Teaching Teens About Charitable Giving

There's no better time than the holidays to teach your teens the significance of making a difference. By helping them create a giving circle—a group of people who pool individual contributions to make a bigger charitable donation—you'll enable them to have a greater impact and pick up some valuable life lessons. "Kids become much better informed, not only as philanthropists but as active community members," says Ken Menkhaus, Ph.D., professor of political science at Davidson College in North Carolina, who helped launch a course as part of the Learning By Giving program. Classes at selected schools—including Tufts, Columbia and UC Berkeley—research local nonprofits and debate who should receive grant money. But you don't have to wait until your kids reach college. Just use this simple plan to get your teens to step up.  Read More ›

Charitable Giving During the Holidays

When people learned of the devastating earthquake in Haiti two years ago, they responded quickly and generously, raising $300 million dollars in just over a week. Whether inspired by a large-scale tragedy or old-fashioned goodwill, we're a nation of altruists, with an estimated 40 million Americans giving to charity each year. And there are plenty of causes to choose from. Since 1995, the number of tax-exempt nonprofits has nearly doubled, to about 1.5 million. Problem is, fraudulent groups are growing at the same rate. In the case of Haiti, for example, several organizations soon came under scrutiny for mishandling funds, and people are still questioning how much aid actually made it to those in need. So before you hand over your hard-earned money, it pays to take a few simple precautions to guarantee your gift will truly make a difference.  Read More ›