As we enter the holiest days of the year, the Paschal Triduum, let’s turn our financial focus onto giving back and helping others.

Do you have a philanthropy plan? You may think a philanthropy plan is only for the very rich, but that’s not the case. Having a philanthropy plan allows you to be intentional and focused in your charity.

The first step in developing your plan is to decide how much you want to give on an annual basis. The second step is to decide the causes you want to give to. Maybe you want to give everything to one or two organizations. Or you might want to give smaller amounts to as many organizations as possible. You may have one cause that matters or several.

I would suggest making at least part of your donations as regular contributions. It’s easy to set up automatic contributions from your bank account. I have four donations set up to go out on specific days each month. Other donations go quarterly. The benefit of structuring donations that way is that I can contribute a bit each month, making my donations less of a burden. And the organizations to which I donate can count on regular revenue.

Of course, I always keep a bit of my annual contributions undesignated so that I can give to issues that come up.

See, a plan doesn’t have to be fancy or highly documented. It just has to allow you to direct your charity in accord with your intentions.