Walk past a giant vending machine in a city near you this November or December, and you might find yourself buying a solar lamp for a refugee family instead of a candy bar.
Light the World Giving Machines have appeared in 126 cities across 21 countries—from Denver to Dubai to Manila. Since launching in 2017, they've moved nearly $50 million directly to nonprofits working on everything from malnutrition to period poverty. Last year alone, that translated to 2 million meals, 500,000 children vaccinated, and 125,000 refugees receiving emergency food boxes.
The concept is disarmingly simple. You stand in front of a kiosk, scroll through donation options—a chicken for $5, a book for $10, a baby blanket for $15—and choose what to give. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints covers all operating costs, meaning every dollar you spend goes directly to the nonprofits involved. Most organizations use less than 10% for overhead; many use none.
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Start Your News Detox"Instead of purchasing candy or snacks from a vending machine, people buy goods and services to support those in need," the Church explained. "It's a machine that enables a person to give — rather than receive."
What makes this work isn't just the mechanics—it's the moment. Tiffany Larson, CEO of Days for Girls International, which works to end period poverty, described watching donors engage: "These cards in the machine might just look like cards, but they're giving back girls dignity and health and opportunity."
Parents report something shifts when their kids stand in front of these machines. One father watched his children choose items for strangers and realized it had become a teaching moment he didn't have to engineer. "Watching them choose a chicken, a book, or a baby blanket for someone else was a powerful lesson for them to learn."
This year, the machines will offer over 4,000 donation items from more than 500 local nonprofits and 12 global organizations—the American Red Cross, CARE, UNICEF among them. Emily Belle Freeman, the Church's Young Women General President, reflected on what happens after someone walks away: "It's so fun to think about how what begins as a three-to-five-minute experience in front of one of these machines turned into a lifetime change for a family or even just one young woman."
The machines are live now through December. If you want to find one, the full list of 126 cities is available—and if your city isn't on it yet, the project is still expanding.
