Do your personal checks have a "higher calling?"
During a recent discussion on the many reasons to order personal checks online, a friend of mine brought up a purpose for checks that I hadn’t thought of yet.
We were discussing the different places we used personal checks regularly and he mentioned his church. Obviously, most churches synagogues and other places of worship don’t have credit card readers for you to use (at least not yet), and most of us rarely carry any cash.
These places depend on the support of parishioners to stay up and running and provide a livelihood for the pastors, priests and rabbis who minister to them.
In fact, many church-goers make it a habit to give 10% of their earnings to their church or other ministries like missionaries, homeless shelters and halfway houses.
At first thinking about giving away 10% of your hard-earned cash can seem ridiculous.
However, giving away a set percentage of money to charitable organizations is a common practice of many successful business people.
If you are a person of faith, you most likely believe that you will be blessed when you bless others. It’s the philosophy of reaping what you sow.
Maybe you don’t have any specific religious views, but you do believe in karma. Even if you are a full-blown atheist – you still have to admit that the universe seems to operate around the concept that what goes around comes around.
But you don’t have to expect something in return for being generous – there are other advantages. Obviously there are tax benefits to giving to a good cause, which is why the wealthy make sure they write a few checks just before December 31st rolls around.
Making a donation to a non-profit organization can also help you stay focused on what’s important instead of becoming overly obsessed with money and material possessions.
The recent downturn in the economy may have forced you to keep more of those personal checks inside of your checkbook. Over the past two years, plenty of Americans found themselves in need of charitable help instead of in the position to give it.
But that could be changing soon according to a study conducted at Boston College this spring.
“2010 may just turn out to be the beginning of good news for fundraisers and charities,” said Paul Schervish, Boston College’s director for The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.
According to the study, charitable giving by Americans fell around 5% in 2009 to $217.3 billion. This year it’s estimated that number could rebound to between $222 billion and $227 billion.
As the U.S. emerges from this recession, more everyday-people are finding a way to scrape something out of their bank account, write a few personal checks, and give some money to a good cause.
Americans always step up in times of need – whether it’s to help with an issue in the homeland or overseas. In fact, 2007 was a record giving year for Americans. We gave $295 billion in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the deadly tsunami in southeast Asia.
It’s not just the wealthy that open their pocketbooks. In 2007, the Giving USA Foundation at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy reported that 65% of households with an income under $100,000 a year regularly gave to charity.
Hopefully you will be able to afford to help someone else out in 2010. There are a lot of people who could use it. So find a worthy cause and take your personal checks out of that purse. Because no matter what, giving to those in need will make you feel like a million bucks!
Image Credit: DHester