How to Prioritize Giving in a Crisis — Financial Giving

T.S. Eliot wrote “ April is the cruelest month.” By the end of this month most of us will know someone who has died of the coronavirus. In New York City alone, 10,000 people have died of the coronavirus as of this writing. To put that loss of life in perspective: this is as if 9/11 happened 3 times in one month.

Almost all of us will know someone who has lost their job or had their hours substantially reduced. In the US, over 16 million people have filed for unemployment as a result of this crisis.

For those of us who are more visual, the images, too, are staggering. Aerial photos of miles long lines for food bank pick-ups. Temporary gravesites.

But, this pandemic is not a great equalizer.

It is true that we rely on each other more than ever, and that we will almost certainly emerge from this experience with a shared collective trauma. But make no mistake, there is nothing “equal” about any of this. We are all facing a crisis, but it is one that disproportionately harms people who are already marginalized in our society. As we think about where to give we must think about giving not just from the lens of equality, but from the lens of equity.

When considering how to give, I like to start with a concept borrowed from personal finance advisors: bucketing. As I teased in the previous post: considering the time horizon of the impact you are trying to make is a super simple way to prioritize how you allocate your giving dollars. By grouping your giving according to short, middle, and long term impact, we can apply the same concept of “bucketing” to your giving budget.

Bucket your Giving Budget

First things first, it’s good to consider your giving budget on an annual basis and have a ballpark estimate of what you can afford to give each year. You will also find that doing so makes you more generous: if you have already committed to giving a certain amount and are giving within that budget, you will not be considering individual contributions from a loss-aversion perspective. Plus, it streamlines your decision making process and helps you steer clear of decision fatigue.

Commit a percentage of your annual giving budget for middle and long-term impact.

It’s a good personal finance practice to automate a certain percent of your monthly income to savings if you can. Within that, many experts advise separating into a bucket for “rainy day savings” in case of an unforeseen emergency, and another for “savings towards a specific goal” like a down payment on a house or car.

Using the same approach, it’s good to automate some of your giving to middle and long term. Pick a % of your annual giving budget and then divide that among the long-term, systems-change causes you believe in. Plus, committing to a recurring, set donation is a good practice because it allows the recipient organization(s) to plan and budget more effectively, increasing their efficacy, and ultimately boosting the impact of your giving dollars.

By bucketing your giving in this way you can ensure that you will have some baseline level of impact to causes you have decided are important to you — while still reserving the flexibility to give in response to a specific crisis.

So How Can You Prioritize Giving Within Each of These Buckets?

Short term: 0–6 Months:

Direct Services

As we are at or approaching the peak of the crisis (depending where you are), I encourage anyone who is able to give to focus your short-term giving towards organizations providing direct services and direct financial support to those who are already being hit hardest by this pandemic. Direct services are generally proven interventions, so the short term impact of your giving is both predictable and meaningful. For instance, 20 dollars to your local food bank pays for xx meals for a local family. Direct services help put out the immediate fires; and remembering to put equity first, here are some groups who are most at risk right now:

Crisis Responders

Health care workers and essential workers are showing up on the frontlines during the coronavirus pandemic — risking their health every day to help other people.

Where to give now: Frontline Foods (where I’m actively volunteering) and For the Frontlines

People Experiencing Homelessness

People experiencing unsheltered homelessness (those sleeping outside or in places not meant for human habitation) may be at risk for infection when there is community spread of COVID-19. In San Francisco this week, our largest shelter reported 70 people who tested positive for COVID. There needs to be a new solutions that includes more help for getting unsheltered people into hotel rooms or alternative shelter (this post is about financial giving, but calling your elected officials and asking them to do more is also super impactful here).

Where to give now: Your local food bank

Black and Indigenous People

Data on racial disparities in health outcomes from the virus are lacking, but initial signs point to a crisis within a crisis. Majority black counties had infection rates 3x majority white counties (WaPo). In a sample of 14 states, black people were significantly over-represented in hospitalizations: 30% of hospitalizations vs. just 18% of the general population (TheAtlantic). The virus is also primed to disproportionately impact indigenous people, especially those on reservations where access to running water is a major issue.

Where to give now: Equal Justice Initiative, Dig Deep, NAP Rapid Response Fund, Your Local BLM Chapter’s GoFundMe

Incarcerated people (including those in Immigrant Detention Centers):

At one point of this crisis the infection rate on Rikers Island was 7x that of New York City (NYT). Even with limited testing availability, Cook County Jail in Chicago is already the single largest-known source of coronavirus infections in the US (NYT). When considering these numbers, it’s important to remember a few things: 1) Incarcerated people are people, 2) jails and detention centers often hold people who have not yet convicted of any wrongdoing but who simply cannot afford to make bail, 3) there are significant, documented racial disparities in policing and sentencing that will exacerbate the racial disparities mentioned above, 4) that according to the Marshall Project, in a typical week in the US, 200,000 people are booked into jail, and about that many leave — this volume should be startling at any time, but especially when fighting a highly communicable disease.

Where to give now: The Bail Project, RAICES

Undocumented people and immigrants:

Despite paying taxes and generally contributing to our communities, undocumented people and migrant workers have been thus far left out of most US relief bills (although hat tip to Los Angeles’ Angeleno Card for explicitly including undocumented people in their relief effort).

Where to give now: Domestic Worker’s Relief Fund , Immigrant Worker Safety Net Fund, Undocufund (NorCal specific), National Domestic Workers

Victims of domestic abuse:

Here in San Francisco, the DA’s office reported a 60% spike in referrals for domestic abuse in the first week under stay at home orders. Google reports a 75% increase in online searches for help with domestic violence. Globally, the UN Secretary General has encouraged all government response plans to include provisions to address what he calls “a horrifying surge” in domestic violence.

Where to give now: The Hotline

LGBTQIA People:

There are LGBTQIA folks in all of the above categories. For many LGBTQIA people, and youths in particular, their intersecting identities put them at additional and distinct risk in this crisis.

Where to give now: The Trevor Project

Middle term: 6 Months-18 Months

However, if we concentrate all financial giving on short-term relief, we will quickly burn through our giving dollars without fundamentally solving the problems that are exacerbating this crisis. Even in a crisis, it is still vital to designate some of your giving budget for political and systems change efforts with middle or longer term impact.

Systems Change: Supporting the work of advocacy and watchdog organizations can help hold leaders accountable to ensure government support is accessible to everyone who needs it throughout the crisis and recovery.

Politics: Without getting too political, let’s just say this crisis has shown the far reaching implications of social and health policy, while highlighting the importance of effective, responsible leadership at any and all levels of government. Upcoming local and national implications have far-reaching implications for our recovery timeline from both a public health and economic standpoint. Political giving is as important and impactful as ever.

Long Term: 18 Months +

Those who have the means to do so should include innovation in your giving budget. By nature, investing in innovation means giving money towards unproven solutions. However, the payoff to society can be tremendous.

Innovation: This is a huge global reset and a time where we need resilience and redefinition of what the future will look like. I am inspired by companies redeploying their people to respond short-term to urgent needs like making facemask or hand sanitizer, but also curious about organizations doing the longer term collective impact work we will need to re-invigorate our cities and rebuild community trust. What are the orgs in this category for you?

I’ve listed some organizations above, but this is by no means comprehensive. There are almost certainly local efforts and funds in your area — and again, I encourage you to support the most vulnerable in your local community. Proximity matters!

Tell me — Where are you giving? How are you encouraging others to give? Still want to dive deeper? Check out Denise Hearn from First Principles on Where to Give Money Now and NYT’s Paul Sullivan’s article https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/your-money/philanthropy-coronavirus.html.