"I can tell you what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
If you care about making the world a better place and you don’t feel comfortable giving cash, then a charitable donation may be just the gift for you. Here are some do’s and don’ts of holiday giving:
Do: Make it personal
There’s the perception that giving donations for Christmas instead of gifts is preachy. But it doesn’t have to be. The number one mistake people make — a lot like regular gifts — is giving to your favorite charity, not the receiver’s.
Giving to a non-profit in someone’s name should be just as personalized as giving a physical present. If you have an animal lover on your list, a donation to the local humane society or no-kill shelter makes sense. If you have a niece who just came back from the Peace Corps or study abroad, a gift to an international relief and development organization like Oxfam may resonate. If you’re shopping for someone who recently had a loved one pass away from cancer, donate to cancer research. Heck, if you have a family member who’s irrationally attached to the penny (remember Kevin Federline?) make a donation in their name to Americans for Common Cents.
Christmas giving is a chance to show your loved one that you “get” them, so it feels as if they’d made the donation themselves. Have a little fun with it, do an online search for charities that support your friend’s interests. If you’re not sure which organizations are reputable, look them up on Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau’s accredited charities. If you don’t know the person too well, you can always look up the local food bank in their hometown.
Do: Make a difference all year round
Believe it or not, there are good and bad ways to donate to charity. I work in the nonprofit sector, and I’ll tell you, our favorite kind of gift is the kind that’s spread throughout the year. People tend to wait until the end of the tax year, and the warm feelings of the holidays, to start making their gifts. Heck, the spouse and I do it too. The trouble is, nonprofits need a steady income stream all year round to make the most impact. Fear not, there’s a solution. More and more charities are offering the monthly debit option, where you can pick how much you want to give them, divide it by 12, and set up an automatic monthly debit for 12 months. This works even for smaller donations, though if you’re giving $20 you probably don’t want to ask a nonprofit to debit $1.66 a month, a one-time gift is fine. My guess is anything over $10/month will be well-received.
Don’t: Micro-manage your gift
As with all gift giving, the goal is to give what the receiver wants, not what we want them to want. Volunteering in person or giving pre-purchased canned goods are both great at getting us in the holiday spirit, but they might not always be what’s most in demand. Giving should make us feel good, but I don’t think anyone likes the idea of our giving going to waste. A good rule of thumb — give food banks and soup kitchens cash, so they can buy large quantities of what they need at a discounted price, and your gift can stretch further. If you prefer to give in-kind, the best way to do it is probably not to raid our kitchen cabinets for unused canned corn. Just call the soup kitchen and ask them what they need most.
I’ve been using as an example donations to soup kitchens, but the same rule of thumb is true for other nonprofits. Because it’s harder to raise money for general operating dollars — this is what pays for the salaries and the computers that allow people to use their talents to make a difference — you might not want to pick the sexiest program on the drop-down menu for where your funds should go. If you leave it blank, the money can go where the organization needs it most. I’ve seen a lot of great organizations get money to do amazing projects, but no money for the staff to run those amazing projects, and it’s like shooting a great idea in the foot. It means you have to trust the organization to spend the funds wisely, but you can always check their Charity Navigator or Better Business Bureau rating if you feel at all uneasy.
Do: Tell us about your favorite nonprofit
And now, dear readers, I’d like to hear from you. What’s your favorite nonprofit or cause?
I enjoy giving small sums monthly. It’s painless and feels tood. So far the orgs are the Global Fund for Women and the Dakin Pioner Valley Humane Society. The latter is staffed by dedicated, slightly zany animal lovers. Its web site offers “certified pre-owned cats!”
Make that “feels good.”
I watched this show where Ewan McGregor and his friend rode motorcycles from Scotland to South Africa. On the way they did a show about Ewan’s charity work with AIDS in Africa.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/bigearth/page.asp?page=9
The show “the missing face” had me in tears. I see this as very noble cause.
Plus, Ewan McGregor is kinda (i.e., totally and undeniably) dreamy.
I’m also a fan of giving to any humane society. The idea of abused or neglected animals makes my heart shatter. I am going to ask for this for Xmas, actually. Thanks, Porter!
I believe strongly in AMREF’s work. Based in Africa, one of the things they do is train local health workers to train others. There is such a severe shortage of health services in many countries there, and I am especially moved by the lack of maternal health and the very high maternal and newborn mortality rates in some places.
I have also started to give to the Innocence Project in my brother’s name, and the more I read about what they do, the more I realize how crucial their existence is!
Finally, one of the places we give to that I feel connected to very strongly is a shelter for homeless LGBT adolescents in NYC.
Instead of counting to 10 before making a purchase, why not save the receipt for 10 days. If it still feels right, wrapped it!
Hi cheers for an incisive post, I really found your blog by mistake while looking on Goole for something else closely related, in any event before i ramble on too much i would just like to say how much I enjoyed your post, I have bookmarked your site and also taken your RSS feed, Once Again thanks for the blog post keep up the great work.