Find Your Charitable Giving Style

Find your philanthropy love language

Part of knowing and loving our grown-up selves is seeing our strengths and rolling with them. It stands to reason that there is more than one way to make something truly our own, and charity is no exception. Maybe not knowing just the right role to play or carrying around a preconceived idea of what good deeds look like has kept you from giving where you can. Not quite at billandmelindagates-level commitment? It’s all good: There’s a do-gooder style, and a place to start, for everyone.

 

The Businessperson.

You would like to go straight to the board room, thank you, and put your mad work skillz to good use. Lucky for the charity of your choice. We have seen many an organization blossom as financial, marketing and strategic planning pros lend their know-how to the cause. While we don’t believe most nonprofits should be run like businesses—with a primary concern unrelated to profits—smoother operations, informed by best practices, do make a difference.

The Doer.

You long for in-the-fray involvement, but your style is more rolling up sleeves than signing checks. Thankfully, the unspoken rule of engagement around giving that once scared qualified board members away is shifting nonprofits toward a better balance between board financial support and on-the-ground grunt work. So make sure you ask what your target organization’s actual policy is, as many now simply ask that you “make us one of your top giving priorities” and start contributing. Still not a match for a board seat? Look into a regular volunteer opportunity to put that worker bee in you to good use at a more grassroots level.

The I-Can’t-Commit.

You know your bandwidth has limits, but you may not realize it’s a-ok not to take on a charitable gig on the regular. In fact, many city cares organizations offer just the flexibility you crave (google city cares and your city for something like this). After a quick orientation, you can choose from any number of organizations and projects in need of a volunteer on a date of your choosing. Find yourself eager to return the following week? By all means—or feel free to walk away. Same goes for annual fundraisers. Once-a-year support is still support, and you stay free as a bird.

The Co-Dependent. 

You have no need to take on a passion project of your own, since you fit the bill as that friend who signs up to walk their fundraising walk, join a race team or simply cheer from the sidelines. We have run marathons and rooted on runners—so we can say without question that both are mission-critical for a great race toward progress.