Millennials Donating to Charity? Yeah, You Heard That Right
As human beings, we all enjoy the feeling of giving. It doesn’t matter really what it is you are giving away; be it a birthday gift, a Christmas card, a kind word to a stranger, an old iPhone, or a high five. It can be a big gift or a small gift or simply the gift of your time and energy to help someone out.
You know the feeling I’m talking about, the one where you are on cloud nine because you know that you really gave something valuable that helped someone or some cause and the end result would not have happened without you. Yes, that kind of feeling.
Some of us have had this feeling more than others but all of us have experienced it at different points in our lives. Some of us probably like the receiving part of the gift giving process better than the giving part, but even for the most selfish, I’m certain you know the feeling of goodwill.
Maybe you bought your significant other the item or event tickets that they have been asking for. Maybe you helped out a friend fine tune their resume or simply gave them the gift of your time by listening to some challenges they are facing. Or maybe you found a great charity organization to volunteer at or give money to.
Let me clarify, I’m not talking about the giving of stuff with an expectation of being repaid or even the type that exists in your mind as a type of mental accounts receivable ledger. For instance, “I gave Bob those concert tickets and he hasn’t given me anything back…”
I’m talking about giving stuff away unconditionally, without requiring anything in return except that good feeling of a job well done and knowing you made a difference. Is this so hard?
As millennials and non-millennials in today’s world, we are all usually pressed for time and in many cases, money. For a lot of us, we work many hours and we may not have much left at the end of a paycheck. Volunteer hours are zapped away with daily chores in what little time we have left.
These challenges do not excuse us from donating our money to great causes, charities, or organizations we love. We know we should all be doing more. But they are, unfortunately, the excuses we use for refusing to do so.
What if I told you however there is a way to do your part and make a big impact on the world, even if you do not have much time or money to give?
Bank on Giving to Charity
Let’s try an exercise. Pull up your bank app and check your account balance right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Ok, now you may be shouting something along the lines of “What an idiot, now I’m depressed”, or “This dude doesn’t live in reality. I can’t give to charity”.
Possibly you have thousands of dollars in that account or maybe you only have $0.04, yes 4 cents. I have been the 4-cent guy more times than I can count (you almost have to be an expert accountant to have that little left in your account). Unfortunately, I’ve also over-drafted that same account in my past life. I digress.
Back to the topic at hand…
I’m here to tell you that you can still give to charities and the causes that you care about, even if you do not have much money. Because you do not have to be rich to give to charity.
It might even be as easy as a few choices. Ask yourself, can you do any of things below, just one time per month?
Eliminate or skip a meal like breakfast
Pack your lunch instead of eating out
Sacrifice a Starbucks
Shop and compare gas prices from the surrounding stations
Cut back on alcohol or drink only water (I hear it’s almost free)
Work that one extra hour of overtime
Stop withdrawing money from other banks - no more ATM fees
Eat more vegetables and cook all meals
These things might seem trivial, but we’re not asking you to change your whole life. Just pick one – it’s for charity after all. Now, do you have that $5-$10 extra a month? If so, let’s talk more.
I’m passionate about…
Fill in the blank here. Before giving to specific charities just do a quick self-analysis and see what causes capture your interest.
If you already know this, please accept my hearty congratulations. If not, think for a second.
Maybe your father was a veteran and you want to support disenfranchised and homeless veterans. Or perhaps a relative went through a trying illness, which inspired you to want to help others avoid that same struggle.
Are you passionate about cancer research? Animals? Alzheimer’s? Clean water? Education? World hunger? Gender equality? Violence prevention? Individuals with disabilities? International issues?
These are just a few of the many types of causes which form the basis of thousands of charities in existence that all do great work and, of course, could use your extra dollars. Based on your own past life experiences, odds are there are several issues that tug at your heartstrings.
For my own self-analysis, I know I’m a dog person; I have two Australian Shepherd rescues that my wife and I adopted from the local animal shelter near our home. My sister happens to volunteer her time for this organization and they do a great job with limited resources. So this local animal shelter naturally made my list of organizations I too want to help support financially.
Also, I’m very much passionate about supporting efforts to cure and treat childhood cancer. Is there anything more unfair about the world we live in than a kid going through cancer?
And I don’t think people should be without food. EVER. The world has the resources to feed everyone on the planet. This is a humanitarian crisis like no other.
Finding the things I cared about and giving to organizations that support these causes was an easy decision. But if you’re yet not giving today, don’t worry about finding a charity for each and everything you care about. Instead, just pick one. You have to start somewhere.
Now that you’ve identified a cause, let’s see if this all makes financial sense for you at the moment.
The $120 Challenge
Most people today give to charities towards the end of the year in November and December. Many give for tax deduction purposes if we are being honest, although the recent 2018 tax law may have changed that dynamic a bit. These year-end donations are typically a one-time gifts that could be a small or large number depending on one’s resources and philanthropic views.
If you are like me, there are many years you had good intentions and told yourself “I’ll give to a charity in the next couple of months.” The reality is that it never happened. November and December are prime holiday shopping seasons and guess what, that is usually where my money went.
So the first thing you need to do is figure out just how much you want to spend. If you are a person without a job and with astronomical debts, maybe right now isn’t the best time for you. Put this article in your back pocket and check it out once you get in a more comfortable financial situation.
However, if you are a person who can afford $120 a year, I invite you to take the $120 challenge. Simple math, divide the $120 by the 12 months and you are looking at $10/month.
As we discussed earlier, $10 a month can be as easy to come by as one small action taken over a 30 day period. For extra motivation, make sure to tell yourself you are doing this in the name of charity! You deserve it – you are making a difference.
If that seems pretty reasonable, given your finances, pick the charity of your choice and set up automatic payments of $10 per month. It is that simple.
For me, I like to link it to my credit card. The amount gets charged at the same date every month. If you are a person who doesn’t pay your credit card in full each month (I was this person for many years but have since reformed), you can link this donation to your debit card or even use PayPal for many charities.
The best part is that you can manage the amount you pay. Is $10 a month too much and you are feeling the crunch? Just login to the account you create with the charity and lower it.
Do you still have a lot of financial breathing room or did you just get a raise? Login and increase the amount you contribute monthly.
Change your mind or passion about the organization? Cancel or postpone your donation.
Interesting side note in case you like simple math and golden conversation nuggets, divide the $120 by the amount of money you make per year.
For example, lets say you make $50,000 per year. Dividing 120/50,000 gets you 0.24%. In this scenario you would be donating 0.24% of your yearly salary to charity. Seems pretty small right? Well what if I told you that your percentage would beat that of the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos?
Unbelievably, this would be true as it’s been uncovered that Jeff Bezos only donates 0.0906% of his money to charity. Even if you make $100,000 per year, donating $120 to charity still gets you a higher percentage than Jeff Bezos.
Whether you love or hate the man, the $120 challenge does arm you with a pretty awesome conversation piece. I can see those conversations now…”Did you know I gave a higher percentage of my salary to charity last year than the world’s richest man?”
I found that by starting small with the $120 challenge I could regularly donate to charities I was passionate about without putting myself in a financial pickle.
Most charities are genuinely appreciative of ongoing monthly contributions. It helps them predict more reliably the money coming into their organizations, which also helps them plan more effectively to accomplish their missions.
I invite you to take the $120 challenge with one charity of your choice. Set up those monthly payments and feel good about what you have done.
I started with one organization and I’m currently up to three charities that I give to monthly. I have increased my donations for each substantially over the past few years as my income and financial life has improved. You can do it too!
If the $120 per year challenge is too much, try $60/year ($5/month). But start somewhere because this is a habit worth developing. No person on their deathbed ever looked back at their life with regret because they gave too much to charity!
Pick a Winner
Now that you’ve determined what causes you are passionate about, narrowed it down to your top choices, and checked your finances to see what you can afford, let’s look at how to pick an organization that is going to truly use your dollars in the right way.
We have all heard stories about charities stealing or wasting donor’s money. As much as we like to think all organizations will do the right thing, quite frankly there are some that do not.
So when choosing to donate your money, you want to make sure that the organization is going to use it on the cause that you are passionate about. Be cynical and do you homework!
You can start with a site like www.charitynavigator.org to find out ratings on your favorite charities. These ratings will actually let you know how much of your money goes towards that organizations mission, the financial performance of the charity, or any other information you could possibly want to make sure your organization is on the up and up.
If you aren’t quite sure who to give to, check our their list of charities with perfect rating scores and see if any of these organizations align with your interests. Or search by geography and find a charity helping people in your community.
Another great site many utilize to cross-reference charities is: www.give.org.
Both sites do a great job of presenting detailed information on charities to help you make an informed decision on where to give your money to so you can have that “I’ve done something good” feeling.
Like many things in life, the first step is always the hardest. Don’t let life get in the way of making an impact.