WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Charity Tips 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.280 Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff you generous person. You. 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:11.280 I'm Josh and there's Chuck and this is short stuff. Uh, 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.200 and that means what we should begin now, that's right. Uh. 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:17.400 This is from our buddy day Ruse and how Stuff 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.840 works from their website. And this is one that I 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:22.640 want to wedge in there before the end of the year, 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:26.840 because if anyone is like me, you have a mad 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.319 scramble at the end of the year to find the 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.640 charity that you want to align with or charities. And 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:34.159 I feel like we do that every year and we're 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.600 doing that again this year. So this is some This 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.120 is one of those good helpful advice ones about how 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.080 to find and suss out the good ones. Yeah, And 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.239 it basically comes down to this. There are groups and 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.240 organizations that have websites that are dedicated to pointing you 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.199 in the right direction to where you can confidently and 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:55.720 comfortably donate your money and know that it's being put 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.240 to good use and also which one is to steer 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.960 clear of too. So um, there's a bunch of like 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.480 different points that this covers. I think this is just 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.759 a helpful one. Check it was a good pick. Yeah, 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.280 those sites and we're gonna talk about. You know, Dave 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.399 interviewed some of these people from these sites. But charity 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.280 watch and give well, Uh, those are the two standards 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:17.360 if you want to go find out if these charities 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.000 that you're looking into her good and worthy and honest 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.800 and effective. That's where you should start. But you should 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.800 also dig into like if your first question is are 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.080 they effective, dig into the charity a little bit. Go 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.840 to their website. They will probably if there are a 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.520 charity worth supporting, have an outcome section uh in their 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.080 annual report and check it out and see, you know, 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.920 if they have concrete goals that say we fed this 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.200 many people this year, or with this much money, we 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.440 can house this many people. That's a really good first 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.919 thing to look for. Yeah, and you might say, huh, 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.240 that seems pretty good. All right, here's a check kind 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.320 of thing. Um. You can also go to other sites 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.640 like charity watch, Give Well, Charity Navigators another good one, 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.840 and um they've done a lot of this this homework 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:07.000 for you, and in particular give well um has identified 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.919 like nine particular areas that certain charities are like really 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.839 killing it at. And the the idea is is that 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.200 these charities that they've picked that you can go and 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.120 be like, I'm picking this, and you will know you're 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.799 you're donating to one of the top best charities that's 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.920 going to put your money to the best use that 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.960 you could possibly find. Um. And the criteria is that 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.639 they are evidence based, so they can definitely show that 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.000 the money you're you're donating is having an effect, um 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.160 their cost effective, which kind of ties into that. They're 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.080 also very transparent. That's a really big one too. You 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:42.720 don't want it to be opaque and you want to 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:44.560 be able to get a straight answer about how your 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.560 money is being used. And then lastly, and this is 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.400 really important check that I think a lot of people 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:52.080 don't think about they're underfunded, that they need money, they 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.320 actually need money, because there's a lot of charities out 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.600 there that actually don't need your money. Um, they're doing 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.520 just fine. These guys pick charities that I actually need 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.080 money that can really make a big impact with that money. Yeah, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.799 and if you know, if you don't have a lot 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.000 of money to give, it's not like you know, some 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.640 places need you know, millions and millions of dollars to 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.639 build this new big whatever. Some charities, uh that they 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.320 mentioned from give Well, Like it doesn't cost a lot 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:23.000 of money to get uh insecticide treated nets to people 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.080 who UH to you know, in countries where they have 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.680 a malaria problem, so you know, give a little bit 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.280 of money to them, you'll know that you paid for 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.000 this many nets. And it's a really sort of inexpensive 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.400 way to make a difference if you don't have a 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.960 lot of doughe to give away exactly. Um. They also 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.240 they focus on give Well in particular focuses on global 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.680 health and global global poverty because those are the two 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.720 areas where like a little bit can make a big, 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.400 big difference, like literally saving lives with just you know, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:54.880 a few dollars a year. Yeah. Um. Another question is 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.920 if you start to dig into charities, you're gonna find 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.320 like one of the things they broadcast is how much 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:05.320 their executives make, um, how much their overhead is administrative costs? 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.480 Another big one is fundraising costs. How much money do 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.160 they have to spend to raise a dollar in in donations? 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:14.360 And even when you start to dig into him, you 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.000 might not really have much frame of reference, like is 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.640 half a million dollars like or a million dollars? Is 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.479 that a lot like that seems like a lot for 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.800 somebody who's running a charity, but is it. And these 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.800 sites have actually kind of gone to the trouble of 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.839 like really getting into the nitty gritty to say like, actually, 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.440 this is a really good charity despite that metric. Yeah, 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.000 Like what you need to look at is percentages, and 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.960 they will help you break it down, or the website 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.839 usually breaks it down for you. But they recommend to 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.560 look for a minimum of sixty of the charity's budget 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.840 going on direct program services. And if you really want 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:53.279 like an efficient charity, that'll be closer to but not 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.839 to be um, like, don't look at the raw numbers 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:00.520 because just because the charity like spends next to nothing 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.480 doesn't mean that could make them actually less effective running 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.000 on a shoestring. Like you got to spend a little 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.680 money to a raise the money like you talked about 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.240 and to be effective. So uh, don't just look at 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.520 a larger number for administrative costs and dismiss it out 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.839 of hand. You want to look at that percentage. Yeah. 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.720 Another thing that they do is also they see through 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.159 the or they know the kind of tricks that some 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.920 less reputable charities will do to make themselves feel look 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.600 more efficient, like they attract more money. Um. And so 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.680 they'll have sorted through all this when you go to 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.720 like these sites. And also, just while we're talking about this, Chuck, 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:42.000 our beloved co ED Cooperative for Education, UM, so highly 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.880 efficient charity spends about sev on programming. Co ED spends 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.880 eighty five point two percent directly to program and also 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.200 there there um uh you know Joe the executive director, 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.200 he breaks in seventy five grand a year for this 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.680 and he's he runs the show. Um. They also have 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.279 an efficiency rating to where they spend nine cents for 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.240 every dollar that they raise in donations, which is really outstanding. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.600 Plus lastly, Chuck, they're underfunded too. They can survive one 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.200 point five seven years on their current funds, which means 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.440 that they can actually use the money that you send 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.880 them and then you you'll know they're putting it to 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.320 good use. To Yeah, I mean, some of these charities 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.520 that you go to can survive the next twenty years, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.520 like without getting another dollar, which is great. That means 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.080 a lot of people have given. But maybe maybe seek 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.160 out the underfunded is some good advice. Should we take 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.560 a break. Yeah, let's all right, we'll take a break 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:39.040 and we'll be right back with a few more tips 0:06:39.080 --> 0:07:13.800 for you. All right, good tips so far? Another one 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.560 so far? I agree? And boy that's I knew that 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.160 about co ED, but every time I hear it, it's 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.040 just heartwarming. It's a good a good charity that we 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.680 got aligned with many years ago. Uh. One question that 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.280 a lot of people ask is it better to give 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:30.120 small donations to a few charities are one bigger donation 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.440 to one? And you know this sort of is a 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:38.360 personal decision to a large degree. Uh, what they really 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.160 suggest is don't just spread it around to spread it around, 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.080 only spread it around if you can really dig in 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.200 and do this kind of research to make sure you're 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.760 doing the right thing. Yes, which is a great I mean, 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:54.040 that's just great advice. Like you you you, it doesn't 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.560 seems as long as you're you're not following for like 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.400 the marketing and you're actually like giving each charity that 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.520 you're you're you're donating to like the same amount of 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:04.880 thought that you would if you just focused on one. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.600 Why not? It doesn't hurt at all. Um. But there's 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.200 a person over at give well, um who points out, like, 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.080 if you're going to if you're going to pick a charity, though, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.200 there's a way you can even maximize it further, which 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.920 is to give a roughly the same amount every year 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.560 about the same time every year, because then they'll start 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.960 to see that, oh, wait, we can depend on this 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.680 this check from Chuck, who's a super nice guy. He 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.400 sends it in every year, and they'll actually like figure 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.320 that into their budget and then start planning according accordingly, 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.000 rather than being like, we can only afford this this 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.760 year and then all of a sudden they have more 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.040 money for nets, but they didn't order nets early enough 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.560 and now there's a problem and malaria's still spreading. They'll 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.679 be able to budget for more nets if they know 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.120 that there's a certain amount coming from you each year. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.800 That's right. And if you give them a pretty good 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.200 donation that they'll probably email you and say, hey, this 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.680 is great. Uh, can we count on you for next year? Yeah, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.880 because you know, they gotta they got to figure out 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:02.920 that budget and it really helps them to know what 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.720 they're looking at year after year. But that's right. Also, Chuck, 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.160 if it's if it's really big enough and it's a 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.880 terrible charity, they'll send you a gold plated diamond encrusted 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.640 malaria as a thank you gift so you can wear 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.080 it around to fancy holiday parties and just be like, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.360 oh this, I got this for donating. Another question is 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.360 you know, are you being scammed as this charity of fraud? 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.360 There are frauds, for sure, I think in Dave points 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.920 out that the FTC investigated and found more than a 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:40.599 hundred actions against dozens of fraudulent charities. Uh. Sadly, a 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.760 lot of these were claiming to serve US military veterans 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.480 in their families, which is just reprehensible of course, but uh, 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.000 it doesn't happen as much as you might be afraid 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.800 it does. But you need to like make sure you're 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.480 donating to the charity. A lot of them have similar 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.360 names to really great charities. So one example that they 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:05.240 pointed out was the Breast Cancer Research Foundation versus the 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.840 Breast Cancer Research and Support Foundation. And Breast Cancer Research 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.800 Foundation is great. They get an A plus and their 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.680 budget goes to supporting breast cancer research and they spend 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.320 seven dollars for every one raises. The Breast Cancer Research 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.720 and Support Foundation earns an f from charity Watch eight 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.479 percent eight percent of its budget goes to to actual programming, 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.280 and it spends eighty seven dollars for every hundred that 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.679 it collects. Yeah, not on programming, yeah A seven Yeah, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.800 go on gold plated mosquito nets. Probably maybe, But you know, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:42.760 that's just a point. It's like, I'm not gonna like 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.840 call them a scam or anything, so I haven't done 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:46.600 a lot of research on them, but those numbers are 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.800 really bad, and their name is awfully close to a 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.840 really good breast cancer organization. Yeah, and the fact that 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.200 they are just seems a little fishy. But I think 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.440 and even an even bigger trap that you have to 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.720 watch out for, especially if you're trying to suss out 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.320 whether a charity is good when are not on your own, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.600 is that, Um, there's a lot of charities out there 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.320 that just they mean well and they're trying to do well, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.040 they're just not that good at it, and so your 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.000 money is just not going to be spent as wisely 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.679 as it might with another charity. Again, the way to 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.800 resolve this is to just go to charity watch, Charity Navigator, 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.360 give Well, some of those sites that really know what 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.439 they're doing, and say, oh, this is highly rated, I'll 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.240 give them some money. Yeah. I think sometimes people forget 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:29.000 these are nonprofit businesses, and running a business is still 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.920 running a business, and some people aren't very good at it. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.480 That's right. What was the last one here? The last 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.520 one is and a lot of people want to give 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:42.400 locally to help their communities, and that is absolutely great, um, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.600 But the but don't do it well. The thing is 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.839 is if you are doing that, there's a good chance 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.640 that if you stop and reflect on it, you might 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.280 come to the conclusion that you're doing this to feel 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.800 good about yourself, maybe to to the for the fields 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.480 you get out of it. And if you really stop 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.240 and look at um with a just a just a 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.000 kind of sober view of how to help the most 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.360 people with the you know, whatever money you're donating, you're 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.120 probably going to find that there's people outside of your community, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.080 whether you wherever you live in the developed world that 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.200 it might even benefit from it more. Who knows. I 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.240 don't think anybody in charity says don't give locally. It's 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:27.120 just saying don't overlook global charities, including big ones, um 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.480 entirely in favor of giving locally, like consider consider both. Yeah, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.120 and I think one piece of a device they gave. 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.400 Which is really good is look at it from a 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.600 cause point of view, Like if you're uh, if you're 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.360 into the environment, let's say, and you really want to 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.880 support the environment as your only cause this year or 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.960 next year or every year, maybe look into a local 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.360 thing that's doing something like planting trees locally in neighborhoods. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.040 And then maybe also look at a big global environmental 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.960 uh cause that can our charity that can really have 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.720 a big impact. And that way you're kind of spreading 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.520 the wealth and covering a cause that you love in 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.920 both ways. That's right. Good. Whatever you do, just make 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.600 sure that you're you're giving to a good charity. And 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.720 bless you for for donating in the first place. However 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.920 you donate, blesses everyone. But since Chuck said blesses everyone, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:20.400 of course everyone, that means short stuff is out. Stuff 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.440 you should know is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.440 For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the I heart 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.400 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:29.199 favorite shows.