Out of curiosity after the new Gates letter was published (http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/?cid=bg_fb_po0_012103/#section=home)
I'm probably a 1%-er, given how much my wife and I earn. I don't give to charity.<p>Not because I don't believe I should, but I still don't feel like I'm at the stage where we can afford to, given how expensive life in the Bay Area is. We live well within our means (2 cheap cars, no cable tv, eat-in most days of the week, ...), but the idea of having to pay for a ridiculous mortgage to live in a safe area with good schools, pay for a nanny to take care of our kids because we work so many hours, having to save for our retirement, saving for our kids' educations scares the hell out of me, and puts a freeze on any extraneous spending of money. I feel like we are one dot-com-bust away from total financial disaster.<p>Once we have a more stable financial picture in the next 10 years or so, I definitely would like to donate my money, and maybe more importantly, my time, but until then, I think I will abstain from donating.
I have a goal to donate at least 10% of what I earn to charity. The form varies -- sometimes writing a check to an organization, sometimes handing out cash or 'gifts' to the actual people who need them.<p>I prefer to try and donate locally if possible. Yes, there are a lot of global opportunities to help, but I prefer trying to make a small difference where I live.<p>I actually get a great deal of joy from giving money/stuff away.
Expenditure expands to meet the funds available.<p>With that in mind, I've operated a tithe for over 15 years now. If I give before the funds are available to me I have always adjusted accordingly and never felt like I was burdened or put out by donating.<p>When I've tried giving what I have left at the end of the month (rather than immediately after receiving income), I find I can't afford it. Then I make excuses about how it's hard to afford it.<p>Give early, give when you're earning little, give a % and let the amount increase with your earnings.<p>What I actually donate has dropped significantly, because I moved from being employed to founding a company and my earnings collapsed. But it remains a similar % as always.<p>The original inspiration for this was speaking to some co-workers many years ago who are Muslim, and their sharing the fact that all Muslims give a tithe to charity and most target the most impoverished and hard-up people rather than a religious cause. I was quite moved by that and took up the practice. In some ways I think of it as just an income tax that I can target towards things I believe in: homeless charities, cycling causes, computers and education for those without access to either.
I've been experimenting with this lately. Specifically, I've been comparing my thoughts on money vs. time donations.<p>I ran a charity:water campaign for my birthday last month and donated a third of my goal personally. I am amid a 6-week experiment of volunteering for 2 hours every week at a local shelter. Between money and time, I am able to see my impact more with my time.<p>However, economically the question does become raised of whether the opportunity cost of volunteering for a fairly basic job makes it more reasonable to work for an extra hour and donate that cash for the shelter to hire somebody on my behalf. It may sound heartless, but donation ROI is something worth considering. That being said, I can see the impact of my efforts while volunteering, which is rewarding and makes it a sustainable habit.<p>I'm also amid some estate planning. Upon death, I am planning on donation of both my assets and my body[1] to charity.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_donation" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_donation</a>
What Gates mentions in that article was brought up by many in the past; e.g. "Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa"[1].<p>Personally I prefer to donate to small micro-funding campaigns or lean, local NGOs. In case of disaster relief I still might donate to Red Cross though.<p>One of the services which I recently started using and really enjoy the way it works is One Today[2] by Google.<p>All in all, it's always helpful to look at the numbers[3] to make sure that your donations are not used to rent fancy offices in downtown London or NYC.<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.dambisamoyo.com/books-and-publications/book/dead-aid" rel="nofollow">http://www.dambisamoyo.com/books-and-publications/book/dead-...</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.google.com/onetoday/" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/onetoday/</a><p>[3]: <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277#.Ut7yo9LTlYg" rel="nofollow">http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary...</a><p>Edit: Formatting, grammar.
Yes, but my answer may also depend on how you define 'charity'. One might define as giving to those who ask of you , without any expectation of repayment (in other words, out of sheer good will).<p>If that is the definition, then yes, I do give to charity. I often give to my local education foundation (yearly, in fact). I have donated to the Red Cross, and I have also given spare change to bums on the streets of NY.<p>I have no idea what is done with this money, nor do I care. I give because they seem to need it more than I do, and I hope they do something constructive with it, and helps them in some way. Does this mean I am 'charitable'? Or just a poor investor? (I suspect the latter, and I suspect that you would probably agree if you looked at my stock portfolio)
Yes and No.<p>The rule is very simple: Never through a proxy.<p>examples, good will, bill&melinda, are proxy. your money will just disappear and make fat bankers fatter.<p>wikipedia, software projects (go openBSD!), working in a soup kitchen.... no proxy. Give!
Cash donations to causes I care about. I volunteer at an animal shelter and help staff fundraisers & outreach when needed. And, I maintain & host the web site for another animal shelter.
Keeping all our money to ourselves, not only having enough to keep us warm and our stomachs stuffed, but actually being able to spend on a lot of luxury, e.g. most of the tech gimmicks around, while other people are literally starving is obviously inhumane.<p>However, donating to "charities" is just not gonna do it. I'm not talking about details like "don't give 'em fish, give 'em a fishing rod".<p>Rather, considering that we, at a minimum the so-called "West", have been and are still collectively robbing other countries and regions blind, all that we individuals are able to give back is way less than that. Just have a look at Indonesia now and in the last couple of decades, or check what most African countries export vs. what they import to see it is still ongoing. Lately, at least most of South America is finally getting out of the morass. But not due to charities from the West, rather due to their standing up against Western capitalist interest.<p>So after understanding that we - as a society, and everyone living in it benefits from society - are not really philantrophic by giving a little back having taken a lot.<p>Our time and money needs to go where we think we can change this system. A big task, but just giving to some charity is not gonna cut it.
I think it's a fair guess that many members of the HN community are well off. As I encounter more and more developers, entrepreneurs, and others who visit this site regularly, I find that the question of whether one should feel obligated to give to charity becomes more relevant.<p>Thoughts?
I give some money to people doing awesome work on open source that I want to support via Gittip [1]; does that count as charity?<p>[1] <a href="https://www.gittip.com/shurcooL/" rel="nofollow">https://www.gittip.com/shurcooL/</a>
One thing to take advantage while donating is even the small amount of money for you can mean a lot to someone who lives in a 3rd world country for example:<p>Cataract operations in Africa (which allows someone to see the world!) cost about $75, mostly done by western doctor volunteers. There are charities that organizes this, such as this one : <a href="http://katarakt.ihh.org.tr/en" rel="nofollow">http://katarakt.ihh.org.tr/en</a><p>Just this charity operated 24K+ people so far.<p>You can spend $75 to some random thing such as a fancy dining out or you can help someone to see.
Edit: obligatory reminder: online polls are meaningless. pg please drop this feature. End edit.<p>Not charity as such but I loan money on Vittana. I believe they are actually making a difference and I think the little bit of money I have in their system can make more difference over time than a straight donation.<p>Also, any time a friend or a coworker is collecting money for a cause I pitch in. This has less to do with my belief in the particular charities, and more with my belief in my friends and coworkers.
I have not, and will not donate anything to charity.<p>I much rather invest the time, money, and resources, into avenues where I can measure the impact and determine what a successful ROI is.
My wife and I give to different charities. I'm a strong supporter of advancing education so you'll find me giving the most to my alma mater and the wikipedia foundation. For her, it's charities like UNICEF which have a very low operational budget and do tons of good and local charities such as animal shelters. We generally split our donation budget in half and distributed that way.
About half an hour ago, somebody came to my door collecting money for a legitimate veteran's group, and I gave them a small donation. It's -35 out, and somebody is volunteering their time to go door to door for a charity. My large donations are more carefully chosen and usually done at the end of the year -- this year we did them at about 11:30 on New Year's Eve...
I will donate to a charity that will directly take cash and not pester me for my name/address etc.<p>The last thing I want or need is to get on one of the nagging "please give" lists. I give when <i>I</i> can, when <i>I</i> can afford it and to those I think deserve it. Like war veterans left without help by the government or public television.
I donate 10% of my after tax income, not for religious reasons. I've done this at every stage of my life, no matter how "poor" I may feel compared to those around me. The nice thing about donating a percentage is that it's never more than anyone can afford (unless you're doing something wrong).
I try to donate 10% of gross income. Rationale: A lot of religious people tend to tithe. Religious institutions tend to support socially conservative causes. To counter the monetary influence of religious institutions, I need to put my money where my mouth is and "tithe" to socially liberal causes.
15€ every month to Amnesty International, ever since I first got a job (2.5 years ago). However, my income has increased since, so I'm considering giving more, but I want to choose the organization with more care and consideration (i.e. less money for bureaucracy, more for the actual aid).
Grad student that makes a stipend of $1,900/mo with a rent payment of $400 and car payment of $300 here. I do not donate because I do not have great insurance nor do I have sufficient savings to last more than 2 or 3 months if I were to no longer be funded at school.
Yes. I don't have friends or family, so I donate the amount I probably would have spent on gifts every Xmas. I donated US$250 to GiveDirectly (direct cash grants to Africa) this season.
Yes, and I ask for people to donate to charity for in lieu of Christmas, Birthday and other gift giving events rather than giving me a gift.<p>My current favourite charity is freetheslaves.net