Does your New Year’s resolution list include items like “Donate to Charity” or “Give Back More”? If so, you’re like me! In the past, meeting that goal involved a lot of effort and guilt. Any of these sound familiar to you?

Effort

How I used to feel about donating!

• I want to donate to charity, but which charity?
• How do I know if this organization is a good organization to do donate to?
• Are their overhead expenses low?
• Are they providing a solution that matters?
• I don’t want my donation to be wasted, embezzled, or to hurt people.
• It’s just easier not to donate.
• Or you know what? I always donate to Heifer. I can just send them money again this year.

Guilt

• My friend just asked me to make a donation- should I do it?
• Have I given back enough this year?
• How much have I donated? Have I gotten all the way to November and only gave $50?

One Easy Way

Join a giving circle! Now that I’m part of a giving circle, I don’t worry about those issues anymore.

How I feel now!

Peace of mind

I know that I’m donating $25/month. I’m giving back in an amount that I’m both comfortable with and that’s going to make an impact. When I get requests for other donations, I feel good saying, “No, I donate through my giving circle.”

Easy and Smart

The organizations we donate to have been researched, so I feel good about where my money is going. But I didn’t have to do all that hard work. I shared that responsibility with a bunch of other people, so it was easy!

Join a Giving Circle

A giving circle is a group of people who pool their donations! Find a group of people you like and who care about the same issue. You can check out our virtual giving circles or start your own.

It’s an easy way to mark of this New Year’s Resolution and feel good about how you’re giving back.

I’m not Bill Gates. I’m not Oprah Winfrey or Warren Buffet. They donate a lot of money and are making a huge impact on the problems facing the world. But even though I don’t have their financial resources, the ones I do have are hard-earned and important to me. I’m not willing to just donate that money willy nilly hoping that some good comes out of it.

In fact, I can give like Bill Gates by following these two strategies:

1. Do Research

   When Bill Gates makes a donation, he has teams of people researching the problem and the organizations so that when he decides to act, he knows he’s going to make a huge impact on the problem.

   Have you ever made a donation and didn’t bother to do any research? Me, too. I haven’t done research because I was too busy, it was too hard, I didn’t know where to look, or I trusted the reputation of the organization. But there’s been enough fraud and enough money spent on ineffective programs to know that research is really important.

   A giving circle lets you leverage your time and spread out the work of doing the important research across the entire group.

2. Donate A Lot of Money

   Bill Gates is donating a lot of money, and the sheer volume of money that he puts towards a problem makes an impact.

   But I don’t make large donations at one time. I’ll often just do $25, and so I don’t really feel like I’m making an impact on the problem. But who said we had to go it alone? A giving circle leverages your money so that you donate a lot of money together.

   Maybe you can only give $25, but if you recruit 9 of your friends, then you just donated $250. If you did that every month, in one year you will have donated $3,000. Do you think that $3,000 is going to make a bigger impact than $25? You bet!

Best of all, a giving circle is a profoundly rewarding way to donate money. It’s more fun, because you’re sharing the experience with other people like you who care about the same cause that you care about. And when you’re involved with your donation dollars by researching, voting, and following up on the impact your dollars have made, you experience a whole other level of satisfaction. Donating money isn’t just a responsibility, a duty that we have, it’s a joy.

If you’re inspired to start a giving circle, The Champaign Giving on a Beer Budget EBook. This Ebook will walk you through the 4 steps to starting your own giving circle.

If you’re inspired to be a part of a giving circle, check out existing giving circles to connect with giving circles who are already working on issue that you care about.

A recent Copyblogger post inspired me to think about donating in a different way.  In this post, they write that Alan Alda was explaining why 60 minutes was such a successful news program, and he said that watching the show was

“like eating broccoli that tastes like a hot dog.”

Yes, watching the news is important.  Staying informed is important.  It’s broccoli.  It’s good for you.  BUT, it’s still broccoli.  If it tasted like a hot dog, I would either eat (watch news) a lot more or enjoy eating (watching the news) a whole lot more.

The concept works for charitable donations, too.  Americans are incredibly generous people and donating money is as much a part of who we are and what we believe in as the idea of independence.  Sometimes donating can be like eating broccoli.  We do it because we should, because it’s good for us, because other people expect us to.

Maybe some people would make the argument that you should just eat the broccoli, but I would say, let’s make the broccoli taste like a hot dog.  At Change Gangs, we want donating to taste like a hot dog and here are some of the ways we’ve found to make it a fulfilling, hot dog like experience.

Pooled donations

• Larger checks to organizations
• Bigger impact on charites.
• You are critical in donating hundreds and thousands of dollars.
• You are a part of something significant.

Supportive Community of People Who Care About the Same Cause

• Fun environment with great people
• Benefit from other people’s experience, knowledge, and research
• Feel great about where you’re donating
• Know that you are not alone.

Small Time Committment

• 1 hour per month is all it takes to have a fun and fulfilling donation experience

See that? Does that taste like a hot dog, or what??  What makes donating fun for you?

Have you had any of the below thoughts?

I want to donate money and support causes I believe are important, but…

Now isn’t a good time.  I’ll start donating when I’m in a better financial position.

I’m not Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey.  My donation is too small to make a difference.

There are so many organizations that I don’t know where to donate.

There have been too many dishonest non-profits, I don’t know who to trust with my donation.

I don’t have time to donate or to research the right organization.

Welcome to the Wannabe Giver Club. 

I was just like you.  Throughout the years, I’ve used all of these excuses.

Don’t get me wrong.  I would donate money– especially around the holidays.  But giving wasn’t really a meaningful and significant part of my life.  I never gave as much money as I theoretically would have liked.  I never really felt like my donations were important.  I never felt entirely confident that I was making good donation choices.

That all changed when I started a Change Gang, a virtual giving circle where me and my friends from around the country pooled our donations.  I discovered that even though my individual donation was small, the group’s donation was big, so my donation become more significant.  Plus, I benefited from the experience, research, and insight of others, so I felt confident that I was donating to good organizations.  And I found that donating helped me feel more fulfilled and more proud of the person I was, because I was doing something meaningful.

At $25 and 1 hour per month, giving is accessible to almost everyone.  What are you waiting for?  Join or Start a Change Gang, and become a member of a different club:

The I’m Doing Something Meaningful and Significant Today Because That’s the Kind of Person I Am Club.

Hmm… Maybe the club title needs a little work…

So the world was supposed to end last weekend. Harold Camping has been preaching on Family Radio that on May 21st, 2011, Jesus would come down, save the faithful few, and then destroy everything else. Obviously, he got it wrong, but that’s not the most interesting thing to me.

Why would someone choose to believe in an apocalypse?

What can it teach us about living a good life?

Did you notice how committed Camping’s follower’s were? They quit their jobs, donated their life savings to promote the message, and stood on street corners sharing this message trying to save others. Their deep conviction is evidence that believing in the Rature met these people’s needs at very high levels. What needs am I talking about?

At a TED talk, Tony Robbins gives the best explanation for human behavior I’ve ever heard. I don’t want to cover that entire speech here, but you should watch it. Seriously. Watch it. It’s profound.

If I believed in the end of the world, here’s how I imagine it would meet my 6 human needs:

• Certainty: I could have a very high level of certainty that I can be saved if I do the right thing, that God exists, and that my beliefs are right. Of course, this all self-induced certainty, but the secret is that all certainty is self-induced.

• Uncertainty/Variety: I’m sure that during the rapture I’ll get to experience all kinds of things I’ve never experienced before, and I don’t know exactly how the world is going to end, so it’s going to be very exciting!

• Significance: God loves me so much and I’ve done all the right things, so I will be saved. I am really important.

• Connection: I spend more time contemplating and experiencing my connection with God, and the event promises to fulfill the deepest connection and return me physically and spiritually to God.  Like other Camping followers, I could quit my job and spend all of my time connecting with my family.

• Growth: I have to keep deepening my understanding of the Bible and my relationship with God; otherwise, I may not be saved.

• Contribution: I have to share this message with others that I care about so they can be saved, too. I can’t think of a more rewarding thing than to help someone save their soul.

Unfortunately, this belief is an unhealthy vehicle for meeting our needs.  If I’m certain that the world is going to end and I quit my job, then I lose the certainty of being able to put a roof over my head and food on my table.  If I’m so significant that I will be saved, then connecting in meaningful ways with people who believe differently will be difficult at best.  If I’m only growing in a narrow interpretation of biblical reasoning, then I’m not growing in other ways that could improve the quality of my life.  If I can only contribute to people by offering them this one salvation message, then I’m giving people what I think they need and not what they think they need.  I’m not really contributing.

Fundamentally, this belief in the apocalypse bankrupts my happiness and my ability to live a healthy fulfilling life.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that I can learn from it.

The Lessons:

One

A Camping follower said, “I’m just a lot less stressed, and in a way I’m more carefree.”  That’s great! We should all be less stressed and more carefree, but I don’t have to believe that the world is going to end to do it.  I can believe that no matter what life has thrown at me, I have survived.  I am capable of handling anything.  I am certain that I will find a way.  Or I can believe that whatever is happening, God has a reason for it and it serves me.

What can you believe that will meet your need for certainty in a way that contributes to a better life?

Two

I can experience variety from this tedious world by anticipating its devastation, or I can experience variety by trying to discover different ways to hear God’s messages.  Or by taking a magnifying glass on my hike and seeing flowers and insects in a whole new way. Or surprising my significant other with flowers.

What can you do to experience variety AND increases the happiness and joy in your life?

Three

I can derive my significance from being one of a chosen few who are worthy enough to be saved, or I can believe that I am significant just because I am a child of God.  Or I can believe that I’m significant because I’ve helped others achieve something that was important to them.  Or because I’m a great cook.

How do you know your important?  Does that help you live a happier, healthier life?  Or do you need to redefine how you feel important?

Four

I can connect with God by anticipating my imminent return to Him, or I can discover how to experience a deeper connection with God every day, especially when I’m under stress.  Or I can deepen my connection with my spouse by setting up date night. Or I can call my sister and my mother every weekend. Or I can volunteer.

How can you deepen your relationships in meaningful and significant ways?

Five

I can keep growing in my spiritual studies at the same time that I’m taking classes or learning tennis.  I can find new ways to be a better friend, lover, spouse, daughter, etc.

In what areas in your life are there room for improvement, and how will you improve them?

Six

I can focus on giving people what I think they need but not actually give them anything, or I can share my spiritual beliefs when it’s appropriate with people who want to hear it.  At other times, I can contribute to people by listening, by being a good friend, by helping them believe in themselves.  Or I could volunteer.  Or I could cook for my family.

How can you contribute to others in ways that are meaningful and significant to you AND to them?

When I make a practice of asking these questions and acting on them in ways that support me living a fulfilling and meaningful life, then the end of the world could come tomorrow, and I’d be ok with that.

Ultimately, the lesson to be learned here is that we should live every day as if it were our last not because it will end tomorrow, but because if it did, I lived a life that was good for me, good for others, and served the greater good.

I’d have no regrets.