How Much and Why People Give

SF Gate—The math (and morality) of giving  By Rob Baedeker 

How much to do you give to charity, and is there a method to your kindness? How do you decide whether and how much to give, and to whom? Does your philanthropy, for that matter, really spring from kindness -- or generosity or altruism -- or might your giving be driven by something else: a sense of obligation, self-satisfaction or guilt? These are the kinds of questions that arise when I think about my own charitable giving, which has slowed considerably in the past 18 months. A few years ago, my wife and I decided to set aside $75 a month for charitable donations, which we selected from online resources, requests from friends, or causes that otherwise caught our attention. That monthly number didn't come from any rigorous budgetary or philosophical analysis -- it just felt like a reasonable and meaningful amount. Then the recession hit, our incomes fell, and we stopped making that automatic contribution. And while we've still donated occasionally, we just haven't resumed a steady practice of giving.  Read the entire article.

 

Comments

[Nancy]

Interesting! Check out this post from SAPP. It's along the same lines as to "why do people give to charity."

http://southasianphilanthropy.org/2010/07/08/philanthropy-anthropology-philanthropology/