When Disaster Strikes - Give to You

Nothing breaks through our regular charitable rhythms like a natural disaster. When tragedies like Typhoon Haiyan strike, we feel compelled to respond charitably, most most often through donating to some form of relief effort. This is the essence of benevolence. It’s a beautiful thing, but quickly gets drowned out in the sea of appeal ads, deceptive matching offers and the sense that if the gift doesn’t happen within the next 2 days the consequences will be even more astronomical.

There are both rational and emotional reasons behind answering the question ‘should I give’ with a ‘yes.’  Rationally, we realize the country effected has suffered immense infrastructure damage, sanitary and food shortages and has incredible emergency health care costs among other expenses. We feel it makes “good sense" to give to help in some way relieve this expense and hopefully save lives in the process. Emotionally, we see pictures, hear a story, or read a statistic on the incredible death and destruction and are compelled to give. Pictures, videos and pleas move us to a compassionate outpouring of donations. A different kind of emotional giving also occurs. We are bombarded with advertisements (appeals) and an often corporate influenced peer pressure to respond through giving to a specific charity. The lure of matching incentives and the tyranny of the urgent causes the herd mentality to kick in, and we give.

Ultimately, dissecting the "why" behind our want to help may not entirely be useful in this case, so much as unpacking the "what.” Understanding the "what" when it comes to natural disaster giving is where we need to begin if we're going to ultimately tackle the question on many would-be donors minds: where should I give.

What is the effect I am hoping my gift will have? Put differently: “as a result of my gift, what am I hoping is accomplished?” I have not uncovered a shortcut or a simple answer to this question. I know better than to recommend one international charity over another, and instead would propose a few questions you could ask yourself to better uncover the answer for you. These questions would involve asking yourself what it is you’re trying to achieve, whether the country itself is the most important place to give to for you personally or whether it’s a broader ‘human lives saved’ question. Whether long term, systemic change is more important or immediate relief? These are all “good” questions to help uncover the ‘what’ answer for yourself.

However, before you dive into any of those questions, the most important thing you can do when it comes to giving and natural disasters is (drumroll please): give to yourself. Bear with me. Disaster strikes, you are compelled to respond financially - this is at the heart of charity and needs to be preserved in the midst of a crisis of options, media and matching manipulation and other things that prevent you from acting. Everything else is noise, so start with giving, but do it first and foremost by giving to yourself. What does this mean? It means setting aside the money you are able to give in a way that is ‘inaccessible’ for regular use because this is outside your regular rhythm of spending. I use a Chimp account because it sets it aside for charitable uses only (and for other reasons) but stuffing cash under your mattress could work as well. The point is, start with pulling money out of your bank account, setting it aside for this purpose - right now. Do this first because separating the ‘how much’ you are going to give with ‘where’ you are going to give is a critical first step.

Now, if you truly believe that money is ‘urgently’ needed immediately in the area where the disaster has struck, start unpacking those important ‘what’ questions. Do the hard work now of understanding what it is you want to achieve charitably and the ‘where’ the money should go and when it should go there will be exponentially easier.

Your charitable heart is too valuable to be colluded with the chaos of a crisis in decision or the  and your money too valuable to be given away without consideration. Start with giving, this is essential, but give to yourself. Set money aside, slow down (does the country need money now or in a few months when the media has forgotten about it), look at the options in front of you and make the decision that best aligns with your unique charitable intentions.

BIO: Jeff Golby works for Chimp Foundation, an online bank that allows people to manage and amplify their charitable giving. His role is to create a space where creativity, law, charity, money and trust come together in a way that inspires and motivates people to give.