For one or for all?

Cathy recently left me this comment, which really got me thinking:

"Right now I'm struggling between the idea of donating (in small doses) to many charities that I love OR, do I concentrate all our efforts into ONE charitable organization? Which makes the bigger difference? Because I want to make a difference."

I struggle with how best to give as well. I can definitely see both sides of the argument, and I'm not sure that there's any singular answer.

When I was young and idealistic, I wanted to change the world. Then, as I learned more about the intricacies and nuances of policies and complicated economic and social systems, I realized that in order to have any chance at a real impact, I would need to focus my efforts on the thing that moved me the most. It was then that I decided that my personal goal in life was to change the world one child at a time. That's relatively easy to do when you're talking about time and energy, but what about when it comes to giving money?

There are so many charities and people out there doing amazing things, and I think we should all do as much to support one another in working towards a safe, just, healthy world. It's so hard to determine which of the countless worthy recipients should actually receive what I have to give.

Personally, I begin by narrowing them down based upon category (food/ famine relief, education, housing, emergency response, medical, etc.) and then by my personal convictions. There are certain charities that, while I think they're doing good work, I will not give money to.

One small example: It's hard for me to say no to donating money to breast cancer research, but I do. And I do it because my mother died of a brain tumor, and if I'm donating to cancer research, that's where my money will be going.

I also check out every charity we donate to on the Better Business Bureau's Charity Review Website, which gives potential donors information about the percentage of their donations that go to program costs vs. overhead and fundraising expenses.

I know that we cannot afford to give to each and every worthy charity, so I have to make difficult choices. And in no way would I ever claim that our choices are better than anyone else's. They're just what works for us.

Charitable giving is a category in our newest monthly budget. I'm thinking, for us, maybe one year we'll pick a different charity each month and spend time learning about what they do and who they help and why the need exists in the first place. Then the next year, we'll save the specified amount each month so that at the end of the year we can do something big (like maybe buy a well for an entire village). And we can alternate between something big and lots of little somethings every other year.

How do you decide which charities to give to?