Nick Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times (one I like quite a bit, except when he opens his mouth about abortion) focuses his attention on the poor of the world. Some of his reports have really moved me, like a video report some time ago about people who live off of what they can salvage from garbage dumps…including food (afterward I became aware of the mission work in Honduras that works, among other things, to feed, care for and hopefully get people out of one dump in particular). A couple of weeks ago he shared some advice about holiday giving, and I’d like to add my own two cents as well.

My first tip assumes  that if you are a “Christian” that means you go to church regularly. If not, the only reasons could be that you either live in the middle of nowhere with limited transportation, are residing in a country hostile to Christianity (like Saudi Arabia), or else are disabled and shut-in. Did I miss anything? As disappointed and, really, fed-up as I’ve been during long stretches of my life with some churches, it really isn’t terribly biblical to try to be a disciple of Christ without a community of Christians that you meet with regularly.

That said, tip #1 is this: Consider supporting the missions/projects your church supports. Oh, by all means, do the research. Maybe your church foolishly supports something like Feed the Children, which Kristof mentioned in his article. You wouldn’t want your money to go to waste. On the other hand, most congregations have fairly-well vetted outreach programs and ministries that they support. Since you are part of the life of that local congregation, give to the good work that your church supports. For example, my family’s home church supports HOPE worldwide. This is certainly a worthy and worthwhile organization that shares my faith and values. You can either send the funds directly to the mission or see how your church handles individual, specific donations to those works.

Of course, the donations I’m talking about here are above and beyond the regular offering you make at church. The church light bill needs to be paid, you know.

My second tip is this that if you want to support something extra beyond what your home congregation promotes, look for a ministry with low overhead. While World Vision does great work and deserves support, an organization that size has much higher administration costs. Part of your donation will likely go towards paying staff and running day-to-day operations. Folks like Marc and Terri Tindall, on the other hand, are doing great work with the poor in Honduras. Their ministry is small and in most cases 100% of donations go directly towards their projects, including feeding the hungry.

One major caution to this is that smaller ministries often, though not always, lack the established connections and infrastructure to get things done. While this may certainly be true, it can also be argued that they have greater agility than larger organizations to adjust and respond appropriately to needs as they arise.

In the end, what we really need to do is practice good stewardship, not throwing our money around (however limited it may seem) at any and all charities, but focusing on those we know and can trust to do the right thing and make a real difference.