How we automate our life: Charity

Admittedly, this is something that might be a personal one for many, but for us, it’s not a question: We give to charity.

Yes, you can now go and pontificate about which charities are worthy of your money, or which ones are doing the most work, or which have the highest ratings on Guidestar. But at the end of the day, my wife and I give.

And more importantly than just giving, we do it all the time. How? By automating it! Let me give you the details…

Admittedly, this is going to be a short post. Not going to hit the 1,000 word mark. Probably barely make it to 300. But I still think it’s worth discussing and hence, it gets its own post.

But by giving monthly, you are doing so much to help the finances and, ultimately, the mission of that organization.

The important part here isn’t the mechanics of the giving, but more that we do it and that we do it regularly.

So for us, that means every month, we cut a check to a charity we believe in. Now for you, that may mean the humane society, or Heal the Bay, or Doctors without Borders. For us, right now we’re primarily supporting our local church.

But by giving monthly, you are doing so much to help the finances and, ultimately, the mission of that organization. By being able to count on your money arriving every month, planning is far easier, preparations are far easier.

Now, the mechanics are easy: I logged into my bank’s webpage, added the church as a “Payee” and then scheduled the payments. Every month the church will receive a check, in the mail, which they put into their tithes box and away we go!

So that’s about it — if you’re not giving to an organization, please reconsider. And if you are giving to an organization, please consider giving on a recurring basis — automatically.

In the comments: Do you give? Do you give automatically? Why or why not?