A little while ago, I came across this article by Ron Lieber on bringing his children into the family’s decisions on annual charitable giving. Basically, they decided last year that they would choose, as a family, those charities that they would give to over the course of the year.
Just as charity starts at home, learning the importance of charitable giving starts at home. A huge part of why I volunteer as much as I do is that, growing up, I saw my parents become involved with many organizations; they even occasionally brought us to events to “help”. It instilled in me a desire to give back to my community, and I’m sure part of that has been simply a desire to emulate my parents.
Ron’s exercise is a really wonderful way to teach children that charitable giving is important; involving them in the decision about who to give to is a brilliant way to ensure that they are thinking about how to give, rather than whether to give.
