Given the still-uncertain ecomony, thinking about giving money away can be a scary thing. But planning for your charitable giving and making it a regular part of your budget allows you to keep better control of your charitable expenditures.  Instead of making contributions without forethought, in response to emotional pleas, you can do your research and plan where you want to give.

Here are some basic principles to plan your giving:

• Decide how much you want to give in a year, be it a specific amount or a percentage of your income (gross or net).  Set aside that amount each month.
• For things that are really important to you, consider setting up an automatic deduction.  You save writing and sending checks and your primary causes get their money on a regular basis.
• Decide if you want to give many small donations or a few larger ones.  It's really a question of personal style.
• Keep aside 10-25% of your total planned amount to give for the emergency things that will arise during the course of the year.
• Kee a record of how much you give,to whom, the dtae, and the method. (I use a spreadsheet.)  It will make tax time much easier.