Anonymous wrote:Those churches are golddiggers! What exactly do they DO with all your cash?

Can't speak for other churches, but at our tiny church (300K total budget) they use donations to pay 3 modest salaries for the pastor, choir director and secretary, maintain the 100-year-old building, pay utilities, and support the outreach ministries of the church (after-school program for at risk-youth, food pantry, etc.)

Last year, HHI was 65K (before retirement/taxes):

Church: 3200
DD's school: 750
Other: 500

Those churches are golddiggers! What exactly do they DO with all your cash?

$350K. About $40K in donations, about half of that to church and the other half to kids' schools and social services organizations on which we serve/have served as volunteers or board members. Some of that comes from assets specifically set aside for charitable use.

I apologize for being clueless, but I thought members of a church had to tithe 10% of income? Or is it voluntary?

Our HHI bounces around but averages about 600k. We consistently give about $20 k per year.

Already this year we've given:
$4500 to church
$10,000 to United Way (about $7,000 designated for local charities and $3000 for a special needs school).
$1500 to kids' schools.
$3,000 to a local organization that feeds people.

The remaining donations for the year will be mostly to support friends and family in their charities (Can you donate XX for me to run a marathon to raise money to fight lymphoma? etc.)

We are sadly lacking in giving abroad where a lot of experts argue your money makes more of a difference.

Wow. This thread is a real eye-opener.

So many people with so much money that are so unwilling to help others with charitable giving - and seem to be so resentful that anyone would even suggest that they could maybe give a little bit more.

I'm at $160K HHI, $3K donations - which I've often though was too low. But apparently I'm quite generous with my giving compared to many DCUMers. And yes, I have kids, and medical costs, and housing costs, and, like everyone else, need to save for retirement and college.

The people who quit giving because "Obummer"? Are you the same people who say we should cut government and let private charities fill the gap?

The more I think about it, the more sick reading this thread makes me feel. There's thousands of hungry children in the DC area. Would it kill any of you high-income earners to make a donation to your local food bank?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200,000....about $125 to various organizations and clothing/furniture to Salvation Army. I'm in a helping profession so I do give back in other ways

And do you write off this generous effort? What a joke.

Actually I do write it off . I spend 40 hours a week in a helping profession in a marginally paid position for my level of education so while I'm not giving much financially, I am being charitable in other ways.

Love. More people should really actually "do" instead of "donate."

Because 200k is marginally paid? Please, education does not and should never equate to an expected salary. I hear this all the time with govy lawyers that make 6 figures.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obama put a stop to my donations.

Me too since he has been president. Given his history of lack of charitable donations before he ran for president, he is someone who thinks to take other people's money to help the poor but not his. He only started donating 15-20-ish percent since 2008. I find that hypocritical and disgusting which is why I can't stand to even look at the guy on t.v.

When then-presidential candidate Obama released his tax returns during the 2008 campaign, it was revealed that he began making significant gifts to charity after he started making serious money from his books — and after he decided to run for president.
Here’s what the numbers look like:
2005: $77,315 to charity out of income of $1.66 million (4.6 percent)
2004: $2,500 out of $207,647 (1.2 percent)
2003: $3,400 out of $238,327 (1.4 percent)
2002: $1,050 out of $259,394 (0.4 percent)

This is really a pathetic display. You should worry about your own money and giving.

Step away from the liberal koolaid.

Obama's a, "Do what I say, not as I do" kid of guy.

900K

This year it was a few hundred dollars.

Not good, but we don't belong to a church, our alma maters are already rich, and we are really busy with little kids. I am not sure how to go about giving more, so I just make the same donations to schools/NPR/public television that I did when I was a grad student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obama put a stop to my donations.

Me too since he has been president. Given his history of lack of charitable donations before he ran for president, he is someone who thinks to take other people's money to help the poor but not his. He only started donating 15-20-ish percent since 2008. I find that hypocritical and disgusting which is why I can't stand to even look at the guy on t.v.

When then-presidential candidate Obama released his tax returns during the 2008 campaign, it was revealed that he began making significant gifts to charity after he started making serious money from his books — and after he decided to run for president.
Here’s what the numbers look like:
2005: $77,315 to charity out of income of $1.66 million (4.6 percent)
2004: $2,500 out of $207,647 (1.2 percent)
2003: $3,400 out of $238,327 (1.4 percent)
2002: $1,050 out of $259,394 (0.4 percent)

This is really a pathetic display. You should worry about your own money and giving.

HHI 300k
Donations $0

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200,000....about $125 to various organizations and clothing/furniture to Salvation Army. I'm in a helping profession so I do give back in other ways

And do you write off this generous effort? What a joke.

Actually I do write it off . I spend 40 hours a week in a helping profession in a marginally paid position for my level of education so while I'm not giving much financially, I am being charitable in other ways.

Love. More people should really actually "do" instead of "donate."

Anonymous wrote:Obama put a stop to my donations.

Me too since he has been president. Given his history of lack of charitable donations before he ran for president, he is someone who thinks to take other people's money to help the poor but not his. He only started donating 15-20-ish percent since 2008. I find that hypocritical and disgusting which is why I can't stand to even look at the guy on t.v.

When then-presidential candidate Obama released his tax returns during the 2008 campaign, it was revealed that he began making significant gifts to charity after he started making serious money from his books — and after he decided to run for president.
Here’s what the numbers look like:
2005: $77,315 to charity out of income of $1.66 million (4.6 percent)
2004: $2,500 out of $207,647 (1.2 percent)
2003: $3,400 out of $238,327 (1.4 percent)
2002: $1,050 out of $259,394 (0.4 percent)

$804K last year ($400k base, rest bonus in a great year)
$3k donations
I feel pretty ashamed that I gave so little. I plan to give more once some large life expenses are more manageable (but don't we all 'plan to give more'?)