Poll:How much do you give to charity?

[ugeauxgirl]

Not sure what % of spending. I know our spending has changed a bit since I retired and I haven't been tracking it as well as I should. It was in the neighborhood of 10% before we retired, I think. We give to our church, a food bank, Little Sisters of the Poor, Fisher House, a medical clinic for uninsured people etc.

 

[Hermit]

I'm building my house. Some years my spending is very large. Some years quite small. Last year my giving was about the same as my spending not including the house and gifts to my kids. Some years the giving is closer to 10%. I averaged the last 8 years and it is over 10% of spending even with building costs so that is what I marked down.

My largest donations go the the Kids Camp down the road from where I live. They believe all kids should have an opportunity to attend camp and provide funds for those in need.

 

[Surewhitey]

Good to reflect on giving. Thinking about this past year, we've increased (doubled) our $ given to faith based organization with the additional disasters this year. But more fulfilling is the help of friends or older home-bound folks. We probably have 3-4 weeks of time either cooking meals, cookies, home projects (my biz) or cash for various things.

We're in the 10%+ on monies and probably 20-30% total time & $$.

 

[street]

I haven't been able to itemize deductions for decades, but my charity continues to increase as does my wealth.

Taxes have nothing to do with it.

The way I see it also.

 

[athena53]

Your question comes across as trying to guilt others who don't give as much as you do to charities. At the end of the day, it is all a personal decision.

I was trying VERY hard NOT to word my question so that it would be interpreted that way, including acknowledging some possible reasons (e.g. very lean budget).

I share your cynicism with the large organizations and donate only to one through my donor-advised fund. It's anonymous because I found they're too pushy about calling and asking for more. Must drive them crazy.

 

[38Chevy454]

Big change in my POV just over the last year.

Same for me. We give to our church and to local animal rescue. Uncle Sam takes more than enough for all the social programs, I refuse to contribute any additional for those.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I give to the local church. Not enough God and the Bible in the world today.

 

[skyking1]

We have no heirs, and our selected nonprofits will get the bulk of our estate. Since we are also self insuring for LTC, our BTD will be governed by that so the odds are high that the estate will be significant.
For this reason we will be giving very little along the way.

 

[ivinsfan]

Your question comes across as trying to guilt others who don't give as much as you do to charities. At the end of the day, it is all a personal decision.

Many years ago, we gave to United Way every year. Then the dirt was exposed about how they hosted huge expensive dinners and trips to Fortune 500 CEOs and staff to get them to promote United Way to their companies. Never a dime to United Way again. Then there was Susan G Komen foundation, more dirt was dugged out. That went to hell for us as well.

Right now, we are very selective in where we make our donations. I don't see giving a particular percentage makes sense to us.

I don't know where got that from her statement. It's strange times because yes we all pay taxes and we know the government is not the most efficient way to help people directly. We also know that some charities are not very good stewards of our donated money.



I try to donate time and stay local when possible. The end result is that our giving is somewhat lower, but I'm always on the lookout for rock solid charities and have actually goggled some of the ones listed here.

 

[skyking1]

The question was basically " why do you give so little?" and it is all couched in the terms of others and how much they give. What is little or much is subjective.

 

[Sunset]

That's me.
No deduction, no donation.

Donating via the QCD thing, allows a person to donate without paying taxes on the money , it's equal to a deduction, but better.

At least that is my understanding, I don't have one set up.

 

[Crewer]

I prefer to give to smaller organizations I know but we also donate to several large, local arts organizations as well as to some smaller local arts orgs. Pre-Covid I did taxes for low earners as a volunteer for an organization funded by the local United Way. I gave/give directly to the organization but not to United Way. DD is a social worker and I give to a place she interned. Turns out, she also donates to it. I usually look up the rating for the charity about how much goes to the work of the organization. DD educated me on that, too. A number of years ago she was offered a job by an organization to help homeless vets. Per usual, she looked up info charitable orgs have to file and found the CEO paid himself a whopping amount and said no thanks to that job. She figured the group got a grant to help homeless vets but mostly it was helping the people there keep jobs, which they need to do but the CEO salary was way out of line for the total budget of the org.

 

[skyking1]

^ that is a red flag for sure. CEO's are chosen for being talented and successful people, but if they are behind the organization then they need to put their money where their mouth is.

 

[Trailwalker]

Our primary charitable giving has been to our church. I trust the folks there to get the money to where it's needed most--more than I trust large charities or the government. If I want, I can go and work in the soup kitchen where some of the mission dollars go. Or pay my way to join the group helping to build homes in Central America where other dollars go. I like knowing that when anyone needs pastoral assistance at the hospital or in a nursing home or in family counseling, our support helps that happen.

We recently set up a donor advised fund and are excited about the possibility of expanding our giving with more bang for the buck (appreciated securities sold tax-free to fund the donor advised fund).

 

[Gumby]

MODERATOR NOTE: This is not the thread to bitch about your taxes or government spending. Knock it off.

 

[stepford]

This poll is a real horse race, and Team Scrooge is ahead by a nose!

 

[66Sally]

We give 10% to our church through our Fidelity charitable account. I also give lesser amounts to food pantries, nature conservancies, home for unwed mothers, etc. I feel very blessed to be able to do so.

 

[a60dan]

Not enough :-(

church
2 different organizations that benefit children and their families

 

[rick55]

I feel embarrassed, we probably don’t give enough. We’ve given annually to the Guide Dog foundation in memory of my sister, who was a volunteer there, and to Wounded Warriors ( just sent a check today) in memory of a childhood friend.
We also give to st Jude, and we used to give to a group called the coalition against breast cancer for years, until the scandal was exposed. It was a family who was sending out mailings so they could live well on the checks.
You never know…

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Right now, it's a horse race between "Less than 1%" and "10% or more" in the poll, each with 1/3 of the total vote. Interesting how the majority of folks here are either nongivers or lavish givers.

We're not non-givers. We are still working diligently towards our (hopefully early) retirement. We choose St. Jude's Children's hospital as our primary charity as we believe they are a worthy cause. But since we are contributing over 50% of our (pre-tax) income to our retirement plans, what we can give to St. Jude's (after our modest living expenses and Uncle Sam's taxes - I'm not bitching, Gumby, we're in the 12% bracket and grateful to be there!) comes out to just under 1% of our gross income for the year. So that's why I voted <1% in the poll.

We do plan on giving more as we get closer and into retirement.

 

[Beachcomber]

We are essentially debt free and after taxes still have a good income.

Like many here I imagine, I give $24k each to two stepsons (in their late 30's) and at least 10% to our church. Many other charities and people benefit that also need help. It doesn't effect our lifestyle so happy to do it.

My parents were quite generous - especially in retirement ($10M nest egg) giving away half of it before their deaths.

 

[Earlygirl]

"For those of you who are in the low end of the poll, may I ask why if you want to volunteer your reasons? I know some people believe that they get taxed enough to help the less fortunate, support the arts. etc. that it's enough."
Yes on this. We mainly give to our kids and grandkids.

 

[boatfishandnature]

How much do you give to charity?

I haven't been able to itemize deductions for decades, but my charity continues to increase as does my wealth.

Taxes have nothing to do with it.

+5

 

[I am He]

Ours is a bit weird as it's probably 10% of our taxable income but much lower if you consider the capital gains that are accruing untaxed.

 

[meleana]

We give set amounts automatically every month to two organizations.

Everything else we give as things come up and it varies. I’m not sure what percentage it all comes to.

Our biggest charity will be to our only child when we pass hopefully if there’s anything left over. At the least the house. Of course, we try to be generous with him while we are alive as well.