I think that Bill has hit the nail on the head with this one. Charities have been using TV and other media for years to put their message across and to show us the problems. They use the same methods to tell us how we can help to solve the problems of the less fortunate. It doesn't have to be money that you donate either. Good examples of charities donations are warm clothes for bitterly cold nights, tinned foods or glasses to help people with poor sight. Cars can be donated which are used by a charity or sold off to provide cash revenue. Things that are too good to be thrown away but we simply have no further use for. Giving away things that we don't use allows us to easily make a difference and feel that we are helping without handing over hard earned cash.

Cash is of course a good thing to donate and if this is how you make your charities donations then please continue to do so. If you give cash then how do you make your donations? Do you give regularly or only after a disaster has occurred? If you are one of the many people that make regular charities donations then you probably have a good idea which charities are the most important to you, such as AIDS or homelessness. You are probably also aware of the tax benefits open to you too. Charities can often reclaim the tax that you have already paid on the value of your charities donation. The basic rate of tax in the UK is 22% and that can make a significant difference to the charity you are donating to. Make sure that you have filled in the appropriate forms to say that you are a taxpayer and allow the charity to reclaim the tax.

I don't have a favourite charity and if you are anything like me then you probably don't have one either. If this is the case then it's a good idea to budget your donations for the year by deciding how much you are going to donate in advance. When you have done this you can then decide whom you are going to help. There are international charities like the Oxfam, Red Cross, Cafod, etc. that are known worldwide and are often seen to arrive at disaster scenes before anyone else. After a major disaster charities are set up to help rebuild communities and peoples lives. Recent examples have been events such as the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. If you search the Internet you will find lots of details about those. By supporting charities donations for these one off disasters it means that you can get help to the people who have lost everything to allow them to start their lives again.

Charity begins at home they say and I think that they are right. If you are in an aircraft that decompresses you must always put on your own oxygen mask first before you think about anyone else. Why? well you can't help anyone when you have just suffocated can you. It might not be easy to see at first how this situation compares to charities donations but if you think about it there are definite similarities. If you neglect your family and friends when they are in need then how will they ever be able to help others in the future. When our family was young we would help at fund raising events for the school. Not only was this helpful to the school but we also made a lot of new friends in the process.

My children are all grown up now and we have moved away from the village they grew up in. I haven't stopped helping though; I just do it differently now. Working full time doesn't leave much time to help fund raising events. In recent years I have supported charities in two main areas. Cancer research is one as it affects my family. Children's charities are another and I like to support local, national and international charities. I get the satisfaction of seeing my financial help in charities donations going to make a better future for us all.