Giving Compass' Take:

• Ted Lechterman, writing for The Conversation, discusses five theories regarding the ethics of giving and the need to reflect on your decisions as a donor.

• What type of giver are you? Have you recently reflected on why you give away your money?

• Read about the seven types of successful philanthropists. 

There are at least five leading theories regarding the ethics of giving. Scholars who study philanthropy and ponder why people should give to charity disagree on which is best.

But they all agree that some critical reflection on how to give well is essential for making responsible decisions.

Giving from the heart. This urges donors to give from the heart and posits that no one can tell you what makes one cause better than another.

Giving to the neediest. Rather than telling donors to simply follow their own passions, traditional charity stresses that suffering people demand urgent attention.

Giving mindfully. This school of thought instructs donors to do the most good they can in terms of global well-being based on verifiable cost effectiveness.

Giving to heal and address injustices. Another way to think about making charitable donations more responsible is to see them as a form of reparations. With economic inequality growing, government spending on public education declining and cutbacks taking a toll on social services, social injustices are proliferating.

Perhaps no single school of thought offers a perfect guide to responsible giving.

But the scholars who espouse these different positions all agree on one key point: Donors should reflect more on their giving decisions.

Read the full article about the ethics of responsible giving by at Ted Lechterman at The Conversation.