How to Find and Really Support a Charity You care About

If each of us picked only 1 or 2 Not-for-Profit organisations to invest our money or time in, there would be enough support to go round all those organisations.

So here’s a simple tip or two for choosing who you say yes to, and how to say no without feeling guilty.

Giving regularly vs giving one off donations

Consider choosing to support a few charities regularly e.g. by regular monthly donation of your money and or time, or even your blood!

Why are regular monthly gifts instead of one off amounts more helpful?

Charities have budgets too – their ability to commit to undertaking support projects is determined by how much money they will have for the duration of the project.  Giving regularly, helps them to know what income they can expect 2020 to be able to do their work helping others.

Local, national, global

Choosing a charity is important. I recommend the local – national – global principal when makings these choices.

You can’t support everything – unless you’re super rich – but even then you should probably be discerning about what you support.

As a family we make the decision together.

• First, we look at local needs (this might include, for example, a neighbour who needs a meal after having a baby, a local sports club that you volunteer to coach at, or a local charity helping young people stay in school).

Each quarter Sydney Hills Living will feature a couple of local charities/service groups to make you aware of what’s happening in The Hills and how you can help them – beyond $$.

• Second, we consider charities that work nationally or within the greater Sydney area – serving Australian people in communities that are less affluent or in high schools, or farmers struggling to make ends meet.

• Third, we support a charity doing work serving people in another country – Australia is a wonderful place to live and there are many across the globe who have none of the riches and privilege we and our kids enjoy (this may mean sponsoring a child, or donating to a fund that rebuilds poor communities after a disaster or builds a new well for good drinking water in a drought ravaged country).

The key in choosing a charity to support, is that you should believe in what they are doing, and care genuinely about the people or cause they are using your resources to help.

Should you say no – even to phone raffles and the small $2 buy a ticket or pin requests?

When you are clear about your YES charities, you can be honest when you respond to those phone calls from various charities when you say: “I’m sorry we’ve already decided which charities we’re supporting 2020 and our funds have been allocated to them at the moment”.

If you have some pocket change and you want to buy a raffle ticket and sausage sandwich, or $2 pin at the checkout to support health research of some kind, then of course do so – but even larger charities depend on the regular monthly donation, more than the $2 one of.  So, if you really care about that cause, find out how you can support their work beyond the one off token gift.

Donating Time and skills can be just as valuable as money.

Charities need volunteers in just about every type of job imaginable. From flipping sausages at Bunnings to bookkeeping and admin, IT and website design, to board members and business consulting to help to them be more effective and organised. Most charities are staffed by caring people who have particular skills or experience (eg counselling or community work) to meet the needs of the people they are serving – few have business management experience.

Even donating your time and expertise for small periods of time for free to a charity, is very helpful.

Be purposeful in your giving, and make a real difference.