Budgeting For Extra Charitable Donations

Categories: Budget, Giving

Here is a cool idea, consider adding a new category to your monthly budget for ‘special giving.’ While doing some budget planning with the program we use; YNAB, or You Need a Budget, I noticed for some months throughout the year, we gave to various causes. This was in addition to our regular giving.

This got me thinking, wouldn’t it be really good if for every month, we made a special donation to groups or people that we saw in need. Doing our regular monthly tithe seems mundane, from the standpoint that it is just a regular habit. Don’t get me wrong, I actually get excited to do it, because I feel it is an honor and privilege to be able to give. But on the other hand, I don’t always get to see who it helps, or have a more direct effect on a single person or special cause I like.

I asked my wife if she wanted to carve out an extra amount each month for special giving, either to organizations, or people that we want to help. She said yes- she was all for it. We are starting out with a pretty small amount that we can afford. We have only been doing this for a couple of months. It has helped with my electronic budgeting too, because now we have a place already in our program to track it- I’m kind of a nerd, and I like the numbers to match up. This helped us give to a group feeding the poor last month, and a special offering to help families that can’t afford Christmas for their children this month.

The YNAB software program is really easy-to-use, and I can add extra categories, or sub-categories to accommodate this change to our budget. YNAB can be used on PC, Apple, iPhone or Android devices.

I’m not mentioning this to bring attention to myself, because that is a really bad thing to do I think, but to give you an idea to try. Giving this way is fun and freeing. It frees me from some money worries- strange how generosity does that. Givers usually are blessed more in return in the long run than they ever give, but that shouldn’t be the motivation, but it is a cool thing that seems to happen.

Do you think this is a good idea? Also, if you already do something like this, or if you try it, let me know how it goes.