Charitable Giving

Giving Back by Putting Your Gifts to Use

Charitable giving can be one of the most rewarding parts of people’s lives. Those on the receiving end are grateful in ways most people can’t imagine. The real depths of the ways in which they benefit will probably never really be known by anyone except for that individual. Undoubtedly, there are innumerable ways of giving back. The question is, how? Which way is right for you?

Having an artistic talent that comes naturally to you is a gift. Being able to earn a living with it is a blessing. I’m grateful for the ease with which my talent seems to come. I’ve used my gifts for commission work for quite some time now, but lately I’ve felt a pull to do more. Charitable giving seems the obvious way to do something not only meaningful, but also rewarding.

I’m not sure yet how this will pan out, but several things are on my radar. Some of those things include holding art classes for seniors and/or the disabled, donating proceeds of my artwork to animal charities, or maybe working one on one with underprivileged children. I’m not sure about any of it yet or how any of it will play out. But what I am sure of is that my gift was meant for more. More than just making money with it for my own purposes, anyway. This gift was given to me for a reason. Surely that reason wasn’t for me to be selfish with it. But clearly, it’s more than just donating time and proceeds, especially if you’re running a business.

So my question to you is this…do you have similar goals or are you already involved in some kind of charitable giving? If so, what do you do? How are you giving back? Are you running a class? Or maybe you’re donating proceeds of your work? What’s your charity and how did you get started? Your advice is greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance!