A Community of Caring

In my personal experience, the most effective way to help a cause that is important to you is by supporting community-based organizations.

If you’re asking yourself why, I’d like to share with you how I came to realize this was a better way for me.

Many years ago, I used to support a few (what I call) “charity corporations”.  We can all probably name one or two of them - they tend to have large advertising budgets so they are seen often in the media, many of them mail out things to donors/potential donors, such as address labels.  I refer to them as corporations because when I read the definition of corporation in the dictionary, I feel much of that criteria is met.  Corporations have hundreds of people working for them as well as supporters and customers.  In the charitable giving world, donations fund the corporation, paying salaries, rent, HR, marketing, etc.  With all that internal financial demand, how does funding from “charity corporations” find its way out of headquarters and into communities?  How does funding the “big picture” of keeping the corporation going help with needs in our communities?  . 

Now, before there is blowback,  just because some charitable organizations fall under my idea of a corporation does not mean they are not doing good work - many of them do.  Even small organizations have general operating expenses and overhead - which is critical and should not necessarily be seen as a negative. 

My personal wake up call:  I was not seeing support from these large organizations come back into my community, even when there were some pretty significant needs.  While I realize when there is much need, those needs have to be triaged and the most serious addressed first, but not once in my years of giving was I seeing an impact where I live. While many national and worldwide organizations do good work on a large scale,  I came to realize I wanted to make a difference in my community, so I made a shift to supporting community based organizations.

I am not against supporting “charity corporations”.  If they speak to your charitable giving philosophy or if there are no community based organizations that focus on the areas that are important to you they should have your support. However, I do hope people will consider working with at least one charitable organization in their community.  I think you will find doing so has an impact where you live, an impact that can be seen by you.

 Finding an organization to support can be tricky, because there can be several organizations in one area that do similar work, good work.  Some ways to help identify a good organization to support is to 1) identify where your interests/passions lie;  2) ask friends and family for suggestions;  3) research organizations you may want to support and 4) contact organizations and speak with them about their work, their impact, to see if it aligns with you.

Identifying what kind of support you want to give an organization is important.  Most people think of support as donations of funds only, but there are so many ways to support an organization.  Knowing what an organization needs as you explore them can help narrow down which organization you choose, how you support them and how much time you want to dedicate (if volunteering).  

Financial support:  If you don’t have the time to volunteer, or prefer providing monetary support, donating funds is a great way to support a charitable organization. They all need financial support to enable their work.

In-kind support: An in-kind donation is a donation of goods or services other than cash contributions.  Do you own a business that can provide an organization with needed supplies?  Do you work in a certain field (accounting, marketing, construction) where your expertise can help an organization? 

Volunteering:  Volunteers are the lifeblood of many organizations.  Some run solely on volunteer power and are always looking for more helping hands  There are many ways volunteers are used - depending on the organization.  

Do you like physical activity?   Organizations sometimes have a need for people to clean, stock shelves, deliver goods, do laundry, walk dogs, take care of horses, to name a few.

Do you like to build or repair things?  Sometimes there is a need for minor repairs to a variety of things.  

Do you sew, knit or crochet?  Certain organizations have a need for blankets, animal bed covers, baby clothes, or need sewing repairs to important items.

Do you bake?  Bake sales are a great fundraiser for organizations or, if you know an organization that is dealing with a large project with lots of volunteers working hard, bake and deliver some treats for them to enjoy. 

Do you like to network with people and can dedicate time to contacting businesses to solicit an in-kind donation or monetary donation?

Are you active on social media and can share posts from the organization on your personal social media pages?  Social media is the way organizations reach people.  The more eyes that see an organization the better.  You could help with that!

Are you well connected in your community and beyond and have an interest in serving as a Board Member?

Try to donate to organizations that are designated as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS - but do keep in mind there are some organizations that do not have a non-profit designation and do wonderful work in the community.  There can be many reasons an organization does not obtain their IRS non-profit status.  If you are considering supporting an organization that does not have this designation, you can reach out and ask why so you can make an informed decision.  For some donors, being able to write off donations is important and for others, writing off a donation is of no concern. 

We can all agree that there are great organizations, large and small, doing good work.  Hopefully this information will give some food for thought or some actionable items for someone looking to support a charitable organization in your community.