Every year around Christmas time, all my favorite charities e-mail me to ask for money. It makes sense– seeing as how it’s the giving season. After I make my donation, though, I’m always left feeling unsatisfied, like I didn’t do enough.  That’s why last January (2010), I decided to make an attempt to make my charitable giving more consistent, strategic and useful. Here’s what I did:

1. Identify the causes and charities I care about: everyone has their pet causes. For me it’s educating children in developing countries, especially girls. I came up with a list of about ten charities, doing most of my research at Charity Navigator.com. I also relied on books I’d read, shows I watched and causes to which I was personally connected to determine the list.
2. Narrow that list down to three: Initially I had thought that I would donate to a different charity each month. But the reality is– a one time $50 donation is nowhere as useful to an organization as a monthly donation of let’s say $25 that goes on indefinitely.  The only way to do the recurring donation was to narrow the list of charities. I picked three: the Central Asia Institute, The Himalayan Cataract Project and American University (my alma mater). Although the Himalayan Cataract Project is health-focused and not education-focused, I chose them for family reasons. I had several relatives who had cataracts and were able to fix them thanks to their access to hospitals. I wanted to support an organization that did the same for other people too.
3. Give a small recurring monthly amount to these charities: I give anywhere from $15 to $25 each month to these charities. Over the course of a year that has amounted to $180 to $300 for each organization. Doing it in these small amounts ensures that I can give a substantial amount over time. Setting the payments up as monthly and automatic prevents me from forgetting to do a monthly payment. “Set it and forget it” works as well for charities as it does for monthly bills.
4. Donate to other organizations once or twice a year: I love Heifer and Room to Read, but they just didn’t make it on my roster this year. I still try and donate once a year to these organizations.