If you are the kind of person who usually has more month left at the end of your money, then you may not have a lot of extra cash to give to your church or favorite cause. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find another way to contribute. In fact, the act of volunteering your time or talents can be far more valuable than writing a check. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t tithe. If you are a Believer, then you should let Scripture be your guide when it comes to tithing.
But many people have interests they want to support outside of church, or they want to give beyond the their tithe. Let’s take a moment to look at the Three Pillars of Charitable Giving and how you can use them to help support your favorite cause:
Time
Believe it or not, the greatest need for some charities isn’t money – it is people. If you don’t have a lot of money but still want to help a good cause, then call your favorite charitable organization and ask if they can use you in a volunteer capacity. Giving up a few hours of prime time TV or skipping your Saturday morning workout might not seem like a big sacrifice to you, but it can be a life saver for an understaffed organization.
Volunteer service is one of the greatest gifts you can give to a charity – and it can be a lot of fun! One of my favorite charities to donate time to is Habitat for Humanity, which helps build homes for people who can’t afford them. The good news is you don’t have to be particularly skilled in construction – HFH will pair you with a skilled professional who can help you learn the ropes as you go. Volunteering is also a great way to grow your network and learn valuable skills.
Talent
Even if you don’t have a lot of time or money, you can still lend your talents on your own terms. How? Many organizations have staff who are good at organizing and planning, but they might not have people who are well versed in technical fields. Think about some talents you have which you may take for granted, then think about how they could help a group in need. You may be able to give up a few hours to help set up an office network, design a newsletter, or perform a variety of small jobs which you can do at your pace instead of committing to a set volunteer schedule.
I’ve done this in the past by working on a church website. They gave me a small list of improvements they were looking for and I was able to complete them at my own pace. Donating my talents helped the church save several hundred dollars on tech related expenses. There are many other ways you can donate your skills to a group in need – only your talents and imagination limit the opportunities.
Money
When all else fails, charities will almost always welcome cold hard cash. Or check. Or plastic. In fact, I’ve never seen a charitable group turn down monetary gifts, even if it isn’t their greatest need. You might find that as your income grows and work and family obligations increase, your time becomes more valuable to you than money. At this point, writing a check becomes the easier way to give to charitable causes.
As my family and business take up more of my time, I find myself reaching for the checkbook more frequently than volunteering my time and talents (though I still try to give of my time and talents when I am able). It’s a transition that takes some getting used to, but I know that I am still playing a role in helping the organization continue their mission. And that makes me feel good.
Charitable organizations need all three pillars to survive. Churches, charities, non-profits, and volunteer groups cannot survive on money alone. And they can’t survive just with a great group of volunteers or talented people. They need all three to survive and thrive. Supporting a charity isn’t just “something to do when you have more money.” Anyone and everyone can contribute toward charitable groups, regardless of their income level.
Have you thought about how you can offer your time and talents? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
This is a guest post from Ryan Guina – a writer and personal finance blogger. You can find him online at Cash Money Life and The Military Wallet where he writes about money, career, small business, and military benefits.
Pillars image from Shutterstock
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t have a job at the moment, so I donate my time as much as possible. This next summer will be spent volunteering for three months at a Bible school over my summer holidays.
I’ve heard the three states as: Time, Talent, and Treasure, to make a nice alliteration with the letter “T”. Thanks for the post!
Thanks for reminding us that donating is not all about money. I think so many people get tunnel vision and think that since they can’t afford to donate, they can’t donate at all. That’s not true at all!
Thank you for the article. I appreciate the statement “As my family and business take up more of my time, I find myself reaching for the checkbook more frequently than volunteering my time and talents …It’s a transition that takes some getting used to”. I am actually in the opposite situation. About six months ago I took early retirement from a very high paying job. My husband and I don’t have the means to give larger monetary donations as we did in the past, but I have been volunteering my time around our church one or two days a week. I am finding this transition a little difficult to get used to since I enjoyed being able to give monetary donations. This was a good reminder that my time is also valued.
Lisa, adding volunteering to your schedule also takes getting used to, especially when your schedule already seems full. But there are a lot of ways you can volunteer time and talents on your own terms.
Believe it or not, time is often more valued than money for some organizations. The best thing to do is contact your church or favorite charity and ask them if they have a need for volunteers. More often than not they will have ways for you to contribute.
I appreciate BrokeElizabeth’s comment. A good example to us all.
Similar to talent, you can also use your personal interests.
I cycled 700kms over 6 days (which is not far for the average cyclist, but a massive distance for an obese person such as myself). Got a bunch of people to follow me on Twitter and gave regular updates through the day of how I’m going and asked people to sponsor a charity in South Africa in support of my cycling effort.
So I ended up doing something I enjoyed while getting some donations in for a charity and I released a newletter about my trip and about the charity before I left which raised people’s awareness of the need. Another friend of mine cycled 12,000kms through Africa (Tour ‘d Africa) and raised a LOT more money than I did for that same charity.
Awesome way to support a cause, Dirk!
Great article! I do believe that people are looking more for people rather than money. Some of these low budget, massive operation ministries need help. We (Idlewild Baptist Church) just did a project for Feeding Children Everywhere where their resources met our man power and we packaged up 150,000 meals for children around the world. And that only took 45 minutes. Loved it.
I participated in a volunteer outreach this last fall and a group of us helped an organization do some manual labor. What took our group about 2 hours to do would have taken the organization days, or even a couple weeks (or cost a lot of money they could have used for their ministry). It’s amazing the impact a group of people can have when they pool their time and talents!
I loved the article. Sometimes giving can be a lot easier if you find something you are interested and passionate about. I love sports so when the chance came up for me to volunteer in the Upward program, it was a no brainer. Find something you are interested in and give of your time.
Upward is a great program – and it’s an awesome way to influence children’s lives and have fun in the process!
In our busy lives we sometime forget how simple and important a gift of our time can be for and organization or group who have limited resources. It is something that can way outstrip money or talent. Thanks for sharing, Susan Cooper
Time is an excellent gift to give but recipients need to respect the gifts that are being offered. I have volunteered a few times however my natural talents were not used and I ended up doing tasks I was not comfortable with or lacked the skill to do. As a result I did not stay long with those organizations.