Welcome to the end of our personal finance resolution week. I’ve decided to save a very special resolution for the end, one that’s quite close to me. Yes, we’re going to end with the resolution to give more money to charity. It’s a resolution I’m taking quite seriously, one that I’m doing myself.
Hopefully, you’re already donating something, anything to those less fortunate than you. If so, good for you! I know from personal experience that donating to the less fortunate feels great, and certainly, if you have access to a computer (or any of the many personal devices that now can do as much as a computer, if not more) and the internet, you’re doing better than many people in this little world of ours. With that said, let’s go through our standard set of qualifications, to ensure that your plan is actionable, specific, and reasonable:
Even if you start small, you can still give
Actionable: There are plenty of deserving charities out there (see my post on choosing a charity to find a deserving one that meets your needs and philanthropic desires). Once you have one (or more) charity that you want to support, the question then becomes what you want to give. Money is an obvious choice, and certainly, with the financial trouble we’ve been having lately, most charities can use all the money you can afford to give and then some.
But don’t forget that charities also need people. Many charities, perhaps most, would rather have five hours of your time each month than $100 of your money. If you’re short on cash but still want to exercise your philanthropic muscles, try to find a nearby charity that could benefit from your skills, from your handy(wo)man skills to your expertise in fund raising to simply providing an understanding ear. There’s plenty of ways to give without emptying out your bank account.
Specific: Once you know what you’re giving, and to where, it’s time to add some specifics to your plan. If you’re giving your time and effort, you should try to come up with a schedule that is achievable and will be something you can stick to for the foreseeable future. If you have some spare time on the weekend, make your resolution something like ‘Spend three hours each Saturday helping at the food bank’. If you can give up one Saturday a month, maybe consider something like ‘Spend one Saturday each month helping Habitat for Humanity build homes’. The important thing is commit to regularly giving your time to help the less fortunate.
If you are giving treasure rather than time, the same rules apply: make it specific, achievable, and something you can maintain for the foreseeable future. Perhaps resolving to donate five percent of any money you receive to the charity of your choice would be good. Alternatively, if you are collecting a regular paycheck, you could resolve to give a set (ten is a nice round number) percentage to the local food bank on a weekly (or biweekly, or monthly, whenever you get paid). If your income is much more erratic, you might prefer to give a set amount instead of a percentage; a few hundred dollars a month, or whatever you can afford. Which brings us to the last point…
Reasonable: As with retirement investing, giving to charity is a situation where you are (hopefully) torn between the urge to give as much as you can, and to give very little, in order to have more money for yourself, either for spending or investing purposes. It’s hard to provide the best level of contribution for everyone (although, if you happen to be religious, your faith might provide a good guideline; Christianity, for example, suggests tithing ten percent of your income to the church and the less fortunate). You don’t want to give so much that you end up needing charity yourself, but every cent you can give to a decent charity will help to improve another life, perhaps even more than one. If you find yourself not able to give as much money to charity as you want, the best option is probably to give more time, instead. You can get the same sense of helping others and giving of yourself, without having to deplete your coffers in order to do so.
Probably the most important advice I can provide about charities and giving is to just do it; it’s a wonderful way to help others (and perhaps accumulate some good karma for yourself, as well). If you made this type of resolution, my hat is off to you; keep up the good work, and be sure to let me know how your donations work out for you!
Related Websites
Leave a comment