Charitable Giving: Better Late Than Never!

Anybody remember that $52 a week I was going to give to charity?

No? Good. Forget I mentioned it.

Oh, you do remember, eh? You didn't want to hassle me about it and seem like a nag or anything, but you were wondering if I was going to follow through? You thought I had forgotten all about it?

Well you were half right. I hadn't forgotten all about it, but I hadn't actually done it either. This blog exists, to a large degree, to keep me accountable. I have reneged on a number of promises already (including the ones mentioned in the two links above), and failed myself as well as my readers.

But the time has come to get back up off the mat, dust myself off, and get back on the saddle/wagon/bicycle again, depending on your preferred mode of metaphorical transport.

(side note: I just opened up my cellphone to see how many weeks have already passed this year, and it took me a while to figure out that my phone thinks it's 1980. If it were 1980, my cellphone would be the size of an outboard motor, and it certainly wouldn't be the first place I looked for a calendar! Although maybe it still shouldn't be!)

Apparently 5 weeks have passed in this Non-1980 year, So I am 4 donations behind. Why not 5? Because one of those weeks I donated to a political candidate, and I have striven valiantly to keep my fiery, passionate political perspective out of this blog lest it cause any of you to share yours with me. I am, of course, like anyone who claims a political affiliation, a closed-minded ideologue, incapable of accepting alternative ideas without shouting them down. Better for us all if I just keep it to myself.

I may donate to this candidate again, or maybe to another one in the general election. If this happens I will simply advise everyone to give to whichever candidate they support. (Unless, of course, it's the WRONG one! Just kidding. You can support the wrong candidate if you want to. It's still wrong, though.)

See why I keep (mostly) mute on this subject?

Well today's Donation, for the 1st week in February, is going to The American Red Cross. Glad I did that research, are you? You could never have learned about the Red Cross otherwise, right? I mean they are such a small, unheard of group, right?

Well the Tornado Victims in the American Southeast right now are being helped by the Red Cross, and by the other Huge Name in Charity, the United Way. As a matter of fact a search for "Tornado" at Charity Navigator comes up with only one result. So I have given to The Red Cross this week, through the "Network for Good" button at Charity Navigator.

If you are going to be matching me in donating to the 52 different organizations I find this year, I recommend using the Network for Good, because at the end of the year, you will get a single tax document cataloging your donations, so that you may make Uncle Sam aware of your generosity with a minimum of fuss. You will need to sign up for membership to use these services, but it beats writing, stamping, and mailing 52 checks, and/or receiving 52 separate Form-1080's in the mail in 2009.