Is it Better to Give Time or Money?

One of the worst things about signing up for a new organization is the constant cry for donations. Having worked for a nonprofit before, I know how important it is to generate donations for your company. Without them, you can’t do the amazing things you’re doing—whether it’s empowering kids, curtailing global warming, or fighting poverty.

But when you’re signed up for a few dozen of these organizations and causes, you’re getting a call for a donation on a regular basis—two, three times a week or more. It makes you more apt to simply delete messages from that organization (or recycle the correspondence, if that’s what you’ve received) rather than continue to pay attention to them. Sure, you wish you could help—and you do when you have the money; but if you gave “just ten dollars” to all of these nonprofits, it would take your whole paycheck, right?

Those who can give money certainly should, but what about giving time? Between layoffs, cut hours, and other circumstances, many people do have that to give these days. But the only things I really see about volunteering for these organizations are either signing petitions online or attending some march or another somewhere far away. Why don’t they ask for more time donations?

And I know it can be done. I’ve been volunteering from home ever since my daughter was born. I’ve phone banked, done mailing work, edited, written pro bono, and done plenty of other activities that I was able to do during my free time. It’s an enjoyable activity that makes you feel like you’re making a difference rather than throwing money at something you’re disconnected from. And when I do have the money to give, I normally give it to organizations that I have personally had a connection with.

The gift of time, it seems, would be just as beneficial as the gift of money. Even if the cry for cash is behind the fact that organizations don’t have the money to pay their workers, volunteers could shoulder some of that work. I’m not suggesting workers be discarded for volunteers at all, but that time freed up by non-paid workers could be used to fundraise or generate money some other way while the work is still being done. Everyone wins.

What do you think? Which is more important—the gift of time or money? I think the answer lies in simply whatever you are able to give.