Alexander Neumeister on How to Donate on a Budget

At any point in your life, you could be stricken with tough financial situations. Between your mortgage, car payments, and daily living expenses it might seem like there isn’t enough in the budget to give to good causes. There are a few tips to make room in your budget to donate to a charitable cause.

Find What Fits Best

Passion for a cause is a huge factor when gauging which charity you should budget for. You should believe in the charity you are donating to because at the end of the day you are sacrificing your money or time this cause. When you start looking for a charity to donate to, look at their mission statement and values and find which one correlates the most with your own. If you align your donations with your beliefs, it will be easier to put money towards it and won’t seem like a big deal.

Choose Something to Give Up

If you are on a tight budget and cannot easily find the extra money to donate, you may need to think about sacrificing a part of your budget. You may need to stop getting coffee every day before work or cut back on the number of times you eat out during the week. Maybe save eating out for a special occasion on the weekend. Your sacrifice doesn’t have to be huge, saving only a dollar a week can lead you to have a 50 dollar donation by the end of the year.

Give Time

Though every penny counts, you may not have enough room in your budget to spare to a charity. You could give in ways that don’t involve monetary value. You can donate your time, and it can impact the organization just as much as if you wrote a check. If you have a passion for animals, volunteer at your local shelter and help clean the animals cages.

Donations in Your Name

It is becoming a common thing for people to ask for donations from their friends and families instead of receiving birthday gifts. This sort of fits into giving something up by giving up the presents you would receive otherwise on your birthday. FaceBook has created a feature that makes a birthday fundraisers possible.

Clean Out Your Closet

Purging your closet could be another way to help lead you to donate to a worthy cause. You could either donate the unwanted clothing or sell it to put that money towards donating. Taking the time to go through your closet and organize it by what you wear most frequently to what items still have tags on it. Your closet isn’t the only place where you can implement a purge. Look around at household items that aren’t used frequently and determine what you are willing to give up for a good cause.

Take a look at your finances and determine if you need to budget. Start looking into organizations that match your values and discover what good can come from donating!