I currently aim to spend roughly 1% of my yearly salary as charitable donations. Things that count towards this goal are humanitarian/relief organizations and animal rescue organizations. For the former, I donate $10/month to Mercy Corps automatically using my credit card. I chose this organization because they are secular, focus on third-world countries, and only 8% of their income is spent on administration. (You can also buy pigs or flocks of ducks to feed people, which cracks me up.) For the latter, I am planning to start donating to Noah’s Wish, a secular animal rescue organization that rescues more species than just cats and dogs (unlike most). I don’t currently or plan to donate to save-the-Earth groups, but I have in the past.

Others potentially charitable donations I make less regularly are to NPR and my high school’s alumni association. These I do not count towards my goal of 1%. And other “charitable” things I do are donate clothing to Goodwill (a secular charity that employs needy people to sort donations, resells the items, and proceeds then go towards educating needy people for careers), reduce/reuse/recycle, and educate students about saving the Earth.

By zandperl on 02.21.06 8:38 pm

I’ll start with the caveat that anything I do give is small…

Since coming to grad school, I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to give to the local community. I guess this is the equivalent of the slate article’s topic for giving to the church… I donate to local groups, primarily those that I am somehow involved in. (Maybe this is easier in a place like Ithaca where there are not as many options as in the big cities). I guess some of them aren’t necessarily “charity”, but it’s my first foray into that sort of world.

On a related note, I’m afraid to give money to homeless people (directly). I think that goes way back to my upbringing (my mom putting scary ideas into my head), but it really bothers me now that I feel this way. Any suggestions for getting over that?

By Jordan on 02.21.06 10:10 pm

There are obviously way too many causes for you to give to all of them. I tend to give money to causes that resonate with me in some way. In the past I’ve given money to the HRC, Penny Arcade’s Child Play, and to the Red Cross during recent disasters (Katrina and the tsunami). In the latter case, I was working at Harvard and did it through them because they would match my contribution. I keep meaning to give money to the EFF, but I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. I suppose part of that is because I feel like their need is not quite as pressing.

As far as giving to the homeless goes, I’ve kind of adopted a completely random approach. I know Jason, Josh and I have talked about the difficulty of giving, and whether one should try to give food instead of money, etc. While I don’t always give them money, I do try to give once in a while. And though there are certainly some who will abuse the money you give them, you obviously can’t punish all of them for those few. But neither should you be obligated to give money to each and every homeless person you pass.

Given the amount of superfluous change that usually ends up in my pockets, I’d recommend that you consider just taking the change from your next coffee, sandwich, Collegetown Bagel, etc. and give it to the next homeless person you see. More than anything, I think the most important thing is to try and remember to treat them as people. Oftentimes, it is a temptation to just ignore them, but I do try to make eye contact and at least acknowledge them, even if I don’t have anything to give them.

Anyway, hope that helps.

By Dan on 02.21.06 11:51 pm

These are all interesting ideas, thanks. If you haven’t posted yet, please feel free to ignore this comment and just post what you were going to say. To follow up on a couple other comments, though:

On giving to disaster relief: I’m kind of shocked the original Slate article didn’t even touch upon this. I’ve heard reports that most of the relief money hasn’t gone to the countries it was earmarked for, which irks me.

On giving money to people who ask for it on the street: When I got to Philly, I was giving away change right and left. I’m less likely to do it now because the people here are so often rude about it and because I see the same guys asking for money later spending it on liquor. Josh has suggested that it’s not my duty to question how they find solace, but I do feel like it’s my responsibility not to be an enabler if getting sober could help a fellow get off the street. Generally, though, I try to be polite and either say I have no change on me (usually the case) or dump a bit into somebody’s hand … I guess, in the end, it still means less to me than it will to them.

On giving money to secular organizations: I can see why you’d make a point to do this, Andria, as non-secular organizations are more likely to be using their activities as a chance to proselytize. Would you have any compunctions about giving to a Christian organization that does not attempt to convert anyone, or a Muslim organization that has an easier time being accepted for aid by people in the Middle East?

By Jason on 02.22.06 9:32 am

Hm, good question.

I have two reasons for avoiding religious institutions. The first is as you stated: proselytization (sp?). The second I think gets my goat more: discrimination.

The most famous case on the second is the Salvation Army. Their mission statement is to evangelize based upon the Bible, “without discrimination.” And yet, the Salvation Army in New York City continues to practice bias against homosexual employees, and has even threatened to pull out of NYC if the city enforced equal rights laws.

While I know that not all religious charities belive in sexual orientation discrimination, the majority I have run across do. And Christianity (other than Calvinism I think) specifically does believe in conversion, though I am not sure about Islam or Eastern religions. So for me to hold true to my not wanting my money to support conversions or discrimination, I find it easiest to avoid faith-based charities.

You make a good point of Muslim groups potentially having better access to needy people in the Middle East, but it doesn’t trump my other points.

Oh, and for future reference I try not to link my online name to my real name. I’ve already had a few people track it down in the past, so it may be too late, but oh well. :-P

By zandperl on 02.22.06 9:37 pm

And Christianity (other than Calvinism I think) specifically does believe in conversion, though I am not sure about Islam or Eastern religions.

There is a line in the Qur’an stating that there is to be no compulsion in religion, and that there is protection for other religious groups (specifically Christians and Jews). These are obviously often ignored…

By Dan on 02.22.06 11:20 pm