sunil.debnath: Charity ? Thoughts

The national media are showing many articles about CHARITY nowadays.? The two major political parties are trumpeting the private charitable donations of their champions who are running for the office of President of the United States (POTUS).

In 2010, Romney gave about 7% of his adjusted gross income to the Mormon Church ? about 1.5 Million dollars.? He also gave about the same amount of money (1.5 million) to other ?charities ? particularly the Tyler Charitable Foundation ? a ?charity? that is exclusively and entirely owned and managed by Mitt and Ann Romney.?? It?s biggest donations also go directly to the LDS church and Brigham Young University.? But it also made grants directly to other non-profit agencies, including:

United Way of Massachusetts, $152,000

Right to Play, $111,500

George W. Bush Presidential Library, $100,000

City Year, $65,000

Harvard Business School, $60,000

Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, $36,050

The Heritage Foundation, $25,000

If any readers want a more thorough discussion of Romney?s charitable contributions, click HERE.

What Really Is a Charitable Contribution?

Today?s blog is NOT really about Mitt Romney.? It is about ?What Is A Charitable Contribution??? Is it really ?charity? to give money to a college, a business school or even to a church?? Is a contribution to an anti-Gay organization a ?charity??? A Presidential library?? A political party?? A tax-lobbying organization?? A religion dedicated to its own survival?

Religions in the US are generally nowhere near anything that would resemble ?charities?.? Most their income goes to building expenses for themselves, for salaries for their leaders and for dispersing their message to others (called missionary work).? Most US religions do not share their expenses publicly (unless it is for their own aggrandizement).? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the ?Mormons?) is no exception.

They do not share their income or expenses ? even to their own members.? They do ask for the members to ?sustain? their annual financial report, however without knowing any of the specifics.)? But they widely show the beautiful new buildings and temples they build ? and boast of some of the ?welfare? programs that they support.

During the 6 decades that I was active in the LDS church, I often volunteered time and money to the LDS welfare program, (one of the most efficient charities in the US) but donations to this ?charity? do not count at all to whether or not you have paid ?tithing?.? While an adolescent, my dad would often take us boys to the ?Church Farm? to hoe beets, thin corn, pick corn or do other word on behalf of the welfare program.? Later, as I grew older, I volunteered to help with work in the canneries or other farm programs ? eventually even donating my 4-wheel drive Chevrolet truck in 1979? instead of trying to sell it when I moved out of town.

Dad was a salesman most his life and had times when income was scarce.? We generally had canned fruit and vegetables that had the Deseret Industries logo on the label, which indicated that Dad had recently gone to the bishop because he needed help to feed? his family.

An article recently published in the LA Times claimed that Utah is the number one state in philanthropic, charitable and religious contributions ? giving a little over 10% of disposable income to churches and charities.?? People in the ?Bible-Belt? states of the South donated roughly 6% of their income and New Hampshire came in last at about 3%.?? This study claimed directly that the more religious the residents of a state are, the more they give to charities and help the poor.

But this is grossly misleading, as all contributions to non-profit organizations were included in the calculations for this study.? People who contributed to any non-profit organization were counted as helping the poor and needy ? contributions that had nothing at all to do with helping the poor.? Contributions to Presidential Libraries, Save the Animals, Save the environment, Save the Whales, Save Traditional Marriage, Save the Democrats, Help pray for Gays, Save my Law School, Save my children from learning about evolution ? all can be considered charitable donations.

I would suggest that our tax code in the US favors helping ANYTHING and ANYBODY who holds out their hands for contributions AND these contributions often have nothing at all to do with really? helping the poor, the needy, the sick or handicapped.

If a study were made about states that really help those who need our help (those possibly who Jesus, Mohammed and Gandhi would call poor and widowed) that entirely different conclusions would be made.

?Evaluating Charities

I feel that those who give secretly to people who need their help are just as ?good? as those who make contributions to churches in a more accountable way.?? Helping people, however, by giving to ?charities? should also be part of sharing good fortune.??? One way to evaluate charities is to go online to see how potential charities are rated by independent organizations.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/? is one link that readers might use.? It is generally felt that charities with low overhead, low advertising, and CEO?s who are not ?whistling their own tune? by large salaries are good bets for possible contributions.? Even the Red Cross has been criticized for large salaries of officers.

Some charities that I admire are:

Malawi?s Pizza:? A business that contributes a share of all their income to needy families in Africa.? (It was started by a nephew of mine.)? While not a charity itself, it DOES have a charity built into its sales structure.? I would guess that more of a percentage of its gross income goes to charity than many churches.

UNICEF:? The children?s Charity of the United Nations

Deseret Industries:? The ?official? welfare organization of the LDS church

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:? Providing health care throughout the world

I would suggest that people with some money to give to help the poor and sick people of the world, really put their money where it will help ? donate carefully to REAL charities and avoid just giving it to churches and non-profit organizations.? This is especially true of non-profits that are not public with their use of the monies that they get.