The Nonprofit Sector Doesn’t Need Your Charity; it Needs Your Attention.

The holiday season is my favorite time of year (the day after Halloween means game-on for Christmas decorations in the Andreessen home!). It is a time to express gratitude for the blessings we have been given, reflect on the year’s joys and challenges, spend time with our loved ones and think critically about our giving.

While many begin the holiday season focused on Cyber Monday, I encourage you to kick-start your giving season with #GivingTuesday – a national campaign to transform the Tuesday after Thanksgiving into a day of charitable giving. Nonprofit organizations across the country are working together to build attention and momentum for this beautiful celebration of human generosity.

#GivingTuesday is a movement I am thrilled to support. However, philanthropy is not just about making a single donation here and there – it’s about creating sustainable impact. While 90% of Americans report making at least one charitable donation annually, studies show that nearly 2/3 of individual givers do not conduct any research before making their gifts. This lack of research massively limits the impact our gifts collectively have. I believe we all have the capacity to be extraordinary philanthropists – whether we choose to give our time, skills, networks or money in any amount to build a better world. But the onus is entirely on us as philanthropists to ensure that our giving – whatever form or size it takes – is making a tangible difference in the lives of the people we hope to help.

Here are four simple ways to make your giving matter more:

1. Outline your strategic giving plan.

Take stock of the resources that you have to give (e.g. time, money, skills and networks), and then identify the top two or three causes you are most passionate about. Determine how you want to allocate your resources across these causes, both on #GivingTuesday and in the future. Set goals and regular check-in points throughout the year so you can assess what is working and how to adapt your plan. Personally, I have found the more issue-specific and high-engagement my giving is, the more meaningful my giving is (e.g. investing in 1–3 emergency services organizations with my money, time and expertise vs. 10 organizations across the social issue spectrum through PayPal donation clicks).

2. Research organizations online.

There are multiple ways to assess an organization’s ability to create tangible impact. Review a nonprofit’s website to assess both its strategy for creating change and its results to-date. Read the nonprofit reviews on evaluator sites such as GiveWell, GreatNonprofits, Charity Navigator and GuideStar. Investigate the funding portfolios of major staffed foundations and examine the nonprofits the foundations support. This is the equivalent of having access to top money manager’s portfolios at your fingertips for free, thus enabling any giver to access highly sophisticated research on high impact nonprofits.

3. Select a high quality nonprofit in which to invest.

When researching a particular nonprofit online, you should be able to answer each of the following questions: Do they have a clear strategy to achieve their goals?; Do they formally evaluate their programs?; Have they demonstrated success?; Do they formally integrate direct feedback from the individuals they serve into their program development and ongoing improvement?

4. Apply your time, skills, money and/or networks to a cause you support.

Identify nonprofits that are looking for your specific skill set or volunteering interest and ask them how you can be most helpful. Serving on a nonprofit board, sharing your technical skills or becoming a business mentor are just three of the countless ways that you can get involved. If giving financially, make sure you know how the nonprofit will use your money and what measureable impact it will create. Reach out and engage others – family, friends, colleagues – who may already be passionate about the organization or cause you support. Sharing giving experiences and the measurable social change your generosity creates will make your philanthropy more personally significant and will possibly leverage greater resources.

Effective giving is not a reaction or an impulsive act, and it cannot be accomplished in one day or through one gift. It is a journey, of which #GivingTuesday can be just the start. To make our giving truly matter more, we must shift from one-time acts of emotionally-charged generosity to giving with an ongoing commitment to research, accountability and impact.

Translating your blessings into tangibly touching and transforming the lives of others is the single most beautiful holiday gift you can give – to both others and yourself.