I Tracked My Charitable Donations for a Year — Here’s What I Learned
I am interested in social justice. Let me rephrase that. I have an M.A. in public service, have served on several nonprofit boards, and my entire day job is devoted to promoting civic engagement and understanding to college students.
Having been within the charitable sector as a grant writer and fundraising specialist previously, I have experienced what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve learned how to determine whether a nonprofit is pushing for social change or the status quo. I’ve been in positions that were raising money for intelligent causes and some that were less so. And while I learned all this, I knew I needed to use that knowledge to better inform where I’m giving my money.
So I decided to track my charitable donations for an entire year. Here is what I learned:
1. Sometimes, it’s better to give monthly
This cannot be overstated. While organizations will appreciate random donations, automating this process will help the organization be able to estimate future funding. For example, if an organization knows they have a guaranteed $5,000 coming in from supporters in monthly donations, they can better estimate whether or not they can fund a new position or start a new program.
Donating monthly can also provide a benefit to you, the donor. You can choose which organizations you want to support ahead of time and be able to predict your expenses. For example, in 2019 I chose to support four organizations monthly — each at $5 apiece. I knew I could reasonably donation $20 per month, and chose four organizations I truly believe in.
This is not to say I didn’t sprinkle in individual donations here and there to other organizations. I just knew which organizations truly fit the values I wanted to promote, which brings us to…
2. Align your values
I also chose to donate these monthly funds to organizations I felt aligned with my values. Three of the organizations were environmentally focused — coral restoration, sea turtle conservation, and deforestation prevention. The fourth organization was an international women’s health and education nonprofit started by a friend of mine.
The organizations you choose to donate regularly to are a statement of who you are and what type of world you want. I’m a firm believer in voting by spending and this is no different.
You also have the ability to customize the donations you make regularly and create a mixture of national organizations and local organizations. After I moved states mid-year, I chose to start donating through my workplace to the local United Way. United Way then takes those donations and redistributes them to a wide range of local organizations — in essence eliminating the need for you to research where your donations would be best spent.
3. Local giving is important
While I donated monthly to four national organizations, adding the local United Way later, I made sure to reserve some funds in my budget for local contributions.
Throughout the year, I would give to local organizations that were hosting campaigns or events because it was important to establish myself as a supporter of local initiatives.
I believe we have some responsibility to help organizations locally, just as much as we support national organizations that align with our values. While we pay taxes, this often does not get passed down to smaller, important organizations (we won’t get into the details of the flow of tax dollars in this article, but it’s fascinating stuff!).
This is also where your local United Way can help. They have connections to local agencies and know where help is needed most from month to month. Whether you give via paycheck deduction like I do or give randomly, United Way can be a resource when you’re not sure where to send your donation. They can help you redirect that money to where it’s needed most.
Giving your hard-earned money is a great decision, but deciding where can be a hard one to make. Do your research and think about these tips. If you still aren’t sure, ask around! You’d be surprised how many people now work in the nonprofit sector and know really great information on the needs of the local community.
