Teaching your kids about money early on is always a smart move, but educating them about charitable giving is one of the most important ways to help them develop as compassionate, thoughtful members of their communities.

A recent study found that nearly 50% of those who donated more than $5,000 each year had experienced strong giving traditions within their family as children, so what you teach early on has a real impact later.

If you’re looking to encourage your family with some fun charitable giving this holiday season, take a look at our suggestions for how to get started.

Teach Empathy

The foundation of generosity is the ability to empathize with those around you, especially people who may be living in very different circumstances to your own. Start teaching kids this when they’re young, even before they go to school.

Some of the best ways to teach empathy to small children are making them aware of their own feelings and those of others. Make suggestions for helping other people, such as “let’s get your friend a bandaid for their cut” or “I think they’re sad because they lost their toy, let’s get them another one to help them feel better.”

“I feel…” statements are also a good way to teach self-awareness, along with reading books about feelings and openly discussing these as a family.

Lead By Example

Children are often visual learners, so leading by action is one of the best ways to teach a charitable mindset. When you take time to give back and do this frequently, your children will notice and copy your actions. Once you make giving and volunteering a regular part of your life, they’ll naturally start to pick up the habit too.

Include your children in volunteer activities where possible, even something as simple as taking unwanted items to a donation center. Make charitable giving an ongoing conversation in your household.

Talk about times that you’ve helped give back to others, and educate your children on the idea of being fortunate and what that means. You can also explain to them the different ways people can be helped and how both time and money can be valuable resources for those in need.

Adopt a Child for the Holidays

During the holidays, many large organizations (and some local charities too) organize “Adopt a Child” and gift giving events. The Salvation Army Angel Tree is a good example of this, where you can purchase clothing or toys for children in need.

You could also consider sponsoring a child in your community or abroad during the holidays or throughout the year. Organizations like ChildFund help children in 23 countries receive necessities like food, healthcare and education.

Explore Donating

Another option for teaching children a charitable mindset is donations. Collect their old toys once they’ve outgrown them or ask them to choose a toy or two that they no longer want and give them to a local children’s hospital. This is a great way to build empathy in children by helping them connect with other children around their age.

Clothing donations are also good donation opportunities. The SAW Style Clothing Event for Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro students regularly helps hundreds of families in the area with essential clothing items all year.

Similarly, a “Stuff the Bus” school supply drive is an excellent way to support local children with their education. The Salvation Army in Staunton and West Augusta County, along with Waynesboro, run these events every year during back-to-school season.

Having a donation box somewhere in your home, particularly somewhere visible like by the front door, can help reinforce a charitable mindset. Encourage your children to routinely go through their belongings and find items they can part with and add to the donation box. Once the box is full, take your items to a donation center together to help children see the impact of their giving.

Seek Out Volunteer Opportunities

For a more hands-on experience, look for volunteering opportunities that your children can participate in throughout your community. Matching volunteering roles with your child’s interests will help them stay engaged for longer, while still educating them on the importance of giving back.

Soup kitchens, shelters, local places of worship, libraries and schools all frequently need volunteer help for a range of activities and initiatives. For animal-loving children and teens, the Shenandoah Valley Animal Service Center takes volunteers for dog walking, grooming and cleaning all year round.

Positive reinforcement, especially for activities that take time out of their free schedule, is essential for encouraging this charitable behavior. If you see your child doing something helpful for someone else, be sure to praise them and let them know that was a kind action to take.

Divvy Up Allowances

If you give your child a weekly or monthly allowance, this is the perfect opportunity to teach a lifelong lesson about the value of money, hard work, and giving.

Consider a three-bucket approach for your children’s money—some for spending, some for saving, and some for giving. For younger children, you can suggest causes that they may want to give to, while older children should be free to make their own choice.

Labeled jars can be a useful visual, especially for younger children, to reinforce the goal of splitting their money this way. The Greenlight debit card for kids and teens is also a good way to digitize this approach to money. Within the app, allowances can easily be divided into save, give, invest and spend categories.

Be Neighborly

Charitable giving can, and should, start close to home. Encourage your kids to help your neighbors, particularly elderly ones, with outdoor chores like raking leaves, shoveling snow, or bringing in their heavy grocery bags.

Baking or cooking for your neighbors, especially around the holidays, is a fun opportunity to share food together and brighten someone’s day. Make a pie for Thanksgiving or take a box of holiday cookies over to your neighbor to let them know that you and your children are there for them.

For younger children, “I spy” games while you walk around your neighborhood can be a fun way to encourage them to find places that could use some attention. Picking up litter or cleaning up a spill may not sound fun to a little kid, but making it into a game can quickly incentivize them.

Give Back All Year Round

It’s always important to teach your children about giving back to the community they’re a part of. But your charitable giving doesn’t need to be limited to the Shenandoah Valley.

A giving mindset should be something you’re always thinking and talking about with your family, even when you’re on vacation or away from home. Encourage them to empathize with anyone they meet, wherever that may be, and talk about ways you can support others in need all year round.

Easily move money between your F&M Bank accounts and your accounts at other banks.

Account to Account Transfers, or A2A Transfers, is a transfer of funds between your account with one financial institution and your account at another financial institution.

• Automate your savings with recurring transfers
• Securely transfer funds between business and personal accounts
• Send funds to your college student

How does it work?

F&M Bank’s online and mobile platform allows you to enroll external accounts with ease.  Newly enrolled accounts will need to be verified before they can be used to transfer funds.

1. Select Transfers from the main menu, or dashboard on F&M Mobile.
   

   

2. Select +External account from the Transfers screen.
3. Choose a situation and follow the corresponding steps.
   • Your institution uses multifactor security questions (MFA) to authenticate users. When prompted for the security question, answer it and select Submit. OR
   • Your institution uses two-factor authentication.  When prompted for your password, enter it and select Submit.
4. Complete the Account name, Routing no., Account no., and Account type fields on the Add external account screen.
5. Select Submit.
   • If the account is eligible to send inbound transfers to accounts in Banno Online, a message appears saying that two small deposits have been sent to the account and will arrive in 3-5 days.
     

     

   • Select OK.
   • Verify your deposit amounts after they appear in your external account(s) to activate external transfers.
     

     

Account to Account Transfer FAQs

• How much does it cost?
  • Inbound transfers (money coming into your F&M Bank account) are free.
  • Outbound transfers (money leaving your F&M Bank account) will incur a $1.00 charge per transfer.
• How much money can I transfer?
  • Customers can transfer up to $6,000 into their F&M Bank account(s) per day.
  • Outbound transfers are limited to $2,000 per day.
• When can I make transfers?
  • The external transfer cutoff time is 3:00 PM.  Any transfers submitted after 3:00 PM will be processed on the next business day.
• How much will the verification amounts be?
  • These micro-deposits will range from $0.01 to $0.99.
    • Clients will have 3 attempts to verify these amounts before needing to begin the process.
    • Micro-deposits not verified within 31 days will no longer be eligible for verification and the customer will need to restart the process.
• How is this different from Zelle?
  • Zelle is a great platform for sending quick payments to another individual.  Account to Account Transfer allows you to send funds between account you own at different financial institutions.

At F&M Bank, we want you to know we are here for you, as we have been for nearly 115 years. Our focus is on meeting the needs of customers in the Shenandoah Valley through disciplined lending, investing, and management as evidenced by our 5-star Bauer rating.

How is F&M Bank different than the two banks that failed?

While others concentrate on Silicon Valley, our attention is on the Shenandoah Valley. Right where it has been for 115 years. F&M Bank, along with most U.S. banks, operates completely differently than California-based Silicon Valley Bank and New York-based Signature Bank, the two recent bank failures. Silicon Valley Bank focused on high-tech start-ups and Signature Bank operated a payment platform for processing cryptocurrency. By comparison, F&M’s efforts are focused on helping small businesses, local companies, not-for-profits, farmers, neighbors, and friends in the Shenandoah Valley, and we have a long history to prove it.

What is being done to protect depositors at those banks from losing their money?

In responding to what happened to these two banks, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the FDIC acted swiftly and confidently to communicate that no depositor at the two banks would lose funds due to the failures. Deposit amounts over and above those insured by the FDIC are covered by the Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF). DIF is funded through quarterly fees charged to member banks, not by taxpayers. Within hours, the Federal Reserve also announced the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP), which was created to support American businesses and households by making additional funding available to eligible depository institutions to help assure they can meet the needs of all their depositors.

Where can I get information about FDIC insurance?

The FDIC has a helpful and informative website. Specifically this information is available at:
https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/documents/deposit-insurance-at-a-glance-english.pdf

Is there a service that can help deposit my funds at other banks to make sure all of my deposited funds are covered, if they are in excess of the FDIC insurance limit?

First, it is important to know that while the general FDIC insurance limit is $250,000, your coverage may be higher depending on how ownership of your accounts is set up. Your F&M banker can help you calculate and understand your coverage, and you can access the FDIC’s “EDIE” (Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator) calculator at https://edie.fdic.gov/calculator.html

And yes, F&M Bank offers the service that places your funds on account with us at other banks to increase your insurance coverage. You can learn about the Insured Cash Sweep (ICS) service and CDARS (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service) at: https://www.fmbankva.com/multi-million-dollar-fdic-protection/

Who should I contact if I have other questions?

You can call our corporate office at (540) 896-8941, reach out to us online, or connect with an associate from a branch location. We are here to answer your questions.

This is part two in a series about cash flow management for small business owners in Virginia. Check out part one, “Cash Flow, Debt, & Refinancing for Virginia Small Business Owners.”

Cash flow problems can strike any business, regardless of size or industry. The Covid-19 pandemic is an example of how an unexpected event can suddenly disrupt the economy and require a pivot to survive. In this article, we’ll offer tips for operating your business more efficiently so you can avoid cash flow problems that could negatively impact your business’s bottom line.

Understanding Your Business’s Cash Flow Needs

Taking your cash flow seriously will help you avoid and avert a cash flow crisis before it gets out of control.

• Start by looking at KPIs such as sales and profit margins to help you avoid a cash shortage.
• Update your financial statements regularly so you know how money is moving through your business.
• Understand your cash flow cycles, such as busy seasons and slower ones.
• Stay on top of inventory, which is essentially cash out until it gets sold.
• Streamline your account receivables and payables to ensure optimal inflow and outflow.
• Build relationships with your vendors, suppliers, and clients so they will be more willing to renegotiate terms or pay quicker to help your business stay afloat.

You may not be able to prevent every cash flow crisis, but watching your statements closely will warn you of any potential issues before they get out of hand. It’s better to get a handle on the situation before it gets out of control.

Open a business line of credit

To help with any business cash flow problems, a commercial line of credit can serve as a safety net when you need it. And when you don’t need it, you don’t have to use it.

Commercial lines of credit can be used for just about any cash expense such as payroll, inventory, and other overhead expenses. Whether you have predictable seasonal cash flow needs or something unexpected happens, you can transfer funds from your credit line into your business checking account.

Look for ways to cut back

Review your expenses and look for places to cut back, though not in areas that could end up being harmful to your business. You won’t want to alarm employees with excessive cutbacks either. Some expenses, such as employee costs or inventory, are crucial to have, but others can be eliminated to help prevent cash flow problems.

Consider looking into your expense categories such as energy consumption, travel, entertainment, event venues, etc. to find areas where you can reduce spending.

Also, there may be assets that you no longer need or are not making the best use of, such as company cars, corporate travel, or rented office space.

Improve Inventory Management

Audit your inventory. Make a list of the items you purchase that don’t sell as quickly as other products. They take up cash and could improve your cash flow if you cut some of those slow-moving products. Even if you have to put items on sale to get them out the door, it’s worth it to free up cash for other needs.

Trust the future of your business to our expert lending team!

Reviewing and updating your business plan can help you get ahead of any cash flow challenges your business may face before they get too big. F&M Bank’s Business Team is here to help! Wherever you are in the Shenandoah Valley, from Harrisonburg to Staunton, you can contact a member of our team or visit one of your local branches in Augusta, Page, Rockingham, or Shenandoah county to learn more about cash flow management or to apply for a new business loan today. Have questions? Get in touch today!