On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:12 PM, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Aadisht Khanna > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > 2. Having done this, I would obviously like to make sure that my > > donations get the most bang for their buck. This means the efficacy of > the > > charity I am donating to needs to be certain. > > If you don't care about getting tax subsidies, find a person in your > neighborhood who really needs the money, like a few kids who need help > with their school fees, or help with the down payment on an auto > rickshaw or some such. This is really easy to do in India, and goes a > long way. > > > > > 3. In addition to the organisational effectiveness of the charity, I > > also want to discriminate in the type of charities/ projects I donate > to. > [...] > > It sounds close to the proverb about teaching a man to fish rather > than feeding him. It's a subjective judgment call that I think only > you are best placed to make. Do whatever makes you feel good. > > > > > 4. There is also the temporal aspect. Rather than give five thousand > > rupees a month away now, I could invest it, get a return, and give > larger > > lump sums later. Which in your opinion would make more sense? > > You would have to be really sure that your investment is going to do a > far better job of growing in value than what someone in need can do > with it. > > > > 5. Point #4 also ties up with how much a particular donation should > > be. Are large lump sump donations better or worse than regular monthly > > donations? There would be transaction costs and processing costs > involved, > > but how important are these? > > It depends, transaction costs can be important depending upon what you > decide to do. > > Cheeni
Hi Aadisht...not a "cool" thing to say on an express-independent-opinions forum like Silk, but...I think Cheeni is right. This is your call to make. Each of us has to decide what form of financial help would be most suitable for us. But meanwhile, my two paise...if you ARE giving to an organized charity, you might also want to look at how much of your donation/s would go for admin costs, and how much actually to the cause. I found that, for example, Asha For Education (http://www.ashanet.org/) makes sure that all their efforts are voluntary, so that 100% of the money goes for the cause. Of course, the cause, the work done, the location...a lot of factors would play a part in your decision. But I also happen to think that money given NOW is always more useful than more money given later. NOW is when so many people really need it. Good luck with your planning, and I hope it is both useful in what it's trying to achieve, and that it gives you satisfaction. Our generation was not taught to include charitable gifting as a regular part of financial planning, though that is a traditional expectation. I am happy to see your generation thinking actively in these terms. Deepa.
