Give How? – Giving U™
I have clear favorites in how I like to give, including group giving, donations as a percentage of income, and attributed gifts.
Give Together
Donor circles are a growing trend that enables individuals to ban together to support a shared interest. In fact, this type of giving is a great way to meet like-minded individuals (and is a fantastic alternative to online-dating). A couple of donor circles to check out:
Social Venture Partners: An international network of donor circles for individuals interested in housing, education, and the environment.
CA Women’s Foundation: A state-wide organization supporting women’s and girls’ programs. Their donor circles are geographically located throughout the state and focus on the issues of economic development and justice; race, gender and human rights; and women of color.
Global Fund for Women: A global fund supporting organizations that work on behalf of women and girls internationally. One fantastic aspect of giving to this organization is their “global perspective” and their dedication to addressing issues from an appropriate cultural perspective.
Global Fund for Women – C’mon, check it out!
% Giving
I like a systematic approach to giving. So I’ve set up my company where I give a minimum of 10% of all profits to charitable organizations each year. In general, I like this idea of setting a specific annual giving level as a percentage of income – it’s very clean and automatically accounts for changes in the market and business cycle. I also favor an even 50-50% split between international and domestic giving.
International
I love to give internationally because the need is so great and even a modest donation can make a tremendous impact on people’s lives. I cannot in good conscience continue to travel overseas and not try and help some of the people that I’ve met. smooch
Domestic
I also feel a strong need to support those in our own backyard. The hunger and poverty rates in the U.S. are astonishing (and shameful for such a wealthy country). This is an affirmation of the “giving starts at home!” theme.
No Anonymous Giving
I think it is terribly important to stand behind your charitable gifts and publicly declare your support. And besides, there’s nothing wrong with receiving some well-deserved recognition!
More importantly, I think it is incredibly valuable for women to attach their names to charitable gifts. So many of our schools and arts institutions display the name of men. It can be an extremely powerful statement to put a female name on a bricks and mortar institution. Think of all the little girls you can inspire with a Nancy Cuthbert Memorial Bridge or an Alicia Anderson Public Library!
Read more posts about giving:
Give What? Give Where? Who do I give to?
Who you give to and why — c’mon, share!
Check out these other hot nonprofits:
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 10th, 2009 and is filed under The Giving Guide.