For many people, it’s a tradition to give at this time of year: not in the “Christmas presents” sense, but in the charitable sense. Fabulous.
Because charitable giving tends to be something of a private affair, many folks don’t know how much they’re “supposed” to give. Obviously, there’s no correct answer, but here are some numbers to think about, from Money Magazine:
- The average American gives 2.2% of their annual income, roughly $1,000, to charity
- The church encourages people to “tithe” 10% of their income
- Secular charities encourage 5% as the target
For our part, we prefer to pick one or two charities and make a single, yearly donation in that range. Why? Well, first, it feels good to give a nice big chunk, better than a few dollars here and a few dollars there. It also lets us be deliberate about where we give. We do our research through CharityNavigator.org and make sure our target organization has a high percentage of its income going to services instead of administrative overhead, and that the work that they’re doing is important to us.
There’s another side benefit of giving deliberately and in a big way: whenever someone hits us up for money, be it a canvasser at the door or a panhandler on the street, we can respond easily and with a clear conscience (to them or to ourself): “I choose to direct all my charitable giving to such-and-such a charity”. It’s not just a line, either: the homeless shelter is going to be make much more efficient use of our money than if we were to give it directly to a panhandler on the street.
So, where do you give? Here in Wallingford, we’re big boosters of FamilyWorks: they’ve got a food bank, plus they provide support to families through classes and other programs. In addition to monetary donations, they’re always short on diapers and bus tickets, which they give away to their clients.
But there are so many great organizations out there. Where do you give and why?
My biggest donations are monthly and go to KUOW.org and the sponsorship of three children through Children International. I also do an annual donation to sponsor a child in Nepal through answernepal.org.
Forgot to say why…
KUOW because they are like family (I also volunteer during the pledge drives). For Children International, because they don’t cram religion down the kids’ throats and I get letters detailing how my donations are spent. I’ve met my sponsored child in Nepal, along with his mother, so I saw first-hand how my donations are making a difference.
Thanks for the post. It is good to know what a typical american gives.
ahmsa.org.
Helping to alleviate poverty in Colombia via micro lending and other full service methods. They concentrate on displaced people and a couple of the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Bogota.
We like giving to them because they are local founders, the money goes a long way in such a poor place, and they are small enough that what we give makes a big difference.
The single yearly donation is great. However, it can be beneficial to give smaller amounts to more organizations. This is because for some grants and federal monies, non-profits must show that they have a certain number of dues-paying members. So, even if you can give $10 to a cause that you believe in, you may be helping them achieve a membership level that opens them up to receiving much larger sums.
Our family supports lots of local good causes, including FamilyWorks, Northwest Harvest, Seattle Tilth, CoolMom.org, WA Toxics Coalition and the WA Wilderness Coalition.
Howefver, hands down, my current favoirte charity is Sustainable Harvest International, which helps people in Central America convert to sustainable farming practices. They will only work in commnities that invite them and their focus is on teaching enough people in that community the necessary skills so that they can leave that community within 5 years to go work somewhere else. They want to communtiies to take full ownership and become self-supporting. They have great “gifts” that you can give your family members, like a chocolate forest or an eco-toilet (of course these things really go to the folks in Central America. Your family gets a card). http://www.sustainableharvest.org/
I am a fan of Heifer International – they have a great program of combining education with their charity in order to “help people help themselves” — and their Pass On The Gift policy ensures that your initial gift multiplies itself over the years to impact a larger community.
http://www.heifer.org/
Don’t be too hung up on that “administrative overhead” number. Yes, a charity with a very high overhead is mostly a scam to support the folks who run the charity, but some overhead is necessary to check out that your money is actually being spent well. A charity with almost no overhead might be wasting all their money and not know it.
My first time piping in here…
I’ve given to many over the years, at first organizations my dad is / was involved with (Habitat for Humanity, Wilderness Volunteers, New Beginnings) as a gift for him. Now, I still do that but I also choose to give for myself. KEXP is an annual one but Nature Consortium in W. Seattle is the biggest recipient of my money now. I give monthly to them and volunteer a lot of my time (I’m on the board).
I really believe in the work they’re doing, teaching about the environment and the need to protect it through creative arts. No one else approaches reverence for our natural environment like they do. Plus they are the best bunch of people on this earth!
I, too, donate to several different non-profits, about half of them local. One I’ve supported as long as I’ve had at least $20 to donate is Bailey-Boushay House. I guess I started to support them because AIDS touched my soul early on, and my life later. Today, BBH takes care of all sorts of hospice patients, and has an adult day health program as well, for people who are still able to live outside of a hospice arrangement. It’s a place of love and a place of hope.
https://www.virginiamason.org/bbh/