Whether you’ve got a few dollars or a lot more than that to give to charity this holiday season, give wisely.
You can find plenty of big-dollar giving strategies through your financial advisor or by working with the well-respected people at the Cleveland Foundation or Akron Community Foundation. But what about individual charities?
A smart idea is to start close to home with organizations you’re familiar with. Your local food cupboard, church, and community groups are a good jumping-off point for charitable giving. These grassroots organizations are run by your friends and neighbors, almost always on shoestring budgets, and take care of the neediest people right in our own backyards.
One suggestion: Call your local school and ask if there are ways to donate to kids in need. I found out recently that in a nearby school district, a teacher and parents are paying for after-school snacks slipped into children’s lockers so they’d have something to eat when they got home. A donation to them would make a big difference.
We tend to give to causes that are special to us: animals, children, older adults, literacy, food banks and more. If you’re not familiar with a specific charity and how it spends its money, there are a few simple ways to check, in addition to making a phone call to someone there and asking questions.
One source is Charity Navigator, which offers an easy-to-follow, unbiased assessment of how charities spend their money. Other good resources are CharityWatch and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance.
