Ed McKnight: Economist on the best way to give back and support causes

There are many organisations that rely on donations or volunteering from the community in order to achieve their goals – but which one should a person be doing? 

Ed McKnight joined Francesca Rudkin for a chat about what the best ways to give back are, and how much you should give if you plan on giving financially.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time to talk money and joining me now
as Ed mcnight economist at Opie's Partners.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good Morning Ed, Francis great to speak to you.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You've got a lovely topic today and when I think
that sort of fits the time of the year, you're
talking about the best way to give back.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yeah, it was quite funny because I ran into glam
Street the other day, who actually listens to this show,
and I said, I'm to go talk to Francisca. What
should I talk about? And he said, well, after you've
made a bit of money and you're financially secure, what
are some of the best ways to give back? And
how much should you give back now? So what a
great topic and it just made me think of all

(00:51):
the community organizations, the charities are not for profits that
had helped me over the years. So I'm going to
ask you this question in a second, Francisco, about what
those organizations are. But for me, I grew up in
Tahlanaki and the tesp Bank Community Trust they paid for
all of the computers in the primary school and then
I was lucky enough to get some scholarships to high

(01:12):
school or university, and you know, somebody donated money so
that I could get a bit of a head start
and education. I just thought, wow, there are those aren't
the only three examples, but there are so many organizations,
charities of the profits, community organizations that help all of us.
And it just don't get thinking, Oh maybe I should
get back. I mean, are there are any examples of
charities that might have helped you over your life?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I am trying to think about that. I know that
I have definitely given to charities which we might have
a personal connection to. So for example, if my children
have been affected by something or so our philosophy was
because you know, you can be a little bit overwhelmed
with people asking you to contribute our philosophy and our
family was you pick a charity a year and used

(01:57):
to cut that and as a family, we used to
sit and talk about it. And it could be, you know,
would often be so varied. It might be once as
I mentioned something which we've been affected by all someone
in our family or a friend has been or it
could just be something really random that my kids came
up with it they wanted to support, and then you
contributed to that one, and then you picked a new

(02:19):
one the next year, and then you felt like you
were contributing, but it didn't become an overwhelming financial pressure.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, I think that's a really good thing to involve
your kids with as well, so that they're thinking about
giving back over time. And I agree that it can
feel a little bit overwhelming to just respond to everybody
who's always asking for money, because the rare resource and
charities are not for profits is always money, and so
they're always looking for more of it. And it's totally understandable.

(02:50):
But I agree that it's probably a better idea to
pick a couple of charities with u's one year, or
one that you follow or two that you follow over time,
and give to them so you can actually become quite involved.
One of the really good things about donating to charities
and community organizations is you can start to feel like
you're part of a community. Whether it's just you're part

(03:11):
of a group of people who are donating, will perhaps
you get invited along to some sort of think you
event or there's somebody at that organization that you talk to.
Now in terms of how much should you be giving
to charity of course, the answer is how long is
a piece of strength. But the last thing about it
is when you're very young, if you're in your twenties,
it's a bit harder to give to charity because you're

(03:32):
going to be on a low income and you don't
have a lot to spare. Once you get into your
thirties your forties, life gets a little bit easier, but
with mortgages and kids, it's still pretty tight. But I'd
just say to people, as you get older, that's when
donating becomes a bit easier. So if you're in your
twenties said you're not able to get a lot, that's
totally understandable. But if you're in your thirties, but just

(03:55):
keep advising that is to get a bit older, it
gets a bit easier. And that's why you do see
a lot of people who are in their fifties, sixties,
seventies who are incredibly generous with charities because they may
your money and they feel it's time to give back
another little texts year as well, because you can kind
of think of it as a percentage of your income,
and there's a whole hunpit of different people is about

(04:15):
how much you should give. But I kind of think.
You know, one percent of your architects income is probably
a good starting point or a good ballpark, just to
think about. So, let's say maybe you get a thousand
dollars a week in your bank account, you might think, oh,
I'm going to give ten dollars a week to a
community organization of charity and not for profit whatever it happens.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
To be ed mcnight, Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
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