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Poll

How much would you donate to a welfare-style charity, if you weren't taxed, on a monthly basis?

0%
- 7 (17.1%)
<1 - 2%
- 5 (12.2%)
3  -5%
- 9 (22%)
5 - 10%
- 10 (24.4%)
10 - 15%
- 7 (17.1%)
15 - 20%
- 1 (2.4%)
20%+
- 2 (4.9%)

Total Members Voted: 17


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Author Topic: How much would you donate to a welfare-style charity, if you weren't taxed?  (Read 12997 times)

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jckeyser

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charities suck, they have overhead costs, I would rather give an individual any money I wished to donate...

Well, exactly, with a lot of them, you can never be completely sure that your money is going where you want it to.
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Bill Brasky

  • Guest

Before I gave anything, I'd go on word of mouth, and probably call up like "I'm calling for a friend" kinda thing.  If they've got a dipshit at the reception desk, I'll go no further.  Ask a bunch of stupid questions, testing their patience.  Very often the people who call such organizations are faced with a problem they've never experienced before, and don't know the proper questions to ask, what the organization actually does, they're just grasping at straws. 

The first impression is a lasting impression.  If a person who actually needs that help can't get it with legitimate needs, they can kiss my ass. 

As far as bums go, I'll give 'em five bucks if they've got a kid hanging around with 'em.  I know what a sandwich costs. 
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AbsurdParadox

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I should mention that me calling welfare-style charities "bum-helpin' " wasn't meant to be taken literally as helping bums, heh. Seems to be some confusion about that.
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Charles

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I'd probably give 10% or 15% of my income to finance my own non-profit private schools that provide education to the public.  Probably another 5% to any word of mouth kind of organization I hear about that I might be really interested in helping out.
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Alex Libman

  • Guest

So not only would I donate large sums to charity, I would look down on anyone who didn't.
Why?
Because not everyone buys into the randist BS that charity is evil, because you would hope for the same in their situation, and it's not like he's saying he wants to threaten people who don't with fines or jailtime, so let him be.

OK, let me rephrase that.  Instead of saying I'd "look down" on wealthy people not contributing to local charities, I would "look up" to those that do, and in doing so contribute to creating a culture of social responsibility, where voluntary generosity brings one recognition and respect.  Everything being relative, that might be equivalent to "looking down" on those that don't, but it doesn't sound as "assfuckinghole"-like.

Related thread: A call for Charity in the Free State.

Related article, from AP via CNN.com -- Americans set new mark for giving --

Quote
POSTED: 2:24 a.m. EDT, June 25, 2007

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Americans gave twice as much as next most charitable country
  • Individuals gave a combined 83.4 percent of the total, with bequests counted
  • Biggest chunk of donations went to religious organizations, followed by education
  • Report: About 65 percent of households with incomes less than $100,000 gave

NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a new record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma -- and the Asian tsunami.

Donors contributed an estimated $295.02 billion in 2006, a 1 percent increase when adjusted for inflation, up from $283.05 billion in 2005. Excluding donations for disaster relief, the total rose 3.2 percent, inflation-adjusted, according to an annual report released Monday by the Giving USA Foundation at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.

Giving historically tracks the health of the overall economy, with the rise amounting to about one-third the rise in the stock market, according to Giving USA. Last year was right on target, with a 3.2 percent rise, as stocks rose more than 10 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis.

"What people find especially interesting about this, and it's true year after year, that such a high percentage comes from individual donors," Giving USA Chairman Richard Jolly said.

Individuals gave a combined 75.6 percent of the total. With bequests, that rises to 83.4 percent.

The biggest chunk of the donations, $96.82 billion or 32.8 percent, went to religious organizations. The second largest slice, $40.98 billion or 13.9 percent, went to education, including gifts to colleges, universities and libraries.

About 65 percent of households with incomes less than $100,000 give to charity, the report showed.

Part of 'American culture'

"It tells you something about American culture that is unlike any other country," said Claire Gaudiani, a professor at NYU's Heyman Center for Philanthropy and author of "The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism." Gaudiani said the willingness of Americans to give cuts across income levels, and their investments go to developing ideas, inventions and people to the benefit of the overall economy.

Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7 percent. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73 percent, while France, with a 0.14 percent rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.

Mega-gifts, which Giving USA considers to be donations of $1 billion or more, tend to get the most attention, and that was true last year especially.

Investment superstar Warren Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would give $30 billion over 20 years to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Of that total, $1.9 billion was given in 2006, which helped push the year's total higher.

Gaudiani said that gift reflects a growing focus on using donated money efficiently and effectively.

"I think it's also a strategic commitment to upward mobility exported to other countries, in the form of improved health and stronger civil societies," she said.

The Gates Foundation has focused on reducing hunger and fighting disease in developing countries as well as improving education in the U.S. Without Buffett's pledge, it had an endowment of $29.2 billion as of the end of 2005.

Meanwhile, companies and their foundations gave less in 2006, dropping 10.5 percent to $12.72 billion. Jolly said corporate giving fell because companies had been so generous in response to the natural disasters and because profits overall were less strong in 2006 over the year before.

The Giving USA report counts money given to foundations as well as grants the foundations make to nonprofits and other groups, since foundations typically give out only income earned without spending the original donations.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2007, 03:16:41 AM by Alex Libman »
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AbsurdParadox

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Just listened to Friday's show, and a caller called in about Charity in a free market. Thought I would bump this poll :)
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Jason Orr

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I wouldn't donate as a percentage of total income, but a percentage of income minus rent, utilities, etc.  What that percentage would be would depend on my income.  If I make $40,000 a year, it could be 5%, but if I make $4 million a year, it could be well over 50%.  It also depends on the charities available, how much I trust them not to embezzle my money, and how effective they are at raising people out of poverty.
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“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money”

--Alexis de Tocqueville

jckeyser

  • Guest

It doesn't matter now, really. I've been taxed so much that at this point, if taxes were abolished, I'd expect charity to be extended to me from the paychecks of IRS employees.
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bignasty022

  • Guest

I wouldn't give a god damn thing.  That's probably because I need all the money I can get right now to better my own life - rather than bettering someone elses.

Maybe in my 40's or 50's when my life is set I'd donate 2 or 3 percent.
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AlexLibman

  • Guest

I'd donate about a third of my income plus old furniture and clothes and stuff, but it won't be exactly "welfare-style".  Habitat for Humanity, local food banks, and local charity hospitals are always good.  On a less local scale, educational programs like One Laptop Per Child and "open" educational content providers.  And I'd contribute to a local make-work program that hires the unemployed to keep the city clean - stuff like that.
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Ed

  • Guest

I'd volunteer at Single Moms United.
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dmgov

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    • TheSharkTank

I'd volunteer at Single Moms United.

local strip club?
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"A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance."
— Hunter S. Thompson

Ed

  • Guest

I'd volunteer at Single Moms United.

local strip club?

Local support group. I guess it's not really charity...but I'd like to be there for the single moms struggling to get by.
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bonerjoe

  • Guest

Absolutely nothing.
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Mayor Maximus

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Ever since i was a young bleeding heart liberal i had always wanted to start up a charity for the homeless.  I think if i could have my 30 percent i'd nearly feel obligated to go ahead with it.  No excuses for me to lean on.
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Maximus
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