I thought it’d be easy. That was dumb.
My hypothesis going in to the first section of our strategic plan was….we’d knock out the decision on how much and where to give money in 15 minutes tops. After all, we agree on a lot, right? (His despicable choice in the last 2 presidential elections not withstanding.) We immediately agreed on an annual percentage of total income. Done. But when it came to “how” to spread those funds, our preferences were so different. I was shocked when a heated debate erupted.
Until now, I would categorize our donations as somewhat random. If a friend asked us for money for a given cause they supported, we’d donate. We also donated to a few organizations from which we directly benefited such as littlevictories.org, the shelter who saved our dogs (an amazing place run by the great Sue Brown).
Going forward, we agree that we want to be both more strategic and more diligent to make sure the donation actually happens. Here is a summary of the current positions: (Brian jump in here if I’m mis-categorizing anything)
- Brian- Identify the organizations we’ve historically donated to and distribute the funds equally. The result may be a $50 each spread across many, many organizations with varying missions.
- Robin-Select 2-ish specific organizations that have direct, personal meaning to us. The candidates I have in mind are both small and each dollar has a significant impact on their ability to carry out their mission. A seperate amount would be placed in reserve for those occasions when friends approach us to support a cause.
Since the first discussion, I found this research– “Charitable Giving by Married Couples: Who Decides and Why does it Matter?” by James Andreoni, Eleanor Broan, and Isaac Rischall. http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/econ/papers/2000-44.pdf
What I took from this is that
- There are distinct gender differences in charitable donations and
- When married couples disagree, they donate less overall
Where does this all leave us? I think a compromise on the dollars is possible. The total is safe. I just need to start lobbying for next year 
