Where to Give

This time of year, some folks struggle with a major decision on where to do their year-end giving. It’s especially difficult if you’re swamped with requests.

The other day my husband Joel and I were talking about our giving this year. In December, we start asking the question, “have we met our giving goals? If we haven’t, what would we like to do with the remaining funds?”

We use a “giving portfolio” approach developed by Jim Wise, a Certified Kingdom Advisor®, and it may be helpful to you, too. The categories on where to give are in Luke 4:16-19: "And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'" Jesus’ mission provides a model for establishing categories within a giving portfolio. To help us make decisions on where to direct our gifts, the first category is the ministry of God's mercy. It includes organizations that serve people who are in need, the poor and the imprisoned. This category also includes gifts to ministries that provide water, food, and shelter. The second category is the ministry of God's justice for people that have been oppressed–widows, orphans, the helpless, and the victims. Then, the final category is the ministry of God's Word. FaithFi encourages you to do your giving first to the local church, and consider gifts to other evangelism and discipleship ministries.

You may be wondering why to consider your giving like a portfolio. A portfolio simply means that there are multiple buckets to set aside money with intended multiple purposes. When you combine multiple buckets with multiple purposes, it creates a portfolio. That's what your financial advisor does to help you structure your investment portfolio, but you can do that with your giving, too.

God calls us each to give according to what we've been given. Where we choose to give around these categories can be done whether we have a widow's mite or millions to give. The portfolio idea still works. This portfolio giving concept helped us several years ago when we realized that our giving was missing gifts to widows and orphans. We researched opportunities and ultimately sponsored Compassion International children for years. This decision also allowed our daughters to be involved in the giving process. They in turn, began to care for orphans and give to them regularly as well. We challenge you to look at your current giving with a portfolio perspective to prayerfully consider whether there are areas in which you might want to expand your giving. You can also listen to the related podcast on this topic.