Giving Back: Menu for charitable giving in 2018: Budget, make your plan, think results

If you’re like me, you tend to gravitate toward the same meal when you eat at a familiar restaurant. Your choice may not be the most extraordinary dinner, but you are accustomed to it, it’s the right price and you know what to expect.

By the way, it’s easy because it is right in front of you on the menu.

Similarly, too many of us settle into customary patterns of charitable giving without realizing the choices we have — choices that could make a bigger difference for the people we want to help, stimulate new possibilities for our community, or resonate more with our true passions. It may be the overwhelming nature of these choices that drives us to keep doing what is most familiar to us.

This is why spending just a little time at the beginning of the year to plan your charitable giving is such a good idea.

Consider a budget for your giving

There truly are only three things you can do with your money: Spend it, save it or give it away. Most of us are fortunate enough to have some resources available for charitable donations. Whether you have $20 each month or $1,000,000 every year, taking time to commit to the minimum amount you plan to give will help you.

Frankly speaking, many donors believe the size of the donations they can afford to make will never be enough to make a true difference. This is never the case. All charitable giving has value, but to make it count the most for you, start getting really clear about what your goal is for charitable spending.

Make your plan

Once you have a personal vision of how much you plan to give, start looking at what is most important to you and budget for each “bucket” accordingly. Consider specific organizations that you like to support with annual gifts each year. Now think about what change you most want to impact in our community. If you don’t know of an effective organization that tackles this issue, give Manatee Community Foundation a call, and we can help you discover one.

Don’t forget to budget for those unexpected “asks” that are so persuasive from friends and colleagues who are on a mission to raise money for their favorite organizations. If emergency needs like wildfires in California or flooding in our own community are important to you, make space in your budget for potential disaster giving.

Remember that if you include attending a gala in your charitable budget, it’s common for less than half of your ticket to actually support the organization after expenses such as food and entertainment have been paid. And if you’re a business owner, consider the causes that reflect your business values and the type of work you do. That makes a more sound and harmonious marketing appeal for your customers.

Ask about results

Before you make a gift — and it doesn’t matter the size — ask how many people being served are making gains because of the nonprofit organization’s programs, not simply how many people are being served. In Manatee Community Foundation’s new grant application, virtually every question is based on achievement and results. (Why give if the return on our investment isn’t a true gain for the people we’re supposed to be helping, right?)

Unless you have all of the money in the world at your disposal, I’d imagine you’re in the same situation every foundation and every donor is in. We can’t order everything on the menu. We have to make tough choices about how we want to contribute to positive changes with our giving. If we have our eyes open and spend a little time on it, we may just make a greater impact with the dollars we have available to give.

Be proactive instead of waiting for the inevitable asks that will bombard you throughout the year. That’s my challenge to you in the New Year. Go for it! And feel free to reach out to my team at Manatee Community Foundation if we can help. We partner with people like you to strengthen and enhance our community through philanthropy, education and service — now and forever.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Giving Back: Menu for charitable giving in 2018: Budget, make your plan, think results."