How you can turn $1,000 into a $1 million charitable event
I was watching Sunday Morning on CBS when the story came on about RIP Medical Debt. Seems a couple of guys who were in the medical debt collection business had an idea. Rather than buying bad medical debt from hospitals and healthcare providers for pennies on the dollar and the trying to collect and make a profit, they would start a new non profit. The new non profit would buy the same medical debt for pennies but then use donations to simply pay the debt off.
Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Bad debt can ruin a persons credit history and cause immense stress for those affected. RIP Medical debt recently changed its name to Undue Medical Debt. Recently they received a large donation from Mackenzie Scott, you may recall she was previously married to Jeff Bezos. This is a well run charity and they have very specific rules of who they help. This includes what percentage of net income the debt equals and the level of poverty facing the recipient. Suffice to say they are helping people who need help-not just paying off debt for those who could otherwise pay it themselves.
OK you say, give me the pay off on the headline. How do I turn $1,000 into a charitable event. I call this idea the "Million Dollar Brunch". To pay off $1,000,000 in medical debt you only need to raise $10,000 for Undue Medical Debt. So you find a local hotel or banquet hall and schedule a fancy brunch. In most parts of the country you can buy a nice brunch for $50. You pay for 20 guests to have brunch ($1,000) but require a minimum donation of $500 per plate. You then proceed to market the event on social media, through email and word of mouth. You can even direct the donation be focused on local recipients in your county. So 20 people come to a nice brunch, you raise $10,000 and it pays off $1 million for your less wealthy neighbors who are being crushed under the weight of the debt.
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