How Much Do You Give Annually to Charity?

[Anonymous]

$325K HH income; give about $40k annually. Rather than giving cash directly, for the tax benefits, every two years we put about $80k in a donor advised fund. (This means it costs us maybe 2/3 of that amount, net of tax savings). Then we give it from that gradually over the two years. I'm a big fan of Givewell, which researches the most effective charities. We give most of our money to their recommended charities. (https://www.givewell.org/about if you're interested in learning about their approach.)

But it doesn't depend just on income, but assets and needs. If you have no children, you should be able to give more; if a special needs child or parents who need help, less, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:0 we pay over 250k in taxes

So your HHI is probably $900k and you happily don't donate to charity? Yikes.

Taxes aren't charity. They fund things like our national defense, police, fire, roads, schools, Social Security, etc. Surely you benefit from these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$325K HH income; give about $40k annually. Rather than giving cash directly, for the tax benefits, every two years we put about $80k in a donor advised fund. (This means it costs us maybe 2/3 of that amount, net of tax savings). Then we give it from that gradually over the two years. I'm a big fan of Givewell, which researches the most effective charities. We give most of our money to their recommended charities. (https://www.givewell.org/about if you're interested in learning about their approach.)

But it doesn't depend just on income, but assets and needs. If you have no children, you should be able to give more; if a special needs child or parents who need help, less, etc.

That's terrific.

[Anonymous]

Op here. This is really interesting, thanks all for sharing.

1. I always tip, 20-25%

2. I don’t consider giving to candidates as charity, but my husband is super into police so we probably give roughly $5-10k per year to candidates (or more depending on the cycle)

3. I appreciate the non judgmental tone of most of you. Like I said, I give to any friend/colleague/family member raising money for any cause. But my amounts are in line with what others are giving - typically between $50 and $200.

I appreciate everyone’s honesty. I see a lot of posts here where people breakdown their budget and few have charity listed. I wasn’t raised by parents who valued or prioritized charity so it doesn’t come naturally to me to give unless I’m asked.

Given my HHI I intend to give more, and more intentionally.

[Anonymous]

Ha, an edit above - my husband is into politics, not police

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. This is really interesting, thanks all for sharing.

1. I always tip, 20-25%

2. I don’t consider giving to candidates as charity, but my husband is super into police so we probably give roughly $5-10k per year to candidates (or more depending on the cycle)

3. I appreciate the non judgmental tone of most of you. Like I said, I give to any friend/colleague/family member raising money for any cause. But my amounts are in line with what others are giving - typically between $50 and $200.

I appreciate everyone’s honesty. I see a lot of posts here where people breakdown their budget and few have charity listed. I wasn’t raised by parents who valued or prioritized charity so it doesn’t come naturally to me to give unless I’m asked.

Given my HHI I intend to give more, and more intentionally.

That's great, OP. Good for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Giving to your church isn't particularly generous. It only means you give to people who think like you do. It doesn't mean you're giving to anyone or anything in need.


+1. Giving to your tax-exempt church isn't charity, it's you trying to buy your way into heaven.

You're incorrect.

Our church does a lot of mission and outreach work -- some direct donations, some hands-on work that requires supplies, gas, etc.
The church youth group does a week of direct service every summer, and some families can't afford to send their kid(s). We give to support them having that experience.
Our rector is incredibly supportive and deserves to earn a fair salary.

I don't belong to a mega church with a highly paid leader. I have been on the board of my church, have seen the financials including all salaries, and am comfortable supporting this org like I do other charities.

Exactly. Many churches do a ton of charitable work. Our congregation has several different funds we can choose to direct our contributions to. We give 10% to our church, plus various other contributions throughout the year to the PTA, Mercy Corps, public radio, and our universities. We also spend a lot of time volunteering with our church, PTA, and about 40-50 hours so far this year with a couple other small organizations. Pre-COVID DH also volunteered with a local environmental group. He'll probably get back to that again next year. I feel like we should give to a food bank or something similar. Might add that this year. Income under $140K

[Anonymous]

My HHI is about $80k, I'm a single mom, and I give about $2000 to charity a year.

[Anonymous]

Last year HHI was $215k, we gave $9,000 last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. This is really interesting, thanks all for sharing.

1. I always tip, 20-25%

2. I don’t consider giving to candidates as charity, but my husband is super into police so we probably give roughly $5-10k per year to candidates (or more depending on the cycle)

3. I appreciate the non judgmental tone of most of you. Like I said, I give to any friend/colleague/family member raising money for any cause. But my amounts are in line with what others are giving - typically between $50 and $200.

I appreciate everyone’s honesty. I see a lot of posts here where people breakdown their budget and few have charity listed. I wasn’t raised by parents who valued or prioritized charity so it doesn’t come naturally to me to give unless I’m asked.

Given my HHI I intend to give more, and more intentionally.

OP, I have a friend who works with non profits who once told me that the best thing you can do is choose an org you trust and respect and then commit to giving monthly/annually without earmarking the dollars for anything in particular. That way they can use your donation most effectively because (a) they can budget for it and (b) they can use it for whatever is most urgent without restrictions. It’s also convenient for you because you can set it at the rate you feel is comfortable/appropriate for charitable giving and not stress about it after that.

[Anonymous]

HHI about $280 (with a significant increase in recent years). We try to give 10% of gross income. Some goes to our house of worship, but only about a tenth of our total charitable giving.

[Anonymous]

HHI 280k last year, gave 20k to charity. Not religious, but 2k of that went to alma maters and annual fund so 18k for the purists. Our goal is 5% - 10% of gross.

[Anonymous]

$5k-$30k depends on the year

[Anonymous]

give 10-15% to non-profits, 300 HHI

[Anonymous]

HHI is $300k, we typically give around $5k currently. Moving shortly and will free up more cash, hope to increase that a bit.