“Giving Tuesday” is here, and so is the usual confusion about where your money will have the greatest impact.
The annual nationwide campaign, which takes place the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is meant to kick off the holiday season with a generous gesture, can result in an avalanche of emails and calls on social media to donate to specific causes. But with thousands of cancer organizations to choose from (a search for “cancer” on the website CharityNavigator.org, for instance, returns over 60,000 results) how do you know where to contribute?
Read More1. Decide What Matters to You Personally
Perhaps you’ve experienced the financial challenges that come with a cancer journey and want to give to a charity that helps cover everyday living expenses for those living with the effects of the disease. Or, if you’ve lost a loved one to cancer or experienced your own cancer diagnosis, a good choice is to donate money to an organization that deals with that specific cancer. If it’s one without effective treatment, you can also direct your money toward research projects working toward a cure. For instance, if the cancer is or was at an advanced stage because of adequate screening methods, you can donate your money to early-detection research.2. For Research Gifts, Go Straight to the Source
There are a number of charities the purpose of which is to solicit donations to subsidize research funding. However, when you donate to these charities, you may not be able to choose a specific research project to support.
If there’s a particular researcher in whom you’re interested, you may wish to donate directly to their institution. This ensures that your donation goes exactly where you want it, and will also spare some of the overhead costs that charities might subtract from donations to cover fundraising efforts.
“Research is the reason women are surviving," Myra Biblowit, president of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation about the price of progress. "But what stands between today and cure, today and resolution, is funding."
3. Check out the Financials
When it comes to impact, charities with the most efficient operations usually take the cake. If you want to know how much a charity brings in relative to what it spends, you can access their 990 IRS forms (every nonprofit is legally required to have these forms publicly displayed on their website) which breaks down their financials, down to where the money is going. Alternatively, you can head over to websites such as Charity Navigator or Guidestar, which offer “ratings” for charities based on different criteria, including impact and efficiency.
4. Get Direct
To have the most direct impact, consider visiting a crowdfunding site such as GoFundMe and to help out an individual or family in need. Online crowdfunding gives people the platform to directly request donations.
5. Where to Find Cancer Organizations and Causes
If you have a specific goal in mind, such as donating to a charity that supports a specific cancer type, you can search for keywords and charity profiles — and access their financials — on websites such as Charity Navigator, Guidestar and Charity Watch.
6. Exercise Healthy Skepticism
Unfortunately, there are bad actors out there that take advantage of people’s vulnerability and sympathy to advance their own self-interests. So do your research before choosing an organization or individual. With the rise of online crowdfunding, for instance, there’s been a rise in people faking cancer diagnoses to solicit donations. It’s not always possible to identify these bad actors, but a quick search for information can be a big help in ensuring your money is well spent.
7. Consider a Recurring Donation
If the idea of donating a large gift seems daunting — or financially unrealistic — it’s important to remember that the cliche “every little bit counts” is true. And if you can only donate $5 to $10 but want your gift to go further, consider making it a monthly or yearly recurring gift.
In a conversation with SurvivorNet last month, Dr. Azra Raza, director of the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the influential book “The First Cell,” emphasized the fact that, when it comes to funding research, she’d much prefer lots of small donations from people who genuinely care about the research she’s conducting than major gifts from billionaires who have profit-driven incentives.
“There are more than 20 million cancer survivors,” Dr. Raza said. “If 1 million of them just give me $10 a month for a year, that’s all I need. … But enough people have to give it so we can do this work once and for all.”
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