Charitable Giving 11.30 - Flipbook - Page 3
14 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, November 30, 2025 *
Giving guide
SPECIAL SECTION ADVERTISING
Charitable Giving on a Budget
Small Donors Still Can Make a Difference
By Gregory J. Alexander, Contributing Writer
W
arren
Buffett.
MacKenzie
Scott.
Michael Bloomberg.
These are some of the
biggest names in philanthropy, and
for nonprofits, they may be considered the “golden geese” for large
donations. Mega superstar Taylor
Swift made headlines during her
“Eras” tour for the millions she
donated to local food banks, as
well as millions for hurricane relief
and animal causes. So, what if you
are not a billionaire? Can you really
make an impact with small dollar
donations?
Absolutely.
Studies show that many times
small donors are extremely passionate about the causes they support; hence, they are willing to part
with their hard-earned money to
support an organization, even if
they are on a tight budget. Also,
small donors tend to support local
organizations in their community
versus large national ones, and
local organizations are even more
dependent on small donors than
those who receive large checks
from foundations.
If you are looking to start donating to your favorite cause, it’s
important to set a budget – while
it’s wonderful to help others, make
sure you also take care of yourself. Think of the airline safety
demonstration: Put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others. Maybe start small – a $5 per
month donation is less than a latte
at a coffee shop, but it adds up.
There are also “round up” apps,
as well as an option on ride share
services to round up your fare to
your favorite charity. Or, consider
the “1% pledge” by giving 1% of
your income.
Recurring donations are an easy
way to make a big impact. For
my alma mater, the University of
Georgia, I make a manageable
monthly donation for scholarships
for journalism students in need.
I honestly don’t miss the money
each month (less than dining out
for lunch), and it adds up. Plus, by
giving a set amount each month,
it allows the nonprofit – especially
smaller ones – to budget accordingly, as they can predict how
much in donations they will receive
each month.
According to the nonprofit-focused website, Double the
Donation, 57% of donors are
enrolled in a recurring giving program, and 94% of recurring donors
prefer to give monthly, 3% weekly,
2% annually, and 1% quarterly.
In 2023, Americans gave $557.16
billion to charity, and surprisingly,
the largest source of giving came
from individuals, who contributed
$374.40 billion, representing 67%
of total giving, far higher than the
18.6% of total nonprofit giving that
came from foundations.
Double the Donation states that
the majority of charitable dollars
went to the following sectors: religion (27%), human services (14%),
education (13%), grantmaking
foundations (11%), and health
(10%).
Donating online is seen as the
easiest method for all donors with
63% of donors preferring to give
online with a credit or debit card,
followed by direct mail (16%),
PayPal (10%), wire transfer (5%),
cash (4%), digital wallet (1%), and
text-to-give (1%), according to
Double the Donation.
When deciding which organizations to support, check out Charity
Navigator (www.charitynavigator.
org), which can not only help you
find an organization that aligns with
your values, passion and goals, but
also provides useful information on
each charity to see how they spend
their money. How much is really
going to help those in need versus
how much is the CEO earning in
salary and bonuses?
Another way to help nonprofits
out is to fundraise for them. Most
social media apps have a fundraising option in honor of your birthday.
You may be surprised how generous your virtual friends can be, and
it’s a great way to raise awareness
for a nonprofit that they may not
know about. For my 50th birthday, I did a Facebook fundraising
campaign for The Trevor Project, a
suicidal prevention organization for
LGBTQ+ youth that I used to volunteer for, and I was shocked how
much money it raised. It took me
all of 30 seconds to post it, too. Or,
instead of gifts, ask your friends to
make a donation in your honor for
your birthday or a special holiday.
Of course, sometimes, life
throws an unfortunate curve ball –
whether it be losing your job or a
reduction in hours at the restaurant
you work at – or maybe big life
changes occur such as starting a
family or a child is entering college.
If you need to pull back a bit on
your charitable donations, don’t
beat yourself up. Remember the
airline safety demonstration analogy from earlier – you cannot help
someone else if you need help
yourself. When things settle down,
you can always ramp back up your
donations.
If money is especially tight,
how about volunteering your time
instead? You could put your skill
sets to work – nonprofits need help
with social media, writing, graphic
design and administrative tasks.
Ask your employer if they offer paid
time off to volunteer or will match
your monetary donations. You can
also donate used clothes, furniture
and household items that you are
not using. Even old eyeglasses
and used books can be extremely
useful. Local pet shelters will gladly
take unopened bags and cans of
pet food, cat litter, toys, treats, old
blankets, towels and even newspapers.
Every little bit counts this holiday
season!
