Comments on: Should You Have an Emergency Charity Fund?

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:14:11 +0000

I guess it depends on what you believe. I think that saving money and earning interest (even if you are just keeping pace with inflation) is fine. The whole point of an emergency fund is to have it when you need it.

In this time of very expensive gas and food, I don’t think digging deeper and going without is an option for many people.

By: matt

matt — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:53:55 +0000

Saving money to give later defeats the whole point of giving money. You give a percent of your income, your income changes and your giving reflects that. If there is a large issue, you dig deaper and go without. Leaving money in the bank helps no one!!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:48:20 +0000

Thank you so much for bringing this idea to light. I give regular percentages of my net to charities. But I also keep a “Generosity Fund” which is above and beyond charity giving because I value generosity. Money accumulates in this account, and whenever I need it for extra charitable purposes, or I just see or hear of a need among friends or family or friends of friends, I dip into the Generosity Fund. Sometimes it accumlates lots of money- “Let your alms sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give it” (Didache)

By: Meg

Meg — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:42:27 +0000

I keep a charitable giving account; it’s just an EmigrantDirect savings account. Part of my budget is to give 5% of my gross income to charity. I have that money automatically transferred each month to my ED Charity account, so when things come up I feel led to give to, I have a pot of money there to dip into.

Most years I give most of it around the holidays or if a disaster strikes suddenly (like Katrina or 9-11) though one year I had a lot leftover and used it to fund a volunteer trip to Peru.

By: Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:59:46 +0000

I noticed an article on CNN today about a charity that tries to arrive first to a disaster with special equipment for clean up and rescue. See: The First Response Team Website That might be a good alternative if you want to give in preparation for a disaster.

By: Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:59:58 +0000

What a fantastic idea! I had never thought of having a fund already pre-specified as "donated" in case of emergency. It is almost like a charitable trust fund for regular people. If you do have a little more money to donate than most, you might consider that Vanguard has a charitable trust arm that requires a minimum $25K investment or you can have five people combine $5K each. You receive the tax deduction now, but can specify where to give it later.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:19:00 +0000

I don't have an emergency charity fund, but that's because I make it a regular habit of giving to charities. If I can suggest a few: my college (or in your case, yours) my church (or yours), Doctors Without Borders, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Urban Forest (San Francisco), and Glide Memorial Church (San Francisco). Hell, if any of these contributions make a difference (as in EDF), then maybe the number of natural disasters will go down somewhat, and these "emergency" donations will slow.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:26:05 +0000

“donate… as required by me” – I usually replace that phrase with the word “fee” or “subscription”, but I suppose there’s a difference to the IRS ;-).

By: Mary Sue

Mary Sue — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:47:43 +0000

I donate a portion of my income to several charities as required by my religious practice. I send a small dollar amount every pay period to an international charity that focuses on relief and development work throughout the world. I mark the donation “Area of Greatest Need”.

The area of greatest need is often on the front of the charity’s web page. In December, it was the counties here in Oregon hit hard by flooding. In March, it was Kenya. Last month it was the cyclone-hit parts of China. This month, it’s the Midwestern states. Natural disasters strike every day across this wide world of ours, and a constant donation reminds me that I am a citizen not just of the United States, but of the planet Earth.

(God, I sound like such a hippie.)

By: Mobody

Mobody — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:39:34 +0000

I think an emergency fund for charity giving is really a good idea. Most people are givers for charities because they have some tie to it, Cancer, United Way, or what have you.

I volunteer for a group that sends kids to Latin America to do service projects, kind of like a “mini peace corps”. They mostly do clean water projects, hygiene and healthy household projects, etc. The kids fundraise to pay for the program, which costs about 6K per person to go down for eight weeks and pay for project materials.

I hear a lot of excuses as to why people can’t donate. We give to this or that fund, or how can you bother with that when there are tsunamis and 911s and hurricaines and any number of unexpected disasters.

The truth is, because a lot of people don’t plan their charitable giving, they will opt to send money to the Red Cross for the Tsunami, and not give to the cancer fund this year. Actually, they should give to both, and with a fund like this, they could.

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:04:23 +0000

My wife and I put aside some money each month for charity. If a friend wants $20 for some a-thon, the money comes out of it. When people pass the hat for a friend in need money comes out of that. Its not an emergency fund per se, but it has enough so when we want to give away $50-$100 we don’t have to think if we can give.

By: CommRE

CommRE — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:03:25 +0000

I do have a Charity savings account. Not sure it is an “Emergency” Charity account, but it is where we pull money from for larger donations. For me, that is anything $500 or over. Anything less than that I just pay from our regular checking. My wife and I set the money aside after a settlement and keep it in an online savings account.

By: Solomon

Solomon — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:42:32 +0000

I don’t have a fund as such, but I do lend on Kiva, and have been for about a year now.

I like Kiva because the same money can help multiple people. When someone repays a loan, I can lend it to someone else. If I give to charity, I can only help someone once.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:21:05 +0000

I do not have one right now. But after thinking of your idea I came to the conclusion that its a good idea. Everyone with spare income should have a charity that they give to. Right now I give to OPARC which helps with developmentally disabled adults who have conditions such as downs syndrome. I think its a worthy cause but I never thought to have a fund for such things as disaster funds. We had really bad fires about a few miles from my house a few years ago and I had a lot of friends that were evacuated. It would have been nice to have a fund readily available to give to them.

By: Momma

Momma — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:06:13 +0000

What a fabulous way to plan your purposeful giving. This definitely made me think of my charitable contributions in a way that I hadn’t before. Thank you :)