Ask Lemmy

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.

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.

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.

4$ a month to wikipedia. It's the most valuable thing the internet has spawned hands down

We allocate money for the kids to donate to charity. Some loose rules around what does and doesn't count but generally the kids get to decide.

Not technically charity but I've made a push to support OSS and other small-tech projects this past year. Regular contributions of a few dollars a month each to things like the maintainer of my linux distro and the guy that makes Kodi plugins I use, and pushing to financially support commecial OSS such as Proton Mail and Bitwarden. I'm just realising I don't actually have a list, I should probably work out exactly where my money is going.

I donate to food banks and educational charities. I grew up with little and now I'm better off thanks to charities and scholarships that supported me, and I want future generations to be given the same chances I was.

Kinda, I go overboard on tips, I cover night out bills for friends, I round up on receipts, biggest charitable act I participate in is helping my dad out with an org his church is a part of (normal "doing the good works" kind of church that doesn't do weirdo evangelical shit), and recently supporting the org my GF works for because I like bein' a cheerleader for the schtuff she gets excited about :3.

Yeah and my rationale for deciding how much is a little involved... Essentially, carbon offset markets are either straight up scams or over hyping the impact. Instead I donate directly to charities doing good work related to the environment or the fall out from the climate crisis. The U.S. EPA estimates that each metric ton of CO2 emitted costs society and the environment around $200 in damage from things like natural disasters, civil unrest from displacement, extinction of species, etc. the average US household emits about 17 MT/year.

So around tax return season I go to FootprintCalculator.org and estimate how many MT of CO2 our household emitted the year prior. Then I set monthly recurring donations to the charities to roughly equal the amount of $200 times MT spread across the year. So it's fairly automated/low effort, and just comes out a little bit each month.

The types of charities vary, but they're all doing incredible work, here's some of them:

Coalition for Rainforest Nations (the operate globally with indigenous and local communities to do everything possible to protect rainforests and reforest areas. The donations really stretch far because they predominantly work in low income areas)

ProPublica (no paywall investigative news organization that has really hard hitting reporting that holds polluters accountable by government agencies)

Lahaina Community Land Trust (supporting Native Hawaiian victims of the Lahaina fire and trying to prevent their land from being bought up by private equity and billionaires)

World Wildlife Foundation (great work with preserving biodiversity and raising awareness of nature with the public. It's hard to care about something if you don't know about it)

Union of Concerned Scientists (political advocacy org)

Local food bank, urban green space advocates, and housing support orgs (the most vulnerable people in our communities experience extreme weather much differently than those of us with AC and a solid roof)

Also agree with the other commenter about giving time

I had some good fortune and more money than I was used to a while back. I tried to help good causes when they presented themselves, as my way of paying it forward.

Nowadays, things are a bit more tight. I'm asking homeless people for change. Ok, not that bad, but it's definitely not my time to share.

I try to donate a few bucks to FSF, GNU and Linux every year. Sometimes other projects as well. I don't work, so I can't do monthly donations.

My wife and I contribute to a few local organizations on a regular basis. They all offer donations on their websites. There's a clinic we donate to. The shelters where we got our cats get regular small donations. We also donate to the local food panty plus warming centers in the winter.

We also exchange donations in lieu of gifts with our parents at the holidays. We're all in positions where we don't need more stuff, and it's a nice way to still exchange something. My mom encourages donations to the rescue where she got her dog. I ask that she makes a donation to an organization that maintains and protects a local river basin.

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.

Lots of wealth hoarders are donating money to avoid taxes. A lot of charities profit from this and aren’t actual charities and it’s all down to syntax of what a charity is.

And supermarkets that ask you to donate is for their own PR(and why should a money monger benefit from anyone else’s good deed when they have plenty to donate or even pay their staff a living wage instead?)

So much of life is a layered lie and a scam.

Just save up your loose change and give it to someone outside the liquor store. At least then you know where the money is going. And it’s possibly the more ethical option.

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.

I used to but I don't anymore. I can't afford to give money away when I can't even pay for my own bills.

I don't donate money because over half of my paycheck is already deducted from my pay. Germany does already a lot of welfare in my name and I'm proud of this and okay with this.

Also I'm aware of issues donations can cause, like material ones for instance, that can disrupt the economy of a poor country and prevent them from growing their own, so I don't do that either.

I also believe it's not good to keep another country depending on donations, because in the long run it will create more suffering when the donations can't keep up. It's a bit difficult to explain as a lot of processes interconnect here and it sounds heartless without explaining it in detail. Let's say there are a lot of exceptions to the last part, as for instance a country currently at war should get as much donations a possible. However I personally also draw the line on countries who are at war constantly, as they seam to lack interest in stopping blood for blood conflicts and I'd rather not get involved into this, as it's hard to tell who's the good guys.

I thought about donating to local pet shelters and I might do that in the future, because they have a lot of pets suffering and not receive enough money to properly care for them. On the other hand I eat meat and where's the differences between a dog or a cow? It almost feels hypocrite to eat one and trying to save the other. So probably reducing meat consumption is the best I could do. Much better than donations.

I accepted that I'm a human with needs and wants and therefore also egoism, else I'd donate all my money, as there's always someone who's life is worse than mine. But I don't do that.

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 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.

Yes, mostly to research charities.

• Planned Parenthood - Gave my wife quality routine medical care when were broke.
• Pfblocker - fuck ads
• Physics Girl - I gave hospice care to my Dad for a couple months. That was literally the hardest most painful experience of my life. I can't imagine surviving giving full time care to someone for years like her husband has. Me chipping in a couple bucks every month might help reduce money stress in a small way.
• Harris campaign - I would like Democracy to continue and the opposition seems directly against that happening.

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.

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.

When I had a job I donated around €1500 to opensource software projects. For non opensource programs I paid exactly €7.

No, because I'm selfish. I plan to retire early so I live frugally and invest all my savings.

We are members of a few charitable organizations, and we have subscribed to a charity lottery (we have a chance to win something, but we are absolute OK with not winning, too, as we know where the money is going to)

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).

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.

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.

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(c)(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.

I donate regularly to a group which focuses on lobbying for progressive reform in the state, largely focused on improving healthcare access and outcomes. I donate occasionally to a local group which fights homelessness.

I donate because it's important to me, the first group has a good track record, and I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it.