Don’t be a Scrooge.
Shockingly, this might be the one thing you read today that has nothing to do with the holidays.
While Scrooge’s bad behaviors juxtapose most dramatically with Christmastime, it’s safe to say that he was a miser all year.
Which is exactly what this post is about.
It’s no secret that the personal finance community loves money. And I will argue with anyone who says that rich people are all inherently bad people because of their money. But while I’ve been waging that battle, quite a few people have been…hurting my cause.
ESI released a pretty sobering statistic about millionaires and charitable giving. While I don’t have the statistics to back up my suspicions (Oh, Penny, when will you learn to put numbers on a money blog?!), I do have the advantage of time, blog comments, and social media.
Over two years ago, I insisted that you don’t have to give, but you absolutely should. My post was met by a surprising number of people who suggested that they would give…later. Guess what? It’s later. How much are you giving?
Giving is a muscle. Kindness is worth practicing. Give while you’re chasing FI, not just after. Why? Because wherever you go, there you are. Whatever your net worth, there you are. Bank account balances and time of year shouldn’t matter.
Schooled by The Teacher on Fire!
So what I aimed to do was take a cue from all of the generosity that I do see. And there is a lot of it. I wanted to learn more about how people give in order to improve my own practice. Here are six ways that money nerds give back straight from their mouths tweets:
Do your research.
One of the biggest things that I hear about donations is that people are worried about getting scammed. This is, without a doubt, a cop out. Is it possible that there’s a corrupt charity that will misuse your money? Sure. But in an age where transparency is everything, there isn’t much you can’t research. Some days, I feel like I use Charity Navigator more than Google.
Dillon loves Charity Navigator like I do!
Do what moves you.
It’s awesome to get to know different causes that mean things to other people. But when it comes right down to it, whether you are giving money, resources, or your time, the causes you support are yours to choose. As usual, Josh speaks to my soul.
A new teacher who is giving local for a reason!
Roll up your sleeves.
Charitable organizations can’t run on volunteerism alone, but that doesn’t mean that volunteering isn’t incredibly important work. Whenever I perform acts of service, I always start with the intent to help others. In reality, though, it always ends up being more about betterment of self.
RELATED POST: What a Morning in a Hairnet Taught Me About Money
Share your talents.
I used to be a couponing queen. It was thrilling, and I was darn good at it. But it was also a pretty significant time suck and led to some really wasteful habits (contact solution goes well with 20/20 vision, no?). But I’m still really good at scoring deals.
I’m happy to pass along coupons to the next customers in line, especially in places where people are unfamiliar with them. I’m looking at you, Buy Buy Baby and Bed Bath & Beyond. (Seriously, never pay full price in those stores. EVER.) It turns out that I am not alone with this strategy!
Holly sharing savings & spreading coupon joy!
Mr. and Mrs. Apathy Ends also tipped me off that formula companies love to send coupons. Something the AE family shared with me that I was all too happy to continue was to use those coupons to score free or nearly-free formula and drop it off at food pantries, churches, and other places that support new families.
I also make it a habit to give away the last bit of my gift cards. I used to either buy more than what I needed to use the gift card up entirely, or I would hang on to 73 cents or $1.14. All that did was take up space in my wallet. It amounted to little more than financial clutter. Except for all the times when I would think, “Hey, better go spend those twelve cents” and I’d leave with an unplanned $20 purchase.
In addition to my financial savvy, I’m trying to be better about sharing other talents. I’m helping a neighbor with her college essay, and I’m going to work with a group of teachers and students to make fleece blankets to donate to a homeless shelter.
Spread abundance.
For me, no amount of thanking my clothes or folding them into origami packets has ever motivated me to declutter. Whenever I feel like we’ve hit a comfortable spot in terms of shirking excess, I am reminded of the abundance that we have in our lives. While I realize I could chase nickels and dollars for hand-me-down clothes and toys, I much prefer passing them along to other families the same way that they were passed to us. At first, I really struggled with this notion because there is so much interest in reselling. Plus, it can be pretty fun. While I haven’t given that up entirely, I find it much simpler and rewarding to learn to just let some things go.
Military Dollar finds many ways to give.
Come together.
Honestly, one of the best things about the personal finance community–bloggers, podcasters, and especially readers!–is how palpable the energy is. Inspiration is everywhere. We can do a lot on our own, but we can do a lot more collectively. One the best things that came out of my desire to learn more about people’s plans for #GivingTuesday and charitable giving in general was all the charities and organizations that I hadn’t heard of or thought of.
The Purple Purse Foundation – Women Who Money supports this organization, which is dedicated to supporting victims of domestic violence.
Heifer International – Tenacious Feminist gave a shoutout to this group that lets people order animals to be send around the world for food and business.
National Ability Center – Debra supports this group because they allow people with disabilities to get more involved with sports. The organization modifies equipment to allow people to do everything from horseback riding to skiing.
Booktrust – Tortoise Happy supports this group even those she just learned about them too. They are dedicated to getting books in the hands of kiddos who might not have access to them otherwise.
One Spirit Okini List – Revanche got a group of personal finance bloggers to help “adopt” several Lakota families. If you’re like me, and you’re not totally sure what this means, it’s a holiday list that supports indigenous people in South Dakota. If you want in, you can either scroll through the site or reach out to Revanche (I did!). She has set up some fierce spreadsheets to help as many people as possible!
Books Unbound – Literacy initiatives are near and dear to my heart (Hekab Be is a personal favorite of mine!), so I was super stoked to hear about this organization from Downsize Your 2080. They create picture books that are culturally relevant for Rohingya children to allow them to continue learning in refugee camps. She actually knows Sophie who travels overseas to help with the work.
Meals on Wheels – Suzy supports this organization because of high rates of isolation among the elderly.
Give Directly – For anyone who is on the fence about giving and is looking for receipts, this is a research-based group that Matt supports. And it makes perfect sense because that’s Matt and Optimize Your Life in a nutshell: kindness and facts.
Final Thoughts on Figuring Out How to Give More
I am not an expert on charitable giving. But I am a really good student (yes, I did toot my own horn!). I’m working hard to grow my giving muscles, and I’m actively trying to seek out inspiration and examples.
Parting with your money is hard. So is parting with your time. In fact, the latter might be even more challenging. But there are so many ways to give back no matter where you are on your journey. The personal finance community is proof of that.
[Penny’s note: There’s no way that this post captures even a fraction of the generosity that goes on in this community or the broader world. It’s just a start! Drop ideas and links to sites or posts you love below!]
Great post! When I’m traveling and using public transportation, I usually buy a pass, not pay for for each ride separately. After my last ride, I give my pass with the leftover $ to a random person at the station. It makes me happy to brighten someone else’s day. ?
I remember doing this as a kid growing up in the DC area my parents and I would go for the day to DC and afterwards hand the unlimited Metro pass to the next person walking up at the station. It was such a good feeling to pass it on. The smiles we got too. ?
Agreed! I’m rarely in downtown Chicago anymore, so I don’t save my L cards. I pass them along!
A worthwhile read, Penny. We tend to focus on charity toward the end of the year and, I suppose, it is better than not doing it at all, but I encourage folks to bookmark this post and try to read it at least once a month in the coming year. Needs are constant, not seasonal, and those of us who have been blessed with relative bounty, can find even more blessings by sharing what we have.
While I do donate to national and international causes such as Heifer Intl. (one of my favorites), I also suggest Nothing But Nets ( https://nothingbutnets.net/ ), which helps to battle malaria in underprivileged areas of the world, which disease kills 3,000 children per day around the world for the want of $10 bed nets.
That having been said, the largest portion of the Oldsters’ giving is done locally. Our local Humane Society – a no kill shelter, our local Salvation Army Thrift Shop, our local food banks, and local funds to help pay for medical bills and utilities for those less fortunate. Seeing the benefit of ones work in their own community is a blessing we can all receive immediately. If we could each tend to our own backyards, the world would truly be a better place.
Happy Holidays Penny. And thanks again for your voice of compassion and empathy.
One of the greatest things I learned about money and giving was from the CEO of my previous company. He said that when people who don’t have a lot of money eventually make a lot of money, something interesting happens. It doesn’t CHANGE them, it REVEALS them. People who are naturally greedy become more greedy. People who are naturally superficial become more superficial. People who are naturally generous become more generous. After watching this happen over and over, I can say he was absolutely right.
I think that’s really profound, and my entirely unscientific observations seem to support it 100%.
This is a post I need to read and come back to. I’m very bad at giving, and have gotten worse as we acquire more. We did give more this year but it’s still a single digit percentage of our gross.
Anyway, I appreciate you taking on an issue like this. Cheers.
Great post Penny! Giving is very important to us, and has been even while we were in the midst of paying off our debt. So good to see all these tweets from the personal finance community of the good being done.
One of the organizations we support is called Compassion International, and I write about it here: https://www.spillsspot.com/finance-blog/2017/05/22/favorite-money-spend-every-month/
Once or twice a year I like to donate blood because I know there many people who need it to save their life. I most likely won’t know who receive my blood but I know that I’m helping out a few people out there who are in need of it.
I go to my blood donation center, Vitalant(https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx). It’s really easy to set an appointment and once you get there, you have to fill out a questionnaire then you will donate your blood.
Thank you so much for including me on your post. I love giving and helping. There are so many ways to help people no matter the time of year. ?.
I was a Key Clubber throughout high school so service and volunteering is something I love to do. I still volunteer for groups and now for my kids’ school.
Love this post!
Oh my gosh…KEY CLUB! I was in that also. 😀 And I’m happy to include you. There are so many ways that we can look out for other people!
PENNY PENNY PENNY HAVE YOU HEARD CHILDREN SINGING “Kindness is a muscle”??????
This is what your post reminds me of in prose. Love.
Yes, yes, yes. You were actually a big reason we started donating more than the odd $100 or so a year and opened a Donor Advised Fund. Keep talking ^_^
Also, big fan of Give Well https://www.givewell.org/
I’m clicking over to them now.
And Felicity, this comment MEANS THE WORLD TO ME.
Wonderful post, Penny. Thanks to your posts on giving as well as some others I’ve read, I realized we hadn’t upped our giving game in quite awhile and it is time to fix that. We made a number of donations today (all of them matched…yay!) and planned more for next month. Volunteering is important too, and although I’m not up for it physically, Suzanne volunteers at the local food bank every week, and gives blood when she’s able. We’ll try to keep exercising that giving muscle!
I like to try to find local charities to give to as well as national. My local favorite right now is the community medical fund that helps people who cannot afford medical treatment. I also give to the local women’s shelter and food bank.
I also found a national dental charity that helps women who’ve been badly abused get major dental care (can you imagine not being able to afford this and having to look in the mirror every day?!?! My god!). I also give to the Shriner’s every year in my uncle’s name. He had polio and was in a Shriner’s hospital for a couple years. My grandparents would never have been able to afford the care he needed.
Giving now is so important because there are problems now. At this point, I prefer to mainly help individuals because folks in my community are struggling to access basic needs (flu shot) and if I can just give them the $$$, our community is stronger and has a chance to grow more.