Efficiency of Giving

Giving Sensibly….

Americans are known as a nation of Givers, the Richie Riches (billionaires) here inspire the rich all over the world to commit to giving their wealth for the betterment of humanity. Maybe, this inspires the common man to Give. Or may be giving is a way Americans want to be thankful for what the country has done for them or some other reason which I don’t know about. However, end of the day Americans, probably, Give More to Charity that most others in this world.

Now, I want us to pause and think, are we giving in an way where our monies are working towards the goal we had in mind?

I am saying this is in light of :

1. Non Profit Organizations are of the best paymasters in America.
2. We donate a lot overseas where we don’t know if our money is reaching out to the causes we passionately give for.

As you may be aware a lot of charitable organizations spend a lot of money they receive, in advertising to popularize themselves and raise more money and salaries of the people who work there. So, an important question to ask is what percentage of the donated money goes for the actual cause? Charity Navigator is a good place to look for answers on this.

A lot of us donate to a person/family (openly or anonymously) we know. You will realize that this is the most efficient because 100% of your money goes to the cause you have defined it to be. Here we can see the results of what we are doing right in front of our eyes.

I would like to cite the example of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which runs its charity like projects i.e. they keep checking for milestones and results from time to time before releasing more money. Efficient way but not sure if we can do this as individuals.

Another notable example is of John Arnold who runs his family’s charitable foundation, this is one of the most unique ones and I love how they choose their projects and goals — check this article - (Synopsis: They decide their causes and choose the best people to research, execute and review the money the give for these causes).

The issue I want us to ponder over is how can we make a BIG difference with our GIVING, how can we make every dollar we give make it worth TEN?

I hope I have given you some food for thought. Please do share “Your Ways of Giving”. I hope to learn something more about their way of Giving from the readers. Thank you ALL for reading!