Consultation on donations
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to consult with you on the subject of tithe donations. I have a nice amount of money that I can donate every month and I want it to have the most significant “impact.” I currently donate to the Animals (formerly Anonymous) organization that cares for the welfare of animals on farms. The issue of abortions is also something that I sometimes donate to. The question is whether there are other/additional things that you recommend I consider donating to.
Best regards,
Organizations like P’amonim seem effective to me (teaching how to conduct oneself properly).
The question is a bit big for me.
I think that if someone doesn’t want to do research and spend a lot of time on it, I would donate it as a lump sum to one or two organizations and not to many. To choose the organizations, I would issue a kind of tender, and ask them to convince me why this task cannot be performed without me (and/or has not been performed so far), why it is very important, and a cost proposal. Of course, increasing the scope of an existing task (supporting more people) can also be considered a task that has not been performed so far.
Personally, the directions I wrote to you about (including animal cruelty) are the directions that seem important and significant. There is also treatment for dropout and distressed youth, rehab villages, shelters for battered women, and the like, so it might be right to issue a tender for these directions. If someone offers a task over the years, it is better because then your examination becomes more efficient and not to issue tenders every year.
After writing this, here are some important additions:
Now I remember that there are various studies in the world on the effectiveness of donations (it even has some foreign name. My father-in-law was involved in this. He is a serial strategist and a wealthy man). They set goals where the benefit is maximum per cent of the donation. I remember they said that buying a mosquito net for a person/child in Africa is the most effective donation. You save a life with a few cents. Compare that to donating millions that slightly improves the situation of a few people.
But here, of course, there are already destinations all over the world, and you need to decide on a donation policy. Are you willing to spend money abroad?
See something like this here in Israel, “Midot”: http://www.midot.org.il/ Looks like exactly what you’re looking for!!!
Here I found a list of associations that have undergone rigorous testing, according to their claim:
https://www.igul.org.il/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtfqKBhBoEiwAZuesiNa8Xk13BYdEOEpI2m1SJ-VKEf6pH9Eh9uLkGob3Tagc-ogaN4u4yhoCWk8QAvD_BwE#footer
I hope I’ve helped in some way. I wasn’t really concrete yet, but I would start with the Midot website.
The truth is that I have come across similar sites in the past, especially their American counterparts:
https://www.effectivealtruism.org/
https://effective-altruism.org.il/
https://www.givewell.org/
These sites really recommend, as you said, donating to the hardships of diseases in Africa (mosquitoes, malaria, vaccines, etc.). I remember that Bill Gates' charity foundation also focuses on these goals. They (the sites above) claim that in terms of cost-benefit, this is the most effective. Even though there is no income tax credit for these donations, it is still much more effective than other organizations, even if you reduce the amount of the donation so that you donate less against the tax credit you were supposed to receive. There is an organization called givewell that knows how to transfer to the most effective places automatically. The problem with this is that these sites do not take into account the rule of the poor in your city first. That is, sometimes it is better to donate to more local causes, even at the cost of harming effectiveness to some extent. Another problem is that effectiveness is measured more by the measure of saving human lives, and issues of animal suffering are not so measurable on this scale. Another advantage of donating to the Animals association is that there you can receive a tax credit, unlike foreign associations. Another issue is that issues of promoting Torah are also not so measurable on this scale. I forgot to mention that the Israeli website Effective Altruism recommended the Animals association as an effective association (although not the most effective in their opinion).
I thought a little more, and in my opinion, the consideration of the poor of your city first is limited if in other places you are actually saving lives, while here in Israel it is usually about improving the quality of life or studying Torah, etc. If you save lives with a few dollars, in my opinion it is a very significant matter.
Following on from this question, do you also donate your charitable funds to such causes? And if not, why not?
I usually donate directly to urgent cases that I know about personally. A direct need that arises for you personally has priority, as a kind of majority and close.
Following on from this question, are there any charitable causes that you recommend during this time? Or is it still better to donate to organizations in Africa in your opinion?
If there are people whose existence is in danger, then the interests of your city come first.
So what causes would you recommend donating to?
I don't know any specific places. As a rule, if there is no specific information, then the option of saving a life with a few dollars is preferable.
Continuing on this topic, I came across an Israeli organization that operates in Africa called Nala. The advantage of an Israeli organization is that it gives a Section 46 tax credit for donations. This is the link to their website:
https://www.nalafoundation.org/
I would love to hear your opinion on this direction if you have time to look.
On the surface it looks fine. I haven't looked into it in depth and I don't know of any other alternatives to compare.
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