Knowledge is power – so give your power to the people.

You know more than you know. If you’ve completed your high school education and gone on to do tertiary study through a vocational college or at a University – you’ve been afforded a privilege denied to so many people. The wealth of knowledge is not to be underestimated and there are many ways you can put yours to good use.

Knowledge sharing has been around since the beginning of time. With the explosion of social media in the last couple of decades, we’re now sharing ideas, thoughts, processes, strategies, stories, opinions, news, research, lunch photos and thoughts and prayers like we never have before.

Before the written language or paper existed, knowledge was shared through drawings on caves and rock faces, some of which have been dated back 40,000 years. That’s not of much practical use to charities in the here and now, but providing your skills to a worthy cause is. So, before you get out your papyrus, let’s give you some.

Knowledge is key to many charitable programs that help people lift themselves out of poverty. Community initiatives would not succeed without knowledge being passed on from person to person – it’s the ‘teach a man to fish’ philosophy behind capacity building.

In that spirit, here are some ideas for how you can share your knowledge:

• Do some skilled volunteering or ‘experteering’:
  Platforms such as Pro Bono’s VolunteerMatch and The Centre for Volunteering’s Weekly Opportunities allow you to take on a volunteering position, which matches your experience and makes use of your talents.
• Become a tutor:
  The Smith Family is currently looking for tutors for its 2018 Learning Clubs, which help students with their homework and learning. Mission Australia trains volunteer ESL tutors to teach newly arrived migrants English.
• Run a workshop:
  At Good2Give we have Learning Lunches. It’s a great way to share specialist knowledge with your colleagues to teach them something new.
• Run a Meetup and inform your friends:
  Shared learning is great, so why not make a collective impact by organising a forum in which friends or families to pick a topic of shared interest, go away and research for the month and come back to share what they found. It’s a great way to kick off a hearty conversation and it’s kind of like uni tutorials without the assessments. You could even centre this on a cause you care about and if things evolve, turn the group into a Giving Circle.
• Are you a tech geek?
  Brilliant. Your Auntie Dot isn’t, she’s 82, and she’s walking two kilometres up a steep hill to do her banking in the branch, including paying bills. Help a relative with their basic computer skills, mobile phone knowledge, online facilities or social media and make life a little easier for digital migrants.
• Teach a class:
  Whether you’re a yogi, a meditation master, a hip hop dancer, or an unearthed Picasso – teach your skills to friends or strangers. Specific skills like coding, technical drawing, art, model building and musical instruments are all of value to after school and vacation care programs.
• Post a review:
  Bought a new product recently? Tell the world whether you love it or hate it and why. Film your evaluation and stick it on You Tube.

To celebrate #GivingTuesday, we are asking Australians to give a little and then share their efforts with a photo or post on Facebook or LinkedIn. All you need to do is tag @good2give #GivingTuesday with your post.

Next