I'm not running for the presidency, so I will donate <2% of my 6 figure income. ....just following the leader.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not an opinion. Conservatives give much much more to charity. Probably bc they go to church more.

I always find it hard to associate giving to a church with charitable giving. The vast majority of that money doesn't actually go to people/causes that need help.

Most charitable organizations also have to pay a few salaries and building overhead. Churches are no different. Most of the churches I have been affiliated with spend a great deal on people in need. I would never be part of a church that didn't see helping those in need as a priority.

Many charities operate with an overhead of less than 25%, and the majority of funds go toward people in need. What percentage of church donations is spent on people in need? I thought it was generally quite small, around 5%?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not an opinion. Conservatives give much much more to charity. Probably bc they go to church more.

I always find it hard to associate giving to a church with charitable giving. The vast majority of that money doesn't actually go to people/causes that need help.

Most charitable organizations also have to pay a few salaries and building overhead. Churches are no different. Most of the churches I have been affiliated with spend a great deal on people in need. I would never be part of a church that didn't see helping those in need as a priority.

I'm sorry, another post snuck in there! When I said "I agree with the PP, I mean PP 10:05.

I'm the one with the 75K HHI who is also not donating right now. I agree with PP that what she does with her money is her business -- I feel the same way. I think what's rubbing me the wrong way in this conversation is that people (not necessarily the PP, but some others) seem really PROUD that they're not giving anything to charity. "I don't know anything about these charities, I don't know where the money is going, Obama did X and now I'm going to do the same thing..." Come on, folks. All of us posting on this thread are probably college-educated and have access to telephones and computers.
We could probably find any number of charitable organizations that will be happy to talk with us about what they do, how they function, etc. If folks WANTED to know where their money is going, they could find out -- there are more organizations out there besides the huge ones like the Red Cross or United Way. So let's not pretend to be ignorant. Just say, I don't want to give to anyone else right now -- either because I don't feel I have the money (that would be me) or because I don't think that charitable giving is a good use of my money, or I hate the poor, or whatever.

Again, I also am not making charitable donations right now (and I'm not going to pretend that my periodic donations to Goodwill "count," I haven't given anything to them that could be worth multiple hundreds of dollars, much less multiple thousands of dollars) So I'm not trying to speak from some kind of holier-than-thou place. But I'm also not blaming the charities themselves, or Obama, or some woman on food stamps who bought an expensive car, for my choices.

Anonymous wrote:Having just done our taxes, this thread is a real eye-opener. And a little depressing. HHI=$78k. We gave appx. $1,200 last year, of which $500 was to our church. Surprised at the higher earners here who hoard.

Our HHI is just about the same and we donated about $900 last year. About $760 to our church plus a small donation to a local arts education program for low income youth. We additionally make sandwiches here and there for a homeless program and carry the cost, although not nearly as often as we should. We started really donating about two years ago and I want to slowly increase up to 10% of our income, continuing to support our church and these two local programs (and adding an international organization). I really want to instill a spirit of generosity and compassion in my children -- I was very poor as a child and feel very fortunate to be in a position to donate now. This thread is certainly educational, to say the least.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:donations? That's what my crazy taxes are for, to help those with less. I occasionally donate clothing or furnitures to salvation army or goodwill but that's it. Most of the time, I don't even know where the money really goes in charities.

That's cute that you think that, and presumably helps you sleep at night while donating little. But in reality, the vast majority of your taxes goes to the military, interest, and Medicare and Medicaid.*

This might help you understand: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258


*Before you fly off the handle: Yes, Medicaid is a program that obviously is designed to help those in need. But the vast majority of Social Security and Medicare spending is for the middle class. Don't try to characterize that as a big handout to the needy.

What I do with my money is really up to me. I have 2 college tuitions to save up for, mortgage to pay off, childcare, retirement, etc. We both have worked extremely hard so until I"m done saving up all we need, I'm not giving a ton of my money away to people I don't know. Honestly, there are too many out there who have this entitled attitude. I know someone who bought a bmw while she was receiving food stamps, free healthcare, etc. Totally rubs me the wrong way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread demonstrates is the idea that charities will take up the slack if you cut government aid for those in need is a lot of hooey.

Also confirms what I've always suspected (and have read about), that the lower on the income scale you go, the more generous you find people to be (in terms of percentage of income people give away) --some billionaire mega donors excepted.

There have been recent studies showing that more money people make, the less empathy they have for others.

Not true, the % of giving is a U shape, with the 250K folks giving the lest -

http://nccs.urban.org/nccs/statistics/Charitable-Giving-in-America-Some-Facts-and-Figures.cfm

What this chart says is that people making under 50k give 4% of their income to charity, and that rate isn't exceeded again until you get to people making over 10 mil. That seems pretty clear to suggest that billionaire mega donors excepted, those who have the least to give are the most generous.

It's just like that parable of the widow's offering where Jesus says the offerings of the poor mean much more than those of the wealthy, because the poor actually sacrifice to give, while the wealthy give from their extra funds. I'm an agnositc, but dang there's some radical stuff that Jesus was preaching, if people would actually follow it.

Least

Anonymous wrote:What this thread demonstrates is the idea that charities will take up the slack if you cut government aid for those in need is a lot of hooey.

Also confirms what I've always suspected (and have read about), that the lower on the income scale you go, the more generous you find people to be (in terms of percentage of income people give away) --some billionaire mega donors excepted.

There have been recent studies showing that more money people make, the less empathy they have for others.

Not true, the % of giving is a U shape, with the 250K folks giving the lest -

http://nccs.urban.org/nccs/statistics/Charitable-Giving-in-America-Some-Facts-and-Figures.cfm

What this thread demonstrates is the idea that charities will take up the slack if you cut government aid for those in need is a lot of hooey.

Also confirms what I've always suspected (and have read about), that the lower on the income scale you go, the more generous you find people to be (in terms of percentage of income people give away) --some billionaire mega donors excepted.

There have been recent studies showing that more money people make, the less empathy they have for others.

Anonymous wrote:donations? That's what my crazy taxes are for, to help those with less. I occasionally donate clothing or furnitures to salvation army or goodwill but that's it. Most of the time, I don't even know where the money really goes in charities.

That's cute that you think that, and presumably helps you sleep at night while donating little. But in reality, the vast majority of your taxes goes to the military, interest, and Medicare and Medicaid.*

This might help you understand: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258


*Before you fly off the handle: Yes, Medicaid is a program that obviously is designed to help those in need. But the vast majority of Social Security and Medicare spending is for the middle class. Don't try to characterize that as a big handout to the needy.

Put me in the 'charity begins at home' crowd. I haven't read all 30 pages of this conversation, but I am not losing sleep over the percentage of my charitable donations.

donations? That's what my crazy taxes are for, to help those with less. I occasionally donate clothing or furnitures to salvation army or goodwill but that's it. Most of the time, I don't even know where the money really goes in charities.

Put me in the 'charity begins at home' crowd. I haven't read all 30 pages of this conversation, but I am not losing sleep over the percentage of my charitable donations.