Donating To Charity In Someone’s Honor? Don’t.

Science of Us reports on some depressing research saying that making a donation on someone’s behalf is an “apparently disappointing gift.” There is a caveat, at least: the better you know the person, the more likely you are to succeed, so it can work, say, within families. If you don’t know a person that well? Give them a travel coffee mug. That goes over better.

I guess this is not too surprising. Charitable gifts are more abstract, even kind of theoretical. (“$50 has been given to The Red Cross!”) The podcast The Allusionist recently pointed out that the early Scandinavian traditions that predated and helped shape our modern-day Christmas were about giving gifts to compensate for the fact that there wasn’t a lot of food to go around. If some vestige of that remains — if we crave presents as distraction during this grim time of year — then an actual thing you can hold in your hand would, indeed, function as a better distraction.

It can put the recipient in an awkward position, too. He’ll seem churlish if he’s not grateful that, indirectly because of him, some good has been done; and yet, especially at Christmas, he’s primed to expect something to benefit him.

Bearing all of that in mind, I advocate doing it anyway, because who really needs another travel coffee mug? Just be thoughtful. As nice as Just Give is, it’s more personal to try to match the right person with the right charity. Try to have your monies earmarked for something concrete and specific, like building a well, rather than a large charity that works to provide people with clean water. And then take human nature into account. If you’re giving to Heifer International on behalf of your step-sister-in-law who’s training to be a vet, for example, hand over the notification along with a stuffed version of the animal, or at least a picture, so that she has something cute and cuddly to trigger her “Awww …” reflex.

Besides, a charitable donation makes for a great, no-sweat last minute gift that — bonus! — makes you look like a mensch.

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