Chapter 1 - Charitable Thoughts
First things first: in this series of articles, we will never ask you for a donation. We will give ideas on how you can support charities. Because we know from numerous conversations that most people are willing to give, but unsure how to.
And if you’re one of those people, that’s where we will support you. We will share our experiences from choosing charities where a donation goes straight into amazing projects.
We’ve just embarked on this journey. We won’t get everything right. And we’ll be sure to share our failures, so you won’t make the same mistakes we make.
Do you need a lot of money to make an impact? No, because in many countries, you can finance a child’s school education with as little as $10 for an entire year. We want to encourage you to think about what has more value to you? Knowing you’re empowering a child to thrive later on in life… or buying something you might not even use.
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Your Aunt Brenda
Brenda Leonard was a school teacher at P.S. 154 in New York City’s South Bronx. This is a neighborhood with a very high share of children from underprivileged family backgrounds. Brenda taught primary school kids and initiated many activities outside of regular classes, mostly performing arts. She did all this with highly contagious enthusiasm for over 40 years.
Brenda died in 2024, at the age of 89, without kids of her own. She left her estate to her nephews. One of her nephews decided that he would commit a part of the money to supporting charities. This was the initial spark to create the Leonard Future Fund. Brenda’s friends and relatives all confirmed that she would certainly approve.
Obviously, not everyone has an Aunt Brenda. But you might discover that you do have money available for charities. Here are just a few examples:
If you sit down and think about this topic for a moment, you’ll find that you too have an Aunt Brenda who provides you with money you can donate.
And if you really don’t have money to spare, then how about your time? You can also help charities with your expertise, or by simply sharing their posts on social media.
You’ve managed the hard part now… making time or money available. Now comes the easy part.
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Spending money is easy… or not?
It’s easy, just pick a charity and send them your donation. And this is where you realize that you have entered into the world of moral conflicts.
What sounds so easy in fact brings numerous questions, such as:
We don’t have blanket answers that apply to everyone. We’re doing our best to find answers for our own undertaking.
What we’ve distilled from conversations with philanthropy experts is that focusing on one cause is smarter than trying to help too many causes. But even this is easier said than done. A smart impulse from a Rotary Club member was to find out where the money came from. This can be an unpleasant process but at the end, you will have more clarity. You might feel a moral obligation to compensate injustice.
Or, you have a subject that’s close to your heart. That’s typically the first thing that pops into your head when someone asks you which kind of charities you want to support.
In our case, it was clear: children’s education. That’s what Brenda worked for her entire life, and also the charities she financially supported for decades. So we maintaining her efforts.
Never thought about this subject in depth? Check out the 17 sustainable development goals of the UNESCO. You’ll certainly be able to choose the three subject areas that you find the most appealing:
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And then boil it down to one. And then start your research. You’ll quickly discover major organizations that are working in your chosen field. Go a step deeper (beyond page 1 of the Google search results). You will find smaller initiatives that could make progress with very concrete actions but are struggling to get the funds they need.
Maybe these are the ones you could reach out to. This is just food for thought. Major organizations are doing amazing work, but if you’ve ever worked in a large company, you know how much time and effort is wasted on processes which are not supporting the goal of the company.
So choose wisely which initiative you want to support. And don’t stop here. There’s more to do to multiply your impact.
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Have conversations about it
We mentioned in the beginning, many people have donations to charities somewhere in the back of their minds. They are willing but their busy lives take their minds off of it.
How about helping them bring focus onto this subject? It sure beats scrolling through social media for hours every day.
You will discover how inspiring this type of conversation can be. It will make people want to do research and take action. And talking about it again a few weeks later will re-ignite the enthusiasm.
Is this subject really so interesting? Should you really talk about it? Won’t that be awkward? Well, let’s put it this way: you’re 1,000 words into this article and still reading it. So the topic can’t be that boring. And rest assured, there are many people who will be happy to have that conversation. In fact, they will probably say that it was the most interesting conversation they’ve had in weeks, maybe even months.
Why is talking about this subject so meaningful? On the one hand, you’re creating a positive snowball effect. On the other hand, every conversation brings up new thoughts and brings you more clarity about your own efforts. We know they do. We’ve had them. And we will keep on having them.
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Conclusion
Let’s break this first chapter down into concrete actions you can take right now
We’ll be back in one month to share more thoughts on this subject. We will be out doing more good in the meantime. How about you?
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Did you enjoy reading Chapter 1 of our story?
Read about building a school in India in Chapter 2.
Visit the website of the Leonard Future Fund.
Get in touch with the author Philip Auinger.
PS: This article was written entirely by a human without the use of AI.