A good friend of mine explained his giving in this way: He sets aside some amount of his income (say 10%) for giving. Some percentage of that (5%) is allocate

A good friend of mine explained his giving in this way: He sets aside some amount of his income (say 10%) for giving. Some percentage of that (5%) is allocated to organizations that will receive money each month/quarter/year. The remaining 5% is donated as needs arise (disaster relief, meeting someone who needs financial help, etc). At the end of the year, if any of that 5% remains, it is given away to one of the other organizations he supports. So, this sort of planned/unplanned giving allows you to distribute your funds across organizations (those that provide acute care and those attempting to solve chronic problems.