Kiplinger\'s Personal Finance - 10.2019

POON WATCHARA-AMPHAIWAN

FUNDAMENTALS

or if the fund-raiser is a scam. In 2017,

a couple collected close to $400,000

from donors purportedly to help a

homeless man who lent the couple his

last $20. All three have been charged

with fraud.

If something on your social media

feed does catch your attention, do your

homework. You can look up charities

on Charity Navigator (www.charity

navigator.org) and the Better Business

Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance site

(www.give.org). Charity Navigator

rates charities on financial health and

accountability; the Wise Giving Alliance

checks out governance, fund-raising,

effectiveness and donor privacy. You’ll

also want to search the internet for

complaints and reviews about the

charity. If the charity is mostly local,

try searching for it on your region’s

Better Business Bureau website.

To be able to give more generously,

Capaland suggests creating a line item

in your budget for charity

and shifting money from

things you don’t use often,

such as subscriptions to

streaming services. For

example, if I canceled my

streaming subscriptions,

which cost me about $21 a

month, I could give $252 a

year to charity. And don’t

forget that your time has

value, too. Lynam says vol-

unteering is the best way to

see if you like how the charity is run.

I’m still on the fence about where

I would like my charitable dollars to

go, and I’m reluctant to give up my

HBO account. So in the meantime,

I’m looking into volunteering at local

cat shelters. ■

Giving to Charity on a Budget

A

few issues ago, I interviewed

Doug Lynam, a former monk

who now works as a money man-

ager in Santa Fe, N.M. (see “Ahead,”

July). One of the topics we discussed

was the importance of charitable giv-

ing, and it got me thinking: How can I

make a difference on a limited budget?

One strategy is to combine philan-

thropy and saving by investing in com-

panies that seek to make the world a

better place. There are apps that will

help you do that. The Stash app, for

example, identifies exchange-traded

funds and individual stocks that allow

you to invest in companies that align

with your convictions, from clean

energy to workplace equality. (You

can also invest in specific sectors

or pick ETFs that match your risk

tolerance.) You need only $5 to

open a Stash account, and you’ll

pay just $1 per month for a

beginner’s account. Another

option: Find out if your 401(k)

plan offers a socially responsible

fund, such as VANGUARD GLOBAL ESG

SELECT STOCK (SYMBOL VEIGX) or

PARNASSUS MID CAP (PARMX), a

member of the Kiplinger

25 list of our favorite ac-

tively managed no-load

mutual funds.

Apps and socially

responsible funds may

sound like an easy

way to hop into the

charity lane, but they

may not be a smart in-

vestment strategy—

particularly if you’re

new to investing, says

Pamela Capaland, a cer-

tified financial planner

and founder of Brunch

and Budget. You could end

up with a portfolio that’s

not sufficiently diversified, she says.

Capaland believes there are ways to

give money that are more effective.

Giving directly. Like most millennials,

I’ve been bombarded with charitable

solicitations on social media. Facebook

added a feature in 2017 that allows

users to request donations to their

favorite charity in lieu of birthday

gifts. Depending on how many Face-

book friends you have, the posts can

be overwhelming, and unless you vet

the charities, you have no idea how the

money will be used. Donating small

amounts to multiple causes may seem

like the most generous thing to do,

but experts say you can make a much

greater impact by limiting your do-

nations to one or two charities.

GoFundMe pitches tend

to populate my Facebook

news feed as well, and

some of these are even

more troubling.

You’re usually

prompted to help

people or organiza-

tions that one of

your friends has

heard about, but

you have no way

of knowing if help

is actually needed

MILLENNIAL MONEY Rivan Stinson

Commentary

DON’T FORGET THAT

YOUR TIME HAS VALUE,

TOO. VOLUNTEERING

IS THE BEST WAY TO

SEE IF YOU LIKE HOW

THE CHARITY IS RUN.

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70 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 10/2019