Charitable Giving In America

Emily Andrews argues in her essay “Why I Don’t Spare “Spare Change”” that it does more harm than good to give money to beggars on the street rather than giving to an organization such as United Way to help the needy, pointing out that “one cannot be certain that one is giving to a needy individual” and that by giving to a charitable organization “ones money is likely to be used wisely.”

Robert Lupton (2011) clearly states his thesis in the opening line of his book; “What Americans avoid facing is that while we are very generous in charitable giving, much of that money is either wasted or actually harms the people it is targeted to help” (pg. 1). Wrapped in this sentence are several themes that Lupton seeks to unpack throughout his work. He lays the foundation for the need of charitable reform by providing examples and insight into instances where charitable giving can harm where it intended to help. Then he goes on to provide numerous examples of charitable giving that helps instead of harms its recipients. Throughout the book he contributes ways to turn harmful giving into helpful giving. Lupton accounts his four decades

Volunteering on teams will make the employees feel that they are a valuable part of what Company Q is doing to give back to the community. A model example of this behavior is that of Toms and their “One for One” campaign. “Toms’ employees participate in an annual Shoe Drop where they travel and donate a variety of goods to children. Their careers page specifically calls for employees that want to change lives and be a part of a movement” (Forman-Ortiz, 2013). If an employee feels that they are a valuable member of the company, the positive energy will most likely carry over to their day to day tasks. They will want to give good customer service and continue to help people. This aspect of social responsibility is a positive for the food bank, employees, customers from the community, and Company Q.

People need resources or have items in their houses that need to be fixed such as sinks, bathrooms, roofs, and more, but also need money for items such as medicine, electricity bills, food, and clothes. Soon their small problems become big problems due to postponing their problems to use the money to provide food and medicine. The government only does so much to help people in poverty as with the TANF program in Washington D.C., so it is necessary for churches and non-profit organizations to step in and help people in poverty.

Habitat for Humanity is a good example of a nonprofit organization that through its volunteer gathering and fundraising attempts may actually be hindering more of the people they are trying to help than actually helping them.(679,680) Habitat’s marketing gives the idea that a person in poverty that needs help wear dirty torn clothes and live in run down shack will have no home at all.(679) The idea is to put these perceptions of poverty into people’s minds in hopes that it will elicit the good in them to not only give their money but their time.(680) The problem is this gives the public the idea that poverty has one face and does not provide them with a picture of what the full spectrum of poverty looks like.(682) Another problem is, these ads perpetuate the idea that poverty is an individual issue that’s easy to spot and just as easy to fix with a little money and volunteer

As a result, wealthy people should give back to the world as a reminder of how far they have become. My mother, Nhan Phan would not be where she is today without her teachers. In return, my mother donates to the Pencils of Promise. This is a nonprofit organization which aims to focus on building schools in communities such as Laos and Ghana. By doing so, children receive the same opportunities my mother had once had. Therefore donating money instead of spending it on commercial items, is morally correct because it improves the quality of the world and it is only right for people to give back to society after they have been

In “What Should a Billionaire Give -- and What Should You?”, Peter Singer repetitively brings up equal, value, and fair share. Imprisoning the imperilled to those terms is the same as stripping them away from diverse human traits and confining them, in order to describe their quality of life. Connecting someone who is seeking help to the connotations of those words and phrases emphasizes that the receivers should be equivalent to the giver and deserve to be helped in ways that uplifts them from their conditions.  Givers have no concrete way of determining how much help they should give or how much help those in need deserve. It is demeaning for the receivers when the givers assume their experiences and histories to justify how much support

Poverty in the world is a big problem. In the 1960s, food banks were located in 18 major cities, and one of them was Detroit. A man named Van Hengel started volunteering at a local soup kitchen when a lady with two kids told him that there should be place for homeless to go and get food almost like a bank.Van Hengel was the person who created food banks in America.Today there are more than 200 food banks in the U.S and 60,000 meal pantries. Each year the number of meal pantries and food banks increases.Food banks are still important today because there are many homeless and hungry children, and pets. The politics behind food banks in America is the governor of the state will decide if there is enough money in the budget to create food banks

Actually some charities and fundraisers will refund you your money in small amounts as life goes on. Another benefit is that a portion of your income tax will be deducted giving you more money in the long run. Finally, and most famously, charitable contributions can reduce your tax burden at the end of the year. For instance, if you make $70,000 annually and contribute $7,000 (or the equivalent in unwanted items) to charity, then your taxable income is reduced to $63,000 on an itemized return. Donating is a great way to give you money in the long run by helping you save your money and activate the reward feeling in your brain. But not only does it help you save money it helps the community stay active and give more in the

“About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day, mainly from preventable causes.” (http://www.unicef.org/mdg/childmortality.html) This means in the time it took you to read that first sentence, 2 children under the age of 5 died –likely from an avoidable cause. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that most of these deaths occur in developing countries; however, if we value all life as equal, shouldn’t this be more unsettling? In the article “What Billionaires Should Give & What You Should Give,” the Peter Singer examines several ideas surrounding the topic of philanthropy. The author agrees that we have a natural instinct and general responsibility to help those in need; however, there is much controversy over how that looks for billionaires and the average American.

Etzioni brings up a point when people are sometimes participate in fund raisers they feel like that they are obligated to contribute for soup kitchens and mobile clinics for the homeless shelter. Sounds similar to food-banks, but the only difference are you can only donate food. When you volunteer for special events you are influenced by social pressure to give more than what you originally intended to give. “To put it differently, to the extent that we have lost community, we need to rebuild it, not only because community life is a major source of satisfaction of our deeper personal needs, but because the social pressures community brings to bear are a mainstay of our moral values (Etzioni pg 40

First, I like to donating money to causes I believe in. Even though monetary donations are difficult on a person with a low income or strict budget. There are always causes in my town of Phelan to get involved in. As in any other town, there are a number of disadvantaged homeless people needing help on a daily basis. Mark is one of our local homeless population and whenever we

There are millions of people who live in excess, with many netting a greater income than they know what to do with. Often times, the easy solution is to give away the extra money in an effort to appear charitable. It takes someone whose heart is truly charitable to donate money when they have little to themselves. Thomas Cannon Sr. is one such example of someone who has a lot to give, but little to himself. Cannon felt that it was his duty to be charitable toward those around him for many reasons, which he had made a list of. Like any list, however, additions can be made, and retractions can be submitted.

David Wagner talks about how our society is lacking in critical analysis with charity and true meaning behind it. All the historical development of philanthropy (an example would be christian) were mentioned to make us rethink and engage about what's really love when it comes to volunteering.

He suggests that money given to a charity could morally bring about the same type of satisfaction, than if going on vacation or spending money on a video games (Singer 336.) Singer also suggests that often time’s society is afraid of where their money will end up or how it will be use when donated. Singer names four charities that are in existence which are single-handedly devoted to improving the lives of those less fortunate (Singer 337.)