The multiplier effect of contributing your skills to a university lecturer, or a doctor, or an aids worker in a developing country will reach considerably further than even a generous cash donation.

I’m not saying “Don’t donate cash” – but actually there is a lot of cash floating around in search of charitable destinations. If the guy sleeping on his desk really bothers you, look at what you have that you can donate that can change his life. Giving your skills is a very humbling experience.

Thanks for the input. I heartily agree with you that if you can, actively out go there and make the difference yourself with your own 2 hands.

At the same time, I don’t think that everybody can just up and go to some foreign place to help someone.

A third alternative might be to volunteer your time at a local charity.

While for others, who won’t go, the only way might be money. It’s true that charities should be investigated before you invest in them, here in Singapore last year we had a massive scandal involving a local foundation, but I’d like to believe at least some of these channels are legit. People not giving anything at all versus giving a little bit of cash does at least make a difference, don’t you think?

We often use extreme examples (e.g. death of the Bugatti vs. death of the child) when the choices are far less obvious than this. “Giving” is, by the nature of the word, universally a good thing – however more damage has been done to this world by indiscriminate giving than by a lot of the natural disasters that have taken place. Hang with me for the moment.

Handing cash to an organization or a family tends to destroy the recipient’s will to create their own wealth. The food aid that the US supplied Ethiopia during the droughts have entirely wiped out the farming community there. Every piece of used clothing that is donated to Africa takes another job away from a worker in an African textile factory (an industry nearly wiped out by used clothing).

There is a ton of satisfaction that comes with physically working with people to improve their ability to make their own lives. Rather than weighing the loss of not purchasing the tv with the satisfaction of sending off a check, why not do something that will be life altering, personally gratifying, the envy of your neighbors, and incredibly helpful – take a month off your work (unpaid), get on a plane and go help someone.

These tv ads that show starving children and make you think that you pennies per day will change your life are extremely effective in getting at your emotional core. However, don’t be fooled into thinking satisfaction will come from writing a check. Many of the people who have the financial capacity to write these checks have it because of their skills and knowledge; taking those skills to their grave without getting them to the needy is just a shame.