Today is Giving Tuesday, a day where people around the world give generously to transform their communities and the world

I don’t often talk about giving (donating) but I think it’s good practice. Giving of your time or money to help others and to make a change in the world is good for you – it’s good for your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, it’s good for your karma, and it makes people like you.

Being grateful for what you have allows you to sidestep the envy that comparison invokes, and at a certain point, you want to share that gratitude through generosity. That’s where donating comes in.

Most of my life, I have set aside a portion of my income and donated it. Many of the wealthiest people are also the most generous. There may be something to it. The mentality it takes to set aside 10% to give to charity is the same mentality needed to save for the future. People who donate automatically spend less than they make.

On the back of my business card I have 10 financial principles that I follow. Number 4 reads as follows:

“Donate up to 10% of your income to create positive change in the world”

Due to the limited space, I had to carefully choose every word in that phrase, so there’s a lot crammed into that short phrase:

Donate – this one is self explanatory

Up to 10% – Tithing (giving one-tenth) has been a thing for so long because it’s sustainable. I added the “up to” because the expectation of 10% keeps many people from donating anything at all. Try to give 10%, but don’t feel bad if you can’t. Even a dollar helps someone.

Of your Income – I know people who have foolishly borrowed money to donate. First of all, that’s not your money. Generosity must come from you. Not from someone else. A loan is someone else’s income, not yours. By tying yourself up with the chains of debt, you reduce your future ability to give.

To create positive change in the world – the money should have an impact of some kind, or it’s just being wasted. It is your responsibility to ensure the money is being used wisely and your dollars are having an impact. Charities where 90% of the donations go to overhead (paying salaries, etc) are not charities you want to be donating to. That being said, once the money is handed over, it’s no longer yours, so you have no say in how the funds are used.

But don’t let uncertainty about how funds will be used keep you from being generous. Some people won’t give money to the homeless because they think they’ll just use it for drugs or alcohol, but on the small chance they actually use it for good, your donation might just be the difference between a warm motel room and a cold sidewalk that night.

Kidding, it’s totally going to go to drugs, but you should develop the heart you almost had at the end of that last sentence. Have a heart to help others. If you have an opportunity to make an impact, do so.

Give generously, but only up to a point. It must be sustainable. You come first. You cannot give if you don’t have. Put on your own oxygen mask first before helping the child in the seat next to you.