In 2024 I started with donating regularly with the mindset: “If I see an ad for a good cause that speaks to me, I donate”. I told this to my nephew who told me about his goal: donate at least 1% of his earnings to good causes. This really inspired me to do the same.

So: At the beginning of 2025 I set a goal for myself inspired him to donate at least 1% of what you make to good causes. I’ve went well over this budget because I mixed this with the mindset of last year, also donating to causes that have ads that speak to me.

For each donation, I personally keep a list of why I donated to the organisation. Some donations are for things that I’ve lost family members to, others are for things I saw in real life, some because my mom said “donate to this organisation this month” and yep, some are just because they had really good ads.

Here’s the list of topics of the organisations that I donated to:

• Cancer Research and Support Organizations: €153.50
• Alzheimer’s Fund: €100.00
• Parkinson’s Disease: €70.00
• Food Banks: €65.00
• Muscle Diseases: €55.49
• Children with Disabilities: €50.00
• Poverty Funds: €50.00
• Animal Welfare: €40.00
• Diabetes Funds: €40.00
• Forgotten Child: €30.00
• Brain Foundations: €25.00
• Wish Fulfillment: €20.00
• Refugee Aid: €15.00
• Miscellaneous/Specialized Causes: €55.70

Outside of these donations that I have on paper, I’ve also tried to give money and sometimes food to people that I see living on the streets or donate to things like Churches when I’m on holidays. That’s why the title says “at least”, since I do not keep a record of those.

I hope this inspires you too, every donation helps. Even a donation as small as ten cents does add up if everybody chips in.

My goal for 2026 is to at least donate the 1% again and I hope I’m able to donate more.