I don’t believe in being driven by guilt.  Yet so often I am. The question of how much of my income I should be giving to charity makes me feel uncomfortable. I often feel like I should somehow be giving more. That what I am doing is not enough.

I work in hospital fundraising so I understand how the fundraising machine works.  The charity identifies a pressing need and decides how best to get the word out to potential donors.  They use the most powerful images and stories available to convey the need.  They send the right people to talk to you.  If they can tug at your heartstrings, they will.  It is a science.

I don’t say the above to make any of us cynical.  Any worthy cause needs to be persuasively presented.  If you cannot engage the emotions of your donor base, its “game over” in fundraising.  People don’t give from the head, they give from the heart.

But even if I understand the mechanics and persuasion behind major fundraising, I am still stuck with the dilemma of deciding just how much to give to each cause.  I tend to be a big supporter of one or two causes and then to give token gifts to everything else.  Is this living generously?  Is this being a savvy do-gooder?

Some look to the traditional tithing system in churches as their saving grace -  10% of their income goes to one religious entity and, voilà, they are all done.  I’m not saying 10% is bad… it’s a lot more than most people do.  But it doesn’t answer my questions about how discerning giving should work.  Should you go for the extremes?  There are the next level giving types that practically (or literally) take vows of poverty and then there are those that give to causes as though they were fashion statements.

I’ve gone through phases where I have felt guilty for spending money on some of life’s luxuries that I enjoy and there have been other times when I have barely cared at all.  What I am more and more convinced of is that it is possible to live a generous life either as a rich or as a poor person.  Being wealthy does not make you greedy just as being poor does not make you unselfish. Surely it is the mentality that you have towards others, towards giving, that matters in each case.  Is the intent positive?  Have your researched the cause?  Is your gift generous without being financially reckless?  How do you feel having given?

Shoot me a line in the comments explaining your approach to giving…

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Bjorn Karlman

You cannot BELIEVE how excited I am.  I am going to break from the norm here on CultureMutt and ask you to PLEASE vote for me  (scroll down on the linked page and you’ll see my name listed). Why?

Jammie and I are giddy wth excitement!

Because Tim Ferriss, the TOP 1000 Blogger / New York Times Bestselling Author whom I look up to HUGELY, just shortlisted me from a group of about 300 fundraisers and I am now in the final group of 5 to be considered for a Round-the-World-Trip.

I could not believe that I had been shortlisted, it took a friend from Atlanta giving me the heads-up on Facebook for me to go and check the results.

It gets even better.  Even if I don’t win the RTW ticket, I still have a 3 out of 5 chance to be listed as one of 10 fundraisers that helped bring in $20,000 for one of three schools (with Tim’s matching gift the total raised will be $60,000 and his combined efforts will therefore build three schools) that are being built through the organization Room to Read.

Just over two weeks ago, on July 31st, I wrote What Really Matters to You, a post that helped to start get the ball rolling in terms of my own fundraising for the cause.  I explained that, in line with CultureMutt’s pursuit of “savvy, global do-gooding” I was supporting Tim Ferriss who

is absolutely one of the “architects of positive change” that I aim to emulate and write about.  He’s turning 34 and instead of b-day presents he’s asking people to donate to Room to Read – World Change Starts with Educated Children that, among other things, builds libraries in Asia and Africa.  His post invites readers to give to the cause and includes the hook that if you give and spread the word… he’ll include you in a drawing for a free round-the-world air ticket:

I ended up doing a ton of online promotion which you can read about on the voting page.  The result was that I made the cut and was listed as one of Tim’s top 5 promoters.  Tim’s readers are now voting on the best commenter/promoter out of the five shortlisted contestants.

I am trying to keep this post short and to the point but, once again, I would REALLY appreciate your vote.  My wife Jammie and I have already committed to visiting at least one of the schools/libraries that will be built as a result of this fundraising, regardless of whether I win or not.  But how much fun would it be to win!

The voting link  (look for the voting section at the bottom of Tim’s post)

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Bjorn Karlman