Another great article! We found something similar where we live in Southern Mexico; the task or collective work that each person owes to their indigenous community is known as tequio. Since it is done for the benefit of the community itself, it is not paid work. Tequio is a custom which various indigenous communities throughout Mexico continue to practice to varying degrees and in different ways. For our tequio, we will be providing free English classes for locals.
This week I donated to a scholarship fund named for a jr high school friend who died way too early - it supports students pursuing careers in special education. It was a big week for giving because I also bought a tree to plant to honor the life of the husband of a woman in my sculpture class - he died on Valentine’s Day which broke my you know what.
A nice idea. I would point out, though, that tv runs many ads for giving to various organizations. Some if not most of these organizations are questionable in that a small percentage goes to "the cause" but most goes to ads and to those running the programs. To evaluate how a charity organization stacks up, go to: https://www.charitynavigator.org/
There, put in the name of the charity and you will find out how that charity stacks up for doing the true charitable work you expect of such a group.
Hi -- I'm Zachary Brown, the author of the piece that's included above, and I used to work at Charity Navigator as an analyst! Thanks so much for this comment; you're exactly right that doing research about where you give is super important. Some charities can be hundreds of times as cost-effective as others -- meaning they do hundreds of times as much good for the same donation. This is what effective altruism is all about: doing research, exploring the evidence, and thinking critically about which charities will have the most profound impacts on the world.
Charity Navigator can be a great resource to help with this. I would caution donors to be careful, though: looking only at the percentage of funds that goes to programs (instead of paying staff or fundraising or admin) isn't always a good guide to which organizations have the highest impact. Sometimes, investments in staff or fundraising can actually increase an organization's capacity to do good, multiplying the impact of your dollar.
If you're looking for extremely high impact organizations, I want to reiterate my recommendation to check out the research collected on https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/. The research there looks directly at how much impact organizations have per dollar, and that's what I use to guide my own giving.
Well my new landlords in a 3 story walk up in Bensonhurst Brooklyn are Muslims from Yemen.
The landlord's wife knows no English and has had a host of health problems.Every Shabbos I go to the florist and buy her a bouquet of flowers.
It’s not 10% of my income but it makes her happy. She barely can say thank you but the smile lon her face is radiant.
So beautiful! I can't wait for my flowers!
Another great article! We found something similar where we live in Southern Mexico; the task or collective work that each person owes to their indigenous community is known as tequio. Since it is done for the benefit of the community itself, it is not paid work. Tequio is a custom which various indigenous communities throughout Mexico continue to practice to varying degrees and in different ways. For our tequio, we will be providing free English classes for locals.
This week I donated to a scholarship fund named for a jr high school friend who died way too early - it supports students pursuing careers in special education. It was a big week for giving because I also bought a tree to plant to honor the life of the husband of a woman in my sculpture class - he died on Valentine’s Day which broke my you know what.
A nice idea. I would point out, though, that tv runs many ads for giving to various organizations. Some if not most of these organizations are questionable in that a small percentage goes to "the cause" but most goes to ads and to those running the programs. To evaluate how a charity organization stacks up, go to: https://www.charitynavigator.org/
There, put in the name of the charity and you will find out how that charity stacks up for doing the true charitable work you expect of such a group.
Hi -- I'm Zachary Brown, the author of the piece that's included above, and I used to work at Charity Navigator as an analyst! Thanks so much for this comment; you're exactly right that doing research about where you give is super important. Some charities can be hundreds of times as cost-effective as others -- meaning they do hundreds of times as much good for the same donation. This is what effective altruism is all about: doing research, exploring the evidence, and thinking critically about which charities will have the most profound impacts on the world.
Charity Navigator can be a great resource to help with this. I would caution donors to be careful, though: looking only at the percentage of funds that goes to programs (instead of paying staff or fundraising or admin) isn't always a good guide to which organizations have the highest impact. Sometimes, investments in staff or fundraising can actually increase an organization's capacity to do good, multiplying the impact of your dollar.
If you're looking for extremely high impact organizations, I want to reiterate my recommendation to check out the research collected on https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/. The research there looks directly at how much impact organizations have per dollar, and that's what I use to guide my own giving.