Modest Needs Newsletters

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2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Dear Friends and Fans of Modest Needs,

Greetings! I hope this note finds you and your family happy, healthy, and preparing to celebrate a joyous holiday season with the people who matter most to you.

Today, I'm writing to ask for your help with a very special project. Short version? As you may have read, this year, a major donor made it possible for us to offer a $50,000.00 matching grant on Giving Tuesday. That person was so happy with the response to that match that the matching grant has now been tripled to an astonishing $150,000.00, and we've been given the rest of the year to claim as much of it as we can!

On behalf of our applicants, and in the spirit of the season, I'm writing to ask if, today, you'd please consider helping us to claim as much of this matching grant as possible by making a special year-end gift to Modest Needs. Any contribution you're willing to make at this time will be matched 100%, so your gift means more to our applicants right now than at any other time of the year!

If you're willing and able to help, you can make the tax-deductible contribution of your choice securely and in two minutes or less simply by using our quick donation form. But even if you can't help right now, please know how very much I appreciate your taking the time to read this very important update and your being a part of the Modest Needs community.

Thank you so very much in advance for doing anything you can to help us claim the whole of this tremendous, year-end matching grant. I look forward to hearing from you soon, but in the meantime, here's wishing you and your family a holiday season and New Year filled with more health and happiness than your lives can possibly contain. Take care, and be well!

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation
(212) 463-7042

P.S. With all the tragic news stories we've seen over just the past month, I though you might appreciate a little “pick-me-up.” So below, please find the ‘violin concert video' we received from the little girl whose arm was replaced by folks like you earlier this year. Enjoy, and again, thank you!

Our Gift to You On #GivingTuesday

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

Like, Share, Donate Now to Most Urgent Requests! View in browser

Dear Friends,

For the past twelve years, we've been working together to stop the cycle of poverty for hard-working people across the United States – people who, before Modest Needs, had nowhere to turn for help with the kinds of short-term, emergency expenses that we've all encountered in the past.

Yet, even though we've been doing this work together for over a decade, the one question people most often ask me about Modest Needs is still this:

“But what exactly do you do at Modest Needs?”

If you think about it, that's a fair question, isn't it? Everything we do at Modest Needs is about stopping the vicious cycle of poverty before a deserving person has lost everything he or she has worked for.

But how do you show the results of prevention? How do you show what happens when compassionate people pool their resources to stop deserving individuals and families in crisis from becoming homeless in the first place?

Honestly, that's a question even I've never been able to answer.

Not, that is, until today . . . .

***

Over the past year, we've been working with Rachel Anderson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who finally has found a way to show what we do at Modest Needs. And today, as part of ‘Giving Tuesday,' I'm thrilled to present her short film, “One Act of Kindness,” as our gift to all of you – the people who inspired it.

This film is now live on Modest Needs' homepage. I hope you'll take just five minutes to watch this film and witness the extraordinary power of your kindness and generosity. Honestly, I've never seen anything like this film. I'll never forget it.

I don't think you will either.

After you've seen the film, I have simple, very special request: right now, on the Modest Needs website, we have over ten pages of requests for help from deserving people just like the ones you'll see in this film. All of these applications are set to expire in ten days or less, and we want to stop the cycle of poverty for all of these families.

The problem? Right now, we just don't have the funding to do it.

That's why, today, on ‘Giving Tuesday,' I'd like to ask for your help to raise $25,000.00 – the cost to stop the cycle of poverty for all of these deserving persons. It sounds like a lot, I know, but I have faith in our power to change these lives.

After all, for years now, we've proven that when the Modest Needs community comes together, anything is possible.

If you'd please consider making a contribution to Modest Needs in support of this critical ‘Giving Tuesday' goal, it would mean the world to these persons who've turned to us in their time of crisis. You can make a secure, tax-deductible contribution of any size using the ‘Quick Donation' form on our homepage, or you can use our secure online donation form.

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this beautiful short film; for helping us to reach our ‘Giving Tuesday' goal; and – most of all – for your kindness, generosity and support of hard working individuals and families through Modest Needs.

Without you, this work would not be possible.

Give Now To Most Urgent Requests For Help »

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation
http://www.modestneeds.org
'Small Change. A World of Difference'
kptaylor@modestneeds.org

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PLEASE READ: Big News from Modest Needs

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Untitled Document

Dear Friends,

Greetings! I hope this note finds you well and celebrating a joyous holiday season.

Today I have news so exciting it will change your understanding of the work of Modest Needs and its donors!

Earlier this year, at tremendous personal expense, one of our major funders commissioned a group of Princeton University statisticians to conduct a three-year impact study of the work we've been doing together at Modest Needs for more than a decade. I was required to keep this information “top secret” -- until now.

For year one of this impact study, which has just been completed, most of those who received Modest Needs' help over the past decade were found and interviewed. Here are the results:

86.7% of the people we were able to help over the past ten years reported that the help they received from Modest Needs completely resolved the short-term financial crisis that they and their families were facing.
In 94.7% of all cases over the last decade, our seemingly small grants not only resolved the household's short-term financial crisis; it gave that household the “breathing room” they needed to permanently resolve whatever other financial issues they were facing both in the long-term.
79.4% of the people we couldn't reach could not get the help they needed to afford this short-term emergency expense from any other source. The result, just as we predicted, was a downward spiral into poverty.
In the end, 30.1% of these people we couldn't reach – people whose issues we could've resolved for, in most cases, less than $750.00 – well, they didn't just lose their self-sufficiency; they and their families actually became homeless.

I've shared the whole of the report with another major funder. That person was so excited by this information, they've generously offered to fully fund a year-long awareness campaign designed to highlight the plight of America's working poor and the effectiveness of our approach to this difficult social issue.

SO NOW, WE HAVE A YEAR-END CHALLENGE!

In order to make sure that we can handle the increase in applications that will come as a result of this campaign, the person who has offered this grant has positioned it as a year-end challenge. To receive the grant, we have to meet two conditions. By year's end:

• We must be able to show that we have $300,000 in the bank and available to fund new requests for help (obviously the worst thing we could do is disappoint hundreds of new applicants who really need our help – that's the reason for this condition) and

• We must be able to show that we have at least 2,000 “true fans” – people who have committed to support this work by becoming a monthly or a bi-weekly pledge donor for at least a year (we have nearly 950 people who've made this commitment, so we're almost halfway home! You can elect to become a pledge donor when you select to pay by credit card on the donation page.)

This grant, if we can earn it, will permanently increase Modest Needs' giving capacity while providing this overworked and underserved segment of the population the one thing they've always needed most: a voice.

PLEASE HELP US GET THERE! Thank you so much for considering a contribution toward this grant.

DONATE NOW

I look forward to hearing from you soon and, in the meantime, I'd like to send my best wishes to you and your family for a joyous holiday season and a very happy new year!

Warmest Personal Regards,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation
http://www.modestneeds.org
'Small Change: A World of Difference'
(212) 463-7042

What Does It Take? #OneActOfKindness.

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9ecbc7db81d2c21c17a0b42b5&id=83ff98b6e8

Gifts for Your Kids This Holiday Season! A New Holiday Gifts Program

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM


	A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER Dear Friends, At Modest Needs we understand that the holidays can be both exciting and stressful – especially for those of us wondering how we're going to afford an emergency expense that we hadn't counted on and gifts for our children. I'm writing today to let you know that if you're in this situation – if a short-term expense has left you wondering how you're going to be able to provide gifts for your children this holiday season – Modest Needs has a new grant program that might be able to help you! Today, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of the Modest Needs' Holiday Gift Fund grant. This special grant program, which will run from 11 November through 15 December 2013, is designed to provide financial support to families who meet Modest Needs' self-sufficiency standard (and therefore probably won't qualify for assistance from other agencies) but who've encountered an emergency expense or short-term loss of income within the past 60 days and for this reason would have difficulty purchasing any extras (especially gifts) this holiday season. Of course, there are a few limitations to this program. In order to apply for this grant, you must have children under the age of 18 living in your home, and you must've encountered and paid for a short-term emergency expense or experienced a short-term loss of income (due, for example, to a temporary layoff) within the past 60 days. You'll need to be able to provide us with basic information documenting both the number of minor children in your household and the short-term expense or loss of income that you've recently experienced. You'll need to be able to provide us with a list of age-appropriate gifts (clothes and toys only – nothing like iPads or computers) as part of the application process. And you'll need to have a completed application to us no later than 15 December 2013 (the sooner the better!) But, for every household that qualifies to apply for this grant and submits a completed application, we at Modest Needs will attempt to raise up to $75.00 per eligible child (up to a maximum of eight children per family). We'll then use these funds to purchase as many of the gifts you've requested for your children as we can and then ship those gifts straight to your house, in time for the holiday that you and your family celebrate! Best of all, we've done our best to make it as easy as possible to apply for this grant. Just go to https://www.modestneeds.org/for-applicants (or click the button below) and fill out our short application, which shouldn't taken you more than 10 minutes. If you qualify to apply for the Holiday Gift Fund grant, you'll be offered that option during the application process. And of course, if you need help with a different type of expense – well, especially at this time of year, we'd appreciate the opportunity to help you. If you haven't been to our site in a while, you may notices that we have made some significant improvements to how it looks and how it works. You can still log in with the same email and password you had originally used to register with us. If the system tells you your account is currently inactive, because you have not logged in in a while, simply log out, close the page and log back in again. You should be all set to go!" All of us at Modest Needs want to wish you and your family a very happy Holiday Season. And if we can make your holiday season a little brighter through our Holiday Gift Fund (or any of our programs), please ask us for the help you need. As always, we'll do our very best to find a way to help you.

Our Vets Need Help FAST!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM



	A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER Dear Friends, Today, I want to express gratitude to our veterans – for every sacrifice: every risk taken, every family separated, and every soul scarred. You have protected our freedoms and endured the unimaginable. Thank you. I'm also thrilled to announce that since we launched our “Homecoming Heroes” grant for veterans, we have been able to quickly and fully fund EVERY SINGLE APPLICATION received! This grant program is specifically designed to assist veterans returning from active duty to ease the transition from military service to civilian life, and we have changed many lives – quickly - thus far. But we need your help to continue this vital work. As awareness of our Homecoming Heroes grant program has spread, we are receiving more and more applications. And because many veterans return faced with unexpected delays in benefits and pay, their requests are urgent. According to a May 23, 2013 article by the Economist, the VA “is crumpling under a growing pile of disability claims. Bureaucrats are completing more claims than ever—over 1 million a year in the past three years—and almost three times as many in 2012 as in 2001. But they cannot keep pace with the growing caseload.” And, from the Huffington Post: “Amid $1.7 trillion in U.S. war spending, there is no special fund to address Iraq vets' medical and disability payments.” When veterans need help, they need it fast. Here's one example of a veteran's urgent need, and how we fulfilled it together: Adam, recently discharged from being deployed in Afghanistan, returned home to his wife and three small boys. He stayed in the Army Reserves and followed his dream of becoming a police officer. The problem? Until he received his first paycheck, Adam had no salary to depend on. Like many other veterans, he was anxiously awaiting back pay from both the Army and the Army Reserves, and he had fallen behind on mortgage payments. “I've made a lot of sacrifices for my country and when I came home to a growing family, I never imagined it would be this hard to acclimate to civilian life. To face foreclosure after so much hard work and perseverance is unimaginable to me,” he wrote in his application. He had very little time to come up with the money. Because of donors like you, we were able to swiftly help Adam afford his mortgage payment, allowing him to become self-sufficient on his pay as a police officer. Soon after, Adam wrote us a testimonial: “I never thought I would be able to get the help I needed so quickly! By the time we had the funds to pay the mortgage, our home would have been foreclosed. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for helping my family and I stay in our home!” YOU can change the life of someone like Adam with a contribution of your choice through our website (choose “Homecoming Heroes Grant” when asked where you would like your donation to be allocated). On this special day and with so much at stake for so many, I hope you'll please consider making a special, Veteran's Day contribution to Modest Needs. We need to let our veterans know we have not forgotten them. We need to tell them they are not alone. Let's all express our thankfulness; please give whatever amount you can to help. Together, there is no end to the good we can do for those who have sacrificed so much! Thank you so much for taking the time read this important request – and for sharing it with friends and family if you feel inclined to do so. And thank you so very much for your support of our veterans of the U.S. military. We cannot do any of this crucial work without you!

A Very Special Request from Modest Needs

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

PLEASE READ: A Very Special Request from Modest Needs

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Modest Needs! I hope this note finds you doing well, having enjoyed a wonderful summer and looking forward to a marvelous rest of the year.

We've had quite a remarkable summer at Modest Needs, and that's really why I'm writing to you today – to share some truly exciting news with you, and then, in light of the exceptional summer we've had at Modest Needs, to ask for a ‘modest' favor.

Very briefly, let me tell you what's been going on over the past few months:

At Modest Needs, good stewardship of our donors' contributions involves maintaining a ‘modest' Emergency Fund. Usually it's replenished during our annual appeal each December. The Emergency Fund makes it possible for us to help the largest possible number of people in need of life-changing, short-term emergency assistance – even at times of the year (like the summer months) when contributions to Modest Needs naturally and temporarily decline. During the summer, they drop by about $20,000 per month.

Normally, the contributions people make to Modest Needs' Emergency Fund during our annual appeal are more than enough to carry us through to the end of the following year. But, for Modest Needs, the summer of 2013 was – well, unusual – but in a good way! This summer, at exactly the time of year when regular contributions to Modest Needs were at their very lowest level, we received the largest number of truly outstanding requests for help that I've seen in a very, very long time.

Just how important were the requests for help that Modest Needs received over the summer? How powerful was the impact of the grants we made this summer on the individuals and families who received them? Well, for example:

In June, we were able to prevent the eviction of a family who had fallen behind on their rent due expenses they'd incurred as a result of their youngest child's upcoming lung transplant;

In July, we helped a chronically underemployed single mom who'd finally been offered a really good job to return to work by helping her to afford the transit pass, without which she couldn't accepted the job or gotten to work; and

In August, we stopped the eviction of a single mom (and government employee) who, through no fault of her own, had fallen a month behind on her rent due to a situation she clearly could not control: this year's mandatory government furloughs.

This is just a small sampling of the nearly 400 extraordinary requests for help we received this summer at Modest Needs – all of which had such life-changing potential that we really couldn't say ‘no' to any of them in good conscience – especially when we had emergency funding available.So, throughout the summer, we did what I think you'd want us to do: over and over again, we tapped our Emergency Fund to ensure these deserving persons got the help they needed as quickly as possible.

So, to the exciting news I promised you: I'm thrilled to report that we were able to help every single person who turned to Modest Needs for emergency assistance during June, July and early August of 2013! Considering summer is our slowest time of the year for incoming contributions, it's just this side of miraculous that we were able to help so many people so quickly!

However, helping this many deserving people at our slowest time of year has completely depleted our Emergency Fund! This is terrible news for the people who'll turn to Modest Needs in the coming months. Without a healthy Emergency Fund in place, we won't have the means to make the kinds of immediate, life-changing grants for which we're known, no matter how critical the situation or how deserving the applicant.

And so I'm writing to ask for a special favor. Would you please be willing to make a ‘modest' contribution to Modest Needs of whatever amount you feel comfortable with - so that, after the best summer in Modest Needs' history, we can get our Emergency Fund back to its normal level?

Any contribution you'd be willing to make for this special purpose at this time is extremely important, as your support now will determine both how many people we're able to help over the coming months and how quickly we're able to get help to those who need our help the most. (Our average grant amount is $750).

If you'd please be willing to help us replenish our Emergency Fund, you can do so via our online donation form, which will allow you to make the tax-deductible contribution of your choice for this purpose both quickly and securely.

All you have to do is complete the short donation form, allocate your gift to our Emergency Fund, and click ‘Finalize My Gift.' That's all there is to it. The whole process will take less than two minutes of your time – but your generosity now will mean everything to our applicants this fall.

I know your time is valuable, so I want to thank you very much both for reading this note and for helping us replenish our Emergency Fund if you can. But whether or not it's possible for you at this time, I want you to know how very grateful I am to you for your interest in this vitally important work.

I look forward to hearing from you soon, but in the meantime, take care, be well, and again, thank you!

Warmest Personal Regards,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation

Help Hardworking Americans Keep Their Independence!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Help Hardworking Americans Keep Their Independence!

Announcing Homecoming Heroes Grant.

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Dear Friends,

Today, I'm thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of a brand new Modest Needs' grant program – Homecoming Heroes! This new grant program is specifically designed to assist veterans returning from active duty to ease the transition from military service to civilian life.

We all know about the sacrifices our U.S. military personnel make when they enter into service. They literally risk life and limb, sacrificing some of the best years of their lives, so that we can have what Franklin D. Roosevelt called the Four Freedoms -- freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Upon return from military duty, our veterans deserve to be honored - not just in words, but in action. Unfortunately, that isn't happening quickly enough.

According to a May 23, 2013 article by the Economist, the VA "is crumpling under a growing pile of disability claims. Bureaucrats are completing more claims than ever—over 1 million a year in the past three years—and almost three times as many in 2012 as in 2001. But they cannot keep pace with the growing caseload." And, from the Huffington Post: "Amid $1.7 trillion in U.S. war spending, there is no special fund to address Iraq vets' medical and disability payments."

At the very least, America's veterans deserve those same freedoms they have secured for us all. And as long as a single one of them lives in fear or want, we are failing in our most basic responsibility to them.

Recently, Modest Needs has received several requests from veterans for help. One injured soldier wrote, in part, "My wife and I are expecting our first child in June 2013. I was recently medically discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps for an injury sustained on active duty. I've lost all monthly income and have a pending claim through the VA, but they are currently 1.5-2 years behind. Our most imminent need is to catch up with my wife's Ob-Gyn bill." This application was entirely funded by Modest Needs' donors, leading to the recognition that specific assistance for veterans is crucial.

Our veterans are facing imminent crises such as unemployment, devastating wounds, mental health issues (such as PTSD), lack of education, and even homelessness. With so much at stake for the heroes of our country, Modest Needs is excited to launch the Homecoming Heroes grant fund. Its purpose is to provide one-time support for veterans returning from active duty in order to ease the transition from active military service to civilian life. The program is open to veterans who have returned home from active duty (or who have transitioned from active duty to civil life in the last 12 months) and who are waiting to receive a foreseeable and anticipated source of income which, once received, will allow them to be self sufficient.

Best of all, you can make the contribution of your choice through our website. Thanks to significant support from the Herb Alpert Foundation and other private sources of funding, ALL contributions will be matched at 100% for DOUBLE the IMPACT. For every $10 donated, we will match that $10. Donate $20 and we will match that $20, and so on! Together, there's really no end to the good we can do for the heroes who need our help the most. With so much at stake for so many – and with a huge matching grant on the table – I hope you'll please consider making a special, match-eligible contribution to Modest Needs. As always, all of your contributions to Modest Needs Foundation are 100% tax deductible.

Thank you so much for taking the time read this important announcement – and for sharing it with friends and family if you feel inclined to do so. And thank you so very much for your support of this crucial cause. Take care, and be well!

Take care and be well!

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President/ Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation

Milestones, Miracles, and a New Matching Grant!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Dear Friends and Fans of Modest Needs,

Greetings and Happy (belated) New Year! In the last few months, we've been in touch with most of you primarily via Facebook and Twitter, but today, as we prepare for Modest Needs' 11th anniversary, I wanted to take a moment to send out this long-overdue update to thank you for the remarkable work you did at Modest Needs throughout 2012. Prepare to be amazed – as you'll see below, last year, you really outdid yourselves!

A Modest Needs Milestone: In 2012, You Funded 90% of All Requests for Help!

Just two years ago, in 2010, Modest Needs was able to reach 62% of the people who qualified to apply for our help. At the time, for us to have been able to help more than half of the people who turned to us for assistance constituted a milestone of which I know we all were proud.

Today, however, it is my great pleasure to report that in 2012, thanks to your remarkable support of this very important work, Modest Needs was able to help just over 90% of the qualified persons who turned to us in the midst of a short-term financial crisis last year!

And that’s not the only milestone you shattered in 2012. Thanks to your incredible generosity in the final months of the year, I’m thrilled to report that during the period between 1 October and 31 December 2012, we were able to fully fund 100% of the qualified grant applications we received.

During the final months of the year especially, many people facing eviction, foreclosure, or a similar crisis through no fault of their own turn to us in hopes of a holiday miracle. In the final months of 2012, that’s exactly the gift you gave – and you gave it to every qualified person or household who turned to us for help. Unbelievable!

Hurricane Sandy Relief: An Update

As you know, late last year, and in response to one of the most devastating storms ever to hit the east coast, Modest Needs launched a unique Hurricane Relief program. In January 2013, we launched Phase II of this program and are now working directly with the persons directly impacted by the brunt of the storm who need short-term assistance that organizations like FEMA simply cannot provide, or can’t offer quickly enough.

Thanks to your support, I’m again thrilled to report that, so far, we have been able to help fully 100% of the persons who qualified to apply for a Hurricane Relief grant from Modest Needs. Best of all, the turn-around time on these special grants – all for critical - immediate needs, has averaged just about three days!

We continue to receive an overwhelming number of applications for help from persons still struggling to recover from the storm, and your support of this program is critical to its ongoing success. If you’d like to help us reach more persons affected by this storm, you can make a special one-time gift of any size to our Hurricane Relief Fund.

Your 2012 Tax Receipt Is Ready!

To maximize the amount of funding we have available to help persons in need, we no longer mail out tax receipts to our donors except by special request (these mailings cost thousands of dollars!) Instead, we make it possible for you to print your tax receipt directly from our website. To get your 2012 tax receipt, here’s all you have to do:

•Go to the Modest Needs website, login, and click the ‘My Account’ link at the top of any page.
•From your account page, click the ‘Print Tax Receipts' link from the left-hand menu.
•Using the drop-down menu choose 2012 and press ‘GO.’ Your tax receipt will be instantly generated for you. All you have to do is print or save the form to your computer, and you’re all set!

Remember, your contributions to Modest Needs are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and we want you to get the tax break you deserve! So if you have any problems getting your tax form, just drop us a line at donor.support@modestneeds.org, and we’ll get your tax receipt to you right away.

And Finally: Our Best Matching Grant Opportunity Ever!

Aas always, I’ve tried to save the best for last.

Today, I am very excited to officially announce that your generosity in 2012 has earned Modest Needs a $300,000.00 matching grant for 2013, courtesy of our friends at the Herb Alpert Foundation! We’re currently revising our website to accommodate the terms of this year’s match (yes, it’s really that good!), which we’ll be formally announcing on 21 March 2013, just in time for Modest Needs’ 11th anniversary.

Get ready: this one is going to knock your socks off!

***

I hope you’re as excited to learn more about this year’s matching grant (and all that we have planned for Modest Needs in 2013) as I am to share this news with you. You’ll find this information – and much more – in a special 11th Anniversary edition of the Modest Needs Newsletter, which will hit your inbox on March 21, 2013. Please watch your inbox for that update; you won’t want to miss it!

But today, more than anything else, I wanted to thank each of you personally, and from the bottom of my heart, for your ongoing support of the very important work we’re doing together at Modest Needs.Without you, these miracles would not be possible.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this edition of the Modest Needs News. I look forward to hearing from many of you soon, but in meantime, here’s wishing you and your families more health and happiness than your lives can possibly contain.

Modest Needs: Help Us Win $30K To Give Away!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Dear Friends,

I hope this note finds all of you well and enjoying these last few days of summer. Normally, at this time of the month, we send you our latest installment of 'Profiles in Courageous Generosity.' This month, we're delaying the publication of 'Profiles in Courageous Generosity' for reasons that will become clear as soon as you see our next - and perhaps best ever - edition of that column. Please look for that the week after Labor Day; you absolutely will NOT want to miss it.

In the meantime, though, we have a quick favor to ask of you. As it turns out, Modest Needs has been nominated for a 'Rare Life' award. If we win this award, Modest Needs gets a $30,000.00 contribution that will use to fund requests for help we might not otherwise be able to reach.

In order to win this grant, all we have to do is get the most votes. That's it. No purchase required. No registration necessary. No voting daily. Just one click and done - unless you'd like to share on Facebook or Twitter, which would be great!

So, if you're looking for a way to support Modest Needs that takes no money and less than a minute of your time, we'd really appreciate it if you'd click the 'Vote Now' button above and help us win this $30,000.00 grant. And if you feel inclined to share this story with your Facebook or Twitter friends, we'd really appreciate that as well. When it comes to a $30,000.00 grant, every bit helps!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this brief update and for helping us to bring home $30,000.00 in grant money that would mean a lot to the persons who have recently applied for our help. Look for a truly spectacular 'Profile in Courageous Generosity' early next month, but in the meantime, here's wishing you and your family a wonderful Labor Day and a joyous end of summer.

See How Far Your Donation Goes!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A New Matching Grant - Plus, Making Helping Others Easy!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Dear Friends,

Normally at Modest Needs, the summer season is our most difficult time of year. Every year during the summer, requests for help from Modest Needs skyrocket - right about the time that people head off for summer vacation. For this reason, support of the important work we do together at Modest Needs, tends to plummet during the months of June, July and August, just at the time that our help is needed most!

This year, our friends at the Herb Alpert Foundation are hoping to help us avoid the 'summer blues' by offering Modest Needs' donors a FANTASTIC matching grant opportunity! From now through the end of the year, the HAF will match any one-time contribution you make to Modest Needs, up to a maximum of $21,000.00 per month!

If we work together - and I know we will - this matching grant will make it possible for us to reach many hundreds of people in need of our help that we wouldn't have the money to assist otherwise, so please consider making a one-time gift in support of this matching grant this month.

And that's not all! Thanks to your suggestions, we've added several new features to our website that make it easier than ever for you to help others. We've highlighted the best of these below. If you have a minute, we'd love it if you'd take these features for a spin and then let us know what you think of them. Your feedback is very important to us!

Especially during this time of year, I want to thank you very much for your support of this very important work. I look forward to hearing from you with your comments and question soon, but in the meantime, here's wishing you and your families a wonderful start to the summer.

	GIVING IS EASIER WITH NEW MODEST NEEDS FEATURES!

Welcome to the NEW Modest Needs!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Our brand-new website is Modest Needs' tenth birthday gift to the Modest Needs community - the applicants who've turned to us for help and the donors who've quietly but generously supported this work for over a decade. We've put a lot of work into the new site, all with a single goal in mind: to make your experience at Modest Needs as user-friendly, fun, and visually engaging as possible.

Here, you'll find virtually every feature persons have been requesting from us for the past ten years - all wrapped up in the most user-friendly way possible. We'll have more for you tomorrow, on Modest Needs' actual tenth anniversary. In the meantime, if you're among the first to preview our new website, enjoy!

From the Founder: Season's Greetings and a Special Request

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

A few short weeks ago, thanks to the generosity of persons from across the United States and the world, Modest Needs made its milestone 10,000th grant. While that big number represents a significant achievement for those who support this work, it is even more important, I think, to remember that behind each one of those 10,000 grants is a real person, a real family, a man, a woman, a child–-someone whose life has been forever altered by your kindness in ways that are almost impossible to express.

Today, before anything else, I simply wanted to tell those of you who participate in the work we do at Modest Needs how grateful I am to you for choosing to be an integral part of this community and for the compassionate hand you've offered to so many of the individuals and families who've turned to Modest Needs in their times of crisis.

On behalf of these persons, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

With that said, today I have a special request for your help. I do not make this request on behalf of Modest Needs. Instead, I write on behalf of the thousands of individuals and families just like those I've described above who will turn to Modest Needs for help in overcoming a short-term financial emergency in the early months of 2012.

As you know, the holiday season is also the ‘giving season,' and so over the next few weeks Modest Needs will be able to reach a very large number of the people who've turned to us for help. In January, February and March, however -- for reasons you probably already understand -- we will generally not be in the financial position to reach as many people as is possible during the final months of the year.

I'd like for things to be different for those individuals and families who come to us in the early months of the new year. That's why this holiday season we're asking for your help in making sure Modest Needs is in the financial position to offer a helping hand to as many people in the early months of 2012 as we were able to reach in the final months of 2011.

It is with this critical goal in mind that I write to ask if you would please consider making a special year-end contribution to Modest Needs. You can help us reach a critical, year-end fundraising goal by making a tax-deductible contribution of your choice securely, and in two minutes or less right here on our website.

If you're not comfortable giving online but still would like to help us reach our critical year-end goal, you can explore these other ways to make a contribution to Modest Needs.

Best of all, you can respond to this special year-end appeal with confidence. For the past four years, from the moment of our first evaluation, Modest Needs has maintained four-star rating from Charity Navigator. We're recognized by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance as a 'trusted charity.' And in addition to our pedigrees, I offer this pledge: any funds we raise as a result of this appeal will be carefully tracked and used only for the purposes described above.

All of this is simply to say that if you choose to support Modest Needs this holiday season, you can be secure in the knowledge that we will be good stewards of your personal kindness.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this special year-end request for help from Modest Needs – the only such request you'll see from this holiday season. - and for helping if you can. I'll look forward to hearing from many of you soon. But in the meantime, and whether or not you can help us to reach this very important year-end fundraising goal, please accept my personal best wishes for a holiday season filled with more health and happiness than your life can possibly contain.

My very best,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation

Poised to Hit a Major Milestone!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Good morning, everyone!

And it *is* a very good morning at Modest Needs! I've just taken a look, and it turns out that we're on the verge of hitting a major milestone. I hope you'll take just a moment to read this very good news; I know we all have work to do, so I promise to keep it short.

According to our website ticker, over the past several years of our coming together to stop the cycle of poverty and homelessness for America's low-income workers, we have now fully funded 9,950 applications for help!

Given the average number of people living in the households we've served, this amounts to those of you who support Modest Needs changing the course of nearly 35,000 individual people who stood to lose everything they'd worked for and almost certainly would have, but for your personal kindness.

But statistics like these don't even begin to tell the story of the impact your support of Modest Needs has had on the individuals and families who've turned to us for help when there was nowhere else to turn. In just the past few months, for example:

You've put a cancer survivor (and kidney donor) back to work as a teacher by helping her to afford her recertification course and exam;
You helped a hard-working family struggling to care for their son, who requires kidney dialysis and lives in a remote area that is prone to power outages to afford the generator that keeps him alive when the power is out; and
You purchased a small window air conditioner for an elderly retired couple whose air conditioner 'gave out' during the summer's heat wave, leaving it over 100 degrees in their home.

This is just scratching the surface of the good work that those of you who support Modest Needs have done just over the past few months, to say nothing of the past ten years. And now, just a few months shy of our tenth anniversary (a milestone in and of itself), we're poised to hit the very exciting major milestone I mentioned above. With your ongoing support, it is my hope that, sometime within the next week or two, Modest Needs will make its 10,000th grant!

Right now, we have 175+ excellent and carefully-vetted applications for help awaiting funding at the Modest Needs website (the complete list is here. Among them are applications from:

A substitute teacher who was briefly unemployed during the summer and is now scrambling to save the car she depends on to travel to and from the schools where she's employed;
A single mom of four who, after months of looking, finally found a job and is now struggling to keep the water on in her home;
An adult child of a recent amputee who is struggling to afford an electric bill in the midst of the costs involved in caring for her mother; and
A navy veteran who used her rent money to fix the car that keeps her working and is now facing eviction.

Which of these or our other equally extraordinary candidates for assistance receives our 10,000th grant is really up to you. But one way or the other, I know you're as ready to see that funded application ticker hit 10,000 – and we have a matching grant to help us make this goal a reality! In fact, we have ten days left to claim the $14,450.64 left on this month's matching grant from our friends at the Herb Alpert Foundation. The idea of leaving any of that money 'on the table' (especially during these difficult times) - well, I think we'd all hate to see that happen.

So today, in the interest of hitting our 10,000 grant milestone and claiming the whole of this month's matching grant, I'm asking you - yes, you! - to help us fund 50 of the 175 or so requests for help awaiting funding at Modest Needs' website. If you're willing to pitch in, you can make the tax-deductible contribution of your choice securely, in two minutes or less, using our online donation form.

If you choose to make a donation in response to this appeal, you can then select which of our applicants you'd most like to see get the funding they've requested. Or, if you prefer, we can place your donation for you wherever it's needed most.

But, no matter how you like to give, here's what matters most: with your help, by this time next week, I'll not only be able to report that we claimed the whole of this month's match; I'll be able to tell you who got the 10,000th grant, and report that we claimed the whole of this month's match from the Herb Alpert Foundation – which means more funded applications next month (and a better chance of the match's renewal next year!)

I'll look forward to hearing from many of you soon, but in the meantime, thank you in advance for your kindness, your generosity, and your support of these very important short-term goals. Have a wonderful day, take care, and be well!

Warmest Personal Regards,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation
http://www.modestneeds.org
'Small Change: A World of Difference'
(212) 463-7042

Hurricane Update, and a Special Request

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Good morning, everyone!

On Friday, I sent out a brief newsletter to let you know that Modest Needs' operations may be impacted by Hurricane Irene's arrival in the Northeast. I'm happy to report that in New York City, the impact of the hurricane (which was really more like a tropical storm by the time it arrived in Manhattan) was minimal. In our office, we suffered only minor basement flooding, and we never lost either power or Internet access. We expect to be fully up and running again once mass transit has been restored and our employees can get to work, and my first order of business is to thank all of you who sent well-wishes, kind words, and even prayers our way.

Needless to say, I'm very happy that Hurricane Irene's impact on Manhattan was minimal, and I'm grateful to all of you who sent thoughts and prayers our way. Unfortunately, not all of our friends and neighbors up and down the East Coast were so lucky. I'm sure that by now, you've all seen the photos of Irene's impact in North and South Carolina, the low-lying / coastal areas of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and a host of other states. Those photos, I think, are worth a thousand words. In some cases, just as you'd have expected, the effects of the storm were truly horrific.

And that brings me to our 'special request' - a rare fundraising appeal from Modest Needs. Let me explain, as briefly as I can, what we'd like to do, and how you can help if you'd like:

Time and again at Modest Needs, immediately after natural disasters of this nature, Modest Needs sees a dramatic increase in requests for assistance from persons living in areas affected by the storm. The requests that we receive generally fall into one of two categories. First, there are those persons who, on a shoestring budget, had no choice but to go out and buy supplies that they would not normally have needed to purchase - everything from extra food to generators - and, as a result, will have difficulty paying a regular bill next month. Secondly, we have applications from people whose homes and cars were damaged by the storm and who now much pay insurance deductibles in order to complete necessary repairs.

We expect to begin seeing these types of requests for assistance within the week, as soon as power and the Internet are restored to affected areas. And we want to be ready to respond quickly to those requests when they come, as for many applicants, time will be of the essence.

In response to your many requests following Friday's newsletter, today, Modest Needs is launching a 'modest' relief fund to assist people affected by this storm with the two specific types of expenses described above. Our goal is simply to get people affected by this storm back on track so that they can continue taking care of themselves, despite the short-term financial impact of the storm on their lives, and we'd like to raise a 'modest' $25,000.00 so that we can quickly help those persons who apply for assistance to overcome the undue burden posed by these types of expenses.

If you'd like to help people affected by Hurricane Irene with the two types of expenses I've described above, I'm writing today to ask if you'd please consider making a special contribution to Modest Needs specifically for that purpose. To make a secure, tax-deductible contribution to aid those affected by the storm, please just follow this link and make the contribution of your choice. In the box labeled "Please use my contribution,' select either 'Operations' or 'Hurricane Relief' (we'll be adding the 'Hurricane Relief' tag shortly.) We'll add your contribution to the 'hurricane relief fund,' and we'll be working to fund applications tied the hurricane as quickly as possible as they come in, and once they've been appropriately vetted to avoid 'waste.'

At Modest Needs, we have very few 'special appeals.' This is because we know that if you contribute to an organization, the last thing you want is to be bombarded with requests to give. I wouldn't ask now if I didn't know that the need for this specific type of assistance was going to be substantial, but certainly, we'd all hate to have to say 'no' to persons affected by the storm who really need this assistance, simply for lack of funding. I'm certain most of you out there feel exactly the same way, and I'd like to thank you in advance for your support of this special initiative.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this brief update. I'll look forward to hearing from some of you soon - particularly if you have questions about our hurricane relief efforts - but in the meantime, take care, be well, and please know how much I personally appreciate your willingness to reach out to those who were affected by this very significant storm.

Modest Needs Braces for Hurricane Irene

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Good morning, everyone.

It's been a very long time since I've sent out a personalized news update. That's because, now that we have such solid Facebook, Twitter, and Blog presences, generally, people who want to follow all the latest goings-on at Modest Needs are able to receive up-to-the-minute news, on demand, almost 24 hours a day (don't you love that?) But today, I wanted to send out a quick note as we at Modest Needs prepare to face our first bona-fide natural disaster.

As you probably already know, Hurricane Irene is slated to hit the coast of North Carolina on Saturday. From there, the storm's projected path takes it straight up the "Northeast Corridor." At present, the eye of the storm is forecast to pass directly over New York City / Western Long Island as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane. NYC's office of emergency services is telling us to expect the worst sometime between 8:00am and 2:00pm on Sunday, and the impact of the storm on New York City itself - not to mention our neighbors up and down the Eastern Seaboard - is projected to be 'extreme.'

As many of you know, I've been in New York almost ten years now. I've seen a lot of warnings and various types of preparations for disasters, real and anticipated. I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this. As I write this, hospitals and elder-care facilities in certain parts of the city are being evacuated. If nothing about the storm's path changes, then sometime tomorrow afternoon, NYC is expected to shut down mass transit - the entire subway system - which will be offline until after the storm passes (this is absolutely unprecedented). And if the subway system itself floods, it is very likely the all of NYC will lose most of its utility services, as here, power lines and such all run underground.

What does all of this mean, for those of you who've applied for help from and support Modest Needs? Simply this: if the storm does not change course or weaken substantially, it is very likely that Modest Needs' office will be closed until the storm has passed and both power and Internet access have been restored.

The good news, of course, is that Modest Needs' website should remain up and running; our servers are located well outside of NYC and away from the worst of the storm, so if you need to apply for help or would like to make a contribution to this very important work, which I suspect we'll need very much after the storm, you should be able to do so (fingers crossed).

But if the storm hits NYC as expected, and with the intensity expected, it's very likely that we will not be able to process applications, answer calls, or respond to email until power and Internet access are restored (Modest Needs' office is so 'connected' that even our phone runs through the Internet.)

Please rest assured that, if the worst does come to pass and the storm hits NYC and its neighbors to the north and south as projected, all of us at Modest Needs will be back in the office and back to work at the very first possible moment. But in the meantime, I wanted first, to alert everyone to the possibility that Modest Needs' office will almost certainly be affected by this storm, and secondly, to tell all of you in the path of this massive storm that we'll be thinking of you as the storm moves through the Northeast Corridor this weekend.

If you live in a hurricane evacuation zone (as I do, unfortunately - I have to prep my 'go bag' the moment this is published), please take every precaution to protect yourself and your loved ones, and please know that all of us at Modest Needs are thinking of you.

Here's hoping this storm changes course and we're all back to work on Monday. But in the meantime, to everyone in the Modest Needs family, and especially to those of you in the path of this massive storm, take care and be well.

Warmest Personal Regards,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
President / Executive Director
Modest Needs Foundation
http://www.modestneeds.org
'Small Change: A World of Difference'
(212) 463-7042 x114

Double or Triple Your Power to Change a Life at Modest Needs!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Happy Friday the 13th, and welcome to the May 2011 edition of the Modest Needs Newsletter.

I know, I know. Friday the 13th isn't usually a lucky day. But at Modest Needs, this Friday the 13th is everybody's lucky day! After a three months of hard work and a lot of negotiation, I'm thrilled to be able to announce that for the remainder of 2011, Modest Needs is going to be able to offer - not one - but TWO fantastic matching grant opportunities!

First, from our friends at the Herb Alpert Foundation, we have a matching grant designed for those of you who love what we're doing at Modest Needs but haven't yet made at least a one-time contribution to Modest Needs in 2011. If you're in this group - and I know there are many of you out there! - the Herb Alpert Foundation wants to encourage you to tap your inner philanthropist. So they've pledged to match the FIRST contribution that any person makes to Modest Needs in 2011 - up to a maximum of $30,000 per month - for the rest of the year!

Simply put, thanks to this grant, the first time you make a one-time contribution or pledge to Modest Needs in 2011, you'll get double points for that contribution. Make a $25.00 contribution, get 50 points to allocate among the applications that matter most to you. Make a $100.00 contribution, get 200 points, and so on, with no limit on the amount they'll match up to a maximum of $30,000.00 per month.

Better yet, this match applies to everyone - even people who already make recurring contributions to Modest Needs. Let's say you're currently giving $25.00 to Modest Needs per month. If, in addition to your pledge, you make a one-time contribution to Modest Needs of any size, the Herb Alpert Foundation will match that contribution as well - so you'll get double points for the first one-time contribution you make in addition to your pledge!

This is obviously great news, but wait. This great news gets even better!

In addition to the matching grant we've received from the Herb Alpert Foundation, we've received a very generous grant from a (for now) anonymous family foundation that wants to encourage you to reach out to others through Modest Needs on a regular basis.

These folks have pledged to match any new monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly pledge you're willing to make to Modest Needs, not just once, or twice, but EVERY month for the first SIX months your pledge is active! So, for example, if you make a new $30.00 pledge today (that's $1.00 a day), you'll get 60 points now and 60 points a month to spend on the requests for help that matter most to you from now through December 2011. Amazing!

Best of all, these grants can be combined to TRIPLE the power of your giving! Let's say you haven't given to Modest Needs in 2011. If, instead of making a one-time contribution, you make a new monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly pledge, that first pledge payment will be matched by BOTH the Herb Alpert Foundation and our anonymous friends. You'll instantly get triple the points and triple the power to change a life forever!

I know we all love matching grants, but friends, these grants couldn't come at a better time. Right now, we not only have one of the largest application pools we've ever seen at Modest Needs; we have one of the best. Here's just a taste of what we can achieve right now at Modest Needs, for almost no money - especially if we all pull together:

For 100 points, we can provide a bed for a single mom who has just recovered from temporary homelessness, who is caring for an autistic child, and who - right now - is sleeping on the floor of their apartment. You can get this person off the floor for a one-time contribution of $50.00, or by making a monthly pledge of $35.00!
For 200 points, we can help a woman who has fled an abusive relationship and is starting over to afford the first month's rent on her 'modest' new apartment. You can fund that application in full right now for a one time-contribution of $100.00 or a monthly pledge of $70.00 - and still have points left over to help someone else.
And for 300 points, we can replace the batteries in a wheelchair that keeps one of our applicants productively mobile - something Medicare actually refused to do (can you believe that?) With a one-time contribution of $150.00 or a $100.00 monthly pledge, you'll literally put this person back on the road to self-sufficiency by the end of the day today!

This is just the tip of the iceberg - we have dozens and dozens of terrific requests for help just like these that we're ready to fund immediately. Your support, doubled or tripled by the power of these matching grants, will help us to do just that, and together, we can make this Friday the 13th the happiest day many of our applicants have seen for a very long time indeed.

Opportunities like these don't happen ever day, so what are we waiting for? If you'd like to double or triple your power to change a life, both today and - in the case of a new pledge - for the rest of the year, you can make the contribution or pledge of your choice securely, and in a minute or less using our online contribution form.

I hope you're as thrilled by this news as I am and that you'll do what you can to make sure we don't leave any 'free money' on the table this month or for the rest of the year (just FYI, that's how we'll get these matches renewed for 2012!) And of course, if you have questions about these matching grants or how you can best take advantage of them, I'm happy to help. You can reach me directly either by responding to this newsletter or by sending mail to , you can write to me personally sending mail to kptaylormodestneeds.org.

I'll be back with even more good news shortly - including an update on our brand-new website - but in the meantime, thank you, not just for taking the time to read this very special edition of the Modest Needs News, but for your kindness, your generosity, and your ongoing support of Modest Needs. Until next time, take care, and be well!

Glimpsing the Future of Modest Needs

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

It's true that March 21st - the first day of spring - is Modest Needs' actual 'birthday' - the anniversary of Modest Needs' launch as a personal project.

But April 1st is also a special day for Modest Needs. It's the anniversary of the day that Modest Needs was 'discovered,' thanks to small post to the Metafilter website. And today, in celebration of Modest Needs' 'public' birthday, I have something very special to share with the Modest Needs community: a glimpse into the future of Modest Needs!

For some time now, all of us at Modest Needs have understood that, despite our website's technical excellence, Modest Needs' website is less than attractive and can be difficult to use. Most of Modest Needs' visitors - from loyal fans to first timers - seem to understand this as well. At least once a week for the last two years, I've gotten at least one letter that can be summarized as follows:

"I love what you're doing, but your website has too much text to read and is hard for me to use. Why can't you make your website look / work more like Kiva's, or Donorchoose.org's'?"

Well, to date, there has been a simple, one-word answer to that question: money.

Because organizations like Kiva and Donorschoose.org do more 'conventional' types of non-profit work than Modest Needs does (those orgs address poverty in developing nations and education, respectively), they have long had access to funding sources that Modest Needs simply does not.

Additionally, because these two organization have, for example, been featured on Oprah (which is legendary for accelerating the growth of non-profit organizations), their donor bases have naturally grown more rapidly than Modest Needs' donor base has.

As a result, organizations like Kiva and Donorschoose.org have been able to invest enormous amounts of money into their websites. When it comes to the cost of Donorschoose.org's website over the ten years they've been operating, for example, I've heard figures ranging from a low of $5 million to a high of between $7.5 and $8 million - and that's just for the website!

Holy Smokes! When an organizations get to the point that they can spend this kind of money on their websites and still do good work - well, it's no wonder that organizations with pockets so deep have such amazing websites! And for between $5 and $8 million, a website darn well better be amazing, right?

By contrast, until 2008, the cost of Modest Needs' website was exactly zero - and not because we didn't want to give this work the public face it deserves or think having an attractive website was important. It's just that, every time we received a grant and had the option to spend that money on projects (like a website redesign) or funding applications, we opted instead to fund more applications for assistance than would otherwise have been possible.

But Modest Needs' time has finally come. In 2009, we finally acknowledged that if Modest Needs was to remain a force for good in a Web 2.0 world, we were just going to have to 'bite the bullet' and find the grant funding necessary to get Modest Needs' website up to speed.

That's been easier said than done, let me tell you - but finally, we've done it! Thanks to both a very generous grant from a private foundation and a web designer whose reputation is second to none and who has given us a tremendous discount on the work involved, Modest Needs is now well into the long-overdue process of radically redesigning Modest Needs' website! And the results so far?

Well, in this case, I think a picture is worth a thousand words.

Today, on the ninth anniversary of Modest Needs' public unveiling, and without further ado, I'm proud to present to you this 'sneak preview' of a pretty-close-to final draft of what Modest Needs homepage will look like when we relaunch our website on 1 November 2011:

So what do you think of our work so far? Do you find the website design and color scheme attractive? Is this the kind of homepage that you think would make you want to spend more than a couple of minutes at Modest Needs?

I'd really love to hear your comments because this website redesign is the most important project we've undertaken at Modest Needs in - well, the history of Modest Needs. If we get this one right, then for years to come, we should be more help to more people more quickly than has ever been possible for us before.

If you'd like to take a minute to share your comments or suggestions about the overall appearance and design of this draft of our new homepage, you can write to me personally sending mail to kptaylormodestneeds.org. I'll do my best to respond to every comment that you're kind enough to take the time to send me. And your feedback here really matters. It's a chance to help shape the future of the work we're doing together at Modest Needs.

Believe it or not, we're not through with our ninth birthday celebration yet! We still have two more big gifts to give, and I'll be back on 18 April to tell you about those. When you hear this last bit of celebratory news, I think you'll agree that it was well worth the short wait!

In the meantime, though, I'd invite you to take a look at some of the applications we've recently received from hard-working people in need of a short-term hand up, many of which can be funded in full, right now, for $100.00 or less.

If you'd like to offer one or more of these good folks the hand up they need to remain self-sufficient, you can do so in a minute or less by making the contribution of your choice and then telling us who you'd most like to see get the help they've requested.

This month especially, nothing would make me happier during this, our anniversary month, than to be able to fund a few more of the persons who've turned to us because they've nowhere else to go.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this special edition of the Modest Needs Newsletter and, of course, for your ongoing support of Modest Needs.

Take care, and be well!

My very best,

Dr. Keith P. Taylor
Founder and President
Modest Needs Foundation

Celebrating Nine Years of Paying it Forward!

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Today's a very special day for all of us at Modest Needs. It's not just the first day of spring. It's also Modest Needs' birthday! And given how time flies, it's hard for me to believe that it was nine years ago today that I launched Modest Needs as a personal project - a website I meant to be a tribute to the people who'd helped me through hard times in the past, and the best possible way I could think of to 'pay it forward.'

Many people who've discovered Modest Needs over the past few years don't know the story behind it. They don't realize that when I launched Modest Needs nine years ago, I did so without a 'business plan,' any press, or any sources of funding whatsoever beyond the $350.00 a month that I personally pledged to people in need of a short-term hand up through Modest Needs, and which comprised 100% of Modest Needs' whopping $4,200.00 initial annual budget!

For these reasons - and not surprisingly - in Modest Needs' earliest days, the handful of people I told about what I hoped to achieve through Modest Needs thought I had lost my mind. "You know," they said, "you're wasting your money." "People are just going to take advantage of you." "And really, how much good can you do for others with $350.00 a month anyway? You'd be better off saving that money and using it to help yourself."

But what these well-intentioned nay-sayers didn't understand was that, for me, Modest Needs wasn't just about finding a way to 'pay forward' the help that other people had offered to me at the lowest points of my life. For me, launching Modest Needs was also about taking an important step towards living what I'd call an 'authentic life.'

Did you ever notice that, these days especially, people love to talk about everything they wish were 'different' about the world we live in, but that most of those people never actually *do* anything to bring about the changes they say they'd like to see? Well, prior to Modest Needs, I was one of those people. I loved to complain about how unfair I thought it was that people who worked hard and were struggling with short-term emergencies didn't have a social safety net designed just for them. And I loved to talk about all the things I'd do to change the world for people in need - when I had more time, or when I was more financially secure - the list goes on and on.

Finally, having spent my adult life complaining about the state of the world but doing almost nothing to change it, I had what some people would call a 'moment of clarity.' I realized that if I wasn't willing at least to *try* to do my part to address the injustices I saw in the world, I had no right to gripe when everyone else in the world did exactly what I was doing to address those issues: nothing. So, nine years ago today, I launched Modest Needs, not only because I wanted to help people through short-term emergencies I understood from experience, but because, for me, the time had finally come to stop running my mouth and start doing whatever little I could, to quote Ghandi, "to BE the change I wanted to see in the world."

What I could never have expected was that from the very beginning of Modest Needs, so many of you would join me in doing whatever YOU could to be the change YOU wanted to see in the world. And I hope you're as proud of what we've achieved over the past nine years as I am.

Today, thanks to you, the ongoing success of Modest Needs - the 'little charity that could' - stands as a testament to the power that we all have to achieve what people once said was impossible when we choose to set aside our differences, join forces, and take whatever actions we can to remind our neighbors facing short-term crises that the world is full of people who care for them and are willing to do whatever is necessary to help them overcome a difficult time in their lives, just because we know that's the right thing to do.

I'm confident that Modest Needs' ninth year is going to be our most exciting year yet! As I write this, we in the midst of a massive redesign of Modest Needs website based largely on the tremendous feedback about our website that many of you sent to us earlier this year. Our new design isn't just more attractive; whether you're a donor or an applicant, it's going to make your time at Modest Needs both easier and a lot more fun, and when our new site goes 'live' later this year - well, I think it's going to knock your socks off!

And that's not all. Sometime this year, Modest Needs is going to hit yet another major milestone when we make our 10,000th grant (as of today, we're only 398 funded applications from reaching this milestone!) And, on Friday, 1 April 2011, I'm going to have the thrill of breaking some news that, if all goes well, will make it possible for the Modest Needs community to help more people in 2011 than we've ever been able to reach in a single year.

This is just a taste of what we have in store for you at Modest Needs in 2011, and of course, I'll have much more exciting news to share with you in the weeks and months to come. But more than anything else, today, as we celebrate Modest Needs' ninth birthday, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who support Modest Needs for offering the world nine years of proof positive that, so long as we are willing to act together on the kindness and compassion that are the very best parts of who we are as people, we ALL have the power to pay it forward - one handful of 'small change,' one random act of kindness at a time.

And if you're not yet regularly supporting Modest Needs, I'd like to invite you to join us in our mission. You'll be amazed when you see just how much you can achieve with a willing heart and a few extra dollars. If you'd like to help us reach that 10,000 grant milestone a little more quickly, you can do so by making a donation of any size and then telling us which applications you'd most like to see us fund. I promise you this: the first time you get a 'thank you' note from a person whose life you've changed, you'll be hooked, and you'll never look back.

After all, what feels better than knowing you've made a life-long difference to someone who both needs and deserves the help you've been kind enough to offer?

Again, thanks so much to all of you for the ongoing support that has made Modest Needs the very best charity of its kind in the world. I'll be back on 1 April 2011 with that promised 'big news' and look forward to hearing from some of you before then, but in the meantime, here's wishing all of you more health and happiness than your lives can possibly contain. Take care, and be well!

Final Thoughts on a Well-Fought Battle

2/3/2026 8:37:15 AM

Good day, everyone! I hope you're enjoying this last official day of summer and preparing for a wonderful fall season.

Over the past few weeks, many of you have written to ask when / whether we planned to publish a 'final update' about the outcome of our participation in Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' grant challenge. Honestly, I'd been waiting to send this update for two reasons.

First of all, as many of you noted, Pepsi's website was notoriously difficult to use, and I'm relatively certain that a number of you had problems actually registering your votes. We were hoping that Pepsi might find some way to take that into consideration when calculating the final vote tallies.

Secondly, as many of you suspected, Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' competition was plagued by a very large number of - what's the nicest way to say this? - 'voting irregularities' that, if addressed by Pepsi, would've drastically altered the outcome of the competition in both the $50K and $250K grant categories.

Over the final two weeks of grant competition, we and multiple other organizations meticulously documented and reported these 'voting irregularities' to Pepsi. We did everything we could to urge Pepsi to take decisive action against the organizations who were working to alter the outcome of the grant competition by engaging in proxy voting, 'unsportsmanlike conduct,' and other types of behavior specifically prohibited by Pepsi's Terms of Use.

Unfortunately, despite multiple promises from the 'powers that be' at Pepsi that they were 'actively investigating' these issues, Pepsi ultimately opted to take no significant action. That was Pepsi's 'last word' on the issue, and in a grant competition of this type, the 'last word' of the corporate sponsor is law.

Thanks to these voting irregularities, I really don't know who actually won Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' grant competition. In fact, nobody outside of Pepsi actually knows who really won their 'Refresh the Gulf' grants, as no one outside of Pepsi has access to the actual vote tallies, and Pepsi isn't sharing this information with anyone.

I can only tell you that, tomorrow, when Pepsi officially announces the recipients of their $250,000.00 'Refresh the Gulf' grants, one of the recipients will be a terrific organization that I genuinely respect and admire.

The other grant will go to an organization who received a $250,000.00 'Refresh Everything' grant from Pepsi earlier this year, who achieved their standing in the 'Refresh the Gulf' campaign directly as a result of a proxy voting scheme in which they knowingly and actively participated, and that - if the persons in charge of that organization are to be believed - were actually invited by Pepsi to apply for a second quarter-million dollar grant during Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' campaign.

After working your hearts out for a month, I know many of you were disappointed to learn that Modest Needs would not be receiving a $250,000.00 'Refresh the Gulf' grant. I was too - for about five minutes. And then, I started to consider all of the good that came out of our participation in this competition.

First and foremost, I'm proud of us - all of us - for the way we ran our grant campaign. We did everything strictly 'by the book.' We played by the rules, even when playing by the rules was hard. We didn't enter into partnerships that would've given us tens of thousands of additional votes by proxy - a practice specifically prohibited by Pepsi. And we didn't engage in the kinds of 'smear tactics' in which some other organizations unfortunately engaged throughout the grant competition.

To me, the reputation that Modest Needs has earned over the years is worth a heck of a lot more than a quarter million dollars. So even though we didn't win a $250,000.00 grant from Pepsi, we came away from this competition with our reputation for ethical behavior in tact. As far as I'm concerned, that's something we can be proud of. It's an unqualified 'win' for Modest Needs, and for those of you who support this work.

Secondly, our experience with Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' campaign caused me - a lot of us, I think - to 're-think' the wisdom of participating in competitions of this type. Initially, like many of you, I figured there wasn't any harm in submitting a grant proposal to Pepsi. The worst thing that could happen would be that we simply wouldn't get the grant, right?

Wrong.

Now that we've actually participated in a grant competition of this type, we've learned that, in the immortal words of Han Solo, 'No reward is worth this!' I'm all for additional funding, but this competition took much more time to manage than we ever imagined. What's more, it required us to spend an entire month competing against our friends in the non-profit community and marketing Pepsi's products for them.

I think we can all agree that there are better, more effective ways to fundraise. So while I'm not sorry we entered this competition, I can promise you that having done this once, we'll never do it again. To avoid competitions of this type - that's an important lesson we learned from participating in this competition, and you just can't underestimate the value of wisdom that comes from experience.

But best of all, participating in Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' grant competition really brought the Modest Needs community together in ways I've haven't seen in a very long time. I can't tell you how much it meant to all of us at Modest Needs to see so many of you become 'activists' for Modest Needs, to hear from you as you were voting, and - best of all - to read the very kind comments all of you left about our work on Pepsi's website. Those comments, in fact, meant more to all of us than I could probably express.

And as for the daily reminders we sent out during our month-long grant campaign (thank you for tolerating those, by the way)? Well, it turns out that they inspired some people to become new supporters of this work, brought former supporters of this work back to us, and encouraged some of you who already support Modest Needs regularly to do just a little more for those persons in need of our help during the month of August.

So, if nothing else, this grant competition had the result of pulling us together in pursuit of a common goal. And you know what? As a result, in the month of August - normally our slowest month of the year - we funded more requests for help than we were able to fund in June and July of 2010 combined. And that, my friends, is truly a 'win' for all of us.

We may not have received a $250,000.00 grant from Pepsi, but we did have the opportunity to show the world our true colors in the way we handled the grant competition. We learned some important lessons about the best uses of our limited time. And best of all, we came together for common good and helped a lot of people in the process.

That kind of team work, our solidarity, is worth a lot more than $250,000.00. It's the reason Modest Needs is so much more than 'just another charity.'

Again, thank you so very much for your support of our grant proposal in Pepsi's 'Refresh the Gulf' promotion, and, of course, for your support of Modest Needs. I look forward to hearing from many of you soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the first days of fall, and above all, be well.