Lessons From A Year Of Giving
In 2013, we decided to give away a small percentage of our taxable income. We're going to try again in 2014. Here's what I learned...
To make giving happen, I need a budget. Having the budget also makes me more willing to give because I don't get caught in a cycle of thinking I "can't afford" to help or thinking that our giving is too small to make a difference.
I need to remember the giving makes a greater difference to the giver than to the recipient.
The process we used was:
Decide on an annual amount
Split into monthly allocations
Give monthly
Small gifts offer the most satisfaction. This surprised me. The easiest way to describe the positive sensation is...
The spirit moves me to give
I'm open to that feeling
I give
I feel good (by not having to close myself to not give)
The size of the gift isn't important for the "feel good" and I try to always have dollar bills with me. Here's The Dollar Game that my wife and I played.
What seems to be most important is being open to receive a call to give, then heeding that call.
Giving is a learning process. I had some gifts that didn't work out from my end and I learned from them. I can group them into categories...
Facilitating something I don't believe in - giving money to alcoholics so they can buy booze, for example. That didn't work out well for me. Sitting here now, I don't regret those gifts but think it was a good decision to keep them small.
Some people, and institutions, don't need help. An example, might be giving money to a wealthy alma mater, a for-profit corporation, or an inefficient charity. With individuals, struggle is what gives meaning to life, and valuable feedback. I've had a poor hit rate with individual sponsorships.
This year, 90% of the money and 100% of the time that we gave away worked for us. That's an outstanding return for the first year. So I want to remember...
Have a budget
Keep it small and frequent
Stay open to helping
Learn from the process