Patrick Filler

Do Talk To Strangers

Four years ago, a writer named Courtney Martin had a novel idea. She created a startup “charity” concept that gives people $100 to do nice things for strangers:

“One hundred dollars is not going to change anyone’s life,” Martin said. “It’s a small thing. The money is just a framework for people to use their imagination. It’s like a kick in the ass.”

One of the participants had trouble giving away the $100. It seems people are naturally suspicious when you’re being nice to them:

“I will give you $1 for you to give to someone else,” the sign said. Throughout the evening rush, Lockspeiser stood in the station, trying to give away dollar bills.

“Everyone though I was trying to scam them,” he said. “They wanted to know what I was up to. I told them they just had to promise to give the $1 to someone else.”

After three hours, Lockspeiser had managed to give away only $52. One passer-by did not take the $1 but, suspecting that Lockspeiser was down and out, handed him a pair of socks. [emphasis mine]

Read “Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy” at SFGate (viaMarginal Revolution)