What can I do: Give
- Nov 12, 2013
- 3 min read
You probably knew this one was coming, right? So, if you got past the title, well done, please stick with me a little longer. You've probably all heard the statistics about wealth, about how much we, in the developed world have, about how little those in the developing world have. I'm sure you've all seen the appeals:
the ads on TV, the emails.
And I'm sure a lot of you find it pretty easy to ignore.
I'm not going to try to make you feel guilty about that. That's not my goal here. Frankly, if you don't want to give anything, I know that nothing I say will change that. So, I just want to tell you some things about giving, things I've learned.
1. I think one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is
"I'll do it when I have more".
When I'm not a student, when I'm not paying off a loan, when I'm not saving for a house or travel, when I have a better job. But, I can almost guarantee that if you don't start with however little you have, you won't start when you get a bit more, or a bit more, or a bit more. Because when will it be enough?
2. You can't give to everything. There are opportunities to give to orphans, to animals, to earthquake victims, to tsunami survivors, to refugees,to the blind, to hospitals. The options are as numerous as the problems in the world. And maybe that's one of the things that stops you. What should you give to? There's no right answer to that question, just as there's no answer to "how much should I give?" What do you care about? What are the issues that make you angry? What are the things that you want to see gone from the world? If you don't know, start thinking about it - start reading the news articles, start finding out what the issues are. If that doesn't motivate you to give, I don't know what will.
3. Keep your eyes open to what's around you. You might find that there are people in your town, in your neighbourhood, maybe even in your friendship group, that need your financial help. Just because they can't develop big advertising campaigns and may not even ask for help, doesn't mean they don't need it.
I've done a little research and here are some sites worth looking at. There are many, many more, but I don't want to overwhelm you with a million options that you'll never look at, so here are just three sites that are worth a glance.
...this is an American site, but is useful to look at how charities rate in terms of how much donated money goes directly to those who need it, accountability, transparency etc. I just like the thought that giving doesn't have to be blind, that you can know what exactly is happening to your money.
...micro finance is fast becoming recognised as an effective way to give money to people who need it. It usually involves giving small loans to entrepreneurs who don't have access to banking so they can set up their business and lift themselves out of poverty. With Kiva, 100% of the money you donate goes towards the loans, which can be to farmers who need to buy fertiliser or seamstresses to buy a sewing machine or drivers to repair their vehicles.
...World Vision in NZ has a similar programme. You can donate $25 towards a loan, which can get used over and over again. Because it is a loan, once the entrepreneur has made money with their business, they must repay the loan and then your money can be put into the next loan.
There are so many options and really, it's easy.
You can make a difference just sitting in front of your computer.
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