All of the NYT editorial board members and readers have done this. Liberals give all of their money away that's why there are no dynasty liberal families...oh wait actually it is so much easier to tell others to give their money away.
4
This title is so misleading
1
Mobster Al Capone ran a soup kitchen during the Depression.
The only act of charity I’ve see Trump perform since becoming President is throwing rolls of paper towels at Puerto Rican hurricane victims,
And, of course, he never paid for the towels.
https://www.history.com/news/al-capone-great-depression-soup-kitchen
3
I don't need a "School of Philanthropy" to know how to give with 100% going to someone who needs it: hand a buck, or if you're really flush, a fiver to a homeless person.
2
What this article doesn't get at is how Europeans on average give less to charity and don't feel the need to as much because they have a stronger safety net than the US.
Charity makes us feel good and may help a few individuals here and there intermittently but what would help even more is appropriate taxation to provide a strong, consistent safety net. I recently watched a documentary about hunger in the US and how cutting gov't program under the thought local/ private food banks would step in was erroneous. Food stamp benefits actually work better than private charity.
This article also does not mention that the top organizations that people donate to in the US are religiously affiliated and often their personal church. That means they materially and directly benefit from their own donations. It also means that people not of their religion may receive little to no benefits.
This is one reason I donate to Doctors Without Borders and similar: they don't decide who to help based on religion, nationality, etc.
6
@ms I heartily agree that the social safety net in the US should be stronger. However, my experience is that religious organizations (even those whose precepts I disagree with) give widely and volunteer throughout their communities -- to people and organizations they are NOT religiously affiliated with. Example: through their church, my parents had responsibility for staffing and supplying a homeless shelter one night a month. Basically, they were the staff; and they bought the supplies. This meant they juggled the shifts at the shelter, made sandwiches, washed clothing, monitored persons at the shelter to make sure all was well -- until 3:00 am in the morning. And they did this into their 80s. And no one at the shelter was required to be an Episcopalian (as my parents were) or to be religious at all. Nor did the other people volunteering at the shelter benefit materially in any way, although they were all very happy the shelter residents weren't sleeping outdoors in Chicago winters. No one cared what religion those folks professed, or didn't...
3
everybody's got their hand out.
1
I regularly give to certain organizations...in amounts and at frequencies that fit my budget, and allow me to think that I'm "not ungenerous." These days, with financial planning fairly dicey, I feel that's not a bad approach.
In recent years, many of those organizations have added extra appeals...and in addition, there's now a United Way-sponsored "Give Big" day, IN ADDITION TO the annual United Way appeal...and of course the newspapers always run holiday drives (to which I give) for Toys for Tots, the homeless, and the hungry. This "Giving Tuesday" has been added to the charity calendar--and while I don't for a moment doubt the vast charitable needs that can use money, I do admit that I have Charitable Giving Fatigue. And none of what I've described has touched on the avalanche of direct-mail appeals that land in my mailbox, or the steady stream of email appeals that I can't seem to effectively opt out of.
Just a bit of my own experience--to explain why Prof. Herzog's personal appeal (and she actually has a Ph.D. in "philanthropic studies," so she can't be unaware of the "end user's" view) falls on strained, if not deaf, ears.
1
I used to be charitable until Trump's endorsement of racism and intolerance was embraced by half the US population. I am disgusted by the ugliness displayed by Americans the last few years. Knowing my donations might go to support those spouting hate has led me to stop giving to US charities altogether. Any charitable giving from me now goes to help those in need in other countries.
1
Go to where the real money is: the top 0.01%. Plus the Corporations that pay no tax like Amazon. To paraphrase whats-her-goof: Only the Little people pay taxes and give to the poor.
2
Laughing. Out. Loud.
1
The wording here is insinuative: “ Many people feel they simply can’t afford to give.” How elitist and judgmental. Many families actually do not have an extra dollar to give, or extra hours to volunteer. Many families are scrambling just to keep their own lives together.
You lead your life the way you want to, and leave other to lead theirs.
I cringe when anyone here in the Times writes “you should.”
2
Giving Tuesday should precede Black Friday and Cyber Monday before all the money is spent!
4
Maimonides, Middle Ages: "There is a wealthy man with $100. Is it better for him to give the entire amount to one individual, or $1 each to 100 persons, and why?"
After a spirited 7th grade Hebrew school class, the answer is: "While all forms of charity are good, it's better to split the money evenly between 100 recipients, because it strengthens the charitable impulse."
As Jews beat back a growing tide of repugnant anti-semitism with the never-ending stereotypes ("Jews are cheap"), it is worthwhile to remember that no ethnic group gives more per capita to charity than the Jewish community.
3
For those concerned about legitimacy or efficient use of funds, I suggest looking them up on Charity Navigator. Thorough detailed information. (And if you use them, send them a few dollars, too. )
6
Fund 3rd world women/girls education. THE most effective way to improve societies.
5
There will be no more charitable giving from me.... why? You (the various 'yous' I have given to) won't stop calling or stop selling my number to the spammers also now calling. Too many calls!
1
Too true. It does not stop me from giving, but it is appalling. One of the worst offenders is the US Holocaust Museum. I get appeals from every Jewish organization around, including Birthright Israel, and I’m not even Jewish! I will remain a supporter but it does make me angry.
2
“‘Relationships beyond the self?” Nonsense. I give to charities whose causes I support FOR myself!
I would give more to charity if the government did not already do it automatically for me. About 30% of my pay EVERY MONTH gets taken without my consent and distributed to people I do not know. Whether theft or charity, it depletes me. Get the government to tax me less and then we will talk.
1
Rather than discuss the strange politics that have apprehended most comment-ers, I would like to add this to the discussion. Once you find a way to give to someone, for whatever reason, but especially if it is meaningful to you (in my case, animals). It gets easier and more natural to do so. It becomes a mission, because the power of what you gave is recognizable, and usually stays with you long after the moment you have handed it over.
I agree, the highly organized solicitations, the calculated constructors who simply found another business to run can be off putting to say the least.
But rescuing an abandoned - neglected - abused animal, solving a problem for someone, giving to the one who is not openly asking, these things stay with you. They make so many other choices easier, and often raise the value of everything else around you, by simply proving to yourself you do not need more than what you already have.
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@Not that someone Great comment.
My charities are animal welfare-focused and local. My favorite is a hospice and home for elderly, unwanted or abandoned dogs and horses in Santa Fe.
Knowing my money is being used to feed and care for these voiceless animals gives me far more joy and peace than anything else I could do with it. Cheers.
3
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday: all sales pitches.
Best I can tell, 90% of what I used to give to fund-raising appeals went into garbage asking you for more money. (At least it helps keep the Postal Service afloat!)
And if you ever give online, your name is sold (and/or hacked), producing a zillion requests for more bread from outfits with names sounding like something you support but which, for all you can tell, is from some hustler in Kazakhstan (no, not Sasha Baron Cohen), with a mailbox in Washington or the Grand Canyon.
My way is to give locally to something I know and to pay with a check. There are plenty of legitimate needs where most of us live. Of course there are those who live in zip codes where nobody is in need. I don't and never have. Thankfully.
3
This NYT note came to my mind while reading this defense of philanthropy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/opinion/the-charitable-industrial-complex.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130727&_r=0
I think I agree more with Buffet's son whan with Mrs. Herzog.
1
every year we would get a United Way form stapled to our paychecks. i would immediately throw it into the recycling bin.
i hated this guilt-driven pandering.
i also knew they were the worst for having high Admin. costs.
it is better to give locally to a small non-profit.
here is the outlandish numbers of skimming or double-dipping the U. Way does.
https://paddockpost.com/2015/12/03/where-does-1-to-united-way-go/
2
Let's commit to breeding fewer people and the endless spinning charity wheel won't be necessary, except to protect all the other species harmed by overbreeding humans.
3
@Maggie Therefore, I give monthly to Planned Parenthood!
3
Funny that this column is coming from a university professor. They continually beg for donations yet still manage to charge unconscionable tuition for mostly worthless degrees.
5
NYTimes columnist Scott James recently wrote an article about one of San Francisco's great philanthropists, DeDe Wilsey, and her thoughts on charity and giving when it comes to the younger generations and the newly rich here in San Francisco.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/your-money/dede-wilsey-philanthropy-millennials.html?searchResultPosition=1
It's another helpful perspective on the subject.
Headlines this ignore the reality of people without sufficient means for themselves. The only reason to give is that you want to and can. And what irony that this story runs in a newspaper with such a strong focus on the poor; does the newspaper assume that the poor it writes about do not read it?
Let's see. The author is a well paid government employee whose entire job seems to be to study "charities" (really "non-profits" which are not necessarily "charities"). Yet all this scholarly effort produces articles like this one that totally ignore the fraud, the waste, and the outrageous salaries and perks of top management, the fundraising schemes of manipulation, misrepresentation, and deception. Instead she implores the public to just give, give, and give as though none of the widespread outrageous behavior even occurs.
What does she do with the rest of her time....advise "charities" which schemes work best to extract more money from the public.
This is one government employee and one government job that the public would be better off without.
3
"I regard philanthropy as a tragic apology for wrong conditions under which human beings live." - Helen Keller
1
Because having money equals horrible, racist, cold hearted, human being who lied, stole and cheated to get it. If given away to the people who would be rich if not for the system obviously designed to keep them down (everybody else), horrible human becomes acceptable human. Am I right?
2
Democrats flooding me with Giving Tuesday emails. I guess the deal is that if I give today, they can get elected, and just take from me via taxes tomorrow. I'd have to be insane. That said, this article is very appropriate for NY Times readers. Democrats are the party of takers, so giving is a novel concept.
1
@TL Whereas I was woken up by the Young Republicans Fund and I detest Republican policies.
Thanks for the reminder!
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I already have a check written to CET / PBS going to mail it today.
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Wow! These comments are interesting. I note that whoever is attaching the little NYT stickers, doesn’t seem to want to give either. I actually DO feel “the joy of giving” with gratitude. I give quite a bit every year to local, as well as national organizations. I’ll put my “joy” up against these non-givers “grievance and anger” any day.
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Aren’t the findings old news? Of course old news bears repeating if accurate.
The author certainly portrayed a Norman Rockwell scene of altruism and philanthropic giving. The irony is that the research and faculty position at the “Lilly school of philanthropy” are funded by a drug company with a ethical track record as poor as Purdue Pharmaceuticals. Perhaps the author might speak to the role of toxic philanthropy from unethical donors. Large donations and responsible donors are generally based on extraction/exploitation. The dirty money is given only to cover the multitude of social ills corporations/billionaires cause in their race for maximum return on investment. NYT editors would you have published this article on giving if the research had been funded by the Sacklers?
Patricia Snell Herzog, if you feel the need to give your money away, please create a GoFundMe page for my family and make a sizeable donation.
but I need my money?
Fasten your seat belts, you readers of the Comments Section. Here comes the virtue-signaling!
Well if I don't get a tax break for it . . . which is an important motivation to many.
Donations to a charity that saves lives is truly a good deed. Take all the money you save on Black Friday, and donate it today, on Giving Tuesday. Many organizations “match” and multiply your donation today by having anonymous donors. There is no better time than the present! Save one life, save the world!
1
Over the years I have always just walked past those Salvation Army bell ringers without giving them any money. This Christmas season I will continue to do that but send the Salvation Army itsel the largest check that I can afford.
Merry Christmas Everyone
I live solely on Social Security. I do give some money here and there.
I always gave more before 2008 ended my working days, too soon, age 57...it was tough to get to here and now.
I subscribe to NYT for news not a lecture.
I may quit my NYT subscription and I am definitely quitting WaPo.
Neither are relevant to this always Blue voter.
3
Give to the Lakeland Animal Shelter in Wisconsin. Two devastatingly emaciated, literally skin and bones dogs were dumped in a Walmart parking lot just around Thanksgiving. Their recovery will require funding while they are treated at the Shelter for months to come. They are expected to live now, with a long recovery. Pictures of the mouth, infected and what looks possibly even gangrenous is horrifying! How these dogs survived is a miracle and the shelter is a blessing. Look this up, then give! Be generous where you know where your generosity is going and really helping.
This Lakeland Animal Shelter is amazing. It serves so many homeless pet friends to give them a new lease on life. The volunteers are the most passionate you’ll ever find.
If not deciding to give to Lakeland, give to an Animal Shelter near you. Once a year, today, may be the time to save the thousands of animals that you’ll never know, but they will be so appreciative. They have no voice, but their eyes say it all. Consider it.
PS: I’m a nurse. I know human’s needs, too. But sometimes there just is a day for putting dollars in another place. Today is one.
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Thank you, Mima. I donate to my local Hudson-Mohawk Amimal Shelter in Albany, NY, but I will also donate to Lakeland today.
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@MIMA Thank you for bringing attention to this worthy cause!
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@Kan
Wow! Thank you! They will appreciate your kindness! :)
MIMA
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The mind comes up with all kinds of fears (lack of understanding) as to why not to give. The heart expresses joy at the selfless act of giving. We live a paradoxical existence.
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The problem with Giving Tuesday is that people are overwhelmed by the sheer number of appeals they receive to give on that one particular day. It's better to spread your giving out over the year, so you don't feel like you've already done your part by giving to one or two organizations on Tuesday.
Set up a monthly budget for giving and then stick to it. You'll likely be more generous in the long run.
5
I live in a state that continuously refuses to create a workable tax-base (sensible tax increases are voted-down year after year in Colorado) to fund things like education and roads, and then I hear all kinds of calls to build roads and educate children with "the money we do have" and other mystery economics that I suppose we will find in our Advent calendars.
The system of thinking that decries the role of social welfare programs for the most needy then also implicitly supports the social welfare program of tax-breaks to the richest who get to put their names on hospital wings for us all to remember their largesse and forget that the hospital wings are a part of a system that riddles the needy with more debt.
I find it harder and harder to support charities, even when the kind of work they do wouldn't be done very efficiently by the government, because they increasingly look like money-laundering for the rich that then exploit their own workers in the name of the "mission". If "philanthropists" really care about the causes they champion, they should give anonymously without the tax write-off.
I like Maimonides's hierarchy of giving, even if at first glance, I might switch the order up, but to me the lesson is that charity has always been hard to disentangle from political and personal power and control.
3
Here's a better idea: make sure everyone especially corporations and the politically connected pay their fair share of taxes, and that the budget is not pillaged by military spending and pork. No charity needed! Other countries have figured out how to make their government work for the people, not for plutocrats.
4
While raising my children and paying for their education, my charity donations were always rather small. Now that everyone is self-supporting I have been able to increase the amount and frequency. My 60th birthday gift to myself was to increase my small annual Planned Parenthood donation to a monthly gift. My daughters are now able to make small donations to causes that they feel passionate about. Everyone can help someone who needs it.
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I am not rich but have given today. However, let me say that paying higher health care contribution so that all can benefit from it is also a form of giving. As are taxes which the govt can and should use to improve eg. infrastructure that all the citizens can benefit from. So lowering taxes is not necessarily beneficial for the society at large as it obviously is for the billioners.
Opposing opinion: Charity is great but should not be tax advantaged. The tax deduction benefit is the main reasons charities are used to launder money. A person gives a $1000 and takes a $1000 !deduction. $900 is returned to the donor and the charity keeps $100 or more for book keeping expenses. Lawyers, Financial Advisors, and bank officials will direct money to certain charities for which they receive a commission. Charities report their activities to the IRS and you are entitled to review the forms to see how much money came in and where it went, including salaries. masked balls, golf outings and offshore tax havens (for investment purposes, of course). Charities can be rackets.
1
Absolutely! I have given away millions of dollars that I acquired through inventions.
Since I only give to animal organizations, I guess today I'll donate to the Pig Preserve in Jamestown, Tennessee. A pig is smarter than a three-year-old human child. And also the Wolf Conservation Center in New York. And then I must donate to a farm sanctuary in NY and a local animal shelter with those beloved cats and dogs looking for forever homes. I would never donate money to humans or politicians.
3
@Carol ===smart
2
Actually I wait till February nowadays. This is not actually the time of year that organizations are in the most need. That time is actually late summer. This is the time of year when it’s easiest to get people to give. Maybe in the Southern Hemisphere it might be the time when the organizations are tightest financially :-)
Stop donating money or time to charities.
Find someone you know that needs help and try to help them directly. Provide a person going through a divorce a place to stay. Take care of a child for a overworked parent. Volunteer at a public school and ask the children what they need. In all likelihood, the children will ask for items like paper, pencils, crayons, books, etc. Most importantly, stop sitting on the sidelines expecting others to solve society's problems using your $X donation.
Vote for higher taxes so that everyone can have direct access to quality healthcare and education at low or zero point of service costs. These two issues require collective action on a scale too large for a few individuals or a charity to solve.
6
The article assumes throughout that giving is to and for other humans. Many, including myself, give primarily to organizations that will help alleviate the suffering inflicted on non-humans by humans
2
Next year I am going to take advantage of a law in which no federal tax is levied on donations sent out of the annual Required Minimum Distribution amount of an IRA to a 501(c)(3) (federally tax-exempt) nonprofit organization. This will not only allow more money to be donated, if desired, but also reduce my tax bite, because only the un-donated remainder of the RMD will count against my taxable income.
Something like this didn't matter so much when nearly all charitable donations could be deducted from an individual's federal taxes, but it does now.
Each brokerage house or other organization that holds IRAs has its own protocol. Some set a minimum amount for each such donation. In my case I will have to obtain the charitable entities' tax-exempt account numbers (which will remain on file for future years) and fill in an RMD-related form listing them all at once. I can have the checks made out to the organizations but mailed to me so that I can mail them to the organizations myself.
The amounts in my case are not large, but that makes it even more worthwhile for tax purposes. It seems to be a smarter way to donate than to receive the full RMD each year to be counted as taxable income and write checks for charitable donations separately, as I have in the past.
The rule does not apply to PACs and other political groups or other charities that are not federally tax exempt.
1
Honestly, charity shouldn't exist in the richest economy/country in the world. Let's just all pay taxes (including Amazon) and enable the country to take care of it's own citizens. I'd happily pay more in taxes if that means those dollars are going to social programs.
5
This should be titled "Why the Rich Should Pay Their Taxes" but it's easier to guilt the little people rather than the rich. We actually have a conscience.
9
It's not so much giving, as sharing. This doesn't have to be money, it can be skill, or time, or kindness. It binds us together, and we can pass it on. This Christmas I'm hosting a couple of unexpected guests, and I'm happy to do it. Death and divorce shattered their family Christmas. Forty years ago, their mom, now deceased, took me in for the holidays when I had nowhere to go.
6
What Giving Tuesday, GoFundMe, etc. has done is allow for small non-profits and community organizations who are often all volunteer groups working on shoe string budgets compete for donations against the large 'charitable' behemoths that people traditionally donated to because they had household brand name recognition and large marketing budgets.
This has been a godsend for many of us who spend our free time volunteering and are trying to make a positive impact in our local communities.
2
The historic American enthusiam for charitable giving has been eroded by the political war mounted by the East Coast media world against America's President.
This war -
- as you can see every day on CNN and can read in the propaganda offered here to reassure progressive that their prejudices are legitimate -
- is based on anger, frustration, and vengeance, and those are emotions that flat-out stop people from even thinking about giving some of their extra away.
While Jeff Zucker and his brothers-from-another-mother at the political office here at the Times and at WaPo make money selling negative emotions 24/7, that is moving people directly away from thoughts of charity.
1
@L osservatore It's early, but I'm going to guess that this is the most irrational, preposterous rant I'm going to encounter today.
2
This is a presumptuous article telling us to give. Ms. Herzog needs to climb down out of her ivory tower and think about how much regular people actually have to give......after they pay the rents, food, utilities etc. For a lot of people not much if any. I get plenty of giving pleas through my mailbox every day without seeing it on the NYT. And I prefer to give to organizations that help my local community out like local food bank and animal shelter.
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@Marti Mart I wish there were more people like you who regularly provide food for others and help to ease the suffering of animals. You are a valuable member of your community and I hope others follow your example.
5
I think it is a basic human need to be able to help others, and this explains why giving is also a gift for the giver.
However, we are generous throughout the year in many ways. We do not seek tax breaks or recognition. Structured 'giving' like "Giving Tuesday" doesn't work for me. I am inundated with requests from all sort of charities this time of year, and when we do give to one of the major charities, we are 'rewarded' with even more requests all through the year! I wonder if these organizations share their donor lists.
Quoth the professor: "I learned that there are constraints on time and money at every stage in life." And for this we had to do "research"?
I belong to the "You must take it with you" club.
That means, whatever I don't spend, donate, or beg others to take from me will not go to family or friends. If they want me to spend it on them they have to be nice to me. I like giving $20 bills away to the immigrants who work at the local KeyFood and to the ones who wash and fold my laundry at the corner laundromat. It's not a tax deduction. It's just that I really appreciate immigrants, having lived as an ex-pat myself. If you plan to leave money with your kids, you're just inflating your own sense of importance, which is a very shallow thing to do. Give it now, or during those last moments when it's too late, you'll wish you had. Don't enable the lazy. Show your love for the ones who work and suffer in silence.
3
I am disgusted by all the "Giving Tuesday" propaganda. It rides on the back of "Cyber Monday" and "Black Friday" energized by a "spend spend spend" culture. For 20 hours a week or more for 20 years I ran ambulance, was part of mountain rescue teams, taught first aid, CPR and outdoor survival skills, all as a volunteer. I think I paid my dues. Then this morning I heard the largest network of public radio stations in the state, one that built its network by plundering the stations of small local communities throughout the state, telling me that since this is "Giving Tuesday" I should give them my car, my retirement, my stocks and my money. I switched to one of the surviving small local stations with much less broadcast range, but staffed by real volunteers who don't operate a constant beg-a-thon; the stations that I happily give my money to who treat me with respect.
6
I have no problem with charitable donations as long as they are taxable and not used to avoid paying income tax. Large donation are one of reasons that 1% of richest people in USA do not pay any taxes. Also many but not all of charitable donations are directed to narrow interest causes.
6
Donated to Spread the Vote today. Cannot think of a better thing to do on Giving Tuesday than to help someone exercise their right to vote.
3
I know that the haters the will come out when I say this, but Donald Trump should be seen as the "greatest inspiration" and "Moral Beacon" for all charitable work around the world. In every moral situation, each of us need to look inside our harts and ask what would Donald Trump do?...And then each of us need to do exactly THE OPPOSITE. If we all did this, charity and moral integrity would be the way of the world.
5
Of course I promote and practice the spirit of generosity, sometimes to a fault. I believe that most people also support it when they feel they can do so.
But the uncomfortable truth is this: charity is its own industry. As I became more involved in philanthropic support I met MANY people whose whole professional careers had been devoted to strategic begging. And some of these folks were quite wealthy by any standard of measure. While I realize that successful begging requires strategic guidance, just like sales and marketing, this has been a major turn-off for me and I've since pulled back from such circles. Starting in 2020 I'll be limiting my charity to making DIRECT donations to organizations I personally know.
4
You all benefit directly from charitable work in ways I bet you don't even think about: culture, parks, arts, security, education, etc. And your average nonprofit Executive Director is not making much. Google it and you'll see ranges between $60,000-$90,000. These positions are complex because nonprofits are typically understaffed. Yet their impact is often huge. Nonprofits like mine ask for money 2-3 times a year. Today is one of those days. Please give!
32
@hivalb - I totally agree. The good guys in charity tend to pay at the bottom end of top management pay rates while the really creepy cash-cow operators like the Southern Poverty Law Center, have so much cash sloshing around that they hide cash overseas in foreign banks rather than distribute it to the poor.
The greed of some stinks compare to the good natures of others.
3
The author's premise is that all readers have money which they can afford to give away, while there may be readers who are reading her piece from the public library, where they are sheltering from the elements, which was the case at my former library.
I am the daughter & granddaughter of philanthropists who gave millions of dollars to charity , & who spent much of their time at charitable board meetings & dinners.
My parents were out saving the world, while their own children languished at home .Ironically ,my mother was the International Chairwoman of charity that helps abused and neglected children, while she was abusing and neglecting her own children, who were forced to attend a dinner at the Hilton at which she was honored for her great work helping neglected and abused children. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was the guest speaker.
If you have children, please put your own children first. Put down your devices and make eye contact with your babies Hug your children. Play with your children.Read to your children, from REAL books.Your children need you. Your devices will be there when your children grow up and are dodging your texts .
Think of :"Cat's in the Cradle".
Offer to help shovel the snow , and to help out elderly or disabled neighbors, family members and friends in other ways, if you can.
Check in on those whom you know are alone.
Give of YOURSELVES, and of your time, first and foremost.Be kind and caring to people and to animals.
9
@DJS Your comment is the saddest thing I’ve read today. I’m sorry for your struggle. Although not on the same level as yours, my parents also put up a generous front while leaving me neglected and abused. You seemed to have survived, empathy intact. I wish you the best.
1
@DJS I also know someone else who had parents like yours. It's a terrible thing when parents give more to others than their own children. My heart goes out to you.
@DJS
So sorry you suffered through such unfeeling and hypocritical parenting. Your comment suggests you are now a healthy survivor. I agree that kindness and generosity must begin at home with those closest to and most dependent on us. Fortunately for many, once that foundation is provided (or rebuilt) the generosity spreads.
Money is created through work. work is rewarded with money. Working and spending/investing the money we make is the greatest gift we can give. It creates the freedom we enjoy, it sustains the world. One doesn't have to give on top of his or her gift of work/spending in order to be "a giver."
2
Many readers make poignant, valid points about personal struggles and a skewed tax system that deters them from giving. Another way to look at 'giving' is non-monetary. Giving time in the form of visiting a sick or elderly neighbor. Fostering an cat or dog. Talking to a kid in a park about the birds and trees that are fortunate to have some green space in the midst of the concrete jungle. Giving of one's self makes us all better people. Writing a check is great, and necessary for large-scale efforts, such as habitat preservation. When we take time to recognize the humanity in those who are alone, afraid, or hungry for knowledge, we give more than money. We give respect and dignity. It's often the small gestures that generate outsized results. A little empathy from each of us could go a long way toward healing the world's ills.
2
Religious organizations are lazy and learned it's easier to solicit funds from a few rich people than from many poor. Ergo they tend to support the oppressive socioeconomic system and refuse to protest systemic evils.
3
A society should not depend on charity. American's phobia of contributing to civilization by paying fairly into their tax system means that the uber-wealthy are under-taxed, and on top of that they can feel good about themselves by giving to "charity".
8
@Antonio Paez America is so messed up, isn't it?
As the population grows, adds to climate change, and continues to add congestion into people's lives, creates a larger supply of labor that reduces pay, drives up housing prices, drives up education price, with ever bigger government spending our limited income on its never-satiated power grab over our liberty, with ever more homeless people, there is a sense of being overwhelmed.
The problem with charitable donations is that people only give when it is convenient for them.
No one gives when it is not convenient for them.
And certainly no one persistently gives day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year when it is not convenient for them. Particularly, when when the donor suffers a lower standard of living and a lower quality of life.
Go ahead. Try it.
I set up a modest scholarship at my alma mater when I was 30 with my humble severance package from Nortel. I was broke then (not much has changed since), but I'm pretty sure most folks wait until they have six, seven, or eight figures in the bank and THEN they might cut a cheque for charity.
I'm totally for making, and spending, an obscene amount of money. Just don't give me a civics lesson to give/donate on a specific day.
The charitable tax deduction should be eliminated. Charities should compete with other capital projects on merit, not a subsidy. Many charities have ballooned into billion dollar hedge funds because of these tax advantages.
5
My spouse and I are fortunate to have everything we need and most of what we want, so instead of buying one another gifts for Christmas and birthdays, we make contributions to each other's favorite charities.
I just donated to his: A local animal shelter / hospice that takes in elderly, unwanted dogs and horses. So much more satisfying than buying stuff.
11
I would like to give more, but often don't know where to start and which organization to give to. I found, that actually meeting and seeing the work of an organization, in person, as I did a local community center on the Lower East Side, was great motivation.
I have given to them every year since.
My favorite charities are those helping children and animals, often the most helpless and needy.
2
@Bocheball ... Covenant House
In almost all developed countries he majority of the charity causes are payed for by a realistic taxation. Only The Greatest Nation in the World is relying on charity.
11
No.
I loathe and despise "Giving Tuesday". I've deleted dozens of emails today, and it's only mid-morning. (And tomorrow, all these organizations will start sending out their "Annual Appeal" letters.)
I give plenty during the year.
I wish Giving Tuesday would go away.
58
@JoanP I agree, and feel consistent giving and serving creates a better example of living to others.
7
I so agree, while reading through all the email pleas for more money to places to which I already donate.
10
@JoanP Exactly, the one-percenters still aren't happy with 99 percent of the money--they want to squeeze us for our last remaining pennies. I'm sure they would sell us for the dollar worth of magnesium and other metals in the human-body, once you burn it. No thanks, if the rich want something, I'll send them a pitchfork with my hands still attached. Getting ready for the purge.
7
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday: all sales pitches.
Best I can tell, 90% of what one gives goes into garbage asking you for more money (At least it helps keep the USPS afloat!)
And if you ever give online, your name is sold (and/or hacked), producing a zillion requests for more bread from outfits with names sounding like something you support but which, for all you can tell, is from some hustler in Kazakhstan (no, not S.B.C.), with a mailbox in Washington or the Grand Canyon.
My way is to give local to something I know and to pay with a check. Of course there are those who live in zip codes where nobody is in need. I don't and never have. Thankfully.
5
Charity should be mandatory for all, especially those who can afford it. It should all go to one large national organization dedicated to establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty.
28
@Robert David South The primary benefits of the third sector would largely be negated with a plan such as yours: the pluralism created through benevolent actions; the expansion of informal democratic skills, both in terms of learning and application; the experimental element provided by the sector; and the social bonding and capital created through such goodwill movements.
Your idea is more in line with a mandatory tax, albeit one with a specific and worthwhile cause. The voluntary sector functions best when it's voluntary....
11
@Robert David South I like it, Robert. And it could all be administered by elected officials and representatives.
13
@Robert David South that's basically appropriate, fair rate of taxation and allocations of that revenue source, such as providing necessities like healthcare, good schools, skills development & retraining for industries effected by outsourcing etc.
4
I find the idea of personal charity to be repellent.
Personally giving money to particular people is like playing god: *I* choose the lucky/deserving person to benefit. It makes me feel good to do it, of course, *which is a good reason why you should not do it*. If you think individuals having this kind of control and power over the most vulnerable is a good thing, you are bananas.
Instead of giving money/time to the people you like, vote to create policies to insure equal education and opportunity for *all* people, to insure that the most vulnerable are protected, and to provide security to those that lose their jobs.
We need a decent and moral society. Not an ad-hoc system of selfish feel-good gestures masquerading as "charity."
7
At the price of possibly being misunderstood, today's need for philanthropy may be a reflection of an unjust society, especially in such a wealthy one like these United States, where poverty is allowed to exist...in the midst of an odious rising inequality, classic for capitalism gone mad (where ethics has been replaced with selfishness and greed). We ought to demand, for ourselves, to change the status quo, and do whatever needs to be done, to create a more just society. How about starting to pay our fair share in taxes? Or stopping doing harm...before trying to do any good?
8
Pick a cause that is important to you. Give something, anything. No matter how little we have, we can always spare something for those who have even less. No excuses. Just DO it.
4
No way. I used to give generously to many organizations every year at this time even though we derived no actual benefit for doing so under the tax code, because tax deductibility made me feel that the country encouraged giving. As soon as the tax code changed I stopped all of that because I now feel that the country is encouraging stinginess and seeking to punish and ridicule people inclined towards giving and openness to the world. The tax code has not only discouraged seasonal giving but specifically targeted states like California to make much of its real estate less attractive. The tax code has also made our own taxes, for whatever reason, go up while people many times wealthier have received a large break. If the country has elected enough stingy representatives as to bring about such changes that reward stinginess and greed and punish giving people, then I'm certainly not going to reward those foolish voters by giving the way I used to. Elections have consequences, and my traditions are changing with the times.
1
The description here of charitable giving is loaded with guilt and obligation and the reticence to give at all, nothing about a natural, spontaneous giving without a thought of any kind of reward, including especially to feel good.
These ultra wealthy people first greedily grab an enormous share of the common wealth and then give back a few crumbs to those they have impoverished.
You make many suggestions here to basically force oneself to do charitable acts. Maybe force is necessary to overcome a natural reluctance to participate in such a vulgar exercise.
3
Sorry, the GOP has convinced me that the poor are undeserving of my largess. Accordingly, if the poor want to eat, they will just get a job. If I give to the bell ringers on the corner, the Salvation Army will just use the funds to discriminate against gay people. If I bring an unwrapped, new toy to the Today Show, NBC will just co-opt my generosity to cloak themselves in the appearance of corporate responsibility while paying their executives obscene salaries. I've got mine. Let the poor earn theirs.
1
I do all my giving on April 15 every year.
1
Not to Republicans. They keep hoarding and lobbying to keep every dollar. Most of which they will never spend. Truly awful examples of humanity.
2
@CA Dreamer Dave Ramsey stated on his FB page, imagine how much you could save if you didn't have debt payments. I thought, Imagine how much I could give without my debt payments. It's the mindset of the prosperity gospel.
Or, you know... we could tax the rich and not have to rely on inconsistent and at times biased systems of charity to provide basic social services.
5
What you say has been going on since the birth of the country.
When Rockefeller and Carnegie were approaching death, they were in a race to give most of their fortunes away to charity. Rockefeller went from being the most hated man in America to a father like figure.
The only issue is to make sure the bottom guy on the pole has a decent standard of living before the money is given away.
50% of the time, including now, this has not been the case in this country.
1
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.”
“Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our selfishness which overrates it.”
— Henry David Thoreau,
1
Generosity is a virtue, hardly something to be limited to one day per year as suggested by this article’s headline: “Why You Should Give Your Money Away Today.”
Also, there is also such a thing as too much empathy, which can lead to excessive feelings of guilt and giving beyond one’s means.
If this sounds implausible, I knew a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer in an African country who was a teacher in a very small, isolated town. She was so devastated by the poverty all around her that she gave away her modest living allowance each month to the poor, depending on her house-mates to provide her food and living expenses.
After a few months the woman had a breakdown and fled the town, leading to a frantic search for her and her return to the US for psychiatric care and recovery.
No, I don’t know why her roommate Volunteers did not report her dysfunctional behavior to local Peace Corps authorities. Yes, her case was uncommon, but it illustrates the need to balance concern for others with concern for oneself and one’s family.
Further, while most non-profit organizations are legitimate and well-run, there are some that are poorly run or even outright scams. Caution is definitely in order when donating to unfamiliar organizations; due diligence can be carried out by checking with organizations such as Charitynavigator.org and Guidestar.org or with your state’s attorney general’s office, which oversees nonprofit organizations.
Should one give? Of course, but wisely.
1
Who knew that the University of Notre Dame has a “Science of Generosity initiative? And that they fund 14 different projects to study giving?
Sounds like Norte Dame has gotten the charitable message.
Charitable giving almost always involves giving to non-profits. But non-profits CEO and upper management salaries are out of control. I stopped supporting my local public radio more than a decade ago when the new CEO, having left her previous public radio position, started laying off employees while her salary nearly tripled in a decade. Revenue shrank. Board did nothing.
Over thanksgiving one relative, the CEO of a NP talked about having to lay off employees. But her salary and benefits went form $120,000.00 to $240,000.00 in less than four years. NP CEO's get bonuses?!?
The CEO of the local hospital used nine different NP's whose sole purpose was to double his million $$$ salary until Obama closed that loophole in 2008.
No, I will not be leaving my money to NP's where CEO's become millionaires. They already have my tax dollars. A house cleaning for how the IRS allows preachers to buy $40 million $ jets is long overdue.
3
All I can Say is: It's Not always needing to be about the Money $$!! It seems that just about every organization that anyone might have on line with your email address is Now requesting money. It is certainly tiring to keep saying No.
CHIP, SNAP, welfare, college for illegal immigrants, and the list goes on. All paid with my tax dollars. If I feel the need to give more, I donate to animal shelters.
For data for the year 2012, if y’all’s income was 50K a year, then SNAP cost y’all $36 and all other social welfare programs cost y’all $6.
I see how this is intolerable.
5
An old man wearing dirty clothes approached me on a subway platform to ask for change. As he moved on down the platform he passed another panhandler singing off-key in front of an empty plastic cup. He dropped some change into the singer’s cup. Forget about rules and methodologies of giving. Just give what you can when you have something to spare. And support the candidates who’ll build a a government that makes sure no one has to beg to get by.
81
@Maggie Mae don’t give cash to these people. Give healthy food or useful stuff maybe. And if you’re a tourist in a strange town, it’s not your responsibility. Jesus never handed out cash.
@Hcat: I strongly disagree with your POV. If every human is valuable, then it doesn't matter whether I'm a tourist or am in my own home town. I give as my conscience directs me.
BTW, how is it that you're so sure that Jesus never handed out cash?
4
Personally I'm against philanthropy to address any socioeconomic issue. I also think mass propaganda to advertise such charity/donations by (mostly) corrupt and greedy rich folks tend to justify that socioeconomic inequality in a way that seems to be more prevalent in countries with broken or less responsive Govt. USA probably would be the worst among all developed countries in this respect.
Support for rich or not-so-rich guys doling out money to "help poor" or help solving any specific socioeconomic issue only harm the target audience and the cause in the long run and collectively. It does that in few ways like masking the problem and/or its extent, perpetuate the issue than solving it. It also diminish Govt and other form of collective public efforts to address the issue in a more transparent and holistic way.
Rich folks can surely help but after paying their fair share of tax and fulfilling other civic duties that include following laws and strengthening corporate governance.
71
@Bonku certainly a cynical view. My endowments at the university and community college levels have rewarded academic excellence and financial need. I am not rich, but have made good financial decisions that have allowed me to be generous. My efforts in no way solve the socioeconomic issues, if any, of the recipients but rewards and acknowledges their hard work. The recipients are not harmed - but to make sure I will ask them at the next award ceremony. Some of them also receive government scholarships as well. Philanthropy through government and nonprofits can and do work.
5
@Bonku I totally agree with you, more so with each passing day, though I donate regularly. We are being asked to donate to "causes" that should be paid for by taxes in a functioning government. Even the local health insurance company/hospital asks for donations to their foundation! And this business of donating to candidates and parties is egregious (though I do make political donations but am decreasing future donations, I deeply resent money--money in politics has caused this horrific problem).
6
@Bonku I'm always amazed at the avalanche of Charity requests from impoverished places like Kentucky in the deep South did invariably vote for Republicans who destroy the social safety net. I wonder if for many of these charities it's profitable to have rising desperation which simply justifies their own bureaucratic existence
4
As someone who spent years in the Rust Belt having hardly any money or decent job opportunities despite having a college education, I think Ms. Herzog (who is a professor of philanthropic studies) is misguided and ill informed.
Since I graduated college, I've had to move all over the United States and even joined the US Army chasing the promise of a decent paying job. Its only as I approach retirement that I have saved a modest nest egg, which has taken me 40 plus years to accumulate that gives me some peace of mind that I won't be living on the streets when I'm 80 years old.
Just last week I read that 58 percent of American's have less than $1,000 in savings, which tragic. What this country needs is for the wealth to pay more taxes (including Bezos and Zuckerberg), more investment in public education and job training, drastically reducing our defense spending and setting up robust single payer health insurance program to halt America's race to the bottom.
163
@Sasha Love Teach a man how to fish is better than giving him a fish. Charity is certainly nice, but it's misguided for all who cannot first take care of themselves and their families and friends.
2
@Sasha Love Yes, yes, and yes!
5
@Sasha Love even now the really rich don’t have enough money to solve our problems. You’re really going after the upper middle class.
18 years ago, a local 7th grader was diagnosed with cancer and though I hadn’t met the young woman nor her family, I was a recent survivor and had a clear memory of their fears and demands. Maybe four years later, my anonymous donation long since forgotten, I was having a terrible day, upset about who-knows-what and as I walked into the local hardware store, there was the young woman at the counter, instantly recognized, laughing and giggling with her friends. I forgot what I was shopping for, went back to my car and wept. Tears of gratitude that I played a small, hidden role in this vibrant young woman’s life, and tears of embarrassment for forgetting what’s important. Years later still, I ran into the young woman again and she's a nurse now. Wether you're interested in the environment, education, the arts, human health, animal rights, social justice or whatever...just please give some time and money. It's to our collective benefit. Oh, and vote.
198
@richard
Your comment made my day. Thanks.
8
I recommend Peter Singer's book, The Life You Can Save, to anyone who is thinking about their charitable giving. The book discusses the moral obligation of those of us who live comfortably in the developed world to give toward those in the developing world. (Our comfort is partially due to their exploitation). This book has influenced me deeply. I give away much more than I used to, to a set group of reliable organizations that I have found that help women in developing countries. I have funded this at various times by taking on an additional part-time job, renting out a room, and going on 6 month buying fasts where I purchase nothing other than food and needed paper goods. And then I dig a little deeper and try to give more.
Whenever I find myself worried about money, I give a little to one of these organizations. Because I know I have so much, and sharing some can really help. It is deeply satisfying.
169
@Elise Also Peter Singer's course on Coursera called Practical Altruism is very good. I changed my attitude toward giving.
16
@Elise
Generosity is a virtue, hardly something to be limited to one day per year as suggested by this article’s headline: “Why You Should Give Your Money Away Today.”
Also, there is also such a thing as too much empathy, which can lead to excessive feelings of guilt and giving beyond one’s means.
If this sounds implausible, I knew a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer in an African country who was a teacher in a very small, isolated town. She was so devastated by the poverty all around her that she gave away her modest living allowance each month to the poor, depending on her house-mates to provide her food and living expenses.
After a few months the woman had a breakdown and fled the town, leading to a frantic search for her and her return to the US for psychiatric care and recovery.
No, I don’t know why her roommate Volunteers did not report her dysfunctional behavior to local Peace Corps authorities. Yes, her case was uncommon, but it illustrates the need to balance concern for others with concern for oneself and one’s family.
Further, while most non-profit organizations are legitimate and well-run, there are some that are poorly run or even outright scams. Caution is definitely in order when donating to unfamiliar organizations; due diligence can be carried out by checking with organizations such as Charitynavigator.org and Guidestar.org or with your state’s attorney general’s office, which oversees nonprofit organizations.
Should one give? Of course, but wisely.
6
@Elise I would recommend "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer. Too many humans in the world. Let's save animals and forget humans.
4
Any society that wants to encourage more charity and giving must first come down hard on the elite 1% who dodge taxes despite their immense wealth. Or else, all others will justly ask "Why should we give when the elite can even skip taxes?"
231
@Jeffrey Goldstein I think her point is that we should give because it makes us feel better regardless of what other people do.
35
One gives because it’s the right thing to do, not because or whether others who should do. We have control over our own behaviors, not those of others.
55
@Jeffrey Goldstein
Exactly correct. Encouraging average people to give charitably and making sure the wealthy contribute their fair share to society are complimentary goals that can be pursued simultaneously.
21
Where's guilt? John D. Rockefeller came up with the idea that giving 10% away made you look generous and hopefully kept the government off your back. A formula practiced by many of the 1% for over a century and still practiced today.
So unless and until our tax system is completely overhauled, this is what we're stuck with. A new generation of robber barons throwing dimes into the mob.
3
The thing that always discourages me about giving the small amounts I can afford to charities is that those small amounts ($10 here, $25 there) always then immediately come back to me in the environmentally wasteful form of "free" address labels, notepads, gift cards, and even tote bags--not just from the charity I gave to but also from the charities they sold my name to. It is so disheartening, and makes me realize not only that the small amounts I am able to give are going to go right to the manufacture of useless junk rather than to the charity itself but also that my giving contributes to damage to the planet (the manufacture of the junk and the shipping of the junk to my house).
I will start giving again if and only if I ever have enough money to be able to give large amounts, so that I can know that at least some of my money will go to the intended good cause.
9
It is a shame that the appeal to charity sounds like a way to avoid tax reform. But in the howling winds of inequality of today's America, that's what it does sound like. It feels good to give. It feels better to organize for tax reform.
1
I imagine that the shrinking middle class has more than enough financial concerns in their own orbit than to start pretending they are Andrew Carnegie. Starting with their children, many of who might be adults with Masters degrees, but in this economy are often forced to live at home because they are only able to find jobs only in the service sector at an hourly wage.
4
Question from a millennial: Is it better to give now or to save and provide an endowment for an organization you care about?
My family and I strive to donate 10% of our income yearly, but I work in philanthropy and have a nagging feeling that our short-term donations are jeopardizing our and a charity's ability to endow charitable work for a more sustainable future.
2
I'll start when the billionaires give away enough so that they're just millionaires.
Sound fair?
8
@PubliusMaximus
Please. They give away plenty. And, no, you shouldn't have a say in how they spend *their* money (emphasis on the word, "their").
6
@AACNY Maybe "their" money, but thanks to ample tax breaks and public infrastructure, they have a whole lot more of it, not through any other reason than their tax attorneys.
1
@AACNY Billionaires got *their* money by taking it from regular people and avoiding taxes to pay for government things *we* pay for so that they can continue to make *their* money. *Their* socially funded schools, roads, infrastructure, emergency services *we* paid for. They use *their* money to offshore and protect it at all costs and then hoard it creating a tremendous amount of wealth inequality.
Not to mention DAFs (Donar Advised Funds) where they can contribute to a "checking account", claim the donation write off and literally leave the money sit as long as they want indefinitely without actually donating it.
These billionaires cannot in one breath say that they want to help while also exploiting systems to transfer a greater and greater share of new wealth into their account. Power has to be shared and we cannot and should not rely on singular people to make the decisions in our lives because best case you have Bill Gates - but then there's the Koch Brothers, Sacklers, Rupert Murdoch, Robert Mercer, Mark Zuckerberg, The DeVos's to name some.
I recommend watching Anand Giridharadas' interview on the Daily Show for the Paradox of Elite Philanthropy.
3
Picking a day to make donations is a bit silly. As a child, watching politicians and preachers serve up Thanksgiving dinners always left me wondering about the other 364 days. We seem to engage in politics the same way, thinking that voting once every four years will get the job done. It doesn't. Give locally. Give in an informed way. And when you're done, think about Bill and Melinda Gates and what $110,000,000,000. really represents in the hands of one couple.
3
@Fritz Lauenstein
Thanksgiving is a significant day to volunteer because it's a day most spend with family and friends. Those who volunteer try to recreate this friendly environment for those who have no chance of experiencing it.
4
I can say with reasonable confidence, having lived in both the worlds of the poor and of the rich, that the needy are much more generous.
10
@Dave I agree. It's because their own desperation makes them much more sensitive and empathic to the suffering of others. The problem is that religious organizations are lazy and have learned it's easier to solicit funds from a few rich people than from many poor. Ergo they tend to support the oppressive socioeconomic system and refuse to protest systemic evils.
I have drastically reduced my charitable giving over the last 2 years, not simply because of the elimination for me of the tax benefit (was 25% at the margin), but primarily because of the unfairness of the tax code. Why should a $1000 donation cost me $1000, but cost someone with much more income $680 or less (32% marginal rate and over $24,400 in deductions)? If the charitable deduction was made fair - by eliminating it, or a 10% refundable tax credit for all - I would certainly begin giving again.
7
@Steven Hendel Instead, I try to give to non-deductible causes such as issue-oriented groups or PACs, and to candidates I support.
With the new tax laws, I did not itemize in 2018, for the first time in my adult life. That means that I get zero tax benefit from charitable giving, and yet (or perhaps because of that) my giving hasn't been impacted. I give more now than I ever have, and more often anonymously.
Give where the need is. Give where the opportunity is. You know it when you see it. Forget the psychology. Stop keeping score. Give give.
5
I give, despite very meager resources, because I want to feel a connection with causes I believe in and to support causes who do things I believe are important. I have never been persuaded to do anything or buy anything because "it's popular" or "everybody's doing it"--I evaluate the product or assess the situation, and then make up my own mind on what to do.
Public pressure to join, such as mandated Giving Tuesday, irritates me to the point that I refuse to give on the designated Tuesday; I'll find my own time. Loudly trumpeted appeals to match or multiply my donation are even more irritating. I deny myself many things; I donate despite not having many things. If some wealthy person has money to donate, let them do so. If they only will give the proposed amount if I step up, they believe their false-front has power to compel less-wealthy people. Don't think your wealth can goad me into what I do. I make a point of refusing to respond to match or multiply appeals, even from the organizations to which I donate. I choose where, when, and how much; no one else's choice influences me.
1
@Janet >Public pressure to join, such as mandated Giving Tuesday, irritates me to the point that I refuse to give on the designated Tuesday; I'll find my own time.
Its selfish to value one’s own, independent judgment.
@Janet I feel the same way you do. And contrary to your first commenter's opinion, I feel it is NOT necessarily selfish to value one's own independent judgment.
1
@Abe Nosh
It’s her money.
It’s judgmental to assign your values to hers.
2
I just donated to the American Conservation Coalition after listening to a bright young Conservative passionately describe how capitalism and market innovation can be used to fight climate change.
It's the missing piece. Leaving these out of the equation has been a grave mistake. Effecting change is what matters. Capitalism isn't the enemy. It's the solution.
2
@AACNY well, at least you're a Conservative who finally realizes that climate change is real and a threat. However your donation in support of Capitalism is surreal. What do you think brought us to the brink of climate collapse, if not Capitalism? We have largely taken the yoke of regulation off of corporations, leaving their leaders to behave in very destructive ways. We needed to get off of fossil fuels and plastic about 40 years ago. Unfettered Capitalists elected Trump and they want to bring back coal, and they won't stop until we are cooked.
5
@Fritz Lauenstein
Like most NYT readers, you have no idea how conservatives feel about climate change. It's childish to assume that if one doesn't hold a particular viewpoint, one is the enemy of, and opposed to, a particular cause.
These kinds of litmus tests are poor indicators of anything except compliance with orthodoxy.
I'll put my money on rational market forces doing the job that climate zealots have failed to do.
1
@AACNY
Apparently your Republican Congressmen and Senators also have zero idea about how 'conservatives' feel about climate change as they all seem to be on board with calling the whole thing a hoax....I recall a Senator and a snowball.....
Hey--why don't you dash them an email informing them of your concerns. I'm sure they're all dying to be set straight on the climate issue.
I give ONLY to Animal Sanctuaries because Humans have caused IMMENSE pain and suffering to all the other sentient beings on this planet, for no other reason than their greed and stupidity
5
@Zenster I only donate to animal organizations too such as shelters, farm sanctuaries, wildlife rescue/rehabilitation, etc.
4
@Zenster
Read my post about Lakeland Animal Shelter in Wisconsin. Consider them! Thanks.
MIMA
2
@Zenster
Same!
Wow, so much Bah Humbug! I'm surprised by the comments here. Have none of these folks ever received a gift - an act of kindness by a stranger or help from a neighbor?
No one ever cleared your walk just because they were already out shoveling their own? No one ever stopped to help you change a flat tire?
Have you never seen a stranger in a grocery store pay the difference for the shopper in front of them who didn't have enough money?
Look around. People are generous all the time. Charity doesn't begin or end with the Red Cross or the Salvation Army or Toys for Tots. We have opportunities to help someone every day.
It's Giving Tuesday. How about being kind to someone, just because you can.
19
I agree, Nancy. I'm pretty surprised at a lot of the comments here. Pretty discouraging, and pretty telling of the mean spirited nature of a lot of people.
@Nancy Northcutt
My giving is local--exactly the sort of help you describe. Family, neighbors, community--they get my time and my help.
Large organized charities? Once you give, you will be harassed for donations basically forever. I've resorted to doing two things--giving anonymous cash (I don't care about tax deductions) so I can't be contacted, and giving through estate planning. I'm sure there will be just as much need for my money when I'm dead--and they won't be able to bother me anymore.
Most people commenting here will give their friends and families the shirts off their backs, but they've become cynical about the oh so many charities we have, many of which provide services that many of us believe the government should provide to its citizens through appropriate taxation.
2
I see the Grinches are out in force today.
Come on people, Giving Tuesday is a simply a reminder to not forget to donate, which can be easy to do since we are all busy - nothing nefarious to uncover here. And while there are issues with many charities, many do great work and deserve our support with money or time (time that they could not otherwise pay for).
13
Charitable giving is fine as a way of providing a sense of reward to the donor while accomplishing something positive. But it is generally not a solution to social problems because money dries up when times are hard, donors become fatigued, and many real social needs don't carry sufficient emotional appeal. Moreover it is not particularly efficient. The cost of entertaining donors can be a lot higher than the cost of collecting taxes. The reward for giving should be emotional, not financial. Tax breaks for charity invite abuse and provide a ready excuse for cutting consistent tax-supported financing for critical needs.
1
The problem is the middleman(person) in charitable giving.
They become more easily corrupted.
Jesus taught "go sell what you have and give to the poor."
He didn't say give it to me and I'll give it to the poor.
You do it directly. Interfacing with a person in need is beneficial for both giver and receiver as real relationships are established and a better assessment can be attained by the giver.
That's the ideal and not always possible but nonetheless should be strived for. Often we don't want to interact with the one in need as it is too unpleasant, too challenging, or simply, don't want to de
3
I don't buy into the Giving Tuesday concept, as it smacks of some organizations quantifying your fair share or suggested amount of giving. I do buy into the concept that the collective we, are the answer to many of our neighbors problems if we look beyond being selfish and lend a hand when possible with a donation of some kind. Call it enlightened self interest, karma, storing up treasures outside of your self, the result is the same and you end up getting more out of giving then the recipient. I even saw one very charitable restaurant in Texas describing their motivation somewhat selfishly as we give to get (back). It seems since they opened their wallet wide and started to help others out a lot, their business seriously prospered. Bottom line, if you can afford to help out needy people and decide that is a 100% government obligation and pass, this democracy may afford you citizenship, but it didn't confer the spirit of it to you.
5
If one has the ability giving of your money and time, one should do this throughout the year. I have read a number of the replies that worry that giving money to a large nonprofit will go to funding the administration of the nonprofit. I quite understand this.
I am the president of a very small Friends of Willowbranch Library a branch nonprofit organization. We are a group that does not pay our board, I have been our president for years now. We are all volunteers, (People have lives. I would not ask a volunteer to do something I would not be willing to do. People get burned out or feel they are not appreciated. I am grateful for anyone who helps) the funds that we have raised over the year go directly to our librarians at our branch for programming and supplies and whatever else is not covered by the shrinking system budget. We have library friends who donate books and offer a small nominal donation for our ongoing honor system book sale. We do not have to wait until the end of the year for money.
If you want to donate to a nonprofit, do your homework. Read over the nonprofits' bylaws. Check the public records on their taxes. Go to a meeting. Go to several. Read over their minutes. The minutes shoule available for public reading. How much fundraising is done and what is the return on hosting a fundraiser? Are the paid nonprofit admin visible in your community? Are they supporting others. Just some things to think about.
Happy holidays, Rox of Spazhouse
3
I help my parents, my kids, my wife family, my church as much as I can.
On top of that the IRS takes 35% of my paycheck so they can gift that to those who refuse to work.
I think am good, thanks
2
Like it or not religion plays a role in giving.
Sometimes it is mandated, as in the case of tithing, for those Jews and Christians (in different formats) who observe this.
For Jews, it is often the High Holiday appeal, the Passover appeal. Ritualized giving to the poor for Passover. One gives after the days Yizkor, the remembrance prayer for dead relatives is said or on the anniversary (Yahrzeit [Yiddish transcription, not German]) of a dead relative.
Some actually do continue to contribute to what their parents did, e.g. Hospital X, Youth Village Y etc.
Charitable giving should be part of the education a child receives at home, teaching that the sum is not important. One gives what one can afford, even if it is loose change put in a pushkah, the charity box.
One gives, though, because at the bottom line, the money and wealth is not really ours.
3
@Joshua Schwartz
Religion, as always, can have a positive AND negative effect here.
I'm an agnostic atheist, and I donate monthly to three different organizations, all while working twice a month as a volunteer.
Giving is simply a human value - and if you know how much joy it brings, human need.
When things go right, religions work for the greater good and encourage their followers to do so too - both politically and privately.
Things regularly do go wrong though (as with all large human organizations), and then religions can actively contribute to impoverishing vast chunks of the population - as self-declared "religious" Trump and GOP supporters are doing today.
So it's a double-edged sword, and the only way to guarantee that things go well is to recognize that fact, and to recognize that people have always shared their time and material belongings, throughout history - whether they're religious or not.
One way of giving that rewards hard work is to purchase a bundle of newspapers and give them to hard worker men and women who are selling them on busy street corners. I'm not sure if this is legal although in my city, the sheriff looks the other way. The reward of seeing the smiles on their faces is much more personal than writing a check. Also, believe it or not, some people stash $5, $10 or $20 dollar bills in trash cans where the homeless are known to search for recyclables. This is a fun way to be a Secret Santa for the needy.
Only problem is, once you give you get on “the list” and then you are inundated with daily requests from every charitable organization on the planet. I only have so much to give. Please leave me alone and I’ll find you when the time comes. Promise.
10
@MM Q. C. -"you are inundated with daily requests from every charitable organization on the planet"
To the extent that organizations to which I'd otherwise be inclined to give are scratched off my list.
I'm a fan of Doctors Without Borders, but I have been getting emails from them EVERY DAY. I finally had to unsubscribe, and I'm STILL getting them. So DWB won't get anything from me.
It's unfortunate, but this kind of behavior alienates potential donors
W
6
When I was young and had children, college debt and therefore not money I gave time and talents. Let me tell you, you need to find something you enjoy personally rewarding. Now older and with more money I give both. I continue to volunteer doing things I enjoy and give to organizations I am committed to personally. For goodness sakes, do not confine your giving to one day. Spread your truth and passions around all year. The rewards are beyond measure.
4
Charity holds up the whole stinking edifice; it's the cornerstone of a dying system's survival. Solidarity, not charity, is what the world needs. Give your money to organizations like the Via Campesina that are fighting for people's right to sustainably do for themselves.
2
@Matthew
Still waiting for all religious enterprises to finally pay their fair share in taxes, especially foreign corporate conglomerate Vatican Inc.
Charities even in the best case are a bad system to right the wrong. They spend way too much money to collect money for their cause. Add to that the dictate of the bigger donors who stir the charities to their particular projects and opportunity for fraud and waste. I think we should tax all charities, and use the tax to make improvements in more objective manners. I can see the charity role in something like animal welfare, maybe some monument building, but again no tax break.
4
One thing that's likely to motivate people NOT to donate to causes bigger than themselves are newspaper articles admonishing them that they should. Or turning generosity into an uncomfortable obligation by creating things like "Giving Tuesday." Everybody wants everybody else to be generous and patient and understanding and nice largely because that will create less of a need for them to be those things themselves. (A little like the old joke about the Boy Scout who asks another, "Don't you have days where you feel a little untrustworthy, disloyal, unhelpful, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, grumpy, wasteful, cowardly, messy, and irreverent?") If Dr. Herzog really wanted to inspire us, a good starting point would have been to admit how good it makes the messenger feel to prod others into philanthropy--almost like that's their own contribution to the betterment of society, at a much lower personal financial cost.
10
I rarely donate and have no plans to do so in the future. I do give to my kids private school, because it's expected, and not doing so could hurt their standing in the school. Otherwise, I save and invest, and transfer the most legally allowable under gift tax rules to my kids every year. My kids are my responsibility. My singular goal is give them enough so that they can ride above petty financial worries and soften the impacts of climate change on themselves. I think my approach, where I am totally focused on the other rather than my own aggrandizement, makes me generous. To each his own.
7
Good gracious. It's good of you to look out for your kids and be financially responsible, but donating to charitable causes is not about self aggrandizement. A lot of groups doing good and important work depend people who are generous with their time and resources. And as someone who is concerned about climate change, one would think you could appreciate that one cannot solely protect ones own children without trying to protect the planet on a larger scale.
3
@DRS
Fortunately, I think you are in the minority. This is a very sad life view.
@DRS By refusing to give to charity and hording your wealth for yourself and your family, you ARE self-aggrandizing. I assume you also want other people to pay more in taxes (those more wealthy than you), but not yourself. How in the world are you "focused on the other?"
When my parents died, they left a generous amount of money to be donated anonymously and I was the lucky person who got to do the giving. It was both a joyful and an interesting experience. They strongly supported Wounded Warriors, so a portion went there. I did a lot of research and was surprised to learn that some of the big charities have so much money that they then give away the money from donations, so yes ur money does not go where you intended. Some charities pay their executives an obscene amount.
My favorite charity was Puppies Behind Bars, which help threefold...prisoners, dogs, and the handicapped recipients of the trained dogs.
I also gave locally. Several charities wrote back immediately with wonderful thank you letters. I found out later that one nonprofit CEO kept the money and later donated it to a family member’s memorial fund. One charity never wrote back and I had to hound them to be sure they recieved it.
The most interesting to me was sitting on the board of nonprofit I donated to. At a meeting they annouced the donation and when someone asked who had donated, someone said -who cares?! Hurry up and cash the check.
10
@Jean Your parents had a good solution in having someone donate from their estate. One does need to consider how long their assets will go in retirement. My parents had a comfortable retirement UNTIL they needed round the clock care - that really depleted their savings. I still donate to charity but do keep the future in mind.
2
Yet another "Day". This time soon after "Thanks" "Giving" "Day", the mythology of which is, like all "Days", fabricated. Now we are expected to give not because we want to, but because yet another interest group has gotten together and proclaimed another "Day" for us to kowtow to. Our calendars are becoming far too cluttered.
6
U.S. Defense (War) budget for 2019: $716 billion and growing.
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@george eliot
So what???
2019 US spending on social welfare programs is about $3 TRILLION, which is over 4 times as much as protecting your safety and your life along with the rest of our lives.
I support local Salvation Army and have for years. It is my
favorite organization, primarily because so much of every dollar they receive is distributed. Their overhead costs are probably the lowest of any charity organization. A person can set up direct deposit for monthly contribution, (however small) send furniture and all that goes along with that sort of thing. What the Salvation Army does for the less fortunate of us is amazing.
Their Bell Ringers will be out in force this season. Don't pass them by.
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@Su Ling Saul
The Salvation Army is an evangelical religious denomination, and opposes abortion. If that is in line with one's beliefs, then supporting their mission is great. I prefer charitable organizations without religious constraints.
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@Casey The Salvation also opposes gay people and actively discriminates against them (which includes me.) I haven't given them a dime since I found that out.
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@Su Ling Saul
Instead, donate to Planned Parenthood, women and children's homeless shelters, and your local no-kill animal shelter.
Help the truly needy, not the "Salvation" Army and other religious bigots.
Charities do a lot of the governments work, but the recent republican tax legislation removed that avenue for many people. Having a charitable account does offer this benefit to people who can donate in larger annual amounts. As the article informs, giving is not a part of many people's lives for many reasons. Giving Tuesday at least for one day promotes this, but my favorite time to donate is when a generous donors antes up a matching donation. My big peeve is the amount of junk mail that bombards donors from everyone and the cat once you start donating. I do have a problem with my donations being spent this way and I let organizations know this if it becomes excessive. Check out Charity Navigator for worthwhile charities and especially the local charities where your dollar is very important.
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@Bella If you want to give, great. But give because it makes you feel good, not because it shifts some of your taxes to me. End tax deductions for charity, they invite abuse.
1
"Paradoxically, giving money away also brings joy to the giver." So the author writes as if this were a great surprise. Jesus, quoted by Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, pointed this out centuries ago in these words: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." When we give as an act of generosity or love, we are fulfilling one of our deepest purposes as human beings. How could that not bring us joy?
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@Jack . . .the verse you quoted has come in handy for me when I am encouraging someone to ask for help or let me help them. I tell them they are denying me an opportunity to feel "blessed." Works every time.
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@Jack it also brings forth objective physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits to the benefactor, which is the heart of Sara Konrath's research on the subject
1
i give about 2.5% of my salary (I am a teacher) to charity. I donate, often monthly, to feed the hungry (people and animals), to education and to medical causes, among others. I consider it an investment in my future and in the future of others. I may not see the benefits directly, but it makes me feel good to know that I am helping those in my community and those that I will never meet. I set aside an amount every year for Giving Tuesday, taking advantage of the matching opportunities. I am so blessed and want for nothing. I want the same for others.
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I don't volunteer, and I don't give to charities (although I used to, and my wife still does both). Volunteering devalues labor. Charity devalues initiative. How many non-profits are there that pay directors and executive officers more than $50 an hour while depending on the free labor of volunteers to do the heavy lifting of actually performing the work? The highly respected organizations I used to volunteer for did some good works, but those works seemed ancillary to their primary mission of getting more money from the government and foundations.
All those good feelings that others said would wash over me if I gave away my money and labor never materialized. I just felt used for the most part.
People give, in my observation, primarily because they want to be liked and admired. Those needs are fulfilled when they sign on to be part of a mutual admiration organization. Free labor is the price of admission. It's a contributing factor to why the economic chasm grows wider: labor gives away its contribution to wealth-building, and capital reaps the fruits for itself.
I know my view is a minority one, and through the years scores of people have either admonished me for my selfishness or proclaimed their pity for my "bitterness".
The capital class uses charity to preserve social order. They know darned well that revolutions don't happen as long as bread and circuses are widely available.
9
Jim, I'm just glad that most people don't share your point of view. I do understand your feelings about volunteering. I've felt that way myself through many years and experiences with volunteer and community work. But if none of us volunteered or gave financial contributions (in my case I give a lot to animal rescue and environmental groups), where would they and we be? I don't do these things to feel liked and admired, I'm just trying to help in whatever small way I can.
15
@Jim - I understand your point and it is important. How about the valuable reward that elder people receive when they volunteer? As it gets them out of the house, helps the lonely to get connected and they can have complete control over their time. In my family's case, my mother at 80 years old volunteered with a local school in a rural area. She read stories to two 2nd graders for the whole year. I'm not sure who benefited more, my Mom, who was a professional housewife her entire life, or the two small children. I know she felt pretty good about herself when she could talk about her experiences to her friends and family.
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@Martha
From the article: "For example, in a typical year 45 percent of Americans give not even a single dollar, and 75 percent spend no time volunteering." So, it appears there's at least some evidence that most people DO share my point of view.
3
You just described peer pressure. I'll make my own decisions not because those around me are doing it.
5
I am a volunteer math tutor in a community college and have also spent years as one in a high school. I love it; I probably get more out of it than the students. I just wish we would fund public education well enough that students come to a CC not needing to learn basic arithmetic. They are so far behind in their lives, but they are trying to get back on track.
I donate money, too, but I choose how much, when, and where. I currently am called several times a week by a very well known charity that believes I should donate at least twice as much as I wish, according to their "Suggested donation" or "Executive Circle of Donors." Maybe this works for some; please let me assuage my guilty conscience by leaving me alone.
We are basically crowd sourcing donations nationally. We would do better by having some form of universal health insurance (allow people to get Medicare, perhaps), adequately funding public schools and especially community colleges, which are often high school finishing institutions for math, and reinstating regs that corporations love but are ruining the environment.
I disagree with the last statement in the article: Every day one can give back is a good day for that person and for society.
21
@Mike S. - Being a middle class home owner who pays 1.9% of my tax bill to fund community colleges and also pays property tax to fund public schools even though I don't have any children, I find it irritating that we're asked to pay for basic services. The middle class is shrinking and billionaires & corporations don't want to pay any taxes which leaves the onus on those who own property or buy basic goods & services. We are taxed 9.5% sales tax where I live, yet there is rampant poverty. It leads me to believe there is waste in government spending centered primarily around the administrative & business sector not the actual teachers or classroom budget.
1
For gRift giving ideas, we need to look no further than our very own president, who very strategically set up his own foundation to solicit gifts, then use some of these gifts to commission a most beautiful painting of himself. That is but one example. Sorry, I had to throw this in the comments, but there ARE cons out there looking for your money.
6
Giving to political campaigns means less giving for charitable causes. Another reason to get money out of politics.
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I disagree. Children should be taught early to save and to see manipulative gimme letters from charities for the spam that they are. They should be taught to have a goal of having in the bank enough money to support themselves for 6 months before ever considering giving to a charity. The same goes for gift-giving, BTW.
Like another writer here, I have seen multiple elderly relatives spend hours trying to determine if a gimme letter from a charity was a bill, and sending hundreds of dollars to organizations that should not have been asking for their money. This at the same time that they needed that money in the bank for their own future care.
I no longer see giving money to charity as a valid use of my resources.
15
Another "giving" day? I'll have to join perceptive and sensible people commenting here in stating that I give what I can to a select number of causes, charities, etc. I set a reasonable (and personal budgetary) limit that way. I wonder if all of this growing number of days designated for donations has something to do with that tax "reform" where less is fairly distributed through our government. Seems that no amount of days for giving can be enough for people to be sufficiently helped.
6
Generosity is always great when aimed properly, but we should get real about how ineffective collective action (and guilt based motivation) has been for solving massive problems. Coercive systemic change in the way industry operates will actually render our individual actions meaningful. As of now, it usually makes the giver feel good without any statistically meaningful effect, and the problem continues to grow.
4
"Paradoxically, giving money away also brings joy to the giver."
No, it doesn't.
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@STR Thanks for your anecdote. In fact, the research says that giving brings worth physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits to the benefactor (a joy as it's described)
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-17872-003
Where do Go Fund Me and similar for-profit companies fit into this? Are people giving to those “campaigns” rather than recognized non-profits? How many campaigns are legit? Who follows up to see if money is being used as advertised? Is there any requirement to use the money as proposed? Do donors understand that these are not non-profit gifts and they pay a fee to donate via the websites?
2
@Carol M
My granddaughter has a heart condition that causes her to faint unexpectedly. She went to Go Fund Me for help and (in addition to what we could do to help), she was given enough money to get a service dog. Today she is on her way to Florida until the 9th for her training with the dog. I understand your concern that some may be scans but I wanted you to know that at least one young woman will be protected because of the generosity of others. I would like to thank everyone who helped her.
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@ExPatMX that is great, it truly is, but even putting aside the fact that there's no way to verify these campaigns, most of them aren't successful - especially when it comes to the health-related ones, which are the most prominent category on there now. And regardless, that shouldn't be the responsibility of strangers - that kind of care should be available to everyone, no matter what, in the richest country in the world.
I don't come here to bash charities, unlike so many others on here - they serve an invaluable role. But our society is basically substituting them for taxes right now, and that is messed up in a big way.
6
It's an interesting statistic that people give more when their parents were givers. My father's mailbox was full daily with letters and small gifts from charities seeking his continued donations over others. By the time he was 90 we had to edit the contents of the mailbox from time to time, but it gave him great joy to give to his many and varied animal charities, Wolf rescues and Heifer. I think it was a way for him to stay connected in his pre-internet life. I find myself doing the same now on FB and it is very satisfying while also doing a good deed.
11
@meg Good for you, Meg. I really like Heifer and donate in Honor of my grandchild's school classroom.
1
I, for one, would much rather that the wealthy just pay their fair share of taxes . . .
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@PS
It takes a village. More taxes for the wealthy (though I support the concept) would not have paid for a service dog for my granddaughter.
3
@ExPatMX It would have if the taxes were used for proper health care for everyone.
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@PS
Well, the upper middle class+ pay nearly all the federal taxes collected in this country, so perhaps the non-wealthy could begin making better life decisions that include economic life-wise choices before breeding.
3
It's been my experience that the more I donate to various groups, the more requests I get from others. I use Charity Navigator to select the groups I donate to, since they provide info about what percentage of donations actually help the needy, how much is used for Administrative Expenses, including "Executive salaries" and how much goes back into more fund raising. I believe many of these organizations sell their donor lists to other groups, a practice I find disturbing. When I donate, if the first response is "Thanks, and can you send some more", they're removed from my list of future donations. It seems that for some, no matter how much I donate, it's never enough.
26
Why do you mind when nonprofit executives are compensated fairly? In my view, they are trying to solve the world's most pressing problems so the most talented and innovative folks should be incentivized to stay and fight the good fight.
8
@Colby K
It's a charity! These CEOs should be compensated with the nothing but the inherent satisfaction of their work and the joy of giving (their time and work).
2
@Colby K
Where did you see me complain about executive compensation? All I said was I find that info on Charity Navigator. And "fair compensation" is subjective. It was reported that The American Red Cross paid $200,000 in the last fiscal year (1993) to its chief executive, Elizabeth Dole, the former Labor Secretary in the Bush Administration and the wife of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. Maybe some of the Execs should consider donating their services...???
3
We have begun to tip very generously. We made this decision because we can help the less fortunate who work.
16
@Robert Broun
My son owns a restaurant in Mexico. Some people are generous with their tips while others hardly tip. Meals down here are incredibly less expensive than the US or Canada so I don't understand people stiffing the staff. In addition to our al la carte menu, we have a fixed menu of (ex:) salad or soup, pork chop, mashed potato, asparagus, and dessert for $300mxn pesos (about $15 usd). There are people who tip 5% which equals about $.75 usd. Our staff gives very good service so this is not a reflection on them. Our staff gets the highest salary in the area but they are still very much in need of more and depend on those tips. For them, I thank you for your generosity.
1
@ExPatMX - care about income inequality? Tip 40% - 50%. Tip the wait staff, tip the fast food person, tip the barber. Tip anyone making min wage or less than $15 per hour.
3
Our family, as is usual, use Thanksgiving not for Black Friday shopping or gorging on football and turkey but which non profits will get our donations in the upcoming year and a review of our volunteer efforts during the past year. For myself, this will mark the 40th year of volunteering in some capacity with non profits and some 90+ combined years of serving as an officer and/or board of directors member for multiple non profits (none of them are religious based). My wife has a similar record and our children, nieces and nephews are following in our footsteps. Alas, across the spectrum of multiple organizations, there is a great hollowing out of volunteers and what is missing is the 25-50 year olds. When we were that same age, married with children, we and most of our neighbors were volunteers. Now, very few volunteer and the non profits are run by us boomers and the young. Something changed in why and how people volunteer. Luckily, millenials and younger have rediscovered the rewards of volunteering and we are getting a lot of new young faces at meetings where we come together for the common good of the community.
10
Joy to the giver is the driving force in our contributions. My spouse and I give an amt that is noticeable to us each year to our local animal shelter, PBS station, and university library. We don't do it for local recognition--given the sum, the recognition would be fleeting! We give because the organizations provide important services and need our money to continue to do so. Giving yields a rewarding sense of investment, not ownership, in these local organizations, and it enriches our community.
10
I donate to certain organizations on a regular monthly basis throughout the year. I make a single annual contribution to other organizations early in the calendar year. The annual total of contributions is a few thousand dollars.
That approach means that I ignore Giving Tuesday since I have been donating to worthy organizations all year. I have no "end of the year" guilt trip to motivate me.
9
Not mentioned in the article's cheerleading for cash donations to nonprofits or (yet) in the comments are all the meant-to-be-invisible or embedded charitable contributions, plus the taxes we pay. The phone bill adds a charge to help universal access; the water and electric/gas bills add charges to help our neighbors; tipping is a 20% donation to help an underpaid service industry worker; taxes fund programs to provide free or heavily subsidized housing, no- or no-cost food, medical care, and stuff; school taxes also pay for 2 hot meals a day plus weekend backpacks and free new school supplies for some students. Discounted are donations of time and money to friends, relatives and neighbors who are struggling but are not channeled through an institution. Also not discussed are the profits made by so-called pass-through organizations that channel money to parent organization causes one might not support.
11
Charitable gifting funnels money to pet projects (some lofty, others mundane, like dog shelters!!), depriving society of the needed taxes to improve infrastructure, schools, etc. The USA should limit these deductions like other developed countries (Europe, Canada, etc).
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@salvador
Animal shelters are not mundane.
Last year’s tax changes cut deductible donations severely. What more do you want?
10
@salvador It's the other way around. Other developed countries pay more in taxes, so they have less need for charitable organizations than this country does.
1
I wish this Giving was in the Summer or at least a bit of a different time than the annual appeals we all received less than 1 month ago.
It feels like they are asking and asking.
5
According to the noted “Capitalist Tool” Forbes magazine, 63% of Americans can not afford an unplanned $500 expense. Forbes calls this a $500 emergency but that’s setting the bar pretty low for what most Times subscribers would call an emergency, no? And we’re worried that 45% do not donate to a charity? The US has a more pressing problem it would seem. You could start by asking the 12% of those that do not donate time, presumably because they are trying to avoid becoming one of the aforementioned 63%, what that problem might be.
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@Steve Bruns
$500 would not even cover a few stitches on a cut for someone paying the non-negotiated "sticker price" at an urgent care facility or ER.
7
@Steve Bruns Yes, that $500.00 savings figure is shocking and totaly true. And, let’s say they have health insurance, but they have a 10K deductible, what does it take to go bankrupt? One, emergency room visit? Most people go bankrupt for health reasons, and most of them HAVE health insurance. What good is mandatory insurance, if the insurance doesn’t really insure anything?
5
One massive problem with modern “charity”:
Most stories of “inspiration” are nothing more than a massive indictment on society at large. For example, filling the shelves of a downtown food pantry which feeds thousands of desperate people is a truly a good thing. But why are there so many with so little to begin with?
Why are growing poor communities forced to suffer the burdens of lead laden drinking water, crumbling roads, unreliable power & heat, & low wages, while the wealthy sit on literally trillions of dollars that are doing nothing but earning interest in escrow accounts?
I’m definitely NOT saying to disregard charity. But I am saying that there is something severely wrong in a country that relies on GoFundMe as one of the largest sources of “health insurance”.
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@Austin Ouellette
Exactly correct. I've often wondered why there isn't more incredulous outrage at a system where people living in the richest country on Earth sometimes have to beg from strangers to fund necessary medical procedures.
That defies belief.
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@Austin Ouellette If you aren't aware of the medical insurance crisis in this country you haven't been paying attention.
5
@Pat If you aren't aware of the medical insurance crisis in this country, you haven't been paying attention.
I volunteer at a local food pantry that has strong support throughout our community. We have a policy that an organization -- house of worship, scout troop, business, etc. -- can "adopt a shelf" in our pantry. This way, the organization knows it can concentrate on asking its members to remember to "pick up a can of beans" or "pick up a can of vegetables" when they do their grocery shopping and put it in the collection area at their own location, to be taken to the pantry by whoever volunteers to take donations to the pantry.
This has helped a lot, and if you think about it, it is not that hard to do and it has positive consequences in more ways than one.
For example" if there are 50 kids in a Sunday school class, and once a week they bring one can of beans with them to class, the results are (at least) twofold:
1) 50 cans of beans (or about 200 cans a month, or about 2,400 cans a year) a week are donated to the food pantry.
2) the kids make giving to those less fortunate a regular part of their routine at a young age, something they are likely to keep doing as they get older.
People like to give more during the holiday season, and our pantry really appreciates the outpouring of donations we always get during the holiday season. But because human beings have that habit of eating 365 days a year, we instituted the "adopt a shelf" program, and it has really kept our donations steady throughout the year.
15
Organizations that receive small donations ($25-$50) seem to spend most of that money sending more requests and cheap gifts back to the donor. Rather than adding to the landfill, organizations should eliminate these thank-you gifts. How many cheap mugs, plastic water bottles, and flimsy backpacks can a person use?
We give to only one organization a year instead of responding to every request with small gifts. It makes a bigger impact.
28
I agree that today, Giving Tuesday, is as good a day as any to make a charitable gift. However, in my experience, while tax incentives may affect the timing of a gift (particularly for those making large gifts), they are rarely the actual incentive for giving. We give to make a difference (however small or large), to be part of something greater than ourselves, to share our fortune (modest or vast). To quote an old Celtic proverb, "In the shelter of each other the people live."
4
@LudwellMom Thank you for that reminder. In the Irish language, that proverb is "Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine"
Lots of concern here about how charities waste money and overpay their execs.
If you can get involved in a helping organization, give some time and be personally engaged--then you will understand how that organization works and how the money is used. You'll feel good about donating your money after you've already donated some time and thought.
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@Thea
I am deeply involved as a volunteer. I still don’t like or support wasted money and overpaid execs.
1
I give time and money every day. My career is in a helping profession. I have a small animal sanctuary. I serve other animal sanctuaries and rescues. AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL OF MY WORK. Therefore, I am taking a break from social media today because the exhortations to give are overwhelming. It's nice to know the strategy has resulted in impressive donations. I hope that people who give once a year to start grow to enjoy giving to the point that they no longer need giving Tuesday, like me.
6
Many people who give, give to benefit themselves or their children. I know many who give to their church or school -- places where they belong or their children attend. It would be good to know how many people who give actually give to a charity that does not benefit themselves or their family members in some way.
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We have to be very selective. Thru Charity Navigator, I look at the percentage that goes to Admin. I also look at the salary of the CEO and essentially double that since most CEOs hide income thru their Benefits. I do not give to our local Food Bank because of the very high salary the CEO has taken for years. But I do give to great Homeless Agencies.
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When you give to a charitable organization you don't know where the money is going. People would give so much more of either their time or their money if they knew. Just take for example go fund me sites look at how much money they raise for a cause or individual. People give because they know what their donation will be used for and it gives them a real sense of connection. Isn't that what its all about, connecting with the people around us? If you have trouble just giving to a massive group try just one person or family who is great need and know that through your donation you have made their life a little better.
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@Deborah
I completely agree.
Instead of donating to large popular charities and non-profit organizations whose administrative costs are so high and whose CEOs get paid handsomely, I just generously give to a family in need directly, or pay for a needy child's entire year's school meal.
If you give to a good, well run organization you are able to see EXACTLY where your money is going in published reports which are monitored by the government. That is more certainty than "go fund me sites" where you would have to know the end receiver very personally to get a report.
I did my annual giving in November, leaving a portion free for Nickolas Kristof’s excellent annual recommendations. (I wish he did this earlier.) I felt good about it.
But for the past week my email and snail mail have been inundated with Giving Tuesday messages, many from the very organizations to which I just donated. I’ve been unsubscribing up the kazoo, but it never ends. Every day there’s a pile of mail and dozens of emails, familiarly addressing me by my given name, from personal names I don’t recognize, with pages of sad stories I have no patience left to read. It does not encourage me to give more, only to wonder why they don’t say “Thank you for your contribution.”
The result is that I have my own list of donees and am trashing everything else without even looking at it. I fill a rather large wastebasket every few days and mourn the waste of paper and postage.
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Last year my family owed $3,000 in federal tax on top of what was already deducted; in past years my family and I received money back. This was much larger than what I would send to a charity in previous years. I can only donate gently used items to Goodwill, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and my library so they can resell these items; I also give gently used clothes, non-perishable food, and household goods to people who need them now. "The shirt off my back" is probably what many middle-class people residing in high-tax states give these days.
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I have always thought of all the good we could do in the world if we Americans would only spend half the money we do on silly plastic junky X-mas gifts that nobody wants or needs, and give the other half to charities. And I always ask my kids to donate whatever they might give to me in my name.
I'm not wealthy, and I try to give generously when I can. One of the things that bothers me most about giving, is that your reward for giving seems to be bombardment to give even more by the charities you give to. Alas, my mailbox overflows with solicitations all year long.
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Our extended family stopped buying gifts years ago. Everyone puts money (sliding scale) into one hat, the name of a progressive non profit in another hat. A name is drawn, the money is bundled and mailed off.
2
Charitable giving of money may make one feel good, but does it solve anything? How much more could be done by western countries ponying up for the destruction they have caused in so many ways to other human beings by our waste, pollution, climate denial, and senseless wars. So when WE AMERICANS dislodge Syrians or Kurds or so many others with our senseless wars, will we be charitable and take them in? When we destroy their climate and their islands become submerged, or their land no longer arable, or their water has dried up, will we take them in? Should we pitch in a few bucks and feel good? Or should we pressure our governments to share the real burdens of the people around the world whose resources we have usurped, whose climate we are ruining, and whose civilizations we have disrupted? There is more to charity than pitching in money.
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@George Boccia
Your concern for how much the US destroys in so many ways is well founded. It is also true that many other countries cause great harm of the same kind. But there is no reason why one cannot also give to charities (or volunteer) while deploring and fighting against the actions you described.
Why do we need to give money away today? Because the United Nations has reported that we have eleven years to address this climate crisis with any agency.
So while giving to animal shelters and homeless shelters and your local boys and girls club and for cancer research are all valuable charities, please consider giving to organizations that address this climate crisis as well as climate justice. Thank you.
"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors." - Jonas Salk
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I want direct democracy. I want to vote on where my tax money goes and I want to vote on how much the wealthy should pay. I want a direct democracy, a government that provides for the community's needs. I don't want to rely on charity. Like communism, representative democracy is a good idea that doesn't work. That said, donate until we have a more perfect Union.
11
Yes giving money makes me feel good, so I give a few bucks to the panhandlers on the street. However, there is another side to giving money: how that money is handled by the institution that receives it. I am suspicious about the competency of such institutions, and not without evidence of same. For example, charitable organizations are usually set up to provide a certain kind of assistance to the needy, but if the needy need another type of assistance what does the charitable organization do with your contribution ? I much prefer the government (yes, with all its red tape) handling such transactions. Example: supposed a person needs medical help, so they go to a charitable organization for the funds to pay for it, that organization has to collect the money and process such transaction. Wouldn't it have been more efficient for the government to insure (via our taxes) that anyone needing medical treatment gets it.
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There are many more facets to the "giving" issue than presented here.
One absent topic is the distinction between giving money versus giving one's time and effort. For example, Mitt Romney can give away large amounts of his money and it impresses me little. But I think very highly of Romney for the report of the personal efforts he did like visiting a dying young person in the hospital to draft the will the person requested.
Another topic avoided completely was the vast amount of money spent by so-called "charities" for payroll and expenses of people not engaged in delivering the charitable service or product. Especially galling is the high pay and perks given to top management of major charities.
Yet another avoided topic is that many large "charities" are in substantial part not charitable but are merely non-profits delivering services to the needy and non-needy alike. And then there even some non-profits which serve primarily the well off (like cultural non-profits e.g. symphony)
Then there are the "charities" that are really just selfish schemes created to serve the interests of the people who created them (Clinton Foundation).
I oppose tax deduction for all giving to non-profits. Tax deduction effectively empowers the giver to force the public to support the non-profit organizations that the giver alone chooses. Even when the giver's choices are good ones, the decision to spend the public's money should be made by the public, not one person.
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@Errol
Volunteering should come from the heart. Need it be compared to cash?
MIMA
I have a habit of checking Charity Navigator before I make a donation. And I have to say, the high salaries of the top echelon of these big charities is a real turn-off for me.
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@Angela I agree. In NC, the head of the United Way made $900K per year. Then they forced you, through your employer, to contribute to their organization. I have never contributed again since then. My bitterness remains to this day.
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For example, Red Cross and the Pan Mass Challenge. Ready to capitalize on unfortunate events and cancer while playing obscene salaries.
I had a non profit client that specialized in fund raising for a well known affliction. Their annual meeting held in New Orleans was like a Mary Kay convention celebrating top fundraisers and their bonuses.
I've also seen how fundraising mills prey upon the elderly with countless solicitations and are quick to take whatever limited funds these at risk elderly folks may have.
This experience changed my mindset from donating money to donating time, food, etc.
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@dw
Those millions of dollars in donations to the Red Cross did not make it to Superstorm Sandy victim, of which I am one.
Propublica has covered this extensively, and has tried to locate the missing money.
The Red Cross stonewalled Congress.
I cringe at the ads urging people to donate money to the Red Cross following every natural disaster.
Often, there are links to donate to the Red Cross prominently displayed on websites of major retailers, etc.
That money isn't going to make it to the natural disaster victims.
People should do research before giving away their hard earned money.
7
Charity (someone once said) begins at home.
"Social and relational benefits beyond the self" reminds that the greatest and most efficient "charity" is the Social Security Administration, which covers retirement but which provides benefits for widows and orphans and disabled people. Ensuring that the Social Security trust fund is solvent may be the most worthy charity of all.
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The most decent charitable decision an American citizen can make is to formally reject institutional and systemic Reverse Robin Hoodism at the highest levels of the land and the nation's oligarchs who systematically conspire to redistribute income and wealth upward via rigging of the social contract, the labor contract, the tax codes, the voting rolls and the human brain via propaganda.
It's great to give what you can, of course.
It's better to register and vote for decent progressive public policy that can really begin the correct record income and wealth inequality that has happened because of radical, regressive public policy that is overtly harmful to society.
Let's hope that November 3 2020 is the greatest Giving Tuesday in history that will give Americans a chance for a decent future instead of another destructive tax cut.
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@Socrates
While I applaud the results of Giving Tuesday, essentially what we are witnessing in this country, as Socrates points out,is the transfer of responsibility for public goods and services from democratic institutions to the wealthy, to be administered by an executive class. Charitable giving in this country redirects a fraction of the spoils of capitalism, in the name of generosity, to try to address the problems of wealth inequality created by a social and economic system that allowed those spoils to accrue in the first place.
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"Many people feel they simply can't afford to give."
It's also the case that many people really can't afford to give. Or give more than a bare minimum. If that weren't the case, there would be fewer people who need the generosity of others to get by. If generosity seems to be waning, it may be because some who were giving what they could were blasted out of their security by medical events that bankrupted them, rising rents that consumed that last cent of discretionary income, the loss of housing vouchers and subsequent eviction, the loss of a job that they could only replace at a hefty wage or salary reduction, the need to give up a job or at least reduce hours to provide caregiving to a family member - et many ceteras. Some of these negative events may impact our ability to take on or continue volunteer activities as well.
And some of the people caught up in the downward spirals are educated people who read the New York Times.
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@Barbara Pines
This is a common perception, but the statistical likelihood is that those who can lease afford to give are also the most likely to give. As income increases, generosity, measured by the portion of income that goes to charity, declines. I work in philanthropic business intelligence, and this trend is well-known.
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@Barbara Pines The idea that higher education ensures middle class lifestyle is a myth perpetuated by studies written by - guess what - academia, and by papers like the NYT. If you were a college graduate in 1950, your life was made much better than non college grads. Today, there is the supply of people with college and advanced degrees exceeds demand for them.
Traveling around the US in my RV I see homeless in every major metropolitan area, often standing on street corners with signs asking for money. I give directly to organizations that support the homeless, rather than give cash to these individuals who are likely exploiting the generosity of others, not paying taxes, and dipping in for free or subsidized housing, healthcare, food, transportation etc. There is plenty of help out there for those who can sober up and look for it.
Riding around in your RV, you will never understand the life of another individual. It is hard for most people to understand the most unfortunate among us. It’s not the morals Dickens, Jesus, Ghandi, Allah, and the Buddha taught.
Perhaps come down out of your RV and meet them.
I invite you to watch or read the Christmas Carol by Dickens. Happy holidays.
I may be the outlier here, but I volunteer and donate to various charities monthly.
But because I want to. Not because someone declares Giving Tuesday and directs me to. I hate all the solicitations for GT, a day when I donate nothing.
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I researched “giving” for a Woman’s Club charity event. I literally dove into information about 50 women celebrities and then did a little piece on each one for the tables.
The most giving woman, way above the others? Lady Gaga! She is amazing. Her giving is amazing. Her unselfishness is amazing. Her heart is amazing.
And yet, she’s humble. Now there’s a story!
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@MIMA What Lady Gaga does is great but check out JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame. This puts me in the minority but I don't enjoy her books. However, I am impressed by her personality: Rowling gave away so much money she no longer qualified for the Forbes billionaire list.
3
Yes. When it comes to whether one can afford to give I am always reminded of something I often observed while running a church-based social service center in downtown Chicago - the poor sharing with the poor. We charged folks, even street people, $1 to come into the supper (the reasons had more to do with behavioral expectations than the money per se). When someone arrived without a dollar, invariably the others would find that amount among themselves. There were also times when someone who had packed a take-away plate for him/herself (they were allowed to take second helpings with them) would simply offer it up to a late-comer who had not yet had supper. I always assumed that it was because they could empathize with the currently needier one.
Personally, I find that I get more than I give from my volunteer gigs both in human interaction and in the good feeling I have in giving back to my community and its people. The same good feeling comes for me when I give to organizations I care about.
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I have heard the advice to give 1/3 to world causes, 1/3 to national causes, and 1/3 to local causes. There is also the advice to think globally and act locally. In my view, the bulk of the world's deepest need is global. Not in the US or our communities. We are rich materially, if not spiritually. An income of $32,400 a year puts one in the global top 1%. In my view most of our giving should be toward world issues. And yet we are most likely to continue to give and find it rewarding when we feel some direct connection. Volunteering can provide that direct connection. Sponsoring an individual poor child can provide it. I say "Think globally, act globally. But make a direct connection if at all possible."
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Agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Herzog on the positive aspects of giving. It does bring a level of joy to living on a personal level.
Yet it is also interesting to note that "Giving Tuesday" is a fairly recent phenomenon. It demonstrates that the need for donations to charitable organizations is predicated upon the government's abdication from providing an adequate safety net for those most vulnerable in our society. Major increases in food insecurity, homelessness, and other societal ills are traceable to this deliberately decreased funding that has been magnified under the current administration.
The growth of influence of billionaires "Philanthropic Foundations" on public policy only reinforces their agendas on various areas of societal import. Witness the Foundational "giving" of the Kochs, Gates, and Bezos, among others. As individuals, however, their personal "giving" is much less. [https://twitter.com/gabriel_zucman/status/1198422794607845377/photo/1]
The decrease in governmental funding of social safety net programs can be overcome through a major overhaul of how tax money is allocated and distributed. It would eliminate the need for giving from those whose economic situation precludes such donations.
None of this will affect my personal donations to or volunteering with organizations that are doing their best to improve societal conditions. "Giving Tuesday" is a good idea. Yet increased funding at the governmental level is also critically important & necessary.
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@wysiwyg I agree. I find it deeply disturbing that charities are asking us to help our troops and vets get housing and medical care, because their enjoyment of those benefits should be the responsibility of the government not contingent on people’s good will. I do give to programs that I think are run well and which will never get govt funding like yoga for inner city folks and vacations for battered women. Mostly these days, though, I give to No Mas muertos and to Mayor Pete
6
Much of the ‘foundational giving” is more of a quid pro quo to organizations that promote the selfish ideas of those giving. Like the Koch funding of right-wing professors in conservative universities and think tanks.
@susan stefan Mayor Pete is not a charity.
To me, this reinforces the point that as parents you need to show your children how and why you give.
If you're searching for ideas on how to do this, I'll forward one that we have read about and recently tried -- asked our teenagers to propose a charity that we give to as a family. They can certainly research one online (and spend as much time as they did looking for black friday deals.)
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We have always 'tithed' to causes we believe in that are a hand up not a hand out. Fact is everyone of our friends and family members give generously, between 25-35% of our income because we were all taught that to those that much us given, much is required.
And we do NOT take a tax deduction because we feel that defeats the intent of giving. We give seeking nothing in return. And we adhere to the adage think global act local in our giving.
What intrigues me, based on various articles is how little politicians people in media, those in the entertainment industry seem to give to causes that aid the truly needy in their quest for food, shelter, and medical care security.
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@Beth Grant DeRoos If you take the tax deduction and save on your taxes, you can give more. Consider taking the deduction as a means of giving more.
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@Beth Grant DeRoos
Whether or not to take the tax deduction is a moot point now for 95% of individual taxpayers. (The standard deduction is used now by that group. Only about 5% itemize their deductions).
@Beth Grant DeRoos Why wouldn't you take the tax deduction and give the tax savings from the deduction as well. Think of it as a matching gift program.
2