Charity in 2021
In my previous post, we went over all the 2021 goals and learned that we missed our late addition goal of $10,000 towards charity/direct aid/etc. We were $3934 short. I mentioned that I was not happy about this. Let’s unpack that now.
The reason this goal wasn’t met was that my closings didn’t pan out the way I thought they would. Cabinets were delayed by nearly 2 months when they previously weren’t an issue. Whatcha gonna do? I certainly cannot control that. Still, this made me rather disappointed in myself.
Part of what pissed me off here is that we could have done it if I had known sooner that those closings weren’t happening. Since I didn’t, I went a different way with our excess funds. I actually considered pulling from the e-fund to do it in 2021, but I realized how extra that was.
I don’t know if you have been able to tell through reading on FOGA, but I am a bit of a perfectionist. If I set a goal, I expect to make it regardless of other variables. It’s my goal, and I need to get it done. Note: I am well aware of how illogical this sounds.
The thing that bothers me the most here isn’t that I missed the goal, even though it seems like it is. What is bothering me is which goal that I missed. Charity is a thing that most people don’t account for and it is incredibly important, especially in recent years. It’s a taboo subject when it shouldn’t be. I guess I feel that in the game of “show me your budget and I’ll show you your priorities” this wasn’t a priority to me. I do not like that. At all.
So what now? Nothing really. 2021 is done so we move on. 2022 is a very different story. The shortage from last year is getting added to the goal for this year and then rounded off. We’ll also be leaving more extra money in our main account so that if some random opportunities for direct aid come along, the funds will be there. This is in addition to set monthly contribution amounts.
That’s the plan. Thanks for unpacking that with me. 🙂
Do you have a set amount you contribute to charity/direct giving yearly?
Feature Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash
I hear you, missing that goal feels significant in a values kind of way. But you care enough to do something different this year to ensure you don’t miss it again.
I don’t have a set amount. I’m balancing between our monetary contributions (which I try to increase every year) and the substantial amount of time I put into running the Lakota Family giving project. I don’t put a price on my time, of course, it’s just that there’s only so much time and it gets parceled out in a thousand different needs.
Thanks. I made a set dollar goal to make sure that it was something I could track. If it is just something I do whenever then I wouldn’t end up giving as much which isn’t cool. I don’t put a price on my time, but I also don’t have time to volunteer either. Going to make sure it gets done this year.
That makes sense!
I don’t know why I don’t set an amount. Usually I like concrete numbers but I suppose it’s because I accidentally turned the Lakota project into an annual thing and it takes a decent chunk of time. XD
I think that’s awesome and a solid reason. Giving your time is huge. We can make more money, but we don’t get back time.