Creating ongoing, consistent philanthropy in your daily life takes only a little bit of planning and a lot of love. Last week we talked about Three Rules for Consistent Philanthropy.
Here are a few more “rules” to incorporate giving into your daily life:
Rule #4 for consistent philanthropy: Micro-giving
We did a math equation last week to figure out how to give roughly 7% of your dispensable income to philanthropy. If you’re not comfortable with a recurring weekly or monthly amount, but you do like the idea of giving in small doses and to one consistent charity, perhaps a website like Kiva.org or Accion.org is for you. This is coordinated by the same charity, but allows you to support different causes (like female entrepreneurs in one part of the world and children’s school expenses in another) for any amount that you can give at that time. The money goes to fund a small loan for the individual recipient and the best part is that it’s then paid back, making it possible to continue giving over and over again with the same initial capital. Talk about making your $25 go a long way!
Rule #5 for consistent philanthropy: There’s an app for that
Oh yes, we said it! There’s an app for everything these days, but these apps are particularly powerful because they can enhance your giving structure to the point where you don’t even realize you’re doing it. Except of course, when year end comes and you have a tax receipt in hand.
- http://www.instead.com – An app with fun micro-donations based on the comparison of things that you can do instead – like brew a coffee each day instead of purchase one.
- http://www.charitymiles.org – One of the most trusted ways to earn money for your favourite charity while simply walking your dog or training for an event.
- http://www.thebudge.com – For those of you that are the betting kind, this is the perfect app. Challenge your friends on anything and the one that loses donates money to a charity of your choice.
- http://tangotab.com – Tango Tab provides a meal to a local person in need everytime you use one of their deals.
- http://www.charitywater.org/blog/get-water-game – Get Water! for India is a great app game that is used to educate on the world water crisis while having fun and donating money via in-app purchases.
Rule #6 for consistent philanthropy: Shopping for Good
If you’re like me, you like shopping online. There is something about the process of researching, finding something you really like, and doing virtually nothing except entering credit card information to happily receive a package in the mail days later! It’s one of the little joys of our new online-based world. But wouldn’t it be great if we could turn that into something beneficial for the world?
You shop and Amazon gives! Customers who buy through the site get 0.5% of their purchases donated to a 501(c) charity of their choice. There are nearly a million options to choose from, including the ASPCA and the Wounded Warrior Project.
An online retailer for survivor-made goods, To the Market promotes and connects consumers with existing cooperatives to sustain and grow their businesses. This helps vulnerable woman artisans become economically empowered, in turn empowering their communities.
With iGive you get to choose your cause and then use the iGive button to shop at 1700+ stores online, and the stores donate money to your cause.
You can donate to today’s cause as well as shopping a wide variety of products online to create social impact.
TOMS Marketplace is from the people behind TOMS shoes, a company known for donating a pair of shoes for every pair sold.