The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a nonprofit organization with more than 20,000 registered members around the world. “Our mission is to help inspire people to practice kindness and pass it on to others,” says Julie Kauffman, the foundation’s communications manager, who puts together school lesson plans and community activity guides that visitors can download for free at www.actsofkindness.org.

Kauffman says members submit so many great ideas that she can’t pick a single favorite act of kindness. However, she does know what it’s like to be the recipient of one of the simplest: “When people write or call us and tell us they love what we’re doing, that makes it all worthwhile.” (Random Acts of Kindness Week begins February 13.)