COMMUNITY
W H AT ' S H A P P E N I N G I N N O R T H E A S T F LO R I DA
"AM I RICH ENOUGH TO GIVE?"
By Kellie Smith, Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida Recently while meeting with an individual about their legacy giving, they said “I’m just not rich enough to give.” It is a very common sentiment in today’s world to feel that charitable giving is reserved for the wealthy. After all, we see the high-level sponsors listed at events, study and work in buildings named after notable philanthropists, and read national headlines about Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others involved in The Giving Pledge. Considering that the median household income is just north of $60,000—a far cry from these donors—why should the average person make a commitment to charitable giving? The answer to this is two-fold. First, it’s important to recognize the significant difference that a small amount can have on both an individual cause and repairing the world overall. Giving to a charity that you are passionate about, at any level, helps to propagate the mission of the organization that you support. In fact, small donors make up the greatest number of gifts received by charities, having a large collective influence on these organizations’ abilities to carry out their programs and services. Many of the most critical issues facing our society are being tackled by nonprofit agencies, and without donor funding, even in small amounts, many of the urgent needs of the most disenfranchised groups in our local and global communities would go unmet. This is the idea that helping others is inherently the ‘right thing to do,’ and most of us are familiar with this. Second, it’s important to recognize the profound impact that giving has on you, as the giver. Our modern society has adopted a consumerist mentality, fueled by marketing
and social media, that pushes us to always want more, spend more, and believe that we will never have enough. However, perhaps it is the focus on the wrong kind of spending that creates this lack of gratification. Harvard professor and social scientist, Michael Norton, once said in a TED talk, “If you think money can’t buy happiness, you’re not spending it right. Stop thinking about which product to buy for yourself and try giving some of it to other people instead.” In his book Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending, studies found that the act of giving money to charity—regardless of the donor’s income level—instilled feelings of greater wealth, health, and happiness. This is supported by scientific research which shows that giving activates the pleasure and reward centers in the brain, producing the same chemical response as eating good food or falling in love.
With an understanding of why to give, the next question is how to give, and when your capacity is limited, it is particularly crucial to be intentional with your generosity. The best way to achieve this is by identifying a cause that resonates with you and researching the efficacy and performance of organizations through an established source such as Charity Navigator. When determining an amount to give in a sustainable manner, some individuals choose a fixed percentage of their paycheck. In this way, giving during your lower-earning years helps to establish a powerful habit that puts you in a position to continue to give more as your income increases. As an added benefit, recurring donations—gifts made each week or month rather than in a lump sum—are especially good for non-profits as they provide valuable visibility into future cash flows. It may never feel like you are “rich enough” to give, but if you keep putting off charitable giving until it feels comfortable, you might wake up one day and realize you’ve missed a meaningful opportunity to make a difference in your own life and to the causes that matter most to you. Contact Kellie Smith, Foundation Director, at (904) 512-3796 or KellieK@jewishjacksonville.org to decide how you can best give of your time, talent, and treasure to begin planning your legacy today. 7
