I have always tried to support as many charities as possible, there are a lot of problems in the World that I would like to help with and unfortunately it is simply impossible to help them all. One method that I have adopted in the past is to decide on one charity each year which I would donate to on a monthly basis. Throughout the years I have supported Amnesty International, Oxfam, Greenpeace SCOAN (Synagogue Church of All Nations) and many local charities too and each year I find myself with the same dilemma, who to donate to. If you are in the same boat as me then I wanted to share my ways of deciding on which charity to give to and maybe it can help you with your decision.
Which Strikes a Chord
The first thing to look at is which charities are doing work in areas that strike a chord with you, for example, if you have a family member who is suffering with cancer then you may find that a cancer research charity is a great idea. If you have recently travelled and witnessed poverty first hand then you may wish to support a charity which deals head don with poverty. The point is to chose something that you not only care about, but something which is close to your heart.
Who Needs it Most
there is a case that can be made that every charity needs money as much as the next one but in truth there are some charities who need your money more than others. For example, a charity like Oxfam can of course do even more good with an additional donation from you but their efforts will not live and die based on your decision as they have worldwide appeal and rarely struggle for donations. There are charities out there however who are trying to work hard to achieve their goals and are having to scrape the barrel for donations. If you find a charity that is close to your heart and it is one which desperately needs support then they would be the smart decision in terms of where to donate your money.
Results
You want to ensure that you are donating to a charity that can get results and that will spend your money in the right way to fix or at least help the issue that it is working towards. Once you have decided on a few charities you should give them a call and ask for information packets, these will tell you exactly where your money will end up and what it will help to achieve. It is always nice to see exactly where your money is going and also to donate to a charity who will keep you updated on what they are doing with your cash.
You don’t need to pick just one charity, you can split your donation money up across two or three different organizations if you are still struggling to decide.