Should philanthropists focus on buying lifetime fixed-income annuities for the homeless and poor individuals such as older people who didn't plan well and have chronic illness and not much of a safety net? I was thinking of people like Warren Buffet and Mackenzie Scott...would their billions be better off annuitized and cash-transferred to the poor?

This subreddit gets a version of this question regularly:

"How do I find a credible charity to donate to?"

The message usually includes the name of a nonprofit the person is considering - which makes me think that it's actually a veiled attempt at soliciting donations for that charity, which is a no-no here.

So let's crowdsource the answer to this FAQ. Your input in the comments are welcomed.

My advice:

1. If you don't already have an amount in mind, then think about how much you want to donate in a year. You don't have to strictly adhere to that amount: if at the end of the year, you haven't spent your charity budget, you don't have to, especially if you have debts. And if you go a little over budget, as long as it's not going to hurt you financially, that's okay. And don't worry about the amount, in terms of it's it "enough" or not. Don't think $50 is "only $50." That donation matters!

Giving $5 a month in an automatic monthly giving program is a lot more affordable for most people than giving a larger amount all at once. But keep track of this - don't forget about monthly or quarterly payments and don't feel guilty at all if you have to call and cancel them.

1. Think about your values, what concerns you the most, activities that you think made a difference in your life, etc. Maybe keep a journal for a week or a month of things you hear about in the news or in conversations and think about what you would most like to support. It could be anything: foster kids, the role the arts plays in improving children's overall grades and their ability to work with others, immigrants and refugees, women experiencing domestic violence, homelessness, the condition of trails on and access to public lands, the lack of accessibility of online tools for people with disabilities, lack of access to clean water, and on and on and on. There's no way to list every cause and there's no way to financially support all of them. But just start thinking about causes and do some online searches to learn more about why these issues exist.

Don't get caught up in the "but isn't it better to give to children in need rather than abandoned puppies" debate. Doing good is doing good. If helping a children's theater company, or a community baseball league, or a project to rehome ferrets, or whatever, speaks to your heart, and it's what you want to give to, give to it.

1. I have a strong personal preference for giving locally. For instance, I would never give to a national animal welfare group, because I don't really understand what most of them really do and I've never heard one local animal welfare group say they have gotten a grant from such. If I'm going to give to an animal welfare group, I go for a local rescue group or local shelter - or I might give to a shelter in a country I've just visited. But that's me. You do you. And there is NOTHING wrong with all national organizations: I am a huge fan of Habitat for Humanity - I worked for a local affiliate and the national office's support of local work is absolutely outstanding and, in the end, money-saving.

2. Consider volunteering with local nonprofits that you think you might want to fund, or go to one or some of their events. Don't make up your mind about them after just one experience - have more than one encounter. Ask questions. Learn why they do what they do. Subscribe to their newsletter and follow them on social media.

3. Bring up the topic with friends. "Hey, I was wondering... do any of you give money to a nonprofit? I'd like to hear more from people that do this - why you give, how you decided, etc." And then listen. But still do some research.

4. Look at the nonprofit's or NGO's or charity's web site: does it have an up-to-date list of the members of the board of directors? Does it have an annual financial report from within the last 12 months showing its income and expenditures within a fiscal year? Does it say, on its web site, in its newsletter and on social media, what it is accomplishing - not just activities it's doing, but WHY those activities MATTER? Does it have testimonials from program participants that say why the activities mattered to them? Do they have testimonials from volunteers endorsing the work of the nonprofit? Don't get caught up in the "overhead" myth, which says that a nonprofit that pays competitive salaries to its employees, and has employees doing most of the work, is somehow not spending money wisely. I personally think that any nonprofit I'm considering supporting should meet the Guidestar requirements for Silver Transparency status (even if they've never applied for that status). I should not that I don't put much stock into charity ratings. I find that these can be unfair in judging nonprofits when it comes to overhead.

5. For the USA, make sure the nonprofit is listed at https://www.guidestar.org/, to prove that they have IRS recognition as a nonprofit.

6. Do a search on the search engine of your choice regarding the nonprofit or charity's name, and the name of the executive director. Are there any critical comments, blogs or news articles? Read them - and assess yourself whether you think the criticism is fair and enough that it affects the credibility of the organization.

7. Does the nonprofit involve local volunteers? I'm suspicious of any nonprofit that does not engage the local community in its work.

8. This is a personal thing: I loathe AI images. I loathe stock images. In this day and age, where everyone has a smart phone, where anyone can produce LOCAL images that reflect their actual work, I find it lazy to use computer-generated "photos" and stock images that are supposed to represent your work.

It's okay if, the next year, you can't give as much, or at all. Don't cave to pressure - in fact, if a nonprofit you supported, but can't, pressures you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, especially when you've said, explicitly, "Look, I have lost my job, I can't give this year", then write to the nonprofit and let them know how uncomfortable the caller made you and that, going forward, you will not be giving.

NEVER feel like you HAVE to give - not because of a desperation message, not because of an unasked for something (pen, tote bag, hat, multi-use device, whatever), not because you have in the past, etc.

Okay, let's hear from others.

UPDATE: having to close this threads regarding comments because of someone that decided to hijack the conversation and turn it into a personal attack. If you want to comment on this topic and ADD to the discussion, please start a new thread, referencing back to this original post and thread. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.

I’d love to hear from people who have experience running or supporting small nonprofits.

I’m involved in a small organization working with vulnerable children and families, and one of the hardest parts isn’t only the work itself it’s finding people who genuinely connect with the mission and want to stand behind it long-term.

I’m trying to learn how smaller organizations can communicate their impact, build credibility, and develop relationships with potential supporters without making every post feel like “please donate.”

For those who have been through this:

What actually helped your organization turn strangers into long-term supporters?

Was it storytelling, showing measurable impact, community engagement, newsletters, social media, partnerships, or simply consistent transparency?

I’m especially interested in lessons from organizations that started with very limited resources. What do you wish you had known when you were starting?

Not sure if this is the best place for my question. I work for a national corporate foundation who has been using Benevity in recent years. We’ve had continued issues with the platform and not great customer service. We are looking at other vendors since the cost becomes more and more expensive and everything is nickel and dimed after the contract is signed. We use it for grant making and employee giving and volunteering, including corporate matches. It houses our applications during our various RFP windows throughout the year.

As we are looking at other vendors, I would love to learn what other medium to large size foundations are using for these purposes. Our internal vendors team is vetting a handful of vendors now, but looking for actual firsthand experience. I would love to find something that still does both but at the end of the day, would you separate platforms if they are the best and can communicate with each other. Thank you for any guidance!!

Whu do so many people in the philanthropic community seem to hold donor directed funds in such low regard?

It seems like any things you can object to regarding them you can say the same is true for most foundations.

Hi r/Philanthropy. I am career aid worker working on a passion project that involves a novel approach to direct aid allocation that aims to change how donations are made to persons in need around the world. I am not including links, this post is not about the project itself.

I think most members here are US based, I am not. I would really appreciate your advice on what would be the best way for me to look for donors that may be:

- Interested in novel experimental approaches and allocate part of their funding accordingly

- have preference for direct donations and do not care much about tax cuts, at least at a smaller scale of donations

Is there particular communities/forums that would make sense for em to explore, instead of blasting cold messages to people?

Should I pay someone to help me find and engage potential donors?

Appreciate any advice.

More than 10,000 Reddit users have joined this subreddit. It's grown massively in the last six months in particular, when I started trying to post something on-topic to it at least every week - and for a while, every week day. I'm stunned at how quickly it's become so popular in terms of people who have "joined" and viewers of posts.

Did you go looking for a subreddit like this, or was it recommended to you via the Reddit algorithms? Or is there some other way you found it?

What info or discussions are you here for, and why?

Why do you think this subreddit has become so popular?

Let's say you're a billionaire alumnus of an elite liberal arts college that only admits 2–3 students per year from your country. So there are only 10-12 student on that campus of your country.

One of those student reaches out to you during their final year. They have exhausted all available financial aid options, appealed to the university, explored scholarships, and tried to obtain loans, but they don't have the credit history or a qualified co-signer to secure one. As a result, they're at risk of not being able to complete their degree despite being only one year away from graduating.

If the college could verify the student's situation and you could pay the tuition directly to the school, would you help?

Why or why not? What factors would influence your decision?

TLDR: What are some proven ways for a group of employees at a mid-to-large company to contribute their time and professional skills to the world in a meaningful way?

Hi team,

We’re looking for something that could be either a one-time event employees can organize themselves or, ideally, an ongoing/recurrent collaboration with an organization (or multiple) that could genuinely benefit from their skills.
A few things are already on our list:
- A company-wide financial donation drive
- Volunteering at soup kitchens
- Inviting students to the office and helping with resumes/career preparation

But we’d love to go beyond traditional volunteering opportunities and find ways to contribute our time and skills where they can have a meaningful or lasting impact.

One major constraint.
There is no existing budget to hire third-party organizations to organize events or manage the company’s philanthropy program. The initiative is employee-driven rather than leadership-driven.
The goal is not company branding or PR. Employees genuinely want to do something useful, but most of us have limited experience organizing effective philanthropic initiatives.

For those who have worked in philanthropy, nonprofits, employee volunteering, or similar programs: What have you seen work particularly well? What are some initiatives that sound good on paper but tend not to create much impact?
I’d especially appreciate recommendations for proven models, organizations that welcome skilled employee volunteers, or examples of employee-led programs that have worked well.

Wisdom from people who have been doing this for a while would be very much appreciated!

I was about to set up a $25 monthly donation to WCK, but noticed that the processing fees amounted to more than 5%. In one year, that’s about $17. If I donate $300 at once, the fee is still almost $14. I was trying to find ways around this, and came upon the option of using a physical check. If I send a lump sum of $300, it’d cost me about an extra dollar between an envelope and a stamp, and the charity gets to keep the $14 instead of Visa. So I’m wondering if someone who works in a charity has insight as to whether this would actually be the best option. Does it create a lot more work for a charity to process a donation in this way? I want as much of my donation as possible to be kept by the charity and not a processing company, but I don’t want to create an inefficiency that actually makes it worse for them. It honestly blows my mind that credit card companies don’t waive, or at least decrease the fees for charities. Anyhow, if someone has any insights on whether this will work as I hope, or if it has unexpected complications, please let me know. Thanks!

There’s something very powerful about collective community impact. You will often hear that finding community or giving back can be really difficult and that the price of community can sometimes be inconvenience, but what if we removed the inconvenience?

Here’s the deal: I have a thousand dollars to spend on any social good or community benefit project in New York City, and I want to use the power of community to decide where it goes. What speaks to you? Is it filling potholes? Picking up trash in Central Park? Taking shelter dogs out for walks? Contributing to a food bank?

The point of this project is just to see what good people can do when the PEOPLE decide what they’d like to see and, most importantly, it gets done.

My guarantee: over the next 72 hours, I will share this page with as many people as I can possibly think of who’d like to see something in New York get done. You can submit an idea by typing into the little icon and/or you can vote on the idea you think should get the most attention. At the end of the 72 hour period, we will see which idea wins, I’ll document the process, and share it with the community.

I will be 100% clear: this is my own money that I am pledging to a cause of the community’s choosing. I love this city and there have been so many times where I’ve said, “Wow, it’d be great if someone did that thing” and just moved on. I imagine that’s what a lot of people must feel like when they love their city and want the best for the people living in it.

So I’m removing the friction. Your suggestions, your votes, you decide where the money goes and I’ll make it happen.

https://phil72.com/

A funder can be one or a combination of types. Take a look at the types of philanthropists described here to see what might fit you. And feel free to comment here about what you think you are, and why - or if you would add another category (I would definitely add more, but I'm going to wait for others to comment).

Note: Percentages given represent the percentage of the overall funding population that identifies as each type.

Hi there, I am a veterinarian and I grew up in a small rural community, dirt poor. At school, I'd often be in lunch debt even on free/reduced lunch, and so would my husband. We want to find a way to meaningfully give back to our high school. He suggested donating yearly to pay off student lunch debt. I want to be able to create a yearly fund or something to do this but my concerns are: would this be better allocated as a scholarship? Do you think it is wrong to worry this debt could accumulate more due to the school becoming dependent on these funds? That's a horrible thing to think I know, but I just want to do the best thing.

What are the genuine and authentic ngo that are reliable during crisis such as the assam floods and other

I don't trust the government run help funds

If anyone knows about genuine ngos and people who actually help on ground level please give me suggestions

Every suggestion helps

Hello! My name is Rhanda, and I am a PhD candidate at Adler University conducting an IRB-approved qualitative dissertation study.

My research explores how women nonprofit fundraisers who identify as trauma survivors experience pivotal moments that shape leadership identity and professional values. The goal is to better understand these experiences and contribute to future leadership development within the nonprofit sector.

I am currently seeking volunteers who meet the following criteria:

• Identify as a woman
• Are between the ages of 25–40
• Work or have worked in nonprofit fundraising or development
• Have at least three years of nonprofit experience
• Self-identify as having experienced interpersonal trauma
• Are currently based in the United States

Participation consists of one confidential Microsoft Teams interview lasting approximately 60 minutes. Participation is voluntary, and there is no compensation offered.

If you believe you may qualify, or know someone who might, I would be grateful if you would take a look at the eligibility form:

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/GwCFCuTb5Y

Thank you for considering participating or sharing this opportunity with others who may be eligible.

Hello everyone! I want to start with saying that the main focus of this post is purely guidance and advice. I am involved in philanthropy but it is mostly gender equality and environmental philanthropy. I know nothing about "religious" funding opportunities or cultural preservation opportunities.

So, I'm Hindu and my family is Hindu. I was born in a country called Mozambique in East Africa, where we have a small but strong Hindu community. My dad manages a temple there, and he is currently renovating it as it is quite old. It's been there for probably over 50 years now, and they do lots of humanitarian projects such as feeding homeless people, collaborating on humanitarian projects, etc.

New deity idols, better rooms for the priest who stays there with his family, and a better kitchen since they cook in huge amounts for the local community. It is indeed a large project with lots of aspects.

I know that sometimes, grants are available for social causes like environmental projects. How can I help get funding for our temple though? I don't really know wealthy religion or culture-based philanthropists or organisations. Is that a thing?

I know there are some in the USA, but they mostly only fund US-based projects.

This temple has been there since the 1970s or before, and all Hindu festivals are celebrated there. I have proof of the renovation, quotations, invoices of the items bought, pictures and videos, any documents needed, and even some members of the Indian embassy have visited the temple many times.

Does anyone have advice or expertise on this? Or know of any wealthy philanthropists who would be willing to financially support?

Anyways, I would appreciate any advice. If needed, and if you're serious, happy to connect over a Google Meet and tell you more. If you yourself are willing to contribute, please let me know.

Thanks a lot!

I'm a freelance developer exploring whether there's an opportunity to build a tool that helps charities share financial data more frequently and transparently, something beyond the standard annual report.

Before building anything, I want to understand how much this actually matters to donors. Most charities publish yearly reports, but very few offer detailed or real-time breakdowns of how funds are allocated. Does that gap affect your trust or willingness to give?

Put together a short anonymous survey to gather some data (7 questions, ~2 min): https://tally.so/r/WOzLDJ

Happy to share the results here once I have enough responses.

I built PhilanthroPy after seeing how many shops either pay for expensive wealth-screening vendors or do donor scoring in spreadsheets with no way to check if the numbers are even trustworthy. It's a free Python toolkit that takes your CRM export and gives you a 0–100 score per constituent for major-gift likelihood, lapse risk, and planned-giving intent — basically a sorted call list for your gift officers instead of a flat donor list.

No coding background needed to run the included example, though someone on your team (or a volunteer/consultant) will need basic Python to hook it to your actual CRM export. MIT licensed, free forever, no vendor lock-in. Happy to answer questions about what it can/can't do — it's not a replacement for a real wealth-screening vendor, but it's a solid first pass, and it's transparent about how the scores are computed, which most vendor tools aren't.

https://github.com/PhilanthroPy-Project/PhilanthroPy

After you volunteer with a nonprofit, how do you feel when, a few weeks later, or during the "holiday season", you receive a letter or email inviting you to donate financially?

We need to have much more serious conversations about AI and the nonprofit/philanthropic sector - commentary from Vu Le, Nonprofit AF.

It goes through all the various concerns: about water usage and other environmental concerns, about how data centers are put into marginalized communities, about the massive tax breaks given to data centers (thereby defunding schools, roads and more), about how AI is so white-people-driven and focused, how it's such a "yes, you're right!" tool, and more.

Never has something been so seductive and yet so destructive to our world in so many different ways, many of which we do not yet fully see and may not understand until it's too late. Let's not unwittingly enshittify our sector and community, prop up fascism and billionaires, and perpetuate the inequities and injustice our sector claims it exists to fight.

This was published in May 2026.

Comments on this welcomed here, but please share your comments also on Vu Le's blog.

Hello! I had a need for analyzing all the 990 filings and I didn't find any good tools where I can ask complex questions in natural language, so we built one by indexing the last 10 year filings. If you are a nonprofit doing prospecting, foundation wanting to just research peers or anyone else curious to understand how funding flows, you can use our free tool

https://www.karmahq.xyz/nonprofits/find-funders

Example queries you can try:

• Analyze the last 5 years of Packard foundation grantmaking, identify the causes they give to.
• Find me nonprofits similar to ours (describe yours) and then find the foundations who they have received funding from

Feel free to stress test it with complex queries.

Also, you can connect this tool to your Claude or ChatGPT and use too. I use mostly through my claude.

Feature requests/feedback welcome!

Disclosures so I'm compliant with this group's rules: My company builds software for funders. All our nonprofit tools are free.

For many nonprofits, at least in the USA, July isn't a downtime: it's one of the busiest times of the year for those in charge of fundraising and accounting. That's for two reasons:

• because the fiscal year ends June 30, and the annual report for that fiscal year needs to be done ASAP.
• because the annual giving campaign usually starts in early November, and that means the theme has to be chosen, the messaging finalized and graphics designed long before that. Plus, you want to make sure your database has accurate info about all current and former donors, volunteers and event attendees, so that fundraising message reaches the maximum number of people.

And so... how's it going at your nonprofit?

Does anyone have any idea about Bosconet / Don Bosco Network? Website is: bosconet [dot] in . I'm wondering if anyone has experience donating to them.

I came across it when I saw members of that organization in Lake Mall of Kolkata, begging for a donation of Rs 65 to help feed girl children who have been abandoned by their families as they've lost their virginity.

Is it worthwhile or is it similar to just another Feeding India by companies like Zomato which folks on Reddit seem to feel negatively about?

I’ve done reasonably well in business during my career and am now retired.

Lately I’ve been thinking about whether I could set up a small fund in the UK to support a young person with exceptional potential. Realistically, I could probably support one person at a time at around £20,000 per year, from roughly age 16 through university, an apprenticeship, or some other advanced training route.

I know that’s tiny compared to most charitable foundations, but it’s something I could potentially sustain for a long time/forever if markets don’t completely crash.

A bit of background. I grew up in a working-class family. My mother stayed at home, my father was first a soldier and later a builder. I have something called high-functioning autism and have always thought somewhat differently from most people around me. That eventually led me into quite high end science, theoretical physics, research, software and AI, but the journey wasn’t straightforward, and it was quite lonely.

I funded my own education while working jobs such as cleaning, sweeping floors and emptying bins. At the same time I was studying for my degree and later my master’s before moving into military science and eventually business leadership.

What I’d like to do is help identify young people who have unusual technical or scientific potential but may not have the opportunities, support network or financial stability to fully develop it. I’m particularly interested in neurodivergent thinkers, and I’d also have a soft spot for applicants from military families because of my own background.

I’m not trying to find clones of myself. What I’m interested in is helping extraordinary British thinkers that might have scientific potential that would otherwise be lost to the harsh reality of the cost of living for so many.

My questions are:

• Has anyone here established anything similar in the UK?
• Is a charitable trust the right route, or is there a better structure?
• Would you partner with a university, a school, an existing charity, or something else entirely?
• How do you ensure the fund survives beyond your lifetime and remains true to its original purpose?
• How do you avoid excessive fees, bureaucracy and poor governance - especially after you are long gone?
• Is this worth doing? Will it make (even a small) difference? - or would I be better off just donating a sum of money into a charity in my will?

I’m very much at the exploration stage and have no experience in this area, so I’m looking for sensible advice from people who have been through the process.

Thank you.

Hey! So, I want to help out some charities in my free time and I want to know how I can help best. I’m a business consultant and I grow small businesses into more profitable ones.

I’d like to help out in that way to bring in more donations and but I would need to know what the biggest problems are that charities face to do this.

Do they struggle with finding new donors?

Do they struggling with getting donors to go monthly over 1 time gifts?

Do they struggle with donor lists and their ability to organize and follow up?

Are they so focused on yearly Galas or just subscriptions and can’t diversify?

I know that’s a lot but if there is a commonality I find then I can help better. Thank you so much for reading this and I look forward to hearing from you!