How to Be Charitable, Even Without Money!

Unless you’ve been living in cave for the last few days, you’ll be aware of the recent devastation that hit Haiti.

It’s tragic stuff, and it deserves our attention and support – there’s no doubt about that.

When something like this occurs, the main job of charity organizations like The Red Cross is to get the word out to the masses.

Food, water, administration, insurances, transportation and any other miscellaneous elements to a relief campaign cost money.

They send their message to us across all channels – the web, the tv, the radio, the papers, billboards and magazine advertisements. It’s pervasive, which is to say a day doesn’t go by where we aren’t asked to give money.

Now, take this into consideration. Here’s a list of all the natural disasters that happened in 2009 recorded by reliefweb.int (this doesn’t cover the unnatural disasters like wars, torture, deforestation, pollution, mass murder etc.).

Overall there were 133 disasters from that year alone!
That’s a lot of disasters right?

Do you think that it’s unreasonable that a person on minimum wage or middle-class should donate money to every one of the disaster relief funds of that year? I thought so too. But a lot of people are left feeling guilty that they didn’t do their part.

The reality of the situation is that too many people equate charity to forking out cash. The reality of the situation is that there is suffering happening all the time, in all parts of the world – not just when you hear about it in the mainstream.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that money is the only way that you can help people – because it’s all too easy and it’s untrue. Equally, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that foreign aid is the only way that you can make a difference.

Of course there are issues abroad that need to be resolved – but let’s not forget the ones at home!

HOW CAN I HELP WITHOUT SPENDING CASH?

I’m here to remind people that charity does not mean “open your wallet” but rather “open your heart”. LOVE is what we practice when we donate, whether that donation is of our money, our time or otherwise.

I’ve taken the time to compile a list of ways that YOU can be charitable without opening your wallet:

FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT AND FIND WAYS OF USING THOSE SKILLS TO HELP OTHERS

I regularly offer charity organizations help with their marketing.

VOLUNTEER TO SERVE A COMMON CAUSE IN YOUR LOCAL AREA

Have a look on the web or in the papers for a way that you can help with local charities. There are many ways you can help such as:

helping out at a local homeless or drug rehabilitation center
spending your time at a listening post, giving people the opportunity to share and be heard
Helping out at orphanages
working pro-bono at local charity offices in administration

PROMOTE CHARITIES THAT YOU RESONATE WITH ON YOUR WEBSITES AND BLOGS

Julian Habib does this on his Facebook page, and is a good example of how even just clicks can help get relief aid to where it’s needed.

BE THE MESSENGER – BE VOCAL

Share your concerns with your family, friends and colleagues by simply educating people about what’s going on in the world. Change can happen when people are aware of what needs to be changed.

REALIZE THAT WITHOUT YOU, YOU CANNOT BE CHARITABLE

It’s the story of the chicken and the egg. Your eggs (offerings) are so much more powerful when you are in a perfect state to be able to give birth to them! Think of how much more of yourself you could share if you had an abundance of free time, money and power.

Recently Google hinted at moving away from China as a search engine provider there. Some seem to think that it is a tactical strategy to get China to loosen up their censorship regulations, since Google now own a considerable share of the search engine marketplace.

Even if this is untrue, it’s a great example of how you should be thinking of ways of leveraging your own position in order to get the things done that you feel most passionate about. If you can’t do them today, don’t sell out and do them half-heartedly. Plan ahead and plan BIG.

CONCLUSION

Focus on what’s important. Are you going to have more of an impact on the world if you throw a dozen dollars now and again at the world’s biggest charity organizations, or if you go out and meet real people and see first hand how your presence impacts their lives or the ecosystems or the planet?

There’s no right or wrong to this answer – but believe me – exclusively donating money is not the name of the game – your ability to share yourself is.

Courtesy: http://www.bitrebels.com/lifestyle/how-to-be-charitable-even-without-money/