In the modern world many individuals are now more conscious of how their actions can affect what is around them. That seems to be a particular trend among younger generations, like Millennials, who care greatly about behaving ethically in their professional and personal lives.
If you feel the same urge to help other people, then you are on the road to becoming a philanthropist.
What is a philanthropist?
In simple terms; it is doing what you can to change the world around you for the better and provide assistance to others less fortunate than yourself. This could be on a local scale by giving money to charities or helping out at a homeless shelter. It could also be on a global scale where you could send money internationally to help overseas communities or even travel in person to help them build vital facilities.
The basic element of philanthropy is to take positive action in whatever way you are able to help make the world a better place. You do not need lots of money to be a philanthropist – if all you have is time then this can still be used to help make people happy..
Ways to engage in philanthropy
If you are interested in getting involved with helping others to make a positive change to the world, the below are some great ways to go about it..
- Create a plan – as with everything in life, you need to think about what you want to do and then how you will achieve your goals. Simply jumping in will mean your efforts lack the focus needed to really make a difference. Sit down and think carefully about the causes that you are passionate about, how much money you might have to donate, in what other ways you could help, and then decide upon a clear direction on how you will go about it.
- Make it a life-long commitment – to be effective as a true philanthropist you cannot just make one-off donations once or twice per year. While that is still worthwhile, it does not really count as being a dedicated philanthropist. Try to engage regularly in activities to help the cause you are supporting throughout the year to ensure what you do makes a real impact.
- Organize a fund-raising event – another great way to get involved with philanthropy is to think about organizing fund-raising events for the causes you support. That will not only help to raise more money for them to use but also gain extra publicity. Extra publicity is particularly good as it will spread the message to more people and help your cause be more successful in its goals.
- Try to tackle the causes of a problem – a great idea for any philanthropist is to always look at solving the root cause of any issue. Just throwing resources at the symptoms will not actually help in the long term to make the change needed. As philanthropy is at heart trying to push positive change through your own actions then you need to always be looking at solving the causes of things. That approach will be much more effective at helping to eradicate issues or make communities self-sustaining into the future.
- Keep an eye open for new opportunities – although you will have made your initial plan on which causes to help, do not remain closed off to new opportunities either. Always keep up with the latest global and local news to find other causes that may be worthy of your help. This will ensure that you can remain a committed philanthropist your whole life, even if the causes you start out supporting are eventually resolved.
- Work with businesses – many business owners are keen to do their bit to help others. This can often make it a great idea to work with entrepreneurs as a philanthropist. This will give you a greater reach in terms of helping the cause you both work on together while also helping you make a bigger difference. A common way to go about this is partnering with a company that agrees to give a percentage of each sale to the cause you are helping.
- Feed the hungry – Consider finding a reputable charity and making donations for hungry children. Doing your part to make sure children around the world don’t go hungry is a great way to give back and help others in the process. There are many ways to give and help less fortunate kids in need, and a big part of helping the world can begin with helping to feed the children.
Learn from well-known philanthropists
Of course, a way to become a philanthropist is to learn from the more experienced ones. Charles Phillips charity work can be a great source of inspiration due to his philanthropic efforts with the non-profit Phillips Charitable Organizations. The organizations offer help to various people in need, such as wounded war veterans, students interested in engineering and single parents.
Philanthropy is needed more than ever
Although we have advanced in many areas in modern times, the age-old problems of poverty, inequality and war have not gone away. When you factor in new problems like climate change, and protection for dwindling animal numbers in certain species, it is clear why philanthropy is now needed more than ever.