“Hope loves company. . . Misery improves nothing. I feel that this simple statement is at the heart of why we volunteer our time, energy, and money so freely to the worthy causes in our lives. It’s not so much that we’re trying to make a difference (though this is of course part of the equation) or that we feel obligated to give back. Rather, it is to engage in an act of healing so profound that it affects the giver just as much as the one receiving the gift.
This isn’t to say that charity is purely a selfish endeavor; anyone who is truly passionate about a cause can tell you it’s not. But self-interest does have a hand to play, though perhaps an unconscious, instinctive one. Hope is a consequence of giving, as opposed to a goal. We give because we see a need in the world, and we continue to give because filling that need fills a related need inside of us.”
Austin DeMarco, freelance writer and editor, from a Nonprofit Quarterly online article titled “Giving as Receiving: The True Rewards of Charity”