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Donation strategy: how do you allocate your donations?
(i.imgflip.com)
I noticed that transfer companies usually charge fixed amount for each transaction, so donating $1 can easily incur 30%+ fee.
So I would like to find a rule of thumb to minimize the fees yet cover all projects I like
Any tips?
Not sure about foss specifically, but I've had some non-profits prompt me to up my contribution to cover transaction fees. But they seem to be closer to 3%.
A (for-profit) employer used to do gift matching and would also give us pocket money to contribute to the organization(s) of our choosing. It got me into a habit of contributing on a roughly quarterly basis.
I try to identify places where there is actual need so I am not consistent. Some of the big-name non-profits get disproportionate attention, or they spend too much money on fundraising, or they grossly overpay their key people. Other non-profits do good work and are sorely underfunded. It's not just transaction feels, I find the act of making individual contributions in itself an inefficient allocation of resources.
Thanks! I'm interested in more information detailing your vision.
Any criteria for identifying sweet spot projects where the funding is "almost right": non over or under funded (where each donation matters the most)?
At some point you have to trust your gut?
Speaking more broadly than FOSS:
The large national nonprofits probably don’t need your money, and the small local nonprofits probably do. At the same time nonprofit can lose sight of their mission, and bigger orgs need admin, specialty jobs, and leadership that are full time jobs that a family could live on. So it’s hard to generalize. Their mission is the goal, not making decisions based on finances.
I look at their finances to get an idea of where they are at. These can be “lagging indicators” if there really is a time sensitive need though.
Examples: Ran into one person who was trying to promote their non-profit rather than solicit donations — when I looked into their finances it was clear they didn’t have the money to get there but had done great work already. Another person who doesn’t pay himself for the work he puts in because it’s all volunteer based and only seeks contributions for his projects.