A charitable allowance to teach children to give

How to start teaching children to give

It’s never too early to teach your children about charity, and to spark their spirit of generosity. A great way to introduce charitable giving into your family’s routine is by giving your children a charitable allowance.

While the charitable allowance concept is relatively simple –  a regular allowance, but with dollars only useable in the charitable space – the complexity lies in its ‘giving away’ component. Unlike a regular allowance where children decide on how to spend money on themselves, a charitable allowance invites them to start thinking about what they care about changing in the world, and how they can personally have an impact.

Whether your children decide to donate to one, two or ten causes, a charitable allowance aims to help young people feel empowered to give in a way that makes most sense to them, as charitably-minded individuals.

Teaching children to give with a charitable allowance

There are a number of ways in which you could start giving a charitable allowance in your home, but we’ve put together our top four ideas to help you get started:

A monthly allowance

If you would like to give your children a set amount each month to give away, then you could set up a recurring donation into your Impact Account.  As for your kids? They can then choose to save that money up for a rainy day – or use it to give to a different charity (or even charities!) each month. The choice is theirs! Why not ask them their opinions on what they care about, and what changes they wish they could make in the world?

Special occasions

Special occasions are a great time to reflect on what matters most to us. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, or any other holiday your family cherishes, are all great opportunities to give your children some charitable dollars. Introducing a charitable allowance to your children during these special times can be a great opportunity to spark conversations about generosity, and get them thinking about how they can make an impact.

As a reward

Another way that you could introduce a charitable allowance to your family is as a reward for when your children do well at school or complete their chores. You could give small amounts at a time, and let your kids build up their funds gradually before they give it away. This will help your children see how a number of small acts can grow into something larger and more impactful.

When you all feel inspired

Why not share your favourite causes with your kids, and inspire them to want to create change?  Give together and see how easy it is to make a bigger difference to the world. Explain how you give back to the causes you care about. If you volunteer, explain what you do, and the impact it has. Talk about the causes you donate money to, and how that money could make a difference.

There is, of course, no wrong way to give a charitable allowance – the important part is engaging your child with charitable giving, and empowering them to make a difference to the causes that matter most to them!

Do you give your child a charitable allowance? If so, we would love to hear from you – get in touch at @wearecharitable.