzzle needing to be solved.  Autism Speaks has made national news several times and has grew into an organization with a 33 member Board of Directors. For example, the Today Show in 2009 did a three-day series on autism and they consulted people from Autism Speaks. They provide their annual reports on their website but they could not be successful without the help and donations of the community.

Ways to Give

There are two ways to give through this organization: you can give your time or you can give financially.

 If you wish to give your time, the major way to do this is by volunteering at one of their events.  For example, they host motorcycle rides, host special galas, and their biggest events are the walks they host around the nation. You can volunteer by helping set up these events, clean up afterwards, check in participants, or even be an encourager at the water stops.

 Autism speaks runs on donations so the biggest way you can help this organization is by donating financially. Donations start at $10, but you can give as much as you want. Every little bit helps so don’t assume that giving $10 wont make a difference. If you are looking to give a large amount of money, you can give what they call a major gift, which is anything over $5000. All major gifts come with benefits such as being mentioned on the webpage and listed on the annual report. The more money you give the more benefits you receive.

 They have made it easy to give. You simply go on their website and click give. Once there, all you have to do is enter your information and either donate or donate in someone’s honor. If you would rather schedule a deferred payment plan you can do that as well. They know in order to get people to donate they have to make it simple and easily accessible.

 To get a better understanding of the organization, where the money goes, and the specific items it helps, watch this video made by the Autism Speaks Foundation.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/about-us

http://www.autismspeaks.org/ways-give