As we look back on the past couple of years, now more than ever we are grateful for our health (both physical and mental), our relationships, and the everyday little things that during other times we may have overlooked. The idea of sitting at a cute coffee shop sipping on a latte while so mundane a couple years ago, now sounds immensely luxurious. As we think about everything we’re grateful for, we’ve noticed that it also makes us want to give more, just in time for Giving Tuesday. Turns out, there’s a deep neural connection between gratitude and giving — they share a pathway in the brain — and that when we’re grateful, our brains become more charitable.
We’ve also been thinking about giving a lot more not just as a purely altruistic act. We’ve come to realize that donating is another way to spend money in a way that is aligned with your values. By giving to non-profit or other organizations that are in alignment, you are investing in your community, in society as a whole. Giving to organizations actively working to fight for social justice, that’s an investment in your future. It’s a way to contribute to dismantling white supremacy, to fighting for equality and gender parity, to saving the planet.
We’ve been practicing giving intentionally over the past few years and wanted to share some things that have worked for us and that you may also find helpful.
Set a yearly giving goal. A good place to start is to think about how much you’ve been giving in previous years and set an amount that is reasonable for your financial situation, but still makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. That’s how you know it’s a good challenge ;). Some people find that using a personal benchmark is helpful. So maybe that’s thinking about giving away 1% of your net wealth, or 1% of your yearly expenses, or 1% of your annual salary. When setting a giving goal, be sure to take into account your other financial and life goals as well.
Use the 80/20 rule. Give 80% of your annual giving to planned giving. So this is giving to organizations that you’ve researched and are planning ahead on giving to. These may be automated yearly or monthly gifts. And then save the last 20% of your giving to causes that come up throughout the year such as natural disaster relief, Go Fund Me’s, etc. This way you can ensure that you meet your giving goal while still maintaining room for flexibility.
Create a giving plan. Each year we create an annual giving plan, mapping out where we want to give and how much. Then every month when we check in on our accounts, tally up our income and expenses, and see how we’re doing with our financial, life, and giving goals. Seeing things laid out like this helps us to reach our year-end giving goal and also encourages us to give more. Check out our blog post on how to make your own personal giving plan.
So with today being Giving Tuesday, it’s a great time to start practicing intentionally giving. How do you give? We’d love to hear what works for you.
PS. We’ve been doing a 30 day gratitude challenge that we started on Thanksgiving. Feel free to join in!