charity

[Piobaire]

I try to give both money and time. We give money to various charities, from paying for a young person to attend a certain cultural camp every year, to some non-profit health care organizations, to the local Jewish Federation (and I'm not even remotely Jewish!). We also donate time and focus on things that foster children developing an interest in math and science, such as events for E-week ( E = engineers) to marking tests at weekend math competitions, to tutoring a child every year in math and reading.

As with all things of this nature though, my personal demand is quite elastic and might be very negatively impacted depending on changes to the tax code. Another unintended consequence politicians need to consider.

 

[BigHandMan]

Originally Posted by BigHandMan

Regarding limits...

For starters, it depends on whether you itemize your income tax returns and what – i.e. what type of asset – you choose to donate. If you don’t itemize your deductions and instead take the standard deduction, the charitable deduction won’t apply.

If you do itemize your deductions, the charitable deduction is included among your other itemized deductions (see form 1040) and can be used to offset income.

Gifts of cash to a public charity can be deducted up to a limit of 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). So if your adjusted gross income is $10,000 and you give away $6,000 – and you itemize your return – you can only deduct $5,000 of your donations (50% of $10,000). The remaining balance of $1,000 in charitable deduction can be applied to future tax years.

Gifts of property (e.g. publicly-traded securities) to a public charity are subject to a 30% AGI limit.

In case it’s not apparent, these limits really don’t apply to the vast majority of taxpayers.

Ask any other questions – I’ll try to help.

I should add that my wife and I support many charities, including 2 Jewish Federations (I work in NY and live in NJ). We also support a number of organizations devoted to providing services and support to people with cancer as well as to research institutions devoted to fighting it. Unfortunately, both of our families have been hit hard by the disease.

Lastly, we contribute each year to The Melissa Institute for for Violence Prevention and Treatment, which was founded in memory of a close friend of ours who was murdered. It's an amazing organization. More info can be found here for anyone who is interested:

http://www.melissainstitute.org

 

[Mustapha]

I give to Plan Canada. It's one of those adopt-a-distant-kid things where they take $35. or so out off your credit card each month. The child has written several times and it's quite heart rending.

I do not understand giving to political causes of any stripe; but that's me.

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by SoCal2NYC

In highschool we had to do 160 hours of community service in order to graduate. As much of a prick you might think I am, it has left the impression that when it comes to the less fortunate I would rather go out and donate my time instead of my money. My $ goes to The Jane Goodall Foundation, The Met, Free Arts NYC, that Dress for Success or whatever was one of the GQ Gentlemen's Fund thing and other groups/projects like that.
Service Learning was an hideous experience. I recall doing mine at a library putting away books, but really, I just sought out an obscure area and read. Now, the real amusing one was this "Community service" program where you had to pay to volunteer to go to Mexico to build houses for certain poor areas. I've no problem with the thrust of that charity but I've certainly a problem with having to pay to volunteer and then having paid that money, being forced to sleep together in some decrepit former schoolhouse whilst on said trip.

 

[philosophe]

We give to Heifer, Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, the United Way, the local food bank, and various Jewish community charities. Charitynavigator.com is a great site.

 

[Concordia]

We give to arts groups, our children's schools (one of which does special ed exclusively and really needs an endowment), some social service things. My wife is more likely to take on projects that involve time and money. I have different time constraints so while I sit on a few boards I don't get in the trenches quite so often.

One tidbit I learned about my grandfather and his siblings is that when they came into their patrimony it was accompanied by an earnest admonition to give 10% of any income to the church and similar good works. I've found that ever since I started doing that my life has felt a little more balanced.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Mustapha

I do not understand giving to political causes of any stripe; but that's me.

Am I reading your post too literally? I certainly get choosing not to donate to political causes. But it's not really too hard to understand the various reasons why someone else might choose to do so, is it?

 

[Vintage Gent]

My giving tends to reflect my values as well as my personal affiliations. I give to my alma mater, the academic health center where I work, Oxfam, the Nature Conservancy, the Planned Parenthood Foundation, the ACLU Foundation of Texas and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. But you have to come up with a philanthropic approach that works for you. If you're uncertain about where to give, and it seems from your post, globe, that you might be, you might want to consider a general gift to your local United Way.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Vintage Gent

My giving tends to reflect my values as well as my personal affiliations. I give to my alma mater, the academic health center where I work, Oxfam, the Nature Conservancy, the Planned Parenthood Foundation, the ACLU Foundation of Texas and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. But you have to come up with a philanthropic approach that works for you. If you're uncertain about where to give, and it seems from your post, globe, that you might be, you might want to consider a general gift to your local United Way.

You forgot Chan.

 

[Mustapha]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Am I reading your post too literally? I certainly get choosing not to donate to political causes. But it's not really too hard to understand the various reasons why someone else might choose to do so, is it?

Yes, I understand why others might do so. I used to be a card carrying politico.

I'm just cheesed that civic sense in office holders is rare these days.

 

[rdawson808]

How many of your give to the place where you work? That is, non-profits, academia, med centers, etc.?

At my last job we were always on the Development Office's mailing list. It frankly offended me a little. I can sort of see asking tenured faculty for money--there's a reciprocal showing of loyalty. But asking a first or even fifth year faculty for money? Didn't they see that pay for many of us was well below market and that for all of us pay was too low for us to afford a house in town?

b

 

[philosophe]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

How many of your give to the place where you work? That is, non-profits, academia, med centers, etc.? At my last job we were always on the Development Office's mailing list. It frankly offended me a little. I can sort of see asking tenured faculty for money--there's a reciprocal showing of loyalty. But asking a first or even fifth year faculty for money? Didn't they see that pay for many of us was well below market and that for all of us pay was too low for us to afford a house in town? b
I agree with what you say here. Junior faculty outside of law, business, medicine and fields where consulting is the norm are generally barely making it. I give to the financial aid fund at my undergrad institution. I couldn't have gone there without that help.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Vintage Gent

My giving tends to reflect my values as well as my personal affiliations. I give to my alma mater, the academic health center where I work, Oxfam, the Nature Conservancy, the Planned Parenthood Foundation, the ACLU Foundation of Texas and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. But you have to come up with a philanthropic approach that works for you. If you're uncertain about where to give, and it seems from your post, globe, that you might be, you might want to consider a general gift to your local United Way.

thanks - I am a little embarressed by this, but my family never really gave outside of to the united jewish fund, as far as I can remember. and I have never really contributed to charity aside from a few hundred bucks a year that I give to panhandlers, and a few hundred bucks that I give to jewish charities. I considered 2 charities this year - heifer.org and a fund to provide scholorships to disadvantaged combat vets from the IDF to go to school - both charities I like, but I was actually trying to get a feel for what other people were doing.

 

[Go Surface]

I've given to purple heart, and the red cross.

In high school, I actually started an Art club, and was also voted president. Where we organized "service-like" activities that I basically applied towards the graduation requirement. Cheating, I know.

 

[EL72]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

thanks - I am a little embarressed by this, but my family never really gave outside of to the united jewish fund, as far as I can remember. and I have never really contributed to charity aside from a few hundred bucks a year that I give to panhandlers, and a few hundred bucks that I give to jewish charities. I considered 2 charities this year - heifer.org and a fund to provide scholorships to disadvantaged combat vets from the IDF to go to school - both charities I like, but I was actually trying to get a feel for what other people were doing.

You have nothing to be embarrassed about.