We’ve all heard about the trend of eating locally – fresh food from local farms tastes better, is better for you, and for the environment. It’s a concept that has really caught on and some of us feel good about spending a bit more and perhaps going out of our way to get what is best for us. Now how about the concept of “giving locally”? Check out these statistics:

• 1,507,231: # of tax exempt nonprofits in the US in 2013¹
• 335.17 billion: Total dollars donated to charitable causes in 2013²
• 95.4% of households give to charity³

So, what do these numbers mean? Americans are very generous! We want to choose causes that mean something to us and we want to give back.

There are large nonprofit organizations out there with large office buildings and hundreds of employees. Their work is very important. They pay for TV commercials, product development and other marketing tools to raise awareness for many of the issues that we care about. They generate funds to pay for research that finds cures for disease, work toward ending poverty in whole nations, or feed the poor on a daily basis.

The web has also brought us together in an incredible way. We are touched every day by stories around the world of human suffering and tragedy. Millions of dollars can be raised in a matter of days when a story goes viral – the ALS ice bucket challenge or aid to victims of natural disasters. It is simply amazing and is a testament to the goodness of humanity.

Then there are smaller, local nonprofits, like SHAREing & CAREing. Our local community is very generous both with their hard earned money and their time. For the past twenty years we have been working throughout New York City, especially in Astoria, Queens to provide vital services to families fighting Cancer. We provide transportation to treatment, support group meetings to bring people together, and educate high school students about prevention and early diagnosis. All of this work – and much more – is done with a very small budget that is made up mostly of personal donations from members of the community. Every single dollar is used wisely and responsibly. In fact, only 11.5% of SHAREing & CAREing’s budget goes to administration or “overhead” – maintaining our office and staffing. This is very low when compared to the average spent by charities which is 39.6%⁴ .

So, consider giving locally to charities that spend your donations wisely and on results you can actually see in your community. For more information about SHAREing & CAREing visit our new and improved website at shareing-careing.org or call us at 718-777-5766.

1. National Center for Charitable Statistics
2. Giving USA
3. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
4 http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/survey-charities-should-spend-23-on-overhead/