Donating time to charity is nothing at all like putting aside 20% of your work time for administrative tasks. You do administrative tasks at work because you *need* to. You wouldn’t put any time at all towards it if it wasn’t necessary. You donate time to charity because you *want* to. Trying to find time for all the things you want to do is a completely different problem than forcing yourself to make time for all the things you have to do.

Be careful when making donations. Make sure the funds are being used for what you intended.

I have had the privilege to work virtually with many NGO’s around the world assisting them with satellite phones. Whenever someone tells me about a charity I refer that person to http://www.charitynavigator.org. One charity called Medical Teams International, http://www.medicalteams.org only has an overhead of 3.4%. Very frugal charities are out there.

If your friend has a particular interest then perhaps she can volunteer for a group that helps multiple charities. The group I volunteer with called http://www.humaninet.org has helped over 100 NGO’s in 40 countries. Fortunately when I volunteer with this type of organization I feel I am able to help out lots of very wonderful causes at the same time. I applaud your friend and her desire to volunteer as there are many wonderful fiscally frugal organizations that assist people with sanitation, clean water, energy, healthcare, technology, micro credit and other causes in the United States and around the world.

Martha, you’re right; giving to one charity seems to trigger an influx of mail from other charities. I wonder if there’s any way to prevent that or request that your whole donation go to a particular program or something?

To Martha, yes we will mail to people who have donated (and I know some org’s are particularly pushy), but even if I mail 8 times a year to a donor, I’m likely only spending about $2.00 on them. Each mail piece costs mere cents to produce and mail at non-profit rates. You can always ask an organization what percent of your gift goes directly to the programs and what is spent on admin costs. Of course, keep in mind that it costs money to raise money! Just like any business expense.

What 1 or 2 charitable organizations would I want my friends and family to donate to in my memory/honor if I were to die? I know that might sound totally weird, but it forces me to REALLY consider what charities deeply touch my heart. There are so many amazing charities that do wonderful things and in this economy they are more desperate than ever for help – money, time and effort – so I use my theory above to help me concentrate my efforts and $$ on a select few.

Erin – I love your last paragraph in your article. That’s a great way to unclutter your mind and heart. I encourage my son to live by that motto, too!

The problem for many of us is that we aren’t sure what our priorities are…

Michele

If you’re not a naturally self analytical type of personality, though, you can do good simply by picking a worthy cause by any means:
Give of yourself to a cause that your best friend supports.
Give to a cause that has helped you or a family member.
Give to a cause that doesn’t annoy you with fundraising efforts. I don’t like being solicited over the phone, and won’t give to groups who do that.

Any reasonable method to unparalyze yourself is a good one. To slightly reframe Barbara’s last comment, I say focus on what you can do and not what you can’t.