There are so many charities. There are so many people that are hurting and that are in need, and it all requires money.
With so many organizations and charities, how do you decide who to give your money to?
Adam Smith
25 Years in Retail, Restaurants & Hospitality · Author · Speaker · Coach
Adam spent 25 years in retail, restaurant, and hospitality leadership — managing teams of 60, growing a store from $600K to $2M+, and overseeing guest experience at a corporate level. Author of The Bravest You (endorsed by Seth Godin). Host of two podcasts. 170K monthly readers. Grimes, Iowa.
I would say, pray over it. Let the Lord send you in which ever way, and then go out and actually do it.
Living in South Africa, we have a lot of need and charities, and beggars and the like, and you will never be able to give to everybody. I have learned in the last couple of weeks to really trust the Lord to point out to me who I give to. As far as international charities go, I am being pulled in the direction of getting involved with charity:water.
where do you live in SA?
our ministry is in Harrismith (halfway between Joburg and Durban) — http://www.ThriveAfrica.org — wondering if you're anywhere nearby…
I live in Atlanta, GA
i know YOU do! coenraad up there said he lives in south africa! so do i. well, normally. right now in atlanta…
oh wow. what r u doing here?
been on the field eleven years. this past year has been devastating personally in a lot of ways, and i'm taking a year of "sabattical". living with friends in kennesaw at least until the end of the year. i'll be stateside till the fall of 2010; just not sure i'll be in ATL the whole time.
wow. well good luck to ya
I have tended help people that I meet during my daily life. I run into people every day that need help, need someone to care, to stop and take time with them… I believe that we should have a very direct impact on those around us… while there are so many different charities, these days it is best to be careful who you donate to… I would much quicker donate to individual missionaries that are in the trenches serving rather than a large charity full of individuals that may or may not have a vested interest in accomplishing the stated goals of the charity.
^ edit
I agree completely with austinklee above! great advice you got a thumbs up from me!
yeah he had some great advice. very good advice from you as well. good to do some research I guess
awesome
I totally agree with Coenraad – pray, pray, pray…
Along with charity: water, I would add the usual suspects of Compassion International, World Vision, but also H2O Aftrica (h2oafrica.org), American Cancer Society – the list is exhausting…
good deal. yes there are so many good ones
It's so easy to get overwhelmed with all of the options… so much so that at times I end up not giving at all except to my local church. Good advice here though. Definitely going to be taking some of the advice.
yep. good stuff. great helps these people are
RT @jackalopekid: New Post: So Many… http://jackalopekid.com/so-many
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Our Friday Night Outreach.
We've been doing it every Friday since 2001.
Ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of those "transitionally homeless" people living in motels in Anaheim.
http://www.pardonedprodigals.com
My first charity I gave to was the Boy Scouts of America. The reason I gave to them was that I once was a Girl Scout and I thought that the Boy Scouts had more fun. I was in my late teens. Now my reasons are more emotional. American Cancer Society and one or two other Cancer research because my Grandmother and sister died from Cancer, as well as my former Father in-law and my former Mother in-law will be joining our Lord in Heaven any day now. I give to the Heart Association because our family has high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I give to the American Lung because my son as asthma. So it's emotional for me.
good reasons
very cool
@jackalopekid RT http://jackalopekid.com/so-many GREAT POST
i donate to the american cancer society by doing their signature event, relay for life. i started doing it through my school because of all the people i know who have cancer, and was inspired to do it by my friend paul, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year.
oh wow. great cause and a great reason. thanks for commenting on the blog, Laura. Hope to see ya more on here.
All you can really do is look at what they do with the money and decide from there. Which cause does what you really believe needs to be done?
An example, is that until recently I've never actually donated money to a charity before, but when I had to decide who to help for my 10CentCharity project, I ended up deciding over Charity:Water and Blood:Water Mission. I ended up picking the latter because they both do similar work, but Blood:Water Mission's quest also focused on making people more aware of just how bad the AIDS crisis in Africa really is.
good stuff man
Whatever truly tugs at your heart.