Until a friend of mine had a terrible tragic accident in the Himalaya mountains that left her in a coma, I had never donated to a charity. We collected some money at our wedding to give to her husband, and my mom also donated some money to a charity that takes care of her, but that was it.
Since moving to another country and having children, I have been looking for ways to help others. I want to donate to more charities. I am just looking for the right one.
It isn’t easy. I have heard of many charities that have turned out to be scams or which just took people’s money and ran.
My situation is especially difficult because I live in a foreign country and do not know about the charities here. Though my Dutch is fluent, I still have trouble communicating in this language sometimes. In the Netherlands, many people go house-to-house collecting money for charities.
I think it is interesting to find out about charities that way because they’re often ones I’ve never heard of before. They are often small scale actions rather than big ones. But I think the mistake they’re making is the following one: before I contribute, I’d like to find out more about the organization, whether my friends have heard of it, whether there is something about them that raises red flags.
I think I might even agree to donate money if they were willing to leave a business card or something I could find them by. Instead, they want me to make a monthly commitment. Again, because I do not know them, I am not so keen on giving them my credit card number.
At the same time, my heart breaks for all the little children going through invasive treatments; who are terminally ill; who look like little ghosts because they have lost so much weight from all their chemo; for all the sick people who can’t get the treatment they need; or for children who are not so fortunate as mine; or moms in poorer countries, who have to travel for many days if they want to give birth in a hospital.
I really want to help. Since I became a mom and later a World Moms Blog contributor, I have been made aware of needs and dreams that can’t be fulfilled because of the bad conditions all around the world.
But the fact is that finding the right charity isn’t easy. I mostly say no to these door-to-door people. I do it with a heavy heart. I just want to make sure that I am really helping people in need, and not wasting my money.
Luckily, while looking for a charity to donate to, there is a lot I can do:
- In my circle of friends alone, there have been situations where help was needed, including domestic violence and pregnancy problems.
- I am considering taking the Shot@Life pledge and becoming a Champion.
- I can learn as much as I can about actions such as #MDG’s and participate in our Twitter Parties.
- I can find local communities, organizations, charities and brands.
- Many of my friends are absolutely talented people and use their talents to collect money for a good cause, and I can help them spread the word and participate.
I know this sounds like nothing, and I am not telling this to show off how good of a person I am. It is just to show that even though it sounds like nothing, we all can make a difference. I am still very new at this social good cause. I still have a lot to learn. Already I have asked my fellow World Moms Blog contributors for help choosing a charity I can actually trust and they have come up with great charities.
I need to do more. I want to do more. I will do more.
Do you have a charity or cause worth supporting? Tell us about it and help spread the word
This is an original post to World Moms Blog from Olga Mecking in The Netherlands.
The image used in this post is credited to Images Money. It holds a Flickr Creative Commons attribution license.
Olga Mecking
Olga is a Polish woman living in the Netherlands with her German husband. She is a multilingual expat mom to three trilingual children (even though, theoretically, only one is trilingual since she's old enough to speak). She loves being an expat, exploring new cultures, learning languages, cooking and raising her children. Occasionally, Olga gives trainings in intercultural communication and works as a translator. Otherwise, you can find her sharing her experiences on her blog, The European Mama. Also take a while to visit her Facebook page .
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My philosophy is to focus on a few charities and support them.
I look at how long they have been around and what the general impression is of them amongst my friends and aquaintances.
It is hard when people come knocking at the door or ring on the telephone. I simply point out that our money can only go so far and wish them well. It is tough some times.
Good luck!
Karyn, that sounds like brilliant advice, thank you! I know it is hard to send people away.. I would give them money but credit card is all they want!
Maybe it is weird, but I give to every known organisation. Sometimes even to unknown organisations.. I just give.
I figure that I want to make a difference and if I can make a difference by giving a little money, I will do it. And maybe that will mean that sometimes I will be scammed, I don’t mind too much. (I don’t give out any credit card numbers or anything.) At least I know, that my heart was in the right place.
I love how serious you are about it, and that you actually take time to find out more about the organisation. That is great.
Mirjam, I usually suggest that I will give them money, but they want that monthly commitment and credit card numbers- and that’s not something I want to do. Additionally, these people often work with shame tacticts- one of them pointed to my girl and said: “it is horrible when little children like her run around bald”…I actually considered giving them money.. after that I said “goodbye”.
Hi Olga!
I think there are so many of us who feel the exact same way that you do. We all want to do more, but finding the right avenue to do more is so difficult. I was in that same position a few years ago…so started my own not for profit organization in Canada 🙂
Hi Alison, thank you for sharing- love your creativity and the idea of starting your own non-profit when you can’t find anything you actually like!
Hi Olga,
I agree with you — I am very weary of people who come knocking on my door. And, my pet peeve is organizations that call your house and act like they are trying to hustle you. I have been turned off from two organizations that I have supported in the past because of phone calls like that.
I do ask people to leave me information or a website, so I can read more. I don’t give cash directly to someone that I don’t know. I just don’t feel comfortable. And in general, I prefer to give to organizations.
Through #Moms4MDGs I have become more familiar with the work of some fantastic nonprofits. A new one to me was Plan International, which I now love!
Tomorrow we are starting a campaign for an amazing charity of one of our own contributors, Kristyn Zalota, of Cleanbirth.org. Kristyn has not only secured help for her organization from a major university, but our contributor, Dee Harlow, has also helped her charity on the ground in Laos, which included an affair with the US Ambassador there to aid maternal health! I have skyped with Kristyn on several occasions, and I believe in her mission.
Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to helping Cleanbirth.org kick off their fundraising campaign for this month! Last year World Moms Blog helped raise over $700 online for CleanBirth.org, which was the equivalent of providing over 100 birth kits for mothers who live in an area where maternal death is high.
I hope everyone will join us tomorrow! Just $5 USD provides a clean birth kit that can potentially save the life of a mother and her baby in Laos, where maternal death is unfortunately high. Let’s do this!
Jen 🙂
Hi Jennifer, thank you for your comment. I also don’t feel comfortable, even though I could give them some money but they don’t want that, they want monthly commitments, so I don;t give. Sometimes, just as I said in reply to Mirjam’s comment, they try to shame me into donating, which is not how it should work.
My way to deal with this issue (which I fully recknognize, especially the heavy heart when not donating!), was to join a non profit organization actively: Dertiende Ster (‘Thirteenth Star’, http://www.dertiendester.be). I know this one is valid and efficient by attending the meetings. I can actively contribute by writing their newsletters, participate to events and spread the word about our work. And I donate to related organizations, which we know personally and are somewhat connected to our own projects.
I believe this only works when you have a connection with a certain country or problem or disease. For me, my Ethiopian daughter was the link. Our organization is involved in sheltering Ethiopian street children, taking care of children who’s mothers want to study, keep ‘mobile schools’ going on the streets, etc. And in Belgium, we have ‘awareness’ programs that go to schools, to educate our own children about similarities and differences there are between them and their Ethiopian counterparts. I love this two-way way of working!
Hi K10K! What a great idea to join an organization to see how it is working- and helping not only with money but with your actions and your work! That way you see that it is actually a good organization you can trust!
Dear Olga, I know exactly how you feel! It was the same for me until I got involved with “Cupcakes for Kids with Cancer” which uses donated cupcakes as a means of raising much needed funds for the families of children affected by cancer, and also uses all opportunities to educate people about the (often missed) signs that might indicate cancer in children. What I love the most about this particular charity is that it’s still small enough and transparent enough that I know EXACTLY how the money we raise is spent. Its awesome to know the names of the children you’re helping! 🙂
Dear Simona, thank you for your kind words. It is soo good to know more about the organization you donate and make sure the money can actually help people in need.
I know exactly what you mean Olga. For years now, I have “adopted” children in several countries with Plan International (as Jen mentioned above). More recently however, I have become involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society when I joined their Moms In Training team. I now am part of the team’s leadership committee, and know that 95% of the funds raised by us goes towards the cause since so many of us are volunteers. Watch this space for more information about both LLS’s Moms In Training team and how you can help. 🙂
Hi Maman Aya, thank you for commenting- it is amazing to see how many of you wonderful women are deeply involved in charity work- I really admire you, ladies! And I will definitely watch this space- but then I watch this space anyway 😀