Year End Giving Review
The end of the year is time for most of us to review and reflect
on the past year. We may think about how we didn't exercise like
we intended or we didn't save money like we planned, or that
vacation trip we wanted to take didn't quite make the calendar.
Our charitable giving should also have the same focus.
Charitable giving, whether you are a company owner, a foundation
trustee, or a donor deserves the same reflection at year's end.
Why? Because giving is driven by some sort of goal, it is
intentional and an expression of values. Donors, businesses and
foundations should reflect on their giving over the past year
and review the gifts they made and why. Businesses and
foundations in particular need to review and evaluate the
success of their giving as a way to redirect their strategies
and improve their giving impact in communities. Why? Because
companies and foundations have a responsibility to invest their
charitable gifts or grants in a manner that strategically
impacts people and communities. Donor's giving is also driven by
some goal or reason and using an asset that they worked hard for
or saved for. This sounds hard, but giving is a way of investing
assets and you want to be able to measure successes so that in
the long run you find ways to improve giving as a way for
improving lives.
Reviewing year-end giving can be done in different ways. There's
the long-way that uses evaluation methods to show impact and
results. This can be an involved and lengthy process and is
highly recommended for foundations and corporations. Face it,
corporations and foundations are results oriented and without
knowing what your giving results are--- you don't know how
effective you've been. For small and medium size companies and
donors, a simpler strategy can give you the information you want
or need to effectively plan giving for next year.
Here are a few questions you can ask to review your past year
giving: 1. Did you keep your giving in line with your financial
plan? 2. Did your contributions reflect what you most care
about? 3. Were your contributions used as you intended? 4. Did
the organization meet its goals?
These are by no means all the questions that should be asked.
Review or evaluation is unique for each foundation, company and
donor. But the bottom-line is you do reviews to know if your
giving was effective.
By doing a year-end review, you can determine direction for the
year ahead that will make your giving more meaningful and
successful. The process helps you to re-think who you give to
and why, and what your give and why.
Review of your charitable giving helps you better meet your
philanthropic goals and make a real difference at the same time.