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Giving Without Giving

Paul Brierley - Feb. 2006

Christmas was less than a fortnight away as I first wrote this, and as ever it's a time of year which is a mixed blessing. It's a wonderful celebration of so many things that are great in life, but it's also a time of conspicuous consumerism and lavish excess.

It's also a time when most of us have to make the funds stretch that little bit further, which brought me to something of a puzzle. We're expected to spend more at this time of year, yet we're also expected to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. Is there any way in which we can do both?

Well, sort of. As with anything, it's a bit of a compromise, but there are ways in which we can make a difference for others without having to make much of a change to our lives.

Christmas Cards

The idea that got me started on this was a recent article on BBC News Online about how much money is donated from the sales of charity Christmas cards. We all know that we're going to have to send Christmas cards, so why not make it a box of charity cards this year?

Typically I'll be sending somewhere around 50 cards. Let's say that for a variety of designs I buy five boxes of 10 cards for about £5 each. That makes a total of £25 for my year's Christmas cards.

According to the BBC article, this could represent a charity contribution of anywhere between £1.25 (5%) and £10.00 (40%).

Bearing in mind that I'd be buying these cards anyway, you can see the impact that a well chosen set of charity cards can have. Buy purchasing the cards from the company that gives the largest percentage to charity, I can donate £10 to charity which otherwise would have gone from my pockets to a company's profit margin.

Fair Trade Products

This is a personal favourite of mine. The Fair Trade movement has grown dramatically over the last few years and offers a great way to support those less fortunate than ourselves.

In case you're not familiar with the idea, it's a simple one. The Fair Trade company buys produce from farmers at a price that gives the producer a chance of a decent standard of living rather than at the market price, which is invariably lower. The result is that small producers who would have lost their family businesses in some of the poorest parts of the world can not only stay in business but also have a better standard of living.

Generally speaking, Fair Trade foods are more expensive than their competitors. That said, the difference is usually negligible. From my local supermarket a bunch of 7 bananas costs £0.98. A bunch of 7 Fair Trade bananas costs £1.29. That extra 31 pence isn't going to break the bank for me, but it helps keep the supermarket stocking Fair Trade products, and that can only be a good thing.

Ethical Banking

Choose your bank wisely. My previous bank had all kinds of issues with getting my address wrong and losing debit cards in the post, but a bank can be rated on more than just its customer service and interest rates.

Take the bank I recently switched to - it promotes an ethical policy for its investments. To quote from their Internet banking website, they will not invest your money in (amongst others):

And in the same theme, they actively invest in:

The policy is simple - it's your money; you should have a say where it's invested. One might be mistaken to think that such a company would be forced to charge high fees and offer low interest rates. In fact, they offer one of the best current account packages I've seen.

So check just whether or not your bank has an ethical policy with regard to investing. You may be able to get just a good (if not better) deal elsewhere without your money being involved in any unsavoury activities.

Credit Cards

A kind of fusion of the ideas behind the ethical bank and charity Christmas cards, there are a whole slew of credit cards that offer incentives connected with charities. It's usually a simple idea - whereas some cards offer cash back, airline miles, and other incentives, such bonuses get invested instead into a given charity. You can choose a credit card that gives to a charity that's close to you.

Of course, there's always a word of warning with credit cards. Even the best deals can still have sky high interest rates, and the basic rule that I live by with my cards is, "If you can't afford to pay it off in one month, you can't afford it."

As soon as you start paying interest on your credit card balance, you're really spending too much on it.

In Summary

So there we are. Four simple ways to make a difference, albeit a small one, without really making any major changes to your lifestyle. It goes to show that to help a charity or special cause, you don't always have to be dishing out cash. Such funds will always be welcomed of course, but which is better in the long run? A one off donation to a collection plate? Or a long term commitment which offers continual benefits.

Go to the Low End Living home page.

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Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

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Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

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802.11g 802.11n 68030 68040 Apple April Fools clamshell iBook Classic Mac OS FireWire FireWire 400 G3 humor iBook iMac iMac G3 Intel iOS iPad iPhone LaserWriter Linux Mac MacBook Air Mac clones Mac mini Mac OS 9 macOS Sierra Mac OS X Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Microsoft OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard OS X 10.7 Lion OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion OS X 10.9 Mavericks OS X 10.10 Yosemite OS X 10.11 El Capitan Performa PowerBook PowerPC Rodney O. Lain SCSI Thunderbolt USB 1.1 USB 2.0