Year-End Charitable Giving vs Year-Long Giving

December 21st, 2007

As I wrote before, one of my goals for 2008 is to increase my giving to my church to reach 10% of my income, meaning I intend to tithe in 2008. We give consistently throughout the year so that it has become a habit, a part of our lifestyle. On the flip side, there are many who choose instead to wait until the end of the year to give.

I want to take a look at the differences between the two philosophies. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments.

Benefits

Year-Long Giving

Allows you to meter your giving and make it part of your monthly budget
Useful for long-term commitment giving to one organization
Helps cover the charity’s day-to-day expenses

Year-End Giving

Allows you to save your money, gain interest, and give a larger one-time donation at the end
Useful for giving to multiple organizations - divide one-time donation of x dollars into y organizations
Helps cover charity’s large holiday expenditures

Weaknesses

Year-Long Giving

One month may be a little tighter than the another, making giving more difficult
You lose the potential compounded gains from year-long savings

Year-End Giving

You actually have to save, otherwise there won’t be as much to give
The charitable organization loses out on the compounded gains from your donation, assuming your giving comes only from December’s income

Possible Motivations

Year-Long Giving

Long-term commitment to an organization
Religious obligations, implied or otherwise
Tax deduction

Year-End Giving

Offset gains for tax purposes
Fund a charity in dire need
Use as leverage to fund a specific cause within a charity

This is far from a complete list, because I’m interested in hearing what you believe. After writing this, I still feel that year-long giving is the best way for me to give at the level I choose and that it will best serve my church to give in that fashion.

So, what do you think? Am I missing any big factors? Do you disagree with any of my categorizations? Tell me in the comments.