Proactive Charitable Giving | All About Estates

Written on November 27, 2012 ? 6:25 am | by Malcolm Burrows

A basic tenet of fundraising is people do not give unless they are asked. While this is a good rule if you are a charity raising funds, it can be a source of frustration for individual donors. Often friends and clients tell me they don?t feel in control of their charitable giving because they are always reacting to requests. Here is a simple way to become more proactive in your giving.

1. Identify an issue that is important to you. Choose an issue that reflects a life experience, a media story, or something that has affected a friend, neighbour or colleague. In other words, start with the cause, not the charity.

2. Go to the new free database Charity Focus. On the left hand side choose ?Advanced Search?. In the search bar ?All of these words? type in your issue or a related key word. For example, if you are interested in ?shelters for women and families? type in the key words: women?s shelter, or just shelter. I also recommend that you include a location, such as a province or municipality. Like any database, you will need to refine the search to get the best list.

3. The Advanced Search function will turn up a variety of charities to do further research on. Look at the activity descriptions. Review the financial statements. Go to their website. Do a Google search to cross reference. Get a feel for the culture, philosophy and reach of the charity. While the numbers are important, part of being a proactive is finding organizations that are effective, but may have limited resources.

4. Narrow your list to two or three charities. If you want to take it to the next level, call them and say you are interested in finding out more about their work. Even a brief interaction on the phone can tell you volumes about their culture.

5. If you like what you hear ? or read after Step 3 ? make a donation. (You can do so by CanadaHelps.org on the Charity Focus website.) The gift doesn?t have to be large, but it helps if it is personally significant. Request the charity to stay in touch by email so you can find out more about them over the next year.

Charity Focus makes it easier than ever to be a proactive philanthropist. It requires a bit a legwork, but you get a much deeper knowledge of the charities you support when you initiate the relationship.

Tags: Charitable Giving, Malcolm Burrows, Philanthropy

Source: http://www.allaboutestates.ca/estate-planning/proactive-charitable-giving/

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