It seems like the season is upon us, so everyone has been talking about charity. How much to give, where to give, and DEFINITELY who gives.
NCN asked about bloggers' favorite charities. I have three or four that I regularly fund, but my favorite is Americares. The disaster relief/humanitarian aid organization is well rated, efficient, and committed to providing aid "for all people around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion." It gets the majority of my continuing donations every year.
Tired But Happy asked about making donations at the office. I do the majority of my financial giving through my office campaign. We're given a very large database of charities from which to choose, covering pretty much any cause one could imagine. The database also lists each charity's allocation to program expenses, rather than administrative/fundraising ones. And since my donations are made every pay period, I don't have to worry about falling short and failing to donate. I also make lump sum donations to a few organizations througout the year, either to support a friend's fundraising effort, or in response to a disaster. But if I get an unwanted solicitation, I simply say that "I do my giving through XYZ Campaign." It's true, after all. My long-term goal is to up my giving percentage every year as my student loan debt decreases.
And finally, I do volunteer. I have a weekly commitment with Catholic Charities/Catholic Community Services as a GED/External Diploma math tutor. And I do periodic projects with my county's homeless association. Writing this post did make me realize that I've been a very bad blood donor (as a type O, I should go every time) over the past several months since I can't rely on workplace donations anymore; our "workplace" donation site is a mile away. And being sick didn't help. Now that I'm better, I signed up to go to the standing Red Cross center next week.
I guess blogging about these things really CAN change behavior!
NCN asked about bloggers' favorite charities. I have three or four that I regularly fund, but my favorite is Americares. The disaster relief/humanitarian aid organization is well rated, efficient, and committed to providing aid "for all people around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion." It gets the majority of my continuing donations every year.
Tired But Happy asked about making donations at the office. I do the majority of my financial giving through my office campaign. We're given a very large database of charities from which to choose, covering pretty much any cause one could imagine. The database also lists each charity's allocation to program expenses, rather than administrative/fundraising ones. And since my donations are made every pay period, I don't have to worry about falling short and failing to donate. I also make lump sum donations to a few organizations througout the year, either to support a friend's fundraising effort, or in response to a disaster. But if I get an unwanted solicitation, I simply say that "I do my giving through XYZ Campaign." It's true, after all. My long-term goal is to up my giving percentage every year as my student loan debt decreases.
And finally, I do volunteer. I have a weekly commitment with Catholic Charities/Catholic Community Services as a GED/External Diploma math tutor. And I do periodic projects with my county's homeless association. Writing this post did make me realize that I've been a very bad blood donor (as a type O, I should go every time) over the past several months since I can't rely on workplace donations anymore; our "workplace" donation site is a mile away. And being sick didn't help. Now that I'm better, I signed up to go to the standing Red Cross center next week.
I guess blogging about these things really CAN change behavior!
Labels: giving
4 Comments:
Thanks for the mention. Good for you for volunteering. Time is something that is even more scarce than money at the moment. I do end up volunteering at my son's school in various ways, but it's been a long time since I could do literacy volunteering or anything like that.
Right now, since i'm trying to get back into tithing at my church i'm slowly giving... but mainly i find myself giving in otherways...
time is huge... i volunteer a lot with my church... and my college ministry is doing a new project to help keep ppl warm...
were making blankets, scarves, quilts... beanies... we just need to drive them up to scid row and give them out in a couple of weeks.
TBH--It definitely makes a difference in your schedule when you have a child! But I know the school appreciates your efforts.
ambellamy--That sounds like a wonderful project. And I agree, giving time to your church is as valuable, if not more so, than money.
Good for you. Volunteering and giving your time, money and talents do pay dividends. First, they are just a darn good thing to do but secondly, I'm a firm believer in putting good things out there because you usually have good things that happen back to you. There's no insurance this will happen and that's certainly not why you do it but it does usually make you feel good about yourself and that leads to good things, too.
All the best,
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com
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