Giving Compass' Take:

• Fidelity Charitable and Exponent Philanthropy offer a guide to help navigate charitable contributions and decide how to give with the most impact.

• How can strategically focusing on the impact of donations help enhance charitable giving?

• Learn about more strategies that you can implement when trying to increase impact giving.

There’s a world of opportunity to make a difference right in your community and in the issue areas you care most about. This paper offers a practical process for taking advantage of those possibilities.

  • Step 1. Take Stock of All the Assets You Bring to the Table If you believe your only asset is money, think again! Donors across the spectrum of wealth offer much more than money. As you begin the process of making more impact, it’s useful to take stock of these assets.
  • Step 2. Focus Your Giving Focusing your giving on a particular community or issue area is key to achieving impact with your dollars and time. Try to identify an issue that you truly care about and that is a priority need.
  • Step 3. Learn About Your Focus Area Once you’ve chosen a focus for your giving, the next step is to invest some time to learn about it.
  • Step 4. Look for Important Gaps and Opportunities to Make a Big Difference As you learn about your favorite organization, community, or issue, keep your eye out for gaps— that is, needs and missing pieces that are really important but neglected.
  • Step 5. Consider Strategies to Make Impact The following strategies, culled from the collective experience of donors around the country, are great ways to make impact:
    • Offer unrestricted support for your favorite charity
    • Fund something your favorite charity needs that is difficult to raise money for
    • Build the capacity of your favorite charity
    • Volunteer your time and skills
    • Commit for a number of years
    • Give internationally
    • Invest in fields known for high social and environmental return
    • Establish a donor-advised fund for your children and encourage them to give

Read the full article about achieving impact at Fidelity Charitable.