There are myriad reasons to give generously to a good cause. Your donations make it possible for nonprofit organizations to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Your financial support delivers medicine to cure the sick and prevents disease. Your contributions educate and train people to lift them out of abject poverty. Your acts of kindness are helping to make the world a better place. 

There are significant personal benefits, too. The tax breaks you earn from your philanthropy add to your personal wealth, enabling you to provide more for your family and loved ones and increase your altruistic efforts. 

You don't need a doctor to tell you giving feels good. Anyone who has given time, money, or other resources knows this from experience. 

It’s probably easy to see why this can lead to several mental health benefits for you, including increased happiness and enhanced self-esteem. But, what you might not realize is that the positive effects of charitable giving can extend beyond your mental health and enhance your physical health, too. Over the past two decades, multiple scientific studies show that the simple act of giving boosts both your physical and mental well-being.

3 Physical and Mental Benefits of Giving

1. Generosity makes people happier and reduces stress

At the most basic level, giving makes us feel better. Acts of generosity raise levels of happiness and emotional well-being, giving charitable people a pleasant feeling known, in behavioral economics, as a “warm glow.” 

When researchers measured the brain activity of people who donated, they found that donating to a cause showed diminished brain activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotions. Anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder are associated with increased activation of the amygdala.

Many of the physical benefits of altruism are likely related to reducing stress, which is a catalyst for many health issues. These include increased heart rate and high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.

2. Generosity counters depression

Globally, more than 260 million suffer from depression. Scientific evidence shows that humans secrete “feel good” chemicals in their brains when engaging in philanthropy, such as serotonin (a mood-mediating chemical), dopamine (a feel-good chemical), and oxytocin, which is associated with tranquility, serenity, or inner peace. Depression has been linked to several physical conditions, including heart disease.

3. Generosity can help you live longer

The benefits derived from contributing do more than simply make people feel good. While scientists don’t know why generosity can decrease mortality, researchers have linked having a sense of purpose to lower mortality among older adults. One study found that helping others reduced the risk of early death, most likely by buffering the effects of stress.

Maximizing Your Generosity

Helping your charity of choice establish a TrustBridge Global Charity Fund is a way to ensure that more of your money is delivered to the charity, so your contributions have a more significant impact. TrustBridge partners with UBS, the largest bank in the world, so you can be assured that your donations are secure. As part of a global network, your can also trust that your contributions will be dispersed where they are needed most. 

The TrustBridge fee structure is another way to amplify your philanthropy. Because TrustBridge is structured as a charity that sponsors a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) program, there are no fees. Instead, it shares the cost of operating the foundation among the DAFs equitably, assessing them based upon their proportionate balance or activity. These assessments are made against amounts already held within the foundation, not paid separately as a fee might be.

That means significant cost savings when compared to other DAFs. For example, CAF and Global Giving would subject a $50,000 international gift to a five percent fee (Global Giving charges a fee of 12 percent on the first $5,000 contribution, five percent for US or UK charities). That same $50,000 contribution through TrustBridge would only require a one percent operating costs assessed by TrustBridge, maximizing your donation to the intended charity instead of paying organizational costs. 

A lower assessment of operational costs and lower fees means that more of your money remains a donation to be appropriated to where it’s needed most, rather than to administrative costs. Find out how TrustBridge Global can expand the reach of your gift.

Cash, cash equivalents, securities, or various other assets are accepted as donations, which enables your selected charity to accumulate funds before drawing them down to their bank account. As a fiscal sponsor, TrustBridge ensures expenditure responsibility and equivalency determinations for all donations. TrustBridge is recognized as a sponsoring organization of DAFs and a public charity. 

It’s a definite win-win! When you donate, you help people in need and yourself. It’s that simple.