7 Benefits of Charitable Giving

1. Giving Contributes to Your Happiness

When you give, you not only contribute to vital work, you are also improving your emotional wellbeing. Knowing you are helping others makes you feel happier and more fulfilled.

Research has shown people who give to others tend to score much higher on feelings of joy and contentment than individuals who did not give to others. A study by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton found that giving money lifted participants’ happiness more than spending on themselves.

2. Giving Gives You Pleasure

Research has identified a link between making a donation to charity and increased activity in the area of the brain that registers pleasure.

Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health found that when people give to charities, it activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust, creating a warm glow effect.

3. Your Generosity Will Inspire Those Around You

When those around you see you give, they are much more likely to adopt a giving mindset. This amplifies your generosity and allows you to effect even greater positive change in the world.

4. Donating Is An Opportunity To Show Your Gratitude

Thinking of others in need helps you gain perspective on your own hardships and appreciate the good fortune in your life. The act of donating to charity is a way to express gratitude for that good fortune.

Research has found that gratitude is integral to happiness, health, and social bonds; and that counting your blessings cultivates gratitude which causes you to be more optimistic, and feel better about your life.

5. You Will Be Helping People Who Need Your Support

Your gift can reduce suffering, increase equality and better the life of someone in need of your support.

6. You Can Reduce Your Tax Burden

When you make a donation to a registered charity in Canada you receive a tax receipt for your donation that will reduce your tax burden.

Check out the Canada Revenue Agency Charitable Gift Calculator. There are other tax smart giving options like donating an RRSP, Insurance, Stocks, or a Gift in Your Will, that can significantly reduce your tax burden and enable you to make a larger gift than you might have thought possible.

7. There Are Many Ways To Give. There Are Many Ways To Benefit

There are many ways to give. Consider volunteering, or starting or joining a Fundraising Event. You will meet new, like-minded people who care about the same cause and many of the same things you do.

What would you add to this list? Let us know at [email protected]