Most of us spent the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend filling our stomachs and emptying our wallets. After we devoured our Thanksgiving feast, we were able to indulge in Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday deals. Thanksgiving weekend is a time for reflecting on what we are grateful for in our lives and preparing for the Christmas Season. But what about those less fortunate?
Today is Giving Tuesday, a national day devoted to giving back. Today is a day to remind ourselves of those whose are unable to indulge in the weekend festivities and how we can help them not only today, but all year long. At TitleSmart we think it is important to find a charity or organization that you feel strongly about and celebrate them throughout the whole year. You can give your time by volunteering for your charity’s next fundraising event, or donate your money by providing an in-kind donation. Whatever you do, do it for an organization that touches your heart.
At TitleSmart we often partner with Spare Key. Spare Key is a local non-profit that provides housing grants to families with Children in the Hospital for various illnesses or injury. Spare Key was the perfect fit for our company. Our missions were aligned: help people stay in their homes. For us, we give families security by providing Title Insurance, and Spare Key helps make sure those homes aren’t taken away due to a sick or injured child.
What charity or organization rings true to your personal mission? Having a hard time coming up with one? No problem! Here are a few tips to help get you started:
Identify Your Personal Values
Do this before you open up your checkbook. What are the values most important to you? Make sure you have these identified before you start looking for charities to support.
Identify Your Preferences
What are you passionate about? The environment? Education? Hunger? Also, determine the area in which the organization works: local, national, or global. This will help you narrow down your search.
Start Searching Online
You can use websites like GreatNonprofits.org, myPhilanthropedia.org and GiveWell.org to help get you started. These aren’t the only sites out there but they can help get your wheels turning and point you in the right direction.
Identify Your Top Charities
Before you start to donate your time, talents, or money we highly recommended you do your research to determine if the organization is legitimate and meets all of your criteria. Once an organization has checked all of your boxes you can get to work!
We hope you take time to reflect on what is important to you on this Giving Tuesday, and if you can, open your heart and donate to your favorite charity. Do you want to start small? TitleSmart has also partnered with Toys for Tots this year and have drop off sites at each of our six locations. Stop by anytime with your donation!