Many of us are forced to get by on a tighter budget this Christmas. Not only are we spending less on gifts, even the most generous donors are trimming back on their charitable giving.
Some Christians may feel they have to choose between charitable giving and gift giving in this tough economy. And more than ever, we realize how important it is to choose wisely by giving only to trustworthy and reliable charities.
Here are a few simple tips to maximize your donations, stretch your dollars, and make the most impact with your charitable giving this holiday season:
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Hi Mary, glad you gave the charity navigator b/c I think we need to be good stewards into the charities we do give to. I have tough time giving into any ministry that doesnt want to open their books.
Also, in addition to giving to charities, we like to give to families that are struggling this time of the year, we let them know this is the love of God working through us.
Chris
Hi Chris –
I agree about giving to needy families. In fact, I mention that in the “maximize your giving” article. One of the best Christmas memories in our family is the year we “adopted” a single mom. My friend was barely making ends meet and didn’t have money to buy gifts for her small child. Together with my husband’s family we bought gifts for both of them and replaced her broken down washing machine the week of Christmas.
Great advice, you definitely want to do your research when choosing what charity you are going to donate to.
If you’re interested in a few gift ideas that are a little different this year then you should take a look at our Christmas catalogue – http://www.sendacowgifts.org.uk/ – we also have lots of info and news on our work so you can have a good look round and see if it’s something you would like to help us do.
For those with money to spare to buy gifts, I would suggest buy gifts that give back e.g. gifts from companies which give a portion of their sales to fight breast cancer.
Here is a link to a few of those gifts http://hubpages.com/hub/Shop-and-Fight-Breast-Cancer