 
You will want to remember your secretary, the postman, and your neighbors, so add them to your list and begin contemplating the perfect present for each. Homemade gifts, ideal to withstand the short trip next door or across the street, are great for neighbors, while the postman might like a small tip. A friend of mine always gives perfume or fine soaps to his secretary, along with a holiday bonus, but that can be odd or dicey — depending on your relationship with your secretary, or your wife’s patience. And, taking the spirit of the season to heart, you may also begin to look forward to your annual charitable donations, weighing which nonprofits you would like to support and how much you want to give. According to Charity Navigator, an organization that reports on and rates major charities, Americans donate more than one hundred billion dollars to charity between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whether you give annually to one charity or you tend to answer the most compelling solicitations crowding your mailbox this time of year, it’s important to donate knowledgeably, aware of where your money is going and how it will be used. A few simple steps can help ensure that your holiday donation is used most effectively. Determine Your Cause and Stick to It Don’t wait for charities to come to you: rather, decide which cause is dearest to your heart and wallet. Too often donors let their emotions guide their giving. Television commercials and mail solicitations can be extremely compelling, but if they drive you to send $1,000 to a charity that spends only $500 of it on the cause, your money was not well spent. Likewise, a drop box at a checkout counter or a manned stand outside a department store may be hard to pass up, but when you drop your cash in these places you forfeit the chance to follow where it goes. By choosing your cause in advance, you will avoid giving impulsively. Do Your Research Once you’ve determined the cause or causes you want to support, identify the charities that target them, and research them. Laurie Styron, an analyst for the American Institute of Philanthropy, another charity watchdog organization that provides comprehensive information on hundreds of charities, cautions against basing decisions on information provided by the charities themselves. “What you need to know is what a charity is accomplishing in relation to the resources it receives,” she says. “One charity may be able to vaccinate fifty children with your $1,000 donation, while another charity may be able to vaccinate a hundred children with the same $1,000.” Both Charity Navigator and the American Institute of Philanthropy are wonderful resources for detailed information on charity earning and spending. Both examine the day-to-day operations and financial health of charities, and their long-term sustainability. Reports on officer and staff earnings as well as charts and graphs detailing how donations are spent can be very informative. Both Charity Navigator and the American Institute of Philanthropy use comprehensive rating systems to dissect charities’ fiscal activities and their efforts to keep donor information private. Those tools should help you narrow your list and identify the charity that will do most good with your money. Concentrate Your Giving Keeping your donations within a few select charities is not only more likely to bring about more change, but will also make you an important donor, thus minimizing the danger that the charities will sell or trade your personal information, says Sandra Minuitti, Charity Navigator’s vice president of marketing. For example, if you would like to devote $1,000 to hunger relief and children’s charities, you will better serve your causes by donating $500 each to two established charities such as America’s Second Harvest and Marine Toys for Tots than by splitting the money among ten soup kitchens and charities. When your giving becomes too diversified, you have a harder time tracking it and it’s less likely to yield the change you intend. Follow Up So you’ve given your gift, and you’re feeling warm and fuzzy. But don’t stop there. Keep a record of your donation, which is best made by check or credit card. Then, wait a few months and call your charity. Ask how your donation was used and what it accomplished. If, at the time of your donation, you were able to specify how you wanted your money used, verify that it was indeed used the way you intended. If a charity is unable or unwilling to answer these questions, next year take your investments elsewhere. A good charity should always be able to track the resources of individual donors and account for the benefits that came from the gifts. Learn More |
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