Who gives to charity?

[jim777]

My wife and I used to give to a bunch of charities, but decided to just give all of our charitable donations to a single charity a few years ago, instead of giving out smaller amounts all over the place. So, we chose the Autism Society and now give them a chunk of our yearly tax return. They get more from us than they did previously, and others get little or nothing compared to what they used to get (sometimes you need to just give for 'out of the blue stuff' like hurricanes and tsunamis and such, no fighting that). We thought about it for a while before we had out little 'consolidation', as I suppose it really depends on how you view charity if we made a wise decision or not. However, it has at least made the unsolicited phone calls by charities much easier to take. The guilt is totally gone from telling those callers 'sorry' now, as we have what we feel is a good honest excuse. The only ones who ever complain or try to argue with us when we tell them, "sorry, but all of our charitable giving goes to the Autism Society" are those vaguely named police charities. To be honest I'm not sure I trust all the charities that call you unsolicited, but the police ones always sound the most dubious over the phone. They come off like gangsters asking for protection money on some occasions, honestly. And I'd bet a bunch of you know exactly what I'm talking about, too.

 

[elder999]

He was a very wise man.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Maimonides.html

Yes, he was....

Isaiah 58:6&7

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Matthew 25:34-40
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

 

[CoryKS]

To be honest I'm not sure I trust all the charities that call you unsolicited, but the police ones always sound the most dubious over the phone. They come off like gangsters asking for protection money on some occasions, honestly. And I'd bet a bunch of you know exactly what I'm talking about, too.

Dunno about the other charities, but I know from discussions with the lad on the phone that the police charities use contractors - i.e., professional telemarketers - to do their calling. That should tell you everything you need to know about their tactics.

 

[Fiendlover]

I think that is probably exactly it. Those farther from a problem generally have a harder time understanding it.

I agree. I give to charity evertime i can and i donate blood everytime i can too. I would say that i'm not very wealthy and i give charity because i know what it's like to be unfortunate than some. I also give blood because my blood is one of the rarest, O-. I give it because my dad is very ill and simple blood donations like the kind i give could mean the difference between life and death. Even though he is O+ and i'm O- i still donate for the sake of maybe someone elses father.

 

[Fiendlover]

My experience is that generosity crosses party lines quite well. In asking for donations for the local women's shelter a couple of years ago, my daughter and I encountered the affluent neighborhood (who exhibited their right-wing party status proudly with election signs for republicans running for local offices) who couldn't come up with a spare package of toilet paper, unopened toothpaste or other unused personal care items because they were *strapped*.

Yet the owners of unmowed yards littered with children's toys in need of repair displaying liberal loyalty raided their cabinets for anything they could give even though they just lost their jobs.

If you've been there, you know what it's like and you'll give more.

A former friend of mine - a self-proclaimed "Dittohead" at that - would constantly chide me thusly; "Why should I give my hard-earned money to someone who isn't working? I got my stuff by working. If they want what they need then they need to get a job."

Slant, slant, slant. It doesn't reveal the truth ... it just makes the BS roll more.

That's my mom's way of thinking that i don't see eye to eye on.

 

[TheOriginalName]

Alright - when i first posted on this one i decided not to mention this but now i think it's worth mentioning......

At my workplace i am known as the Kebab Man.
The reason - every week i organise a kebab lunch. People place their orders and pay the cost of the kebab plus a minimum of an extra dollar (in Australia our dollar and two dollar coin is gold - so it's a gold coin donation). Anyway, kebab lunches are delivered to the desk and the remaining funds are donated to charity.

We average about 15 orders per week. We raise between $30 and $40 per week. We have a small selection of charities that we rotate our donations to.

The thing i've noticed is that it's very difficult to get a donation out of a person if they recieve nothing in return. As soon as they are getting something the wallet opens a lot easier.

So my personal approach to fund raising is to ensure that people get something for their dollar......

Something interesting i've learnt since starting this is that every major religion calls people to be charitable - to give without recieving. So there must be something to all this giving stuff........

 

[Big Don]

Alright - when i first posted on this one i decided not to mention this but now i think it's worth mentioning......

At my workplace i am known as the Kebab Man.
The reason - every week i organise a kebab lunch. People place their orders and pay the cost of the kebab plus a minimum of an extra dollar (in Australia our dollar and two dollar coin is gold - so it's a gold coin donation). Anyway, kebab lunches are delivered to the desk and the remaining funds are donated to charity.

We average about 15 orders per week. We raise between $30 and $40 per week. We have a small selection of charities that we rotate our donations to.

The thing i've noticed is that it's very difficult to get a donation out of a person if they recieve nothing in return. As soon as they are getting something the wallet opens a lot easier.

So my personal approach to fund raising is to ensure that people get something for their dollar......

Something interesting i've learnt since starting this is that every major religion calls people to be charitable - to give without recieving. So there must be something to all this giving stuff........

Kebabs every week?! That sounds awesome! The commute from CA to Australia would be a killer though...

 

[Kacey]

I donate blood regularly; I donate to food banks/drives as I am able. When I clean out my house (largely of items I told my mother I didn't want, but she gave to me anyway ) I give to Goodwill, or donate to organizations I trust that are having fund-raising garage sales. Having heard too much about charitable organizations misusing funds, and having had a bad experience attempting to volunteer for the Red Cross, I rarely donate money, and am very particular about who I volunteer for.

I suspect that most people donate in the same fashion as their parents did as they were growing up (my father donated blood regularly when I was a kid) - except that those who have received benefits from charitable organizations are more likely to donate back to the same, or similar, organizations that they received aid from.

I recall a recent new story (in the last several months - but I couldn't find it again) which pointed out that one of the reasons for the drop in food bank donations is that the most consistent and generous donors to food banks are those who have received food from food banks in the past - but that too many past recipients are now recipients again, so that's a double whammy for the food banks; they are getting less, or nothing, from their best donors, and have more recipients as well.

 

[Nolerama]

I donate yearly to the largest municipal park in my city because it's one of the most beautiful parks in the country and, unlike lots of municipal entities, does its job.

And (surprisingly a lot of you) to autism. My girlfriend is a speech pathologist and works with autistic kids. THATs an issue that needs to be addressed.

"Homeless charities" are kind of another story. In my city, studies show that about 10% of the homeless population are "chronically homeless" and the rest are families and people who are in transition; many of which get back on their feet.

The remainder 10% suffer from mental illness, drug abuse or both and are abused by two different kinds of charitable organizations: those with a method to get people the proper help they need, and those that take advantage of the homeless for cheap labor, tax/municipal incentive, and religious manipulation.

Lots of times, they're both lumped into the same group. I can't support people like Larry Rice and his evangelical brethren, while they drive their Mercedes Benzes and BMWs bought (through sneaky bookwork) through charitable funds.

Investigating these nonprofits can get tiring. Some of them find work for the jobless, many times through kitchen work. I'll go to those restaurants because a lot of times, a formerly homeless person has found a passion for food... And that means wonders for a restaurant.

 

[CuongNhuka]

Some of them find work for the jobless, many times through kitchen work. I'll go to those restaurants because a lot of times, a formerly homeless person has found a passion for food... And that means wonders for a restaurant.

See, this is what charity should do to help the less fortunate. They should what is needed to put people on there feet, or provide education, and so on.

 

[Empty Hands]

I have a pretty highly qualified job but I am far from rich and without my missus working too we couldn't afford the mortgage

That describes most of America too, unfortunately. Single income households have a huge amount of difficulty in making ends meet.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, EH, I do believe it's one of the reasons why Charity (big "C") needs to be more localised if it's required.

A great many people are struggling to make ends meet and it would be community building for people to help each other out directly.

Taxation is the macro level way of re-distrubuting the wealth but I think that there is a lot of frictional wastage that goes on between the money leaving our paypackets and ending up in the pocket of someone who needs it. 'Neighbourly' charity might not have anything like the scale but would be more rewarding for all concerned perhaps.

 

[CuongNhuka]

Taxation is the macro level way of re-distrubuting the wealth but I think that there is a lot of frictional wastage that goes on between the money leaving our paypackets and ending up in the pocket of someone who needs it.

Anouther problem with taxation is non-income taxes (such as taxes on purchases). It may have been said here already, but those non-income taxes are essentially regressive. If me and say, Warren Buffet, buy a '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee (which is what I have by the way), the cost and taxes are the same for both of us. But, the taxes are a significant cost for me, and nothing for Buffet.
That is why I don't like those taxes, I think they should be reduced, and income (and property) taxes should be put on a steeply graduated progress. Those in poverty should pay almost nothing (so as to help them get out of poverty), lower classes should pay slightly more, and so on up to the rich paying a large fraction. Interestingly, the Republican Party supports just the opposite, saying that income taxes unfairly target the rich!! We can get into that discussion anouther time though.

 

[Phoenix44]

Did the study on charitable giving indicate what kind of charitable giving they are talking about, I mean, did they separate religious tithing from other charitable contributions? I believe I heard that conservatives are likely to give more to their churches, whereas liberals are more likely to give to other causes.

By the way, Stossel has a tendency to be "liberal" with his statistics and references. I'd want independent confirmation of what Stossel has to say.