Comments on: How generous are you?

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:31:58 +0000

We currently give ~5% of our income to charities. It took a while for us to decide exactly what was most important and while we decided, we gave to a variety of charities. Now, we focus our efforts between educational charities and church. There are so many people who don’t have the opportunities that we do and I would like to do my part to improve that.

As for how we decided, giving was always important to our families and we would like to give more. Our eventual goal is 10%, which we are not currently able to do, but given the economic situation right now, we have made an effort to increase our giving.

If you’re interested in helping out charities and don’t have money but do have time, most charities are in desperate need of volunteers and may prefer that time to any monetary donation.

For those who say that giving to people only makes them weaker or that they give enough to the government, I would ask if they have ever been through a natural disaster or if they are aware that waiting time for section 8 housing is 7-12 years. I personally know people who take advantage of the system, but I also know people who truly struggle and are only able to feed and cloth themselves through the goodness of others. I would like to think that if I needed help, others would be there, which means that I need to be there now.

By: Amy F

Amy F — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:46:10 +0000

We give about 6%, half to church and half to other charitable organizations. Most of that is automatically deducted from our checking monthly. That’s on a teacher’s salary plus my parttime self-employed gigs.

By: robin

robin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:19:06 +0000

It was interesting, when I was preparing taxes returns for a local company, the people who made 40-60,000 a year donated the most. Income above 80,000? Forget it, or maybe a $100 or so. I rarely saw over a thousand dollars being donated, unless it was to a church, so I don’t know where the philanthropy people got their numbers.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:20:04 +0000

I struggle with this as well. We used to donate around 1-3 percent of our income to a (liberal) church and other various causes but I’m having a hard time giving this year with us having a second mortgage. I kind of feel we should knock that out sooner rather than later just in case. Plus my husband’s car just had a major repair and we just refinanced so our e-fund is low and needs replenishing, which will take until January to do. But if I don’t give I feel bad when I spend on myself b/c hey if I have money to spend on myself why am I not donating?

By: LDH

LDH — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:36:50 +0000

I give a small amount from every paycheck to something that has come to my attention (you notice a lot more when you make the committment to give every two weeks), as well as throughout the year to favorite charities. I try to match with my values and current life events…I do find it hard to give to the Christmas charity run, however, because so much is focused on gift giving to children, which just perpetuates myths that stuff is what Christmas is about and receiving stuff is what makes us happy.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:26:35 +0000

I gave about 1.25 % of my gross income to charities last year, 1.8 % total to nonprofits (including environmental organizations and public radio).

Ever since I bought my house eight years ago, I’ve given 1 % of my mortgage payment every month to Habitat for Humanity. It’s about $ 7 a month; on the first of each month I put $ 7 in an envelope, and then in the fourth month I write a check for $ 28 and put the cash in my wallet (I did it this way because at the beginning, I was afraid I wouldn’t have the $ 28 when the time came!). That’s been really satisfying.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:36:23 +0000

I gave about 2.5% this year and hope to increase to 3% next year. Those amounts are still short of where I’d like to be. I try to compensate by giving my time to organizations that I value.

By: Selfish Jean

Selfish Jean — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:24:34 +0000

I’m selfish. My favorite charity is myself. If I give to a charity, it only makes those receiving the money or gift weaker. I truly believe it.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:36:42 +0000

I need some charitable contributions. Twelve years ago on the advice of a “financial consultant” I transferred a little over $100,000 from a 401(k) to a variable annuity. As of today, it is worth $97,500. Not too good a rate of “return,” is it? As I said, I need some charitable contributions.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:32:15 +0000

I do not know what percentage of our income we give. I could look it up on our income tax returns, but I don’t know exactly where I put last year’s paperwork. Anyway, no matter what a person gives, it is very annoying that once you give to a charity, they bug you at least once a month to give more. And they keep sending address labels for us to use. How many hundreds of address labels can a person use?