19 12 / 2012
How my yearly donations say a lot about the times
In the past couple of years, Curt and I have been donating to different causes. Even though I’m an entrepreneur and don’t pay myself a lot, I’ve had a fortunate life and want to give back. I’ve been inspired by our religious friends who have donated as much as 10% of their pre-tax earnings even while they were graduate students (and in some cases, while they had families, too). We’re at around 2% now, though I aspire to keep bumping that number a bit every year.
We keep a Google spreadsheet with all of our yearly donations and the amounts. In so many ways, the spreadsheet has turned out to be a Zeitgeist. For example, Wikipedia started asking for donations a couple years ago, and so we gave $25 last year. Wikipedia has really been pushing donations lately, and we gave $100 this year. I’m not sure if we value or use Wikipedia more this year than last, but it’s interesting to see the difference. I’m also considering donating to a mental health related organization in light of recent events. I haven’t started researching this issue, but last year, this category would not have even crossed my mind.
It’s also been fascinating to keep track of how individuals are doing. Last year, when fellow entrepreneur (though someone I don’t know) Amit Gupta, had Leukemia, I donated to his drive to find a bone marrow donor. It’s heartwarming to look back at that entry, because he ended up finding a donor and is (knock on wood) doing well these days. Other entries remind me of those who have passed on. Just yesterday, I added an entry for a donation I made to my Sloan classmate April Huang’s daughter’s fund. April went into shock while delivering her baby and just recently passed away after being in a coma for 200 days. It’s so hard to believe, because something like this could happen to any of us. Unfortunately, the list of donations to individual causes in the sad category is longer than the heartwarming one.
Lastly, I also see the rise in platforms for donations. Kickstarter is certainly taking over my list. I previously preferred solely tech donations. I just made my first non-tech donation in my friend Tyler’s board game project (though he has a software version of the game as well). I’ll probably branch out into other categories next year. Kiva has been a huge favorite of mine for a long time, and I’m excited to hit my 100th loan shortly.
Happy holidays and may the giving spirit continue!