Most people engage with some sort of charity work at some point in our lives. On a day to day basis, we’re taught to prioritise ourself, our own wants and our own needs. But every so often, it can be good to focus on helping others. Donating to the causes you care about can help to benefit people, animals or places in need. If you aren’t regularly involved with charity, now could be a good time to join the millions of people who are. Here are just a few different things you can do to help!
Choose a Cause
The first step you need to take is choosing a cause to support. Generally, people will choose something that is close to their heart. If you’ve experienced a certain struggle in your life that you have overcome or are dealing with, you may want to choose a cause that supports others in similar situations. If you or a family member has been impacted by a certain illness, you may want to choose a charity that is working on finding cures or treatments for these conditions. If you like animals and wildlife, you may want to support sanctuaries that care for injured species, charities that focus on habitat rehabilitation or other animal based charities. If you feel strongly about a global issue, such as the environment, there will be a charity revolving around this. For some inspiration, the biggest and most commonly supported charities in the world include:
Of course, there are plenty of smaller charities you can focus your efforts on too. Read more about Jozef Opdeweegh’s experience choosing and supporting charities over the years for some inspiration.
Donate
Almost all charities accept donations and you can generally choose to provide one-off donations through their website or over the phone, or subscription donations that come out of your bank account by direct debit to allow regular giving. For example, if you feel like you want to give this festive season, consider giving to a charity you are passionate about, like if you were to Donate to Aboriginal Charity. Your donation doesn’t have to be astronomical – in fact, many people who choose not to donate make the decision with the idea that their donation won’t help much. The fact is that it’s not true! If everyone gave the “small donation” they wanted to, it would add up to a pretty significant amount that could help more than you can imagine.
Volunteer
Another option, if you don’t have the money spare to donate, or if you have the time available to you, is to volunteer. Almost all charities need volunteers of some sort. Whether that’s volunteers who complete admin tasks, raise awareness of the charity’s cause, hold or attend events such as charitable runs and music events, or anything else. Don’t hesitate to contact your charity of choice and ask what you can do to help them. Most will be able to provide you with a list of things that you can do to help them as best possible.
As you can see, there are a number of different options that you can choose from when it comes to support a charity that is dear to your heart. Hopefully, some of the above advice will help get your charitable journey off to a great start in the right direction!
What do you think?