A question about charity.

I donate based on my on social criteria. I also make it a rule to donate anonymously, as I have no self-serving motive in giving and don’t want attention. If I must reveal my identity, I insist that my name not be placed on any publicly-available list of donors.

I think the predominantly western attitude to charity is a way of distancing ourselves from the effects of our fundamentally unequal way of life and our harsh judgments on those deemed failures in our society (like the homeless) and those left behind and taken advantage of as a result of our trade networks and industrialisation (like poverty in Africa). When I was in Salt Lake City this seemed to be crystallised for me – a couple of blocks away from the Mormon Temple (remembering that every Mormon gives 10% of their income to the church, and I have been told this is predominantly for charity, and proportionately speaking the Mormons do most in the world charity wise) there are lots and lots of homeless wondering the streets and looking completely lost and forgotten.
Would it be better for everybody to take a homeless guy off the streets for a month, so they can have an address to get a job and a chance get the root of their problems? Would it be better for us all to stop buying goods that are dependent on the exploitation of the undeveloped world? Rather than fighting fire with fire and throwing money at problems caused by money.
That said, do give to the community project, I don’t think that charitable giving as an act is bad, just that it seems a silly solution for a society to combat it problems at large.

I am a giver…..I even worked FT for a non profit for free for a couple of years.
I give to strangers, I believe in causes, and help the lost.

It will never be forgotten. It’s true to my heart, though I’m cheaper than I used to be.

I give what I can, when I can to the charities I feel most effect me in some way locally. Some local charities I don’t give too because I feel they already get their money from me through a crap load of taxes and if they don’t than they need to take it to the proper channels. Not my problem if they are getting ripped off.
Like schools for instance. In my state there are lotteries (which are suppose to help schools) than there are hidden taxes in cable and phone services which are collected seperately to help schools. There are property taxes and they are suppose to help to pay for things like, police services, schools and fire department, and sewer (which I don’t get because they collect their own money) and there is off course city taxes and county taxes and federal taxes also that gives financial aids to schools. Then lets not forget the money that schools collect selling junk to people locally, and on school property fund raisers. And of course money parents have to dish out from time to time for one thing or another. So with all this money being collected, why is it there are still less teachers year after year and less buildings and less supplies being provided for students and still our kids are coming out less educated every year. I bet the school board has no problem getting everything they want. Bigger home and less hours and a great pension. It just seems like one black hole of a charity.
So no, I don’t waste my money or my time in charities that already have their hand in my pocket.

I don’t have $ to give, so I give of my time instead. It is hard to give of one’s time anonymously for the most part, as would be my preference, but the volunteer work I do is far enough off the beaten path as to be fairly anonymous.

Anonymously is the way I usually approach it except for a yearly event to benefit a soup kitchen.It’s a fundraiser that potter’s started by making and selling soup bowls to the public.It seemed like a good idea at first,but now has turned into a big self-promotion extravaganza which disgusts me….so giving anonymously,when you have the means,without guilt and when the muse hits you is the way to go ;)

I give mostly of my time to help further a cause. Nothing bugs me more where a cause is all about pomp and circumstance so as @lucillelucillelucille says, anonymously is my preferred way to go and Make A Wish is one of my favorite charities. So many out there but that one IMO really does an outstanding job.

I try to follow Maimonides.

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.” — Jack London

I remembered this joke:

Just a quick reminder that I am of the Jewish faith. This is tongue planted firmly in cheek. Hey it’s Social – and we’ve been serious for the most part.

A priest, minister and rabbi were playing their usual Wednesday round of golf, and started discussing their weekly collections.

Specifically, they started to compare how they decided what portion of the collection to keep for themselves and what portion to give to the Lord.

The priest explains, “I draw a circle around myself and toss the money in the air. Whatever lands in the circle I keep for myself. What ever lands outside the circle, I give to God.”

The minister says, “Yes, I use a similar method, except that whatever lands inside the circle I give to God, and whatever lands outside the circle I keep for my personal needs.”

The rabbi then proclaims, “Brothers we are in agreement! I use the same method, as well. Except, that when I toss the money in the air, I figure whatever God wants, He can keep…”

I feel charity. When I get the vibe I do it. I don’t over think it. What ever I give is more then if I did not.

Yes, I give when the moment and the spirit moves me.

I do not subscribe to any formal charities and find that plenty of opportunites show up just going about my daily life.

Also, there are plenty of non-monetary ways to give as well.

Smiles and random acts of kindness don’t involve checkbooks but are of equal and sometimes greater value.

I give what I think is appropriate when I can give it. At the moment, it’s less money and more time and energy.

As a semi-related side note, I’m going to link to these free charity sites again, for the sake of blatant, shameless advertising. In my defence, I’m not affiliated with either site.
Click to Give
Free Rice

I’m not going to brag this time. I give to charity too – that’s all I’ll say about it. This is a philosophical thread.

As for my answer:
Yeah, we should give to charity, if we can afford to. I don’t think that’s a very surprising answer.

What’s more of a philosophical issue is how far we ought to go; whether that warm fuzzy feeling of good-person-hood still feels justified if you give ten bucks to the hungry kids on the other side of the world, and then go on to buy a shiny new TV for a hundred times the money.

$1000 can buy you a pretty kick-ass TV. It can also have a new school built in a poor village in Africa.
But the sad fact of the matter is that most of us don’t care as much about the poor villages in Africa as we care about shiny new televisions. We’re all guilty of this sort of perversity.

The question I’d like to start a discussion on, but cannot answer myself, is: is this fair?
We own all this money now; does the fact that it’s currently ours mean that we have more of a right to it than other people?

I give my time as a volunteer. These days, with all three of my adult grandsons and their mother, and my youngest son all out of work, charity begins and ends at home.

I make all my internet searches with Goodsearch.com which provides donations to my favorite charity with every search.

I try to give tzedakah (charity) according to the guidelines for the highest form of charity where I am unknown by the recipient and they are unknown to me.

Sometimes more direct and immediate giving is required and I do what is needed within my means to meet the need.

if “giving at the office” is a NSFW subject, I’m not going to touch it.

I have parts of my paycheck allotted to charities to the arts, and one of these days I plan to donate to Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society, because so many sailors fal on hard times, or simply don’t know how to manage their money (NMCR also helps people make budgets before they loan).

I don’t have a specific pattern. I will occasionally help a homeless person by buying them a meal or providing them something they need, never by giving money as so many are where they are through drug or alcohol addiction and giving such a person money is helping buy the wherewithal to commit a slow, painful suicide. Of course, there is no way to give anonymously in this instance. Just depends on what I am giving, to whom and why.

I do like @ETpro I give directly to the person.
The woman trying to stretch her crummy food allowance far enough to feed her kids for a whole week. I just walk up and hand her a couple of folded up $20.00 and quickly walk away, so she doesn’t have time to get embarrassed.

The homeless guy sitting under a tree, I drive by and hand him a bag of food from whatever fast food joint is close, always sure to tuck a little cash in his palm.

Lunch and 20.00 for the kid standing in the food court at the mall trying to act like he isn’t broke, starving to death and in there because he has nowhere else to go and it’s cold outside.

@ETpro You may not be aware of this, but for someone severely addicted to alcohol, getting more alcohol is indeed a necessity of life. Delerium Tremens from alcohol withdrawal carries with it a 1 in 3 chance of death if medically untreated. This is why homeless shelters sometimes have programs where alcoholics can come in for regularly-spaced shots of booze. Giving money to a panhandler, even if it’s for alcohol, may be saving a life.

@SmashTheState Humm. I didn’t realize that. THanks for the info.

Donating old clothes to countries in Africa can devastate their clothing industry.

Charity makes sense in 2 cases

1) Disaster relief
2) Helping people learn to help themselves

@mattbrowne You leave out an entire world of highly personal charity and good works.

@dpworkin – You are right. I was contemplating the big picture involving issues in developing countries. Highly personal charity for example in one’s own neighborhood is extremely positive and should not go unmentioned. Thanks for pointing that out!

How do you give? With your heart first…decide what matters to you and make a decision as to how you will go about giving. You can donate your time…services… or make a financial contribution. If you are donating to a charity online make sure it’s one that posts its financial statements online so people can see exactly how their money is spent and how much goes to salaries and administration.