I’ve given money to both charities and people. Here’s the thing about donating, though: you’ll get on all sorts of mailing lists and shit, and you’ll get lots more begging letters, emails, phone calls and texts. You know those PBS/NPR donation drives, where they’re like “We just need ten more donors this hour, it doesn’t matter how much!” or those charities that send you pre-printed labels and say “Hey, just send us five bucks, that’s all we need”? Yeah, they’re harvesting your information. If you even send them a penny, they’ll be back for more, and they’ll sell or trade your information to other charities.

I give money to our local volunteer fire/ems department every year, but I don’t use their pre-printed mailer; I hand them cash when Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny come through on their trucks. I have one of those pre-paid Visa gift cards that aren’t tied to an actual person; if I do an online donation, I’ll use that and give them fake information. The money is legit, the information is good enough to pass, but they can’t come harass me for more.

This includes all donations, by the way - political, religious, civic, charity, social, whatever. Do it in cash or by an anonymous Visa gift card.

I started donating last year, 2 years into my first job. I was unsure then because my impression of charities was that the money probably doesnt go where they are saying, or just a small portion does.

Then I stumbled upon the GiveWell( https://givewell.org ) foundation. Their goal is to identify the most efficient charities using a range of criteria. I decided to start with 100€/month distributed 50/50 to fighting poverty and climate change respectively. I also decided that for every raise I get at my job Id raise the amount by 100€ and have done so once by now. I read that its easier to part with future money than with what you already own and it makes a lot of sense.

Just feel it should be pointed out that money isn’t the only way to contribute. Time is another. Volunteer hours are important for many charitable organizations too.

I donate small amounts to open source projects and content creators that .make stuff for everyone because I really believe it’s a great way of fighting capitalism and many of the problems it’s caused.

No, but I donate time and sometimes items. I’ve seen how wasteful so many “charities” are. When less than half of what is donated actually goes to the end user that’s a problem. So I donate things that have to go to the end user, or at the very least in support of the end user.

I used to but I’m really over spam.

For example I considered donating to a political campaign this year but those are the worst for not leaving you alone. When they wanted my phone, email, and employer, I was out

I donate to quite a few people close to me, as many are much worse off than my family and I are. I help them with projects, car repairs, house repairs, and dinners when things are tight. They never ask, I offer, and they’ll accept maybe 50% of the time. I keep good company.

I’ve also put a few hundred dollars this one election cycle towards a few select political campaigns I care about, especially now that I’m in a good paying job. Not something i’ve done before, and it’s not much but enough to at least feel like I’m helping get rid of fascists.

If you can, donate to your LOCAL non-profits or the local branches of larger non-profits. Get to know the people in those organizations (volunteer, visit organization open houses/orientations, go to a hosted event) and you’ll feel a lot better about where your dollars are going.

I used to be on the board of a local domestic abuse shelter and now I’m on the board of a local food pantry. Both are amazing organizations, both have incredibly passionate people working for them, and the board is filled with mostly normal working people who have or want to have good community connections.

My partner has a little with big brothers big sisters and that turned into a board position for him because he was super enthusiastic and active. That’s a bigger organization but his contributions are at the local level and we’ve gotten to know the local “ceo” as well.

Also, 501©(3) orgs must publicly list their tax returns and you can find out the salaries of the executives on those tax returns. So even tho in my experience, the executives of the orgs at the local levels earn every damn penny (and it’s def not enuf) you can also find that info out for yourself. But please remember that if a non profit doesn’t have an excellent, passionate and well paid staff, they will NOT be able to get the donations and funding they need to fulfill their actual purpose. I’m talking specifically about local orgs tho, some of those giant orgs with executives making millions definitely should take a closer look at their priorities.

And finally…if you can’t donate money of course there is always volunteering but there is ALSO serving on a board. Every non-profit ive been involved with has had problems filling their board seats with active, enthusiastic individuals. Sometimes there are monetary asks of board members but no one is going to kick you out if you truly only have time and no money. And if u experience that, find a better board, they are out there and they are working really really hard to make things better.

Yep donate to a lot, but I make sure it’s out of my planned donation budget or out of my (set amount) “feel like it” budget categories. I consider patreoning creators / journalists / FOSS seperate from charity, but I try to pay a fair subscription amount I’d give to paywalled stuff. Political donations I do occasionally as well but that too is not charity.

CharityNavigator is important to vet charities, and a good starting place to look for charities in causes you care about.

I try to focus 50/50 on local vs international stuff, which amounts to 10/90% impacts due to wealth discrepancies. I donate typically to organizations doing the work, but also do a smaller amount to UnitedWay (which if you are too tired, stressed, or distracted to do charity research is worth the lost efficiency as they do a lot of charity vetting for you).

I don’t donate monetarily to strangers on the street, but I do donate (time and money) to shelters and assistance programs who can bring a lot more aid per dollar than I can.

If you work for a corp, be sure to check if they have a matching program, you can double your impact.

I highly recommend using a email alias provider as you’ll get a lot of spam. I block most charity calls/text attempts to my phone number if they get it (I don’t understand how that is effective at all, but they all seem to do it).

Yes and no.

I feel it is important for the human condition - it’s also a part of my faith system but entirely separately from that it also seems to me to lead to the most “zen”, as in if we only focus on ourselves that seems like the fastest way to unhappiness? (Is Jeff Bezos happy? Is Elon Musk? Is Steve Huffman? money flows like a river and if it only comes in but never is given away then that leads to imbalance)

But so very many organized charities have been revealed to be frauds that I am extremely wary of giving to one that I had not vetted, especially one associated with organized religion. But that requires so very much effort… still it’s part of it and connects you to it.:-)

One thing I love to do is tip. I’m in America btw, so it’s an important part of what they need, and these are people who are WORKING for it - like, they aren’t just street beggers (although I’ve given to them too - I usually have quite mixed feelings about that one though, and tend to not). Especially if I’m ever in a southern state - 10-20% just barely does anything for a $6 meal at a Waffle House, so those rules should not apply. According to my way of thinking, it is just part of the cost of the service - like I could go to a grocery store and make my own food, but if I to “out” to eat then I want to do what I can to counteract the evil fuckwads who decided that $2.25 an hour or whatever it is before tips are counted towards their paycheck (so not minimum wage + tips but that amount instead).

And as others are also saying, don’t neglect the non-financial ways of “giving” as well - something as simple as offering to flip a mattress for an old person or trim someone’s yard for someone dealing with an injury, which may be trivial for one but exceedingly difficult for another.

Also compliments. I’m not good at this and virtually never do it actually - but it might just be more important than anything else you could do for someone, e.g. could you prevent someone’s suicide just by offering such a simple gesture of support? (possibly not entirely intentional too, like a fentanyl overdose) Maybe I’m being too naive here and inflating the power of such… or maybe I’m still underselling the importance here?

Anyway it’s more about you than it is them - who do you want to be, someone who takes takes takes or someone who gives gives gives? Like when someone sees you walking into the room, do you want them to cover up their wallet/purse or beam with an authentic smile?

But don’t be stupid about it. If you give away your paycheck and then cannot pay rent, then you’ll be the one needing help. Therefore, treat financial “giving” like any other budgeted amount - not a “I feel like it today so here’s a good tip”, and more of a “every single time I go out, this is what I expect to offer” (and if service is poor so you feel that you can’t give it to them, then find someone else to offer it to?). The vast majority of us really need so much less than consumer culture says that we do - and I for one find chasing the monetized dream to be a futile endeavor, but giving is one of the most sure-fire ways to produce, if not “happiness” (not every time) then at least a settledness/peace overall.

Dare to be different, especially if you know that you are doing a right thing, and “remember the human” very much seems to be that, for me.

I started donating to the local animal rescue. None of them get any public funding whatsoever, so all the money is going to the animals’ care.

They’re pretty open with what it costs to take care of the various animals, and I feel it’s a critical job they do.

Haven’t gotten any spam so far either, so that is respectful.

Yes. I donate to various open source projects (e.g., KDE, Sunshine, Dark Reader), the conservation fund, the ACLU, and the EFF.

As for how, I try to do it via their preferred platform on an annual basis instead of monthly (if possible) to minimize fees.

Why? I believe charity is a path towards shaping the world for the better (and I can afford to). Rule #1: take care of yourself before taking care of others.

Yup. Be aware that if you do donate money you’ll get bombarded with snail mail, email, texts, and phone calls for the rest of your days. I don’t say this to discourage anyone from being charitable. Just be ready for that. Politicians are the most aggressive about it.

I have a few times but I’d rather donate my time.

I’ve been known to cook at community events and sort electronic donations at charities.

Yes, mostly to research charities.