Mother Jones Magazine Criticizes America’s Charitable Habits

http://www.pnnonline.org/article.php?sid=6384&mode=thread&order=0

Posted by: laurakujawski on Tuesday, December 6, 2005


Topic Special Features


As we enter the "season of sharing," Mother Jones magazine's December issue offers "Who Gives a $*&t?," a survey of America's charity habits that finds government, individuals, and religious institutions are doing a lot less sharing than they might.


Herewith, a sampling:



Two in three American households say they give to charity, at an average of $1,262 a year. But only 1 in 3 households report charitable deductions to the IRS.


In 2002 Americans deducted $654 million-or 7 times what they were worth-for cars donated to charity.


Four years ago, President Bush pledged $5 billion a year to Africa's best-run countries; to date, the program has distributed $400,000.


Because aid agencies are forced to buy from U.S. companies at inflated prices, historically America has effectively taken back 70 percent of the aid it donated.


Americans spend $8 billion on Christmas decorations, almost 4 times what they give to protect animals and the environment.


Focus on the Family's $2.2 million in tsunami aid included 1 million copies of "When God Doesn't Make Sense," by Dr. James Dobson, the group's founder and chairman.


The Rev. Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing was number 2 on FEMA's list of charities that would aid Katrina victims; last year Operation Blessing gave half of its donations - $885,000 - to Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.


The full list, with sources, is available on the Mother Jones Web site.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/exhibit/2005/12/exhibit.html

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:wow:

the first point puzzles me

Two in three American households say they give to charity, at an average of $1,262 a year. But only 1 in 3 households report charitable deductions to the IRS.

How many households itemize? You can't write off many contributions if you take the standard deduction. What you give doesn't show up on your tax forms in that case.

starting with the weakest and count down to #1 (Robertson)

It's very possible that a large portion of the people in that 1/3 that said they donated to charity but didn't claim it on their taxes are either people who were unaware that charitable donations can be tax-deductible; or they knew, but didn't know how to go about it; or didn't bother putting it down as a deduction because it was relatively small and it didn't seem worth the possible extra hassle of doing the deductions incorrectly (or they really just didn't feel like bothering at all).

In order to get their point across better, they should've done something like taking the number of people who claim in a survey to have given to charity in the past year, and put that up against numbers from a survey of as many varied charities as possible. (Though, don't ask me to explain how any such surveys would actually be structured! :shrug: )

My partner and I donate monies/goods to a number of charities/nonprofits and don't claim the deduction. I don't know, it just seems hypocritical to claim you deserve a reward for charitable giving.

For many people--myself included--listing a charitable deduction can give them a nagging feeling that they're implicitly saying, "Aren't I a wonderful person, giving to charity and all? Now that we agree how kind and noble I am, though, could I get some of that back, please?"

(That's not too disparage those who do take the deduction, of course; there's no reason to presume they're always giving to charity with the express purpose of being reimbursed for it by the government later. If someone wants to claim a perfectly valid deduction--especially for doing something that directly helps people, as opposed to being just some qualifying "business expense"--more power to them.)

I stopped off at the local food bank yesterday to deliver some canned goods and the wonderful volunteers there were busy making up baskets for the ever-growing number of needy families. My neighbor, who volunteers at the SA, said the number of requests for aid has grown by several hundred families this year (and this is a small town).

Winter is an especially difficult time for the poor and for some, it's a choice between heat and food. Please don't forget to give generously to a local charity of your choice. Food, warm clothing, gloves, blankets and shoes are all needed and you can buy those in bulk at a blue company like CostCo.

if you TAKE the standard deduction -- charitable donations are not deductible.

Most homeowners (due to interest) do not take the standard deduction, but most renters and elderly do.