It’s that giving time of year. You’re overloaded with getting holiday gifts for others AND with every cause asking you for money.
From Giving Tuesday to the flood of texts, emails, and snail mail for End-of-Year giving, everyone wants your donation. And there are many good causes. (Who doesn’t want to help cure cancer? Or end childhood hunger?) But on a limited budget, how do you not feel guilty about what you don’t donate to?
I’ve been working with several family foundations this past year that have plenty of money to give to everything. But would you believe even they grapple with these decisions?
So how do they decide? Here are a few things I’ve learned:
- They look at what’s personal to them. A cause that has a specific meaning to them – whether for themselves directly or a family member or close friend. Something that is truly personal is a cause they can feel good giving to.
- They make sure that they’re donating to a quality organization. They look for organizations that are good about managing their money and use donations in a way that really moves the needle and makes a difference. (Two organizations to help you do your homework: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ and https://candid.org/)
- They consider making impact grants. Instead of spreading out funds to many causes, they decide on one or two causes to focus on and give most of their money to that cause for a greater impact. They also tend to focus on smaller local organizations that really need the dollars, instead of large national organizations that they know always get money.
- They often get personally involved in the cause – meeting with directors and sitting on boards. Though not everyone can give at this level, it doesn’t mean you can’t get personally involved in some way, whether volunteering, donating items, or making phone calls.
So how am I deciding this year? First, I’m going to donate to some of the causes I’ve been personally involved in this year that I know are making a difference and doing great work (Community Bridges, Housing Up, and the Abramson Scholarship Foundation).
But I’m also going to take a hint from this article by Petula Dvorak and think about what’s got me most upset in the world right now and use it as a conversation starter over dinner with my family to talk about the issues that mean the most to us right now.
Speaking of great causes, I have many favorite organizations we’ve worked with this year, but the video above was one of my absolute favorites – probably because it was so timely and close to my heart. I interviewed Jam & Christy Ramos talking about their childhood struggles and how they made it through to high school graduation with the support of Community Bridges. The interview happened a few weeks before my son was also about to graduate high school. (Let’s just say there were a lot of happy tears!)
I hope the tips above will help give you a game plan for giving back that will save you time as you sort through your mail and clear out your inbox. You will know what you plan to support, realize you can’t help ALL the causes and feel guilt-free about deleting the rest.
Wishing you a meaningful holiday season!