This is going to be a multi-poll, covering different things.
I’m wondering how you all decide where you do your giving. Do you give to more than one charity? Is it random, in the moment? Do you just tithe and forget about it? Do you have categories of giving?
Once you’ve got categories, do you do much investigation or research to make sure your money isn’t being wasted?
And here’s a question I’d really like to know about: if you have decided you want to give to a certain category, and you know of 4 different charities that through your research are all equal, what do you use as your criteria for picking A over B, if any, or do you donate to all four?
Poll is coming, and it will feature the following questions, if you care to elaborate on any of your answers. There are several categories of answer which will be crammed together in the poll, so here they are separated.
[ul]
[li]I prefer poverty relief[/li][li]I prefer disaster relief[/li][li]I prefer animal welfare[/li][li]I prefer disease research[/li][li]I prefer environmental preservation[/li][li]I prefer arts & culture[/li][li]I prefer education[/li][li]I prefer religion[/li][li]I prefer child welfare[/li][li]I prefer social services (i.e. Guide dogs for the blind)[/li][li]Other not listed[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]I prefer domestic causes[/li][li]I prefer international causes[/li][li]No preference[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]I donate randomly and impulsively[/li][li]I donate when big things happen to get my attention[/li][li]I donate regularly[/li][li]I donate a fixed amount on a schedule[/li][li]I donate a percentage on a schedule[/li][li]A mix[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]I donate my time and my money[/li][li]I only donate my time[/li][li]I only donate my money[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]I research any organization I give to at least once[/li][li]I research and keep tabs over time[/li][li]I do not research, I assume they are probably OK[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]I dont’ give to charity because I don’t think I have enough for myself[/li][li]I don’t give to charity at all and I feel guilty about it[/li][li]I don’t give to charity at all and I’m fine with that[/li][li]I donate at the end of the year if it will help my taxes[/li][/ul]
Others not listed: I mostly donate to feminist human rights, antipoverty, and antiviolence groups, like Women for Women International, Madre, and WEAVE. The last-named one is domestic and helped me greatly when I needed help.
I was a Women for Women supporter for a long time. Still a fan of the organization. I really love what they do and where they are coming from. Also Heifer.
Time and money. I usually give impulsively but I donate a fixed amount to ACLU and Greenpeace each month. I feel very strongly about my commitment to th ACLU; I’m torn on how I feel about donating to Greenpeace. Environmentalism is important, but I’m much more interested/passionate about anti-poverty causes and I really only donate to them because they talked me into it on a local streetcorner. I’m not interested in band-aid organizations, but those that fight to change the system and empower people to assert their own rights. I’d like to do more for the local food bank. It’s not a lot of money. We don’t have a lot to spare right now, but I think the habit is important. I do some volunteer work when I can. I’m currently volunteering 16 hours a week while I look for a full-time job, but I won’t be able to sustain that for long.
Our dream, someday, is to be able to make a large donation to a local anti-poverty organization. That would require heavy research and possibly even collaboration with the Ex. Director and board members to work out the programming details. I could see us putting aside something like 10% of our income to do this on a regular basis.
In case anyone’s interested in stretching their dollars, I have a colleague who worked at this cool organization called The Center for High Impact Philanthropy. Essentially they do research on what kind of giving is most effective. We definitely are moving into a non-profit system that will demand evidence to justify funding, so I think this is a great idea for foundations and private donors alike.
My most regular recipient is Tomchai Shabbos- a sort of soup pantry thing. They give boxes of food to poor Jewish families for Shabbat. I sometimes help out with packing, so I feel connected to them.
The latest place I gave to was Efrat. My parents speak higly about it, and it’a one of their favorite charities.
I donate regularly to the AMA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AMA being Alberta Motor Association) because it’s a cause I feel strongly about. I also donate my time and computer for a local anxiety support group.
I donate regularly to United Way through payroll deduction. They’re not perfect, but I feel that more good can be done with a steady influx of cash than with sporadic giving.
I don’t really know much about it, but assume (f’r instance) one wants to start a drug treatment program. My guess is it’s much better to be able to sign leases, hire permanent staff, and set things up expecting a constant income stream. This seems like it would be far more helpful to your intended clientele than a one time cash gift from a publicity-seeking celebrity. So I give reqular constant amounts to the established large charities who can (hopefully) guarantee a regular flow of cash to their recipients.
For diseases, I’m partial to American Cancer Society. There’s cancer all over my family, and too many of my friends.
For social services/poverty…For a while I volunteered with a group called Lovebags - they’re a homeless outreach group that use food as a way to make connection with the homeless. When one of the guys on the street is ready to take a step off the street, they’re there to help. One of my closest friends is a former/somewhat homeless guy I met through Lovebags.
I also volunteer at a local organic garden. We donate most of the food we grow to local food pantries, providing fresh, healthy food for our local poor.
I’m really proud to have run a handful of fundraisers…something that suits my personality and skills more than actually being out on the street as a front-line volunteer. I’ve raised over $10,000 for the World Food Programme, and over $6,000 for the above-mentioned garden.
I also donate to causes for Cystic Fibrosis, MS, Aids, and Diabetes, because those are causes that some of my friends care deeply about. I’m lucky to be able to help them out, and can’t in good conscious expect them to support my causes if I don’t support theirs.
Almost forgot - for disaster relief stuff, I like Portlight. They specialize in finding under-served and forgotten people with needs - typically disabled. My $50 can make a huge differenced to someone there, instead of getting lost in the noise at the stuff the Red Cross does. (Although I do give to Red Cross occasionally). I know some of the guys at Portlight a bit, through Weather Underground. They’re pretty amazing.
On the anniversary of her death, I make a donation to the cancer centre that treated my friend’s mother. The rest tend to be impulse donations - disaster relief has featured heavily this year.
I mostly give to Heifer International and the local Humane Society. HI gives livestock, bees, and trees to impoverished families, with the stipulation that the first offspring must be passed on to another needy family. Goats, for instance, give milk and hair as well as kids, and all of this can be either used directly by the family or sold. HI provides training to care for the livestock, it doesn’t just dump a flock of chicks in a family’s lap and then leave them without any knowledge of how to care for the chicks. I donate on birthdays, generally.
I donate to the Humane Society around March 17, which is the day that Andre Norton passed away. She was one of my favorite writers, and helped me through a difficult childhood. She loved all animals, and particularly cats. Her heir has assured me that that this is exactly how Norton would have preferred to be remembered.
I have two local organizations that I support regularly - the county’s women’s shelter and the county animal welfare league. I may give to other organizations or causes if I have extra cash and feel it’s worthy of my support. I’ll also occasionally rejoin my local public radio station.
I also knit and crochet blankets that are distributed to nursing homes and veterans’ homes, and I’ve given child-size afghans to Project Linus. When AMVETS calls, we’ll usually do a closet purge and leave items for them, too.
All of our old stuff goes to St. Vincent de Paul. I am Mormon and the church has a very large, organized welfare system. They distribute help often with disaster relief, poverty, education, and rebuilding. The entire organization is volunteer so very little is wasted with overhead costs. Money used is from member tithing from the general fund. Items like hygiene kits, baby blankets and such, we put together ourselves.
I give a fair bit to my synagogue, but I don’t consider that charity, so I didn’t tick the “prefer religion” box even though I do give a fair amount to it, and to Jewish charities for eg disaster relief. I have a standing order to give 15% of my income to cost-effective charities such as Deworm the World and SCI, both of which have been proven to offer the most bang-for-buck. I live in a first world developed country and hardly ever give to domestic causes, because we can afford it.
So far the leaders say we donate our money impulsively to animal causes.
I’m good with that.
I’ve been allowing myself to be tortured lately by “liking” an ever expanding selection of FB pages devoted to dog rescue of various kinds. I have to say I am floored by the number of people who are grotequely abusive towards animals in general and ddogs in particular. It’s extrmely disturbing on a number of levels.
The biggest chunk of my charitable giving goes to the church (about 10% of my net income). We also sponsor a child through Compassion International which is about $35/month.
Beyond that, donations are sporadic. We give away old clothes and stuff, to ARC or Goodwill. I’ve given money for specific disasters but not too often. We also occasionally donate to MS research (my sister-in-law has MS).
ETA: I forgot, I also give from each paycheck to United Way and my company’s Employee Assistance Fund.
Huh? I was under the impression that the 10% tithe went into the coffers of the LDS church to be reinvested for the purposes of “Building Up the Kingdom of Zion” (a.k.a. land, temples, chapels, shopping malls), and comparatively tiny additional voluntary donations (such as “fast offerings”) went towards disaster relief, poverty, education, and rebuilding.
Do you have a cite showing that a significant amount of the general tithing fund is used for charitable purposes?
I don’t have a lot of money to give, but I find the new texting donations are easy for me. So simple to do and I don’t have to worry about the money until later. I also donate my time to Habitat for Humanity and various other small local projects.
