Giving Compass' Take:

· Ways of giving differs around the world. The author discusses a few different locations and their most popular strategies in philanthropy.

· How do motivations for giving depend on location? How does philanthropy change by country?

· Learn about the future of philanthropy.

There are many ways to donate and make a difference; that’s true no matter where you go around the world. What remains the same, according to the BNP Paribas Individual Philanthropy Index, is our overriding desire to leverage charitable giving to make lasting change.

Interestingly, the ways that people in different regions of the world choose to actually do that varies substantially, as do the causes each region prefers to support.

Latin America

Donating to religious organizations is one effective way to help others, and it’s an avenue of philanthropy inherent to the Latin American model of giving. One notable benefit to supporting religious organizations is the inherent ability to simultaneously support programs that assist with education and human services. For instance, Caritas, which is the umbrella organization for Catholic Aid agencies, is considered to be one of the largest aid agencies in the world. The church runs thousands of schools, hospitals and health clinics.

Europe

In general, concerned and generous donors in Europe want to help by supporting organizations that focused on health.

The method of donating in Europe isn’t, generally, church based. Instead there is both the Anglo-Saxon and Rhine models of charitable work, which rely heavily on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Organized “civil society” comes in many forms, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and, again, faith-based organizations (FBOs). The commonality is that a group of individuals has come together for a common purpose, exists to fulfill a need or mandate, and has clients or beneficiaries whom they serve.

The United States

In the United States, according to Giving USA 2017, the organizations that received the most support were religious, educational and human services in nature.

This is different from both the Anglo-Saxon and Rhine models of charitable work, which rely heavily on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Organized “civil society” comes in many forms, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and, again, faith-based organizations (FBOs). The commonality is that a group of individuals has come together for a common purpose, exists to fulfill a need or mandate, and has clients or beneficiaries whom they serve.

The Importance of Foundations, Globally

In order to truly create lasting change, donors have become more savvy about looking for groups that have partnerships and affiliations that will enhance the stated mission of the charity implementing the programs. For this reason, perhaps, it’s foundations that have seen the significant growth, particularly in Europe, over the past few years.

Read the full article about worldwide philanthropy by Igor Makarov at Medium.