Too many people figure that because they can only spare $25 or $50 a month, there's no reason they should save up for a college education, to buy a house, or for retirement. They say that if they aren't earning a seven-figure salary, they don't have a chance of actually reaching their financial goals.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Even small amounts of savings add up over time. But you won't get to the finish line if you never bother starting at all.
How to be charitable
Similarly, ordinary folks often make the same kinds of arguments against making charitable gifts. With successful billionaire entrepreneurs putting their vast resources toward charitable endeavors, you may think that your small gift won't make any meaningful difference for your community. But in reality, the huge gifts that those wealthy philanthropists make are only one part of what makes a charity succeed.
Nevertheless, it's tough to look at the huge amounts of money that the nation's biggest charitable foundations have at their disposal. Take a look at some of them, along with their most recently available asset figures:
|
Foundation
|
Corporate Affiliation of Founding Donor(s)
|
Total Assets
|
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
Microsoft |
$29.9 billion |
| Ford Foundation |
Ford Motor (NYSE: F ) |
$10.2 billion |
| J. Paul Getty Trust |
Getty Oil |
$9.3 billion |
| Robert Wood Johnson Foundation |
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) |
$7.5 billion |
| William & Flora Hewlett Foundation |
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) |
$6.9 billion |
| W.K. Kellogg Foundation |
Kellogg (NYSE: K ) |
$6.8 billion |
| David & Lucile Packard Foundation |
Hewlett-Packard |
$5.7 billion |
| John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation |
Bankers Life, now CNO Financial (NYSE: CNO ) |
$5.2 billion |
| Lilly Endowment |
Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY ) |
$5.1 billion |
| Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation |
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC ) |
$4.5 billion |
Source: Foundation Center. Assets based on database as of Oct. 20 and include most recently available fiscal year for foundations.
With tens of billions of dollars available to further worthy causes throughout the world, a $25 check or an hour of your time may seem worthless. But it's not.
Make a difference
Much more common than these big charitable foundations are smaller charities that have extremely modest budgets. They don't have billionaire philanthropists to support them, instead relying on people like you to give what they can of both their money and their time.
That's the spirit behind the Motley Fool's 2010 Foolanthropy campaign. This year, we're again focusing our efforts on Thurgood Marshall Academy, a local public charter school in one of our area's most impoverished neighborhoods.
Even if you're thousands of miles away, you can still help. For every comment you make on this or any other Fool article between now and Jan. 7, we'll add $0.10 to our campaign pledge. At the end of the campaign, we'll give the entire amount to the school, up to $20,000. In addition, many Fools have already volunteered to help the school in its mission to serve local youth.
Close to home
Most local charities need every penny they can get. So as December rolls in, please don't think that you can't make a difference. No matter how little you can afford to give, what you do contribute is important.
How do you help make your community a better place to live? Chime in with your comments and add a dime to Thurgood Marshall Academy's coffers!
To learn more about the school or to make a donation, you can visit TMA's website here.
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