How much do you give to charity?

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bostonimproper
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How much do you give to charity?

Post by bostonimproper »

It's the holiday season and I thought it might be nice to start a thread about giving back and hopefully inspire others to do the same. :)

We donate 10% of our net income. We gave to 12 different organizations in 2019, giving one-time $500+ donations to each. I tend to pick a lot of environmental charities and my husband hones in on criminal justice and incarceration.

How much do you give to charity and where do you like to give?
Last edited by bostonimproper on Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bostonimproper
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by bostonimproper »

I also want to share some incentives and techniques to make giving go further, as potential inspiration for others:
  • Employer matching. Some big corporate employers will do up to 100% charitable contributions up to a certain amount per year, effectively doubling your giving!
  • Tax incentives. We itemize deductions ($$$ mortgage interest). This means we get 20%+ off our taxes for each $1.00 we give.
  • Credit card bonuses. A lot of credit cards will give you an initial offer for $100 cash back for $500 of spending.
So for a $500 donation, I really get $220 back (in the forms of a tax rebate and CC bonuses), putting me $280 out of pocket. The charity I'm giving to, in turn, get $1000 to drive their mission forward, 3.5x what I put in!
Last edited by bostonimproper on Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Scott 2
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Scott 2 »

In before "charity is dumb" and "when I'm dead" and "taxes".

Less than one percent. Only stuff that's immediately fun. Podcast support, fostering at local animal shelter, flipping the uber driver an extra twenty, etc.

jacob
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by jacob »

About $400/year to 12 patreons which mostly goes to people adding value in a way that can't be monetized via ads. (I feel some sympathy here.)

Nothing to charity.

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Seppia
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Seppia »

Somewhere around $5.000 this year, up significantly since last year but still not enough.
We direct the money towards missions my sister indicates, as she’s been on a few missions herself and is heavily involved into charity (mostly via the church), so she personally knows the people receiving the money.
The thing we want to add for next year is some data driven donations where the impact/money ratio is highest.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

We donated our 7 year old Christmas tree, ornaments and lights through a local church this year, purchases tickets to several fundraisers (brews for animal shelter event at brewery, charity dinner for a food drive, and a few others), clothing, books to the library, and we will donate some possessions when move.

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GandK
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by GandK »

About 12%. 10% to faith-based/charitable organizations (tithe), and another 2% to individuals we know personally who are Doing Good Things.

Nomad
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Nomad »

I don't give enough to charity but I give a regular donation to the Salvation Army. I'm planning of giving more next year and setup a donation to the Red Cross. We even have food banks in the UK now - fifth richest country in the world...

ertyu
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by ertyu »

I give $100-200 per yr to a non-profit whose mission I believe in and whose existence I personally happen to benefit from. I started contributing only recently once my earning power grew, but have benefitted from their existence since my 20s.

OTCW
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by OTCW »

About $1,000 this year. Plus volunteer time.

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Sclass
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Sclass »

Used to give a lot. Maybe 1% of annual income before taxes. I thought I had to give to get back.

Then I read this quote by Warren Buffet. It went something like, “when I’m asked to donate I will often ask if hey can wait. Taking a few thousand from me back in the 1960s would have been a mistake if you could wait twenty years. At that point I’d be able to give significantly more.” He laughed and went on to say the endowment would have to be very well managed to grow his donation faster than he could in the same time. Basically he said, if you can wait, wait and I’ll give you a lot more later.

So I’ve stopped donating all together. Someday I’ll fill their coiffures with green but not today.

There’s the added kink that in retirement I pay less tax so I’m not looking for charity tax deductions anymore.

Peanut
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Peanut »

Fortuitous topic, as I'm trying to figure this out more. Last year was very unusual with an additional 10k on top of the normal 5k. I'm too greedy to do the 10% of income thing but I've been thinking about 10% of spending. It'll help keep my spending in check too. I just need to come up with a catchy name for it. I do about an hr/wk of volunteer work also. Much easier for me to give my time, limited as it is. I suppose I have less fear of it running out, even though it's guaranteed to.

We've probably given to more than a dozen of the major organizations over the years, from Doctors without Borders to Save the Children to Humane Society to NRDC to Wikipedia (Dh's choice). Also local shelters and such. I did a gofundme because I met someone who was helping a political asylum family and learned about it directly. Things worked out really well for them with the husband finding work in Texas. If there was a way for me to help more people like that with confidence it would loosen the pursestrings.

I've noticed that charitable giving is a very American thing. It's somewhat of a foreign concept to my friends who grew up in Europe or Asia. I also think you're more likely to do it if you have a middle-class background. More recently, I've also noticed (from the outside) that being rich in America means you spend a lot of time being courted for monetary donations. Brunches, galas, and one-on-ones with local organizations doing everything the government can't afford or declines to do.

Toska2
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Toska2 »

0% (money) There has been too little research to determine what actions a charity should take to be most effective. Thus, I took the tribal approach and only help people I interact with (time). NPR did a news piece about this. It was charities in africa, one giving metal roofs the other a cow and some instructions. Interestingly the metsl roofs were more effective. The metal roof required less land for straw, less work collecting materials and less fires.

7Wannabe5
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I agree with Toska with the caveat that you actually have to make some effort to take yourself outside of your comfort zone (desirable zip code where the police always respond promptly) to learn how you can best offer direct assistance. Unfortunately, I can verify that there are still many children in the U.S. who are growing up in some very bad circumstances. I guess I don't even think about donating money to charities, because I so often find myself in situations where I am having to pull out yet another oz of internal good will or patience or empathy while dealing with a room full of rowdy recent refugee status 6th graders or the autistic child who starts screaming because he is sensitive to music while I am trying to lead the rest of the group of cognitively impaired pre-schoolers in learning "Where is Thumbkin?" I have literally found babies wandering in the street on 3 occasions in the neighborhood where I owned vacant lots, and I have also had the surreal experience of attending a charity event where champagne was served to mostly elites in attendance a few miles away from this neighborhood. Donating money is linear. That's why it can be defined with percentages. Actually helping is complex and not easily described with such metrics.

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Ego
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Ego »

Yesterday I gave $10 to the couple who cross the border to clean the derelict restrooms at the swap meet because they are a consistent reminder of the importance of the old adage, whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. It is less of a payment for a job well done than a thanks for the good example they provide daily. An example I try to follow.

But I hate the fact that I just told everyone that I gave it. I prefer my father's example. He gave a wad of cash to one of my high school friends on the night his house burned down. Never mentioned it to anyone. At my father's funeral I was a perplexed by how emotional my friend was until he explained the reason.

ajcoleman22
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by ajcoleman22 »

Anything we make over $150K inflation adjusted.

bostonimproper
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by bostonimproper »

Scott 2 wrote:In before "charity is dumb" and "when I'm dead" and "taxes".
Haha, I was worried about that too, but I think the thread's been less cynical than I feared.
jacob wrote:About $400/year to 12 patreons
Any creators you'd recommend?
Seppia wrote:The thing we want to add for next year is some data driven donations where the impact/money ratio is highest.
I find it so hard to find good data-driven analyses on the kinds of charities I want to donate to. I think the effective altruism movement is great, but is still kind of behind on the environmental front. Any thoughts on what sort of donations you might add?
2Birds1Stone wrote:and we will donate some possessions when move
Good luck with the move!
GandK wrote:About 12%. 10% to faith-based/charitable organizations (tithe), and another 2% to individuals we know personally who are Doing Good Things.
Having grown up around a very religious community, though not religious myself, I'm really glad it got hammered into me early to give. I feel like it's done a lot of good for me in my life.
Nomad wrote:We even have food banks in the UK now - fifth richest country in the world...
Food security is such a huge issue here in the US too. At least here, it often hurts children the most. I like donating to our local food rescue org, which takes a lot of produce that would otherwise go to waste, and cooks it into ready-made meals (or gives raw) to families in need. Definitely an improvement over the loads of low-nutrition past-expiration canned goods that usually gets sent to food pantries.
ertyu wrote:I give $100-200 per yr to a non-profit whose mission I believe in and whose existence I personally happen to benefit from.

It's always feels amazing to give back to a program you benefitted from!
OTCW wrote:About $1,000 this year. Plus volunteer time.
Where do you volunteer?
Sclass wrote:Basically he said, if you can wait, wait and I’ll give you a lot more later.
I apply a pretty large discount factor to charitable giving: your impact now has compounding ripple effects outward. I think because I was a charity case myself as a kid that had a limited time window when interventions in my life were/would have been effective, so I've never been a "wait until later to give it all away" kind of person. Do you plan to give away money when you pass? Have you figured out where you'd donate your money to when you finally do?
Peanut wrote:I've noticed that charitable giving is a very American thing. It's somewhat of a foreign concept to my friends who grew up in Europe or Asia.
I feel like my Asian relatives give a lot, but in a very different way than we do. They mostly give to erect religious buildings or one-off directly to needy individuals in their social circle (whether they be workers, local shopkeepers, or acquaintances). Also, they are more likely to lend money amongst one another in times of need. But there's no real culture of institutional giving like we do.
Toska2 wrote:0% (money) There has been too little research to determine what actions a charity should take to be most effective.
Is the concern that your donations wouldn't be the most effective or that they wouldn't be beneficial at all? Are there local initiatives whose effect you can see and verify for yourself that may be compelling?
7Wannabe5 wrote:Donating money is linear... Actually helping is complex and not easily described with such metrics.
I think this is a very wise point that inputs and impact are different. I would counter that I think there are clear no-regrets programs that one could donate to without intimate knowledge and ties to the individuals that are supported, e.g. food rescue, no-cost hot meal, and backpack lunch programs for kids. Though, obviously, it seems like you're making a huge impact on these kids with the work your already doing.
Ego wrote:But I hate the fact that I just told everyone that I gave it.
I feel that. I guess I try to look at it more based on its effects in the world. If I tell others about my giving, am I more likely to give more or less in the future? If I tell others about my giving, are they more likely to give more or less in the future? On net, is being perceived as showy worth the potential impact of others' marginal contributions?

For example, at our wedding, my husband and I had our guests donate money to charity instead of giving us gifts. At first I was like, "ugh, everyone is going to think we're those kind of people." Holier than thou rich folks. But, on the other hand, we also raised $2750 for causes we really care about. So, whatever. Helping others is more important than my humility, real or feigned.
ajcoleman22 wrote:Anything we make over $150K inflation adjusted.
Oh wow, that can definitely add up if you have a high income! How long has that been your system and your income increased since?

jacob
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by jacob »

@bostonimproper - https://www.patreon.com/stumcm/ gets the lion's share.

7Wannabe5
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

bostonimproper wrote:I think this is a very wise point that inputs and impact are different. I would counter that I think there are clear no-regrets programs that one could donate to without intimate knowledge and ties to the individuals that are supported, e.g. food rescue, no-cost hot meal, and backpack lunch programs for kids. Though, obviously, it seems like you're making a huge impact on these kids with the work your already doing.
Thanks, I didn't mean to be overly dismissive of efforts made by others. However, I would note that in the quite grim inner-city schools where I have worked, food is pretty well covered, and what is most needed would be one on one time with literate functional adults and safe playgrounds and other 3rd spaces. The functional adult to child ratio within secure boundaries is key. I have literally experienced children I was tutoring being attacked by older students in the hallways as I attempted to walk them to the library. Most American children who are coming to school unfed and inappropriately dressed are lacking decent parental care more than lack of charitable resources such as food banks or winter coat drives. IOW, nobody who is doing their laundry or cooking them dinner, let alone reading them a bedtime story and teaching some phonetics.

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Seppia
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Re: How much do you give to charity?

Post by Seppia »

Givewell exists to analyze the most effective charities.
The very basic metric they use is "least usd per life saved", which most of the times results in fighting malaria

https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities
7Wannabe5 wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 6:25 am
Donating money is linear. That's why it can be defined with percentages. Actually helping is complex and not easily described with such metrics.
I am maybe misunderstanding here, but are you suggesting that giving money is no "real" help?

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