Charity While Traveling in Europe?

Have you ever visited a place in Europe, or seen a circumstance during
your travels in Europe that touched you to the point where you wanted
to become involved,

Sorry, I fail to see how that is too general. I will assume "no".

Not really an answer to the query but there have been a few certain museums or house/museums where before exiting I drop a 20 Euro bill into the donation container in France and Germany...a snippet of financial assistance.

Fred, that's real. Sometimes contributing to a culture in that way goes deeper than you would expect.

In general, and this is quite the generalization, I find that there are two basic giving styles. One is someone who sits down, explores giving opportunities, and then commits to supporting the chosen charities on a consistent and long term approach. The second is someone who is moved in the moment and donates to an immediate need they see. One isn’t necessarily better than the other and both are needed in our society.

I tend to be the planner with long term relationships with my chosen charities. I don’t round up at the store for the charity of the week, and if I am giving in response to an immediate need it is usually through one of my regular charities. That greatly reduces travel related giving.

I have visited Rwanda as part of my support for a charity there. I don’t think that quite qualifies as Europe though…..

Our small contribution that I suppose relates to this topic is that I always pay an equivalent ‘admission’ amount in any religious or museum setting that I visit where there is no admission charge. As I am not a taxpayer or church member already contributing, this is my way to acknowledge the work and funds needed to maintain these properties for all of us to visit.

As someone who lives in Europe, for me it is community service. My area is K9 SAR through the DLRG, the German lifeguarding organisation. If I were in the US, it would be similar.

I am also likely to drop a few Euros in the donation box of a church or small museum I visit.

And those last few posts are reasonable and what is the norm, and good. This thread was the result of my friends returning to Latin America to work on schools again. I was just curious if anyone else had been bitten on a trip or ran across something that moved them enough to stay with it. It's a subject I have strong feelings for.

We've done the same with alms boxes at churches that generously allow visits to their treasures for free. But do financial contributions towards relief efforts related to catastrophic events in far-away locations count? We've done that as even if we could have traveled to some of them, reserving human bulk to those highly trained in disaster response (medical, construction, debris removal, etc.) was likely the better idea.

@ Mr. E....It's revealing to see what sort of currency is dropped into the donation container other than the local one.

I think it would feel good to find a way to combine a love of travel and a desire to make things better. I have friends who go yearly to Africa and spend time doing various things like medical care or teacher training or house building. They combine that with some sightseeing before and after. I have other friends who have been to Croatia to help care for a group of orphans who were able to evacuate from Ukraine. They combined that with another couple of weeks of travel. But I haven’t found my niche yet.

TTM, that's the sort of thing.

Recently the WSJ had a list of smart European travel tips and someone posted the one about leaving behind your old clothing when you check out.

What century did you just call in from, I thought.

Not sure what you mean. I ive in a fairly poor European country and second hand clothes are a staple for a significant part of the population. My old stuff and often new stuff, I fold neatly and place where it will be appreciated. Leaving in a hotel room, given the cleaning staff is minimum wage, would be wonderful.

I have reached that point in life where I no longer "must" work for a living. I get bored so i still do some work and I have decided I made my place in life, dont need anything more really .... so if when someone feels an obligation to pay me, I say make a contribution to a charity. I had enough people on the forum wanted to do something to thank me for my help (great people here), that I finally settled on them letting me buy them a glass of wine and the suggestion of a chairity that I think is very important right now: https://community.ricksteves.com/users/50322

Thanks for this post.

I am very active with our local Food Bank here in Northwest Arkansas, typically spending two days each week as a volunteer with them. I just learned that there are 970 tafels (Food Banks) in Germany. I will be there for three weeks later this year and I now plan to find time to donate a little time and money to them during my trip.