| Why are there people that dedicated their whole | | | | cause? And once you've done it once and felt the |
| lives to non-profit organizations? Why are some | | | | buzz, the chances are you'll want to do it time and |
| highly educated and intelligent people willing to work | | | | again. |
| for a pittance (or even nothing) to support a charity? | | | | If you are now keen to start doing some charity |
| Why would a doctor go and work in Africa for no | | | | work, where should you start? I suppose the easiest |
| wages when he or she could be earning a six figure | | | | answers are to look around your local neighborhood |
| sum back home and living a very comfortable life? | | | | for local charities you can help out with, and research |
| And why do so many successful entrepreneurs | | | | other national charities on the Internet. |
| donate so much of their income to charitable causes? | | | | I decided a few years ago that I wanted to give |
| To be honest, in the past I have struggled to make | | | | some money each month to an environmental |
| sense of this. | | | | charity. That much I knew. But there were so many |
| But just recently I have started to understand | | | | choices. And I wanted to put my money where I |
| exactly why these people do it, and what you can | | | | really thought it would have the greatest benefit - |
| do about it. | | | | and where I would feel good about where it went. |
| Put simply, I believe there are two reasons why | | | | So I actually took the time to research as many |
| people do it. Firstly, people give their time and money | | | | environmental charities as possible. I searched on |
| to charity because it is something that they | | | | Google and actually spent quite a bit of time on the |
| passionately believe in. | | | | website of each charity I found. I looked at what |
| Not everyone does. Some people simply aren't | | | | they stood for and what they have achieved |
| bothered. Others see an orphan on TV and wants to | | | | recently. And slowly I managed to put together a |
| know how to help them. They are driven by ideals. | | | | short list of charities that I felt good about giving |
| The second reason is simply that giving feels so | | | | money too. |
| great - just as good if not better than receiving. | | | | You see, I think that too many people give to |
| You know that feeling on Christmas morning when | | | | charity simply because it's "cool" - or because they'd |
| you hand a loved one of yours a present you know | | | | feel inhumane if they didn't. Every time there's |
| they will love and you watch their face light up as | | | | someone shaking a bucket or offering a sticker - |
| they open it? | | | | there they are with their coin. |
| Imagine being to get that warm, fuzzy feeling of | | | | But I wanted my charity giving to mean something. I |
| doing something "good", something "worthwhile" with | | | | wanted to really "get involved" in a charity - to |
| your life. That's a pretty big motivator. People who | | | | receive newsletter, to feel proud of my choice - and |
| give considerable amounts of time and/or money to | | | | to have actually sought out the charity to give |
| charity really do leave their mark on the world - they | | | | money to - rather than waiting for them to come to |
| leave it a better place. | | | | me. |
| And who could possibly not want that? | | | | So get started today. Make a list of the things you |
| So the question changes from why you should give | | | | really care about passionately, and find the ideal |
| your time or money to a good cause, to why not? | | | | charity to support that. Then get involved, meet |
| Who genuinely in the western world can't give even | | | | some great people and be prepared to start changing |
| an hour of their time or a few dollars for a good | | | | the world in your own little way. |