• Cashless Philanthropy(Charitable Series, Pt.1)

    Posted on October 15th, 2008 Saver Queen 3 comments

    On Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s blog today, she posted a very interesting article on tithing, called “Giving a Part of What You Have.” In the article, Gail argues that even if tithing is important to your religious beliefs, you should put it aside temporarily if you are drowning in debt.  Gail’s point is that when you make charitable contributions on credit, the money is not really yours to give.  Instead, she encourages financial responsibility to begin with.  If giving is important to you, make sacrifices; don’t just rely on credit.

    To give with real spirit, as opposed to by rote or by rule, is to take what you HAVE and give a little to someone else. It is about prioritizing the needs of others over our own wants. It requires thinking about how you will spend your money so that you can also afford to give some of that money in support of your beliefs.

    If you can’t afford to live within your means, you aren’t demonstrating responsible living, and you don’t have to right to salve your conscience by tithing. The fact is, only solvent people have the right to tithe, and if you don’t have your crap together yet, you shouldn’t be doing it.

    In response, I thought I would post a few suggestions of how to continue to give philanthropically while on a budget, through cashless gifts.  If you are on a strict debt diet but still want to give back, here are some suggestions on how to make an impact.

    1. Volunteer – but be creative! You may have more skills than you realize! Charities will appreciate it if you go to them with something specific in mind, especially if it requires minimal supervision on their part. For example, my sister and I once put together an original workshop for an at-risk youth group, encouraging the children to dream of a world without drugs, by building a collage.  Using symbolic representation through words and pictures in old cut-up magazines, the kids put together an outstanding, inspirational piece of art.  Volunteering does double duty – it helps you remember what you have.

    2. Give away your “stuff.”  Do you own anything that you’re no longer using but might be useful to someone else? You can give to a thrift store, but you can also directly contact an organization you wish to serve, such as The Redwood,  St.Christopher House or St. Joseph’s Residence, where your item can go directly towards helping someone. 

    Kitten blankets for the THS

    3. Give homemade gifts. For example, some women recently knitted warm blankets for cats at the Toronto Humane Society. If your gift has a cash value – for example, you are a professional quilter or artist – then you may get a tax-receipt for the cash value of your “in kind” gift.

    4. Make a Planned Gift (such as a Residual Gift in your Will). This might seem irrelevant and too far away to have an impact, but it will give you the time to accumulate assets and it will make a big difference to the charity when the gift is finally made. These gifts are the lifeblood of many charities.  Most people don’t realize that even if they are liquid poor, they may have assets that can make a big difference to a charity after they pass away.  In my line of work, I see the impact of these gifts every single day.

    5. Life insurance and Securities – two other tax-efficient ways of giving that don’t delete your cash flow.  I will post more on these options soon in a post dedicated to tax-efficient giving in my Charitable Series.

    Blogs, Crafts / DIY, Philanthropy
     

    3 responses to “Cashless Philanthropy(Charitable Series, Pt.1)”

    1. Andrea Fordham November 13th, 2008 at 12:53

      I believe in giving back and have volunteered my time for numerous events. I am an Este’ Lauder shopper and if there is a bonus to be had I am there. Even though I don’t use all the products in the bonus I am still there because its FREE!!! Free of course with the purchase of the makeup. Well I use that anyway and so I have given these bonuses to family, friends, nurses in the hospital, etc. My most recent idea, which I did follow through on was to sort everything. While I was out shopping one day I noticed that La Senza had a huge deal on. 10 Victoria Secret Body Products for $25.00. These items retailed for $9.99 each but they were offering 15 items for $25.00. I couldn’t believe it. Even the Body Butter. Who doesn’t love that. That was just over $1.66 each. OMG what could I do with that deal. I certainly didn’t need all that body butter myself. I then remembered that I had a large quantity of cosmetic bags which all this free makeup came in. I called the Women’s Shelter that I periodically drove by and asked how many women were using the facility at the time. There was between 30 and 35. I counted my makeup bags. 40…Perfect! I went through all the free items in the 40 bags that I have never used, lipstick, blushes, eye cream, etc. I had enough sitting in my drawer to fill all 40 bags with an assortment of 4 products each. Then, I decided to purchase these body butters. 40 of them. A bit of expense but to make 40 women feel good about themselves during an otherwise dreadful experience of being in a women’s shelter…that would be priceless. I then went to the Dollar Store to purchase 40 little white cloths as a bit of filler in the bags. No expense hardly at all there. With the help of my son and his friend, they divided the products equally, stuffed the cosmetic bags, some large some small, we bagged them up and dropped them off at the shelter. We obviously weren’t allowed inside to hand them out personally, only drop them in the cart outside the locked door. That didn’t matter. We didn’t need the validation of our good deed. It just felt good to do that and after all that is what giving is all about. Put yourself in there shoes. Can you imagine how you would feel if you lived in a Women’s Shelter and someone came to your room and handed you a makeup bag with Body Butter, lipstick, blush, a cloth and some lotion??? Priceless!!!

    2. Saver Queen November 13th, 2008 at 13:01

      Awesome idea! I love that!! And I love that it’s making use of what you have and other freebies and deals. So creative. And beauty products are normally so expensive and therefore probably otherwise unattainable to the women in the shelter. Good one!

    3. Saver Queen » Blog Archive » Giving back wisely December 6th, 2008 at 02:41

      [...] have posted before about cashless alternatives to philanthropy. (I love those kitten blankets!) But unrestricted cash donations are also mutually beneficial [...]

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