Which is Better: Giving Your Time or Your Money to Charity?

There's an on-going debate I see every once in awhile around giving. It concerns which is "better" -- to give money to a charitable organization or to give your time as a volunteer. Both sides have ardent supporters and have good reasons for their points of view. But really, which one is better?

Or is one even better than the other? Does it depend on the organization's needs and function? Does it depend on the donor's needs and abilities? Does it depend on the amount of the gift? Does it depend on the donor's skill? Is there ever one "right" answer -- or does it differ for every person?

Just consider these alternatives:

• A rich executive who can donate $100,000 without much thought or re-work his schedule and barely fit in a couple hours a week to serve in a soup kitchen. If he can only do one, which is better?

• A brain surgeon who will give a measly $1,000 or will do one free surgery on a needy child. If he can only do one, which is better?

• An "average" person who might be able to donate $100 to $200 a year or instead volunteer answering phones for an hour every week. Which is better?

Maybe it comes down to a purely economic decision of which is more valuable. In the first example, you'd take the money because you could pay help to work in the soup kitchen a fraction of the donation and still have a bundle left over. In the second, you'd take the surgery (assuming a child needed it) since it's worth far more than $1,000. In the last option, maybe it's a breakeven decision. Is this the way to think of it?

And what about the donor? Do they get more by simply giving (saving them the time to do other things they may enjoy more) or by volunteering (and seeing the results of their efforts)? See, it's not an easy subject to get your arms around.

That's why I'm asking you -- what do you think about giving money versus giving time? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Comments

[Rabbit]

I enjoy giving the time alot more than the money. Since I don't have the kind of money that would make a big difference then the time to me is more valuable. Besides I enjoy doing things for others! Have a great day everybody!!

[Kevin]

In my experience, giving money is better for the recipient, but giving time is better for me. And by better for me, I don't mean that it's better because I get to keep the money. I mean it's better for me from a spiritual/character building/sense of community perspective.

For example, it's easier for me to give $500 to a neighborhood cleanup organization than to spend a Saturday afternoon volunteering to paint houses and clear overgrowth. Certainly the neighborhood organization could use the $500 to pay a work force to do MUCH more work than I could do by volunteering my time. But for some reason choosing the less "productive" path of volunteering my time makes a bigger impact on me personally. This, of course, raises the question of whether I am being selfish by volunteering my time instead of giving the money.

[Big Cajun Man]

Time is a much more precious commodity in my life right now. If I donate my time it is only for something I really believe in deeply. Money I give relatively freely, but my time is much more important to me.

Giving of my skills is selfish on my part. If I can use my talents to help out, it makes me feel good, and that is very selfish (but the people on the receiving end seem happy enough too).

Give, ask questions about what, where, when, why and who(m) later! --C8j

[Big Cajun Man]

Time is a much more precious commodity in my life right now. If I donate my time it is only for something I really believe in deeply. Money I give relatively freely, but my time is much more important to me.

Giving of my skills is selfish on my part. If I can use my talents to help out, it makes me feel good, and that is very selfish (but the people on the receiving end seem happy enough too).

Give, ask questions about what, where, when, why and who(m) later! --C8j

[Laura]

For me personally, my time is a better thing to give. I'm in the beginning stages of my career so I have very little disposable cash that can go towards charity. Usually only $20-$30 a month at most. And when I donate that amount, I just write the cheque, collect my tax receipt and forget about it until tax filing time!

But if I donate my time, it has an impact on me personally. I become invested in the cause, because you have to be in order to do that type of work for no financial remuneration. For example, I walked in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer last year, which requires a minimum of $2000 fundraised per walker in order to participate. I could never come up with $2000 of my own to donate, but because I participated, the organization still received over $2000 that they wouldn't have received if I had not donated my time to fundraising and walking. Not only that but I became so committed to the cause that I was inspired to participate again, and I felt compelled to donate what I could from my own wallet as well. An interesting side effect that donating your time sometimes leads to donating your money. I'm not sure the reverse is true to the same degree.

[Easy E]

Here's an intersting thought. If everyone gave money then who would do the work?

Everyone keeps saying that it is selfish to give time. They say it makes them feel good about themselves so they would give time so that they could feel good. Well, what about the receiving end? Don't you think that a personal touch also makes the receiver of the gift feel good and it would be selfish to not think about their feelings.

[Kevin]

Easy E if everyone gave money the people doing the work would be folks employed by the organizations to which the money was given. Nobody would give time because it wouldn't be needed as the workers would be "selling" time. This would also have the nice effect of creating a job for the employee.

So in order to get the personal satisfaction of giving time, I deny the recipient of better service and deny the potential workers the opportunity to have a job. That's where the "selfish" thing comes from.

There is probably something to your point about the recipient of the service appreciating it more knowing it was done by volunteers though.

[Angela]

I figure that for the causes I truly believe in, my money is better than my time. I'm not blessed with patience and compassion. I find it hard to relate to people who aren't like me. Its probably true that these are skills I should learn, but thats no reason to inflict the learning on people who have other problems.

[Lord]

There is a spectrum of ways in which to give time which have very different values. In the first example, they should be giving it towards fundraising which would easily dwarf their individual contribution. Gifts in kind can easily multiply the good gifts in money can do. What is most useful and effective can differ depending on circumstances.

[Stormy]

I think it's also important to look at what's important to the giver. Giving time is often more rewarding and then you are likely to give for a longer time. Also, if other people see you donating time, they might be more likely to donate money or time to that cause.

But money is always useful!

[Austin]

The decision is in the giver's heart; between him and God.

[Matt]

It's a simple enough question...is your time, in the form you're offering it, more valuable to the recipient than your money? Do you have some unique skill that your charity-of-choice can make important use of?

You can feed a lot more hungry people with $100,000 in cash than you can with an executive who hangs up his suit for a few hours to ladle soup. But a surgeon who offers to perform free operations for needy kids is giving more value to those kids than he could probably afford to give in cash.

I do a combination of both...my "unique" skills aren't all that unique, but the Archdiocese needs somebody to do the stuff I do, and that "somebody" might as well be me, so I volunteer to be part of the team that does it. They'd pay $60k/yr at least if they had to buy such services from contractors on the open market. And for the rest, I give money. I can't come close to giving $100,000 (yet), but I can nevertheless feed and clothe a lot more people with my cash than I ever could with my volunteer labor.