Advice on Becoming a Better Philanthropic Donor
When it comes to creating an impact and lasting change as a philanthropist, generosity and benevolent intentions are only the tip of charitable endeavors. Even if you’ve done ample research into your specific cause, there are several ways that you can make your donations go further and touch more lives.
If you’re looking for ways to become a better philanthropic donor and make the most of your charitable efforts, be sure to approach your next project from a fresh perspective and take these bits of advice to heart.
Concentrate Your Efforts
It’s easy to get caught up in the spirit of philanthropy and feel the need to contribute everywhere you can. While donating to multiple causes to expand your reach is dripping in good intentions, those intentions may fall short if you’ve spread yourself too thin.
Selecting a specific organization or cause to focus on at any given time is a great strategy and allows you to offer more of your time, energy and funds to make the greatest possible impact. There’s nothing wrong with donating your resources to more than one project, but ensure you’re not compromising quality over quantity.
Stay for the Long Haul
Dedicating yourself to multi-year gifts or pledging your loyalty as a longtime supporter of a cause is a great way to make a sustainable and deeply felt impact. Many non-profit organizations struggle to retain valuable donors year after year and, therefore, cannot deliver consistent or powerful results.
When you commit to becoming a repeated donor to an organization, you give that group the ability to carry out ongoing efforts that make a significant difference over time.
Join Forces
Teaming up with fellow philanthropists, or even joining giving circles or groups, can help drive the possible support for a cause you care about. By combining efforts with other donors, the amount of funding, awareness and effort that goes into a project amplifies and intensifies.
You can even start small with this step by encouraging friends, family members and colleagues to band together and help you support a small community effort close to you.
Be Flexible
Sometimes, it’s best to loosen up the reins and choose to give unrestricted gifts rather than specifying the intended use for your donations. While it’s perfectly normal to want a say in where your valuable contributions are used, it can sometimes be most helpful to give the controls over to a person or group that knows their stuff.
Entrusting the leaders of your chosen organization, and even community members, to distribute funds most efficiently will help ensure they’re being used where they are most needed. Charities can use your gifts on their most critical issues, making a more deeply felt impact on your cause.
Be Selective
More than anything, choosing the right charity or organization to work with is critical to the success of your efforts. When you identify a cause you’d like to support, be sure to conduct careful, thorough research and select the one that feels like the best fit for the amount of time, effort and funding you can provide.
It’s okay to turn away unsolicited requests for support, particularly if you don’t feel a strong connection to the cause behind it. Choosing projects close to you will help you invest as much as possible into your actions and efforts.
Overall, choosing your partners and causes carefully, in a way that allows you to invest wholeheartedly, will help you make the most impact. Once you’re in the right place, trust the capabilities of the leaders who are ready to make a difference. Sometimes, the greatest difference you can make is a deeply felt, absolute commitment to making a change that you uphold over time.