Does Giving to Charity Make You...

Does Giving to Charity Make You…

Julianne Shenk

JBS Nonprofit Consulting

March 8, 2016

…those are the six words that I typed into Google. I was happily surprised at the list of potential searches:

Does giving to charity make you…

…happier

…happy

…rich

…live longer

…healthier[1]

Rich? It is no secret that I am a “glass half empty” kind of girl, but when I saw the word “RICH” I didn’t think money. I thought, “LIFE”. Giving to charity makes your life rich. So, right there, my whole attitude for the day changed from pessimistic to optimistic. Plus, giving to charity has made my life richer.  (PS…also…odd choice of profession for someone that doesn’t feel that way, am I right?)

[Full disclosure: When I typed those six words into the search bar, I one hundred percent expected the first search result to be tax related. Does giving to charity help me on my taxes? Does giving to charity give me a bigger/better tax deduction?]

[More disclosure…a lot of the messages I get through the blog, website, Facebook and Twitter are to ask me to help start a charity to help get a tax break. I immediately shut those requests down. That is not what charity is or means. That is why I was cynical about the results I would come across when I searched those six words.]

One clarification that I want to make is, giving to charity doesn’t just mean sending money. The “giving” part encompasses so much more. Giving can be monetary (of course), volunteering, supporting, promoting, fundraising…it is a long list. Myself, I think volunteering is the most rewarding, but everyone feels the satisfaction of “giving” different. No one’s method is better or worse than another’s.  

Giving makes you happy. Another search of the Internet will provide you with a plethora of studies relating good health and happiness to charitable giving. A study done in 2009 by members of the Harvard Business School and The University of British Columbia confirmed their hypothesis regarding charitable giving and happiness. [2]  Participants were asked to recall an earlier time (s) when they spent money on others. Researchers were able to observe that the recollections led to an increase in happiness.[3]

Remember when I said that giving money isn’t the only way to give to a charity? Volunteering is giving, too. Again, my personal favorite way of giving. And, by chance, volunteering is also linked to beneficial results.

There is extensive literature that links giving and generosity to better health results, specifically that giving to others reduces the stress and strengthens the immune system, which results in better health as well as a longer life expectancy.[4] In this study, Bariş Yörük goes into great detail about tax subsidies and the effect on good health…but the conclusion is more basic. Giving is good for you and good for your health.

To put into perspective how much research there is on the topic, I have included a sampling of snippets from articles I came across while researching for this blog.

“People who donate money to charity are happier in poor and rich countries alike. You don’t have to have a lot to experience the emotional benefits of giving.”- Elizabeth Dunn[5]

           

“When you are kind to another person, your brain’s pleasure and reward centers light up, as if you were the recipient of the good deed-not the giver, according to research from Emory University.” [6]

Jason Marsh and Jill Suttie composed a list of some of the ways that giving is good for you:

           

1.     Giving makes us happy

2.     Giving is good for our health.

3.     Giving promotes cooperation and social connection.

4.     Giving evokes gratitude.

5.     Giving is contagious.[7]

I encourage you to take a look at this article. It is a great read! Each of the five categories is broken down for you. (See link in footnotes).

My conclusion? Give. Give money, give time, give support. Give. If that isn’t enough to convince you…I will shamelessly list several of my favorite quotes about giving and happiness.

·      It’s not how much we give, but how much we have put into giving. (Mother Teresa)

·      Happiness…consists in giving and in serving others. (Henry Drummond)

·      We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.  (Winston Churchill)

·      Remember that happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more. (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

·       For it is in giving that we receive. (St. Francis of Assisi)

·       Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others. (Brian Tracy)

·       Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. (Khalil Gibran)

·       No one has ever become poor by giving. (Anne Frank)

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[1] Google search of the phrase, “Does giving to charity make you…” March 1, 2016.

[2] Akin, Lara B., Anik, L., Dunn, Elizabeth W., Norton, Michael I. (2009). Feeling Good About Giving: The Benefitd (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior. (Working Paper 10-012). Harvard Business School. Retrieved from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/10-012.pdf

[3] Ibid, 12.

[4] Yörük, Bariş K. (2013). Does Giving to Charity Lead to Better Health? Evidence from Tax Subsidies for Charitable Giving. (Working Paper/

Abstract). University of Albany, SUNY. Retrieved from www.albany.edu/economics/research/workingp/2013/yoruk.pdf

[5] D’urso, Joseph. (2015). Giving to Charity Makes you Happy. www.reuters.com

[6] Cassity, Jessica. The Science of Giving:Why One Act of Kindness is Usually Followed by Another. www.happify.com

[7] Marsh, Jason. and Suttie, Jill. (2010). 5 Ways Giving is Good for You.  http://greatergood.berkeley.edy/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you

Wise Words

Wise Words

2 February 2016

Julianne Shenk

JBS Nonprofit Consulting

I wanted to use this month’s blog to highlight and share with you some of my favorite quotes. Some are directly related to nonprofits and nonprofit work, and others are merely relatable to nonprofits.

Pick your favorite and make it your personal motto, or share with JBS Nonprofit Consulting your favorite quote or motto.

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."  -Muhammad Ali

“Potential supporters [must] not only believe in your mission, but in your capacity to deliver on that mission.”  -Jim Collins

“Volunteers are love in motion!”  - Anonymous

“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man’s power. But to decide to whom to give it and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man’s power nor an easy matter.”  -Aristotle 

“Even the smallest person in the world can change the course of the universe.” -JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) 

“I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.” -Andrew Carnegie 

“Wealth is not to feed our egos, but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves.” -Andrew Carnegie 

“I’ve always respected those who tried to change the world for the better, rather than just complain about it.”
Michael Bloomberg 

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill 

“How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank 

“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” -Albert Einstein 

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” -Albert Einstein 

"If you want to change the world, be that change." -Mohandas Gandhi 

“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” -Hank Rosso

“Helping people doesn’t have to be an unsound financial strategy.” -Melinda Gates 

“It’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.” -Oprah Winfrey 

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” -John F. Kennedy 

“Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.” -John D. Rockefeller 

“I was trained from the beginning to work, to save, and to give.” -John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 

“Donors don’t give to institutions. They invest in ideas and people in whom they believe.” -G.T. Smith

“Carry out random acts of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana of Wales

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” ― Kahlil Gibran

“Give, but give until it hurts.” ― Mother Teresa

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Teresa

“As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.” ― Mary Anne Radmacher

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ― Charles Dickens

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ― Maya Angelou

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” -John Bunyan

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” ― John Holmes

“That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ― Maya Angelou

“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” ― Abraham Lincoln

“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” ― Booker T. Washington

“The most treasured and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy. In the end, the development of such love is the true measure of success in life.” ― Joseph B Wirthlin

“If you’re in the luckiest one percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.” ― Warren Buffett

How to Pick a Charity to Support and That is Right For You

How to Pick a Charity to Support and That is Right For You

Julianne B Shenk

JBS Nonprofit Consulting

2 January 2016

Last month[1] I focused on the question I get asked the most from November through December, “How can I make a year end donation”? This month, January the month of new beginnings, I will answer the question, “How do I pick the right charity to support this year”?

Your best tool, research. Use the Internet. Ask friends and family. Ask your coworkers.  Do your due diligence and research the heck out of where you choose to gift your money and/or your time.

It can be a challenge to select which organization to donate to. When I am asked about specific charities-they are nine times out of ten-one of the popular charities people recognize from television commercials, sporting event sponsorships, cold-call agencies or mail solicitations. Which one of these organizations should you gift your money? NONE of them.  Let me explain…

You should choose the charity that supports causes and missions important to you. Organizations that spend much of their resources on constant fundraising put little of what you donate into “the cause”. Your money goes right back in to the next fundraising campaign. It is a constant cycle. And unfortunately, most of the big charities you see plastered with blatant “donate to us” advertising and marketing operate this way. If you are just looking for somewhere to put money to make yourself feel better and to be able to say, “Well I donated to so-and-so”, then by all means, go for it. But if you are looking for an organization that will help someone or promote a cause important to you and your community, then read on.

STEP ONE:

Think about what is important to you. Do you or a family member or friend suffer from a disease that is plagued by underfunded research? Is there an organization in your community trying to better an underserved group of the residents? Are you or a family member a veteran or currently serving service member in need of some additional support? Do you have a soft spot for injured or abandoned animals?

Decide who/what you want to help. Make a personal connection.

STEP TWO:

Do a little research.[2] Use “the Google”, visit the website of a charity that you are interested in. See what they do, who they serve, where their money goes. Follow the links and read testimonials. It is your money that you worked hard to earn, take the time and learn all you can and then you will feel comfortable in your decision.

Please don’t give blindly to an organization because you have “heard of them”. Ask questions. Ask friends, family, and coworkers. And please, do not give to associations calling you over the phone. Fire, police, and EMS calls are the most popular. A large percentage of the time, these callers say they are calling from a local department, when in actuality they are not. If you want to give to a local rescue/service agency like I listed above, please contact them directly and they will guide you to the proper donation authority. They are good salesman, but be strong and go directly to the source. You will know EXACTLY where your money is going.

STEP THREE:

Details. Details. Details. You may think, “well that SOUNDS like the charity”…stop. Make sure you are gifting to the exact charity that you intend to. Unfortunately, some of the more unscrupulous organizations have figured out that if you adopt a name similar to a well-known charity that the donations will just roll in. Check it out. A few minutes on the computer will let you know if the charity that you are considering is legitimate.

STEP FOUR:

Make sure that you understand and agree with the organization’s values and the work that they do. For example, if you want to support agencies that promote adoption in your community, but you personally do not support inter-faith adoptions, find another agency to support. (I use this example because this exact situation came up in a conversation I had with someone.) In this situation, perhaps work directly with your church[3] and get suggestions for which agency to support.  Again, a little research goes a long way. Ask questions. Don’t be afraid of asking too many questions. Legitimate charities answer your questions and assuage your fears/doubts.

STEP FIVE:

Tax deductible? If you are donating and wish for your donation to be tax deductible, make sure you are working with an IRS designated 501 (c) (3). Not all charities that solicit gifts/monies are IRS designated and therefore your donation cannot be deducted from your taxes. Call the agency, research online. Know before you deduct the gift and claim it. If audited, the IRS does not accept the excuse; “I assumed it was tax deductible since it was a charity”.

STEP SIX:

In your research, you should be able to find out where the money goes; specifically what the organization’s expenses go towards. Low administrative expenses demonstrate that a small portion of the funds is going to pay administrators. Couple low admin expenses with low fundraising expenses, and you know that the majority of monies donated to the organization goes to the cause, client, or community for which it is intended. You can ask the organization directly for this information, or again, take to the Internet. If they are unwilling to give you this information, I would advise you find another organization to support. Nonprofits are meant to be transparent.

STEP SEVEN:

Universities and Hospitals. Here are my feelings and what I tell my clients, friends and family about donating to universities and hospitals…don’t.

Now hear me out. Universities and hospitals are the dynamos of the fundraising industry. They have entire departments and committees designated solely to fundraising. I encourage you to donate directly to a cause within the “purview” of the university or hospital. Does the arts department need funding at your alma mater? Does the honors program from your business school need help raising money for a trip to a prominent program or tech talk? Does the children’s wing at your local hospital need new televisions for the play area? Give to a cause that you can identify with. A generic donation to a university or hospital goes in to the “kitty”. You never know what your donation was truly used for. Sure, you may get a thank you note from the CEO or manager of the hospital or the President or Dean of the school, but where did your money go? Who did you help? A thank you note from the head of the Pediatric Unit thanking you for helping to provide televisions for the playroom for the children’s cancer ward is so much more fulfilling. And personal.

STEP EIGHT:

Think locally. Is your local food pantry in need of donations, specifically during holiday season or extreme weather seasons? Is the homeless shelter asking for donations to help provide shelter/lodging to serve more of the community? Is the animal shelter asking for donations to purchase food/supplies to better serve more abandoned animals?

Thinking locally impacts you directly and produces results that you can see first hand. Better yet…

STEP NINE:

Volunteer. What better way to see and learn first hand what your community needs and specifically where your donation will go?  And better than that…do both! Volunteering truly is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.

CAVEAT:

This is so simple, but it needs mentioning. Protect your personal information, especially when considering phone, at home, snail mail, and/or email requests. Legitimate organizations will have secure online donation capabilities accompanied by information and specific payment policies. Ask questions. And please do not feel like you are offending or letting anyone down by turning away unsolicited donation requests. This is your money; you should choose how and where to donate it…after your research of course!

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[1] http://jbsnonprofitconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/12/end-of-year-charitable-donations.html JBS Nonprofit Consulting Blog.

[2] A good source: Forbes list of the 2015’s largest charities. http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2015/12/09/the-largest-u-s-charities-for-2015/

[3] For example, for Christian specific charities, you can search on Ministry Watch or Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.