Are you reducing charitable giving?

[Questor]

Are you reducing your charitable giving because of the economy and taxes this year? I'm not quite to that point yet, but I'm close. The big issue is taxes in my state. It seems the government wants to handle charity for me.

[Graybeard]

Nope no change.

[Swampman]

I give a little over 10% of my gross income.  I probably always will.

[powderman]

We give our tithe, 10%, to our church, you can't outgive God. Other than that it's helping out a homeless friend as much as we can. Money is tight since they cut my hours, back to regular hours this week, probably will be til Christmas, then it's anybodys guess. POWDERMAN. 

[myronman3]

nope, i am giving more than ever.   (g.b.'s ar fund counts, right?) 

[45-70.gov]

this  is a  good  cause
i  just  feel  dumb  being  the fund raiser
so  you  might  want  to help  with  the shipping

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,156671.0.html

[Brett]

Yes and no.  Like others here I give a little over 10% of my income.  However, my income has declined a little due to the affects of the economy on the construction trades.  So percentage wise no change.

[Hairtrigger]

The last few years I was working for very little pay. That changed this spring and now I am making progress as far as getting things paid off and I have increased my giving accordingly

[jhm]

Not so much effect this year, However a few years back we decided when the phone rang off the hook that we were going to change, So once a year we give to one charity that WE pick out of a jar (their name that is) If you are one of the ones calling you dont get a turn in the JAR and the callers are told they have been removed and WHY!!  This year the stack has gotten larger because the callers have been less, that's how the CANCER society get our money this year.   Jim

[d_hiker]

Our giving has remained about the same percentage.  I also don't give to phone solicitors, one exception is the Red Cross Blood Donation.  If the ARC calls it is usually because I forgot to set an appointment to donate.  I know they start to run short of blood supplies this time of year.  I would encourage anyone that is healthy and able, to consider a blood donation, it only cost you a little of your time.

[Cement Man]

Not less - more.  We tithe and my 401K has been really beat up this year, but our church has some special needs right now and we will give more.  Also thinking of sponsoring another child with Christian Childrens Fund.

We have much to be thankful for today.  Always have. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[buffermop]

It seems once you give to one, they get your name and number from a list that must be passed around. I learned to JUST SAY NO to all. Tired of people calling looking for a handout I never heard of!

[Cement Man]

I draw the line at telephone solicitors.  I tell them that I do NO business over the phone.  I put us on the "DO NOT CALL" list, but they seem to call anyway.

About a year ago, I purchased a book, I believe called - "Who Really Cares?"  The book presented a pretty well documented case that conservatives are exceedingly more generous than liberals. 

My daughter and I were discussing  this today and she indicated that the Palins, on an adjusted gross income under $150K/yr donated about $4800/yr to charity.   That was considerably more than the total of Biden's charitable giving for 10 years on a cumulative income of $2.5 million.  SEveral Googled results seem to confirm this. (palin vs. biden charitable giving)

One article said that the average American household gives about 2% adjusted gross income to charity.  Palin was 2.75%, Biden 1/8th of 1%.  Seems to support what that book says.

[Oldtimer]

Since I retired, I give of my time.  Right now, we are selecting partner families for next year for Habitat for Humanity.  Advent begins tomorrow, so I will be busy over Christmas doing things at the church.  I have a mission trip in a week down to Louisiana.  I will probably be secretary for the local volunteer fire department next year.  With my back problems, I can't run fire or rescue calls any more, so it's the least I can do.  I don't try to add up the amount of time, as I figure that God has a handle on that, and will allot me what He thinks I need.

We also give to the church and up our pledge this year.  We have what we need, so it is not going to be a burden to give a bit more.  My wife and I also donate to our respective colleges, not a lot, but enough to keep them calling us.  As for phone solicitations, never.  The ones that call in the name of fire and rescue really get an earful from me.  To my mind, they are poaching on the local fire department's territory, and I hate poachers.