Giving From the Heart Matters at Any Size

Navigating long, cold winter days is not easy. What are some of the ways you are navigating the colder months? It is helpful to find unique ways to warm our hearts, and charitable giving can be helpful in that regard. Charitable giving can stimulate brain activity associated with pleasure and reward. These good feelings compound even further if your giving expresses your values and sentiments. It is often thought that these benefits are only for when donors make a large gift, but they can happen at whatever giving level is significant to you.    

Here are some small ways you may be able to create an impact with a cause that matters to you: 

• Donations instead of gifts – If you are trying to reduce clutter or make your gifts more meaningful, ask that friends and family donate to your favorite organization’s endowment fund at the Community Foundation. You can also do this to honor the memory of someone you love. Because of the power of endowment, those birthday gifts, anniversary celebrations, or other gifts create a forever benefit to your favorite organization.  
• Employer donation matching programs – Do you know if your company has one? If so, are you using it? If you have this opportunity, the match from your employer can potentially double your donation!  
• Deposit “extra money” – If you have expense checks or tax refunds that are not needed, you can donate those dollars. Instead of a friend paying you on Venmo or CashApp for splitting lunch, please give them the link to your endowment fund or the fund of your favorite organization. These seemingly small acts add up.  
• Be the change with change – Like me, you probably have numerous containers lying around the house holding loose change. My twins are now two and a half, and one of them loves hearing the coins landing at the bottom. This is a simple, tangible way to teach children about philanthropy by letting them donate what is saved.  
• Make it a monthly budget item – You can set up your monthly donations online with your credit card.   To avoid credit card processing fees, you can contact us to set up an automatic transfer directly from your bank account.  

Every dollar, every gift can create change when individuals connect and contribute to a cause that matters to them. We have seen this in the last two for our Connect to a Cause event.  If you want to help the organizations you care about grow in ways beyond what we mentioned above, you can encourage them to register for our 2022 Connect to a Cause event on September 15th is open through March 31st.    

If you have any other questions about the power of giving, please do not hesitate to contact me.