The holiday season and the end of the year are traditionally times for giving to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and even many people who do not normally give to charitable causes throughout the year give at this time.  But whenever we choose to give, we can increase the power of our gifts – large or small – by using tactics that function as force multipliers to increase the effectiveness of what we can give. There are a number of tactics we can use in this way, but in this post we will look at just three.
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First, and most importantly, we can ensure that we are giving wisely  There are so many causes clamoring for our money that it can be confusing trying to select a worthwhile one, but it is vital that we do.  Unfortunately, there are many registered charities that spend massive amounts of the money they receive on overheads and administrative expenses so that in some cases only a small fraction of what is given actually gets to those for whom the help was intended.  In other cases, overheads may be relatively low but large amounts of funding go to peripheral causes that are not the activities we want to support.

That is why the use of a good charity ranking organization such as CharityNavigator.org is imperative if we want to make what we can give have maximum effect and not be wasted or diverted.  There are several charity ranking organizations, but the Charity Navigator site clearly and simply details how charities spend the money they get and shows what percentage of those funds actually go to the programs they claim to support.   The site grades each charity with a score that is simple to compare with the scores of other charities. Charity Navigator also provides carefully prepared lists of different types of charities –  including a great list of charities that they have ranked with 100% scores.  Assessing this information does not take long and can transform our giving in terms of what it actually accomplishes.

For example, Charity Navigator gives a perfect 100% score to the organization Lifesong for Orphans that provides adoption and financial assistance for homeless children around the world –  so if you gave to them, you would know your gift was helping in that particular area about as much as is humanly possible  

Beyond giving carefully with intelligent checking of the organizations we want to support, we can also often make our gifts go further by giving boldly.  Giving boldly does not have to mean giving more –  though if we are able to do so that is good, of course.  Giving boldly often simply means giving to charities that are doing truly innovative and unusual work – perhaps helping  take the Gospel to unreached people groups –  what we might call “Giving boldly where no one has gone before.” 

That sometimes means being on the lookout for newer and likely smaller charitable organizations that may not even be rated yet, but in many cases we can still find out enough about the organization to warrant our support.  A great example is the Children in Christ ministry that is carrying the Word of God to whole people groups that have not heard it by means of children’s clubs and other innovative ways. Although this smaller charity is not numerically rated by Charity Navigator yet, it is possible to find plenty of information showing how effectively and cost effectively it functions (the CEO even works on a volunteer basis), so you know that contributions are truly accomplishing something.

Finally, we can often give more than  we think we can because giving doesn’t just have to be about money.  Perhaps we can increase the power of our gifts by sharing products we produce or by giving items we no longer need – or don’t need as many as we have. Most people are aware of the opportunities to give in these ways through the food banks, Salvation Army or other helping agencies in our own communities, but we may not be aware of some of the excellent charities that send products and lightly used items to distant places  around the world where the needs may be far greater than those of our own communities.

An example of this kind of charity is  Matthew 25: Ministries (another Charity Navigator 100% rated charity) which aims to help “a needy world with the things we throw away.”  This innovative charity collects and passes along used items that can truly help those in need nationally and internationally –  including things we may not often think of such as empty prescription pill bottles which are sent to areas where what medicines are available are often literally wrapped in leaves or paper and subsequently are spoiled through moisture and in other ways.  Yet another organization, Christian Resources International, specifically focuses on sending used Bibles and religious books to areas where they are not generally available.

All these tactics require thought and perhaps a little time on our part – but they are simple things that can make a very real difference. So if you choose to give this season,  think about the advantages of giving wisely, boldly, and in more ways than just cash.  The effectiveness of our giving can be doubled if we do.
 
* You can find interviews with the CEO’s of some of the charities mentioned in this post in the “Works of Faith” section of our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org.​​

 
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the best known and most profound of all the parables of Jesus.  The parable may have been based on an Old Testament story that tells of the kindness given to certain Judean military captives by men of Samaria whose behavior resembles that of the Good Samaritan at certain points, because they:

“… clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria” (2 Chronicles 28:15).

Regardless of the origins of the story of the Good Samaritan, its timeless message teaches us that when there is true need – as opposed to requests for handouts (see our article on the savvy Samaritan here) – we should give without hesitation.  That much is clear from even a cursory reading of the story, but the parable also teaches something else that is easier to miss – that in cases of real need, we should be willing to give with true generosity.

Christ’s parable tells us that the Samaritan who rescued the injured Judean – despite belonging to a group that was generally shunned and even despised by many Jews – not only bound the man’s wounds and carried him on his own donkey to the nearest inn, but also made provision for the man’s upkeep for a while. The story tells us: “The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have’” (Luke 10:35).

It’s easy to read over the fact that the Samaritan gave “two denarii” – or “two pence” as some older translations have it – for the man’s upkeep, but the amount was a considerable one.  The denarius was a silver coin of the Roman Empire – from which the word “money” is derived in several modern languages (for example, Spanish “dinero”). We know historically that at that time a single denarius would be the approximate pay for a day’s labor (Matthew 20:2). Two denarii equaled two days’ wages, or a full third of what an individual could earn in a week; at current U.S. minimum wage it would be about $140.  But what would that amount buy at that time?

Archaeology can help answer that question.  A sign from an inn located in a city of the Roman Empire not too distant in time from the setting of the Parable of the Good Samaritan may indicate that the nightly cost for a room was 1/32nd of a denarius.  At that rate it is obvious that providing two denarii for the care of the man would provide for a stay of two months, or for several weeks including food. Not only that, but also the Samaritan made it clear that when he came by on his return journey he would pay for any extra expenses if the two denarii were used up.

So the gift of the Samaritan was not a small one, and the extent of the individual’s generosity toward a total stranger (especially of a nation that generally shunned his own people) seems astonishing.  This does not mean, of course, that Jesus advocated giving several days of our pay to everyone we attempt to help.  We do not know how rich or poor the Samaritan was – the parable does not give us that context. But Christ’s parable does show us, through what the Good Samaritan gave, that when human need is real, truly generous giving is appropriate.
 
*For more on the parables of Jesus, download our free e-book on this subject, here.

Originating in the United States in 2012, “Giving Tuesday” has become a global movement that encourages individuals, organizations, and communities to focus on year-end giving to good causes rather than just to ourselves and those we know, as so many do around the holiday season. 
 
Giving Tuesday is scheduled to closely follow the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November each year and the immediately following shopping-frenzy days of “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” In strong contrast with these totally consumer-oriented days, Giving Tuesday focuses on the way of giving rather than getting, so it is something that deserves our thought and support.

Naturally, the concept of Giving Tuesday does not suggest that we should only give to those who need help on this one day of the year. But it does focus our minds on needs we can perhaps alleviate at a time of year when support for charities and other ways of helping others typically falls off as many people spend the greater part of what they receive on themselves and their family and friends.

Now in its seventh year and fueled by press coverage, social media, and internet discussion, Giving Tuesday has been tremendously successful in bringing a great deal of funding to many excellent causes around the world.  However, so many charities exist that it can be confusing and somewhat overwhelming to try to decide where to give if we do want to participate.  That’s how a good online charity rating site can prove tremendously helpful. We recommend CharityNavigator.org. Although there are several similar sites, Charity Navigator clearly shows what percentage of the moneys received by various aid organizations go to their claimed targets –  and the site also provides an advisory  about charities that are suspect in terms of what they are doing or how much of their funds they are using on administration. A few minutes spent checking charities on a site like this can help guarantee that what we can give gets to where it needs to go.*

But of course, giving doesn’t always have to be about money.   Although this day may be a great opportunity to think about how we can give financially, as we are able, there are other ways we can give that are just as valuable.  Giving of our time, assistance, concern, and encouragement can be just as valuable as giving money in many circumstances – and even better in some.  The end of the year holiday season is often a particularly hard time for those who are by themselves, single parents, widows, widowers, and others.  Ironically, the “season of good will” is often a time of heightened levels of loneliness, depression, and even suicide.  

Thinking about Giving Tuesday provides us not only an extra incentive to give of what we ourselves have received, but also an extra opportunity to think about those we may know who could use some extra encouragement or help as we go into the winter season.  These are things which should continue to be concerns for us throughout the year, of course, but Giving Tuesday provides a valuable opportunity to begin or to focus on our ongoing efforts in the area of giving.
 
*See also our article “The Savvy Samaritan” here.

                        “Give without remembering and receive without forgetting.”
 
The old saying that we should give without remembering and receive without forgetting contains a world of wisdom in its few short words.  While it is not actually a biblical proverb, the principles represented in this old maxim are certainly found in the Scriptures.  

We may not be able to find a specific biblical verse saying “forget your acts of giving,” but the apostle Paul covered the principle when he wrote: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13).  What Paul says here can be applied in many ways – such as forgetting our past sins and failures – but it applies equally to forgetting or not dwelling on any good we may have done and concentrating on what good we may still do.  

The Scriptures are even more explicit about the need for us to remember the things we ourselves receive.  Paul shows exactly this continuing thankfulness when he wrote to the Church at Ephesus: “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16).  Paul clearly remembered to give ongoing thanks not only for things he himself received, but also for others, too.

So we can certainly find a worthwhile reminder of biblical principles in the old saying regarding forgetting what we give and remembering what we have been given.  The way to which we are called is one of gratefully remembering the gifts we receive and actively looking not at things we have given, but looking for new ways to give.