By ANTONIA HERN & #193;NDEZ

The financial crisis has led to a perfect storm for charitable giving. How should one think about giving at a time when donations are down, investment losses are reaching all-time highs and demand for basic services is higher than ever?

Give smarter. Get more involved. Only then will you know that your money was well-spent.

Demand at food banks is up 41 percent in Los Angeles County. The jobless rate is 10.9 percent, nearly three percentage points higher than the national average in February, itself a 25-year high. Nearly half of the families the Union Rescue Mission serves are homeless for the first time in their lives.

Despite this new economic climate, there is some good news. Ten of the biggest foundations will keep their giving levels on par with 2008, and two will give more (Gates and MacArthur), according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. IBM and General Mills will give more, and General Electric plans to donate as much this year as it did in 2008.

At the California Community Foundation, we recently committed to retain our competitive grant-making in L.A. County at 2008 levels.

While it is encouraging that the giving levels of some donors, foundations and corporations have continued, the way we give needs to change to reflect new realities. Passive giving is pass & #233;. The time for “checkbook philanthropy” based on pure loyalty/obligation and habit has long gone. Consider these questions instead:

– How about maximizing the impact of your gifts by supporting those non-profits that have shifted their priorities to the new reality and are focusing on the meaningful difference they can make?

– Is the organization’s leadership qualified to weather the current crisis?

– How is the organization maximizing its scarce donations in these times?

– Does it hold up to a cost-benefit analysis?

– Have you checked out the charity’s board and how connected it is to the community it serves, its strategic plan, and whether its major achievements or progress are compelling?

– Have you visited the organization to see for yourself the work it is doing?

– To have the most impact, how about focusing on making larger, multiyear gifts that fund operating support to fewer organizations instead of giving piecemeal grants to many? This lets charities know you have confidence in the work they are doing.

Then go beyond the gift. Get involved and contribute your time and talents to one or more of the charities you support. There’s no substitute for seeing, hearing and feeling for yourself the daily successes and struggles a non-profit goes through. People who volunteered two hours a week donated an average of $124,267 more than three times what nonvolunteers donated on average in 2007, according to a recent study by Bank of America and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The biggest contribution you can make beyond money is to connect others to the cause and the organization. If you found a gem investment, would you not share it with your closest friends and family? If you are on a non-profit’s board, you can exert leadership and fully commit to helping your organization survive, adapt and thrive. If you are not a board member, you can become more involved with the non-profits you support and ask how the organizations are refocusing their efforts to serve the community.

At CCF, we have bolstered our services to our grantees and other non-profits to help them survive this economic crisis. This includes a quarterly guide for donors that recommends funding to our best grantees who have demonstrated outstanding performance, impact and financial efficiency.

Here was our advice to grantees about how to manage an uncertain future: refocus your missions on what makes you unique and curtail other activities; reduce, renegotiate and remove expenses; develop a Social Return on Investment (SROI) to attract new donors; engage your boards, donors and partners to address the challenges; be transparent and increase your communication with constituents; develop a new elevator pitch that reflects your new relevance and energy; and merge and form partnerships to share back-office costs.

As the economy worsens and your portfolio shrinks, the more strategic you are in your philanthropy, the bigger difference you’ll make. If you didn’t support charities that serve basic needs, you may want to now, especially because someone you know may well have been laid off or visited the nearest welfare office for the first time.

The strategies you use now to be diligent, smarter and choose differently than before will be just as effective, if not more so, when better days emerge. And they will.

Antonia Hern & #225;ndez is president and chief executive of the California Community Foundation, a collection of charitable funds based in Los Angeles.