In this economic downturn, which charities do you still support?

zumbamama
Member Offline
I'm donating dance classes, organizing a fundraiser and fitness clothing drive for the Cavalry Women's Services Center—for homeless, mentally/terminally ill and battered women.
Anonymous
House of Ruth
D.C. Kitchen
Anonymous
Church
Kids' school
Whitman Walker
Food and Friends
House of Ruth
WEAVE

Cut out alma maters, kids' former (nursery) school, and a couple of other charities we used to support.
Anonymous
I'm troubled to read about so many arts organizations folding. I can't argue against priorities needing to shift, but it seems like a huge step backward for our society.
Anonymous
http://www.treehousecac.org/

for abused children
Anonymous
I am disillusioned with the charities. They all have very high operating expenses. Of every dollar only a few cents go to anyone in need. I think it is a lot better to give directly to someone you know is in need.
Even the churches do very little.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I am disillusioned with the charities. They all have very high operating expenses. Of every dollar only a few cents go to anyone in need. I think it is a lot better to give directly to someone you know is in need.
Even the churches do very little.


Churches do very little? How so?

My church is the "emergency" lifeline for Loudoun county. When family services runs out of options for a family in need, they call our church. I think our dept of family services would take issue with your sweeping statement. I say this as a foster mom who knows first hand what outreach our church does to DIRECTLY help people in the community.

However, we are not like the catholics, we do not send money back to the vatican. All of our money stays local. As a matter of fact, we are packing 50,000 meals (yes, that is the number) of meals once Sunday 4 weeks from now.
Anonymous
Yes, churches do very very little. And those few who do receive something need to pay it back by going public.
One church that I attended had an operating budget of 50K per month. That included the cost of the church building and the operating expenses and staff salaries. Mostly the staff is volunteers except for 1 person.
I could not figure out why the operating expenses were so high or where exactly all the money was going.
Any charity that they did was not included in the 50K for operating expenses.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am disillusioned with the charities. They all have very high operating expenses. Of every dollar only a few cents go to anyone in need. I think it is a lot better to give directly to someone you know is in need.
Even the churches do very little.


Churches do very little? How so?

My church is the "emergency" lifeline for Loudoun county. When family services runs out of options for a family in need, they call our church. I think our dept of family services would take issue with your sweeping statement. I say this as a foster mom who knows first hand what outreach our church does to DIRECTLY help people in the community.

However, we are not like the catholics, we do not send money back to the vatican. All of our money stays local. As a matter of fact, we are packing 50,000 meals (yes, that is the number) of meals once Sunday 4 weeks from now.


Much of that money subsidizes our LOCAL Catholic schools so that tuition remains low. I'd call that charitable.
Anonymous
What is 1514 talking about? Why is it okay to go after Catholics??? Most money that you give to your church goes directly toward philanthropy and not to the Vatican. Have no idea where you are getting this info from but it is wrong and borderline racist. I am going to just assume that you are either misguided or just plain stupid.
Anonymous
Racist? I guess I am ignorant, I thought all along being catholic was a religious affiliation not a race. I learn something new everyday.
Anonymous
"What have you kept and given up?"

None of your business. It's rude to ask and ruder for you to volunteer the information. This is another bragging topic. Sheesh.
Anonymous
Funny how many people are giving up on their alma maters... do you know how many people universities employ?? And not just professors... admins, physical plant, restaurant workers, housekeeping for offices and dorms, etc. Not to mention the huge numbers of kids who are only able to stay in school because of their on-campus jobs. Also, universities live on their endowments in the good times. Now that their investments aren't making any money, and no one is sending the donations that the school used to count on, I guess it's no wonder they're laying off. Be prepared for more kids to drop out of school when their on-campus jobs dry up, and more families to start hitting up your churches for meals when the school eliminates its ground maintenance crew and starts in on the administrative staff.
Anonymous
I give to my alma mater and the NRA.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Funny how many people are giving up on their alma maters... do you know how many people universities employ?? And not just professors... admins, physical plant, restaurant workers, housekeeping for offices and dorms, etc. Not to mention the huge numbers of kids who are only able to stay in school because of their on-campus jobs. Also, universities live on their endowments in the good times. Now that their investments aren't making any money, and no one is sending the donations that the school used to count on, I guess it's no wonder they're laying off. Be prepared for more kids to drop out of school when their on-campus jobs dry up, and more families to start hitting up your churches for meals when the school eliminates its ground maintenance crew and starts in on the administrative staff.


One of my alma maters-- Harvard-- is obscenely wealthy, with a huge endowment. The other two (Brown and a private HS) are less so, but still doing all right.

Although it's true that these institutions employ many working-class people, the same can be said of any business I might patronize. None of them provides basic services to the neediest people, however. And tuitions at all of them have outpaced inflation by borderline grotesque amounts in the past decade. I like my alma maters, but in an economic downturn I need to give my scarce resources to the orgs that are dealing with people in dire need.

This is not to say that schools don't do good work. But for me, now is the time to give money to the needy.
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