Charity: Who Cares? A Graphic By Mint.com

Mint.com has organized a fascinating graphic that describes who in America gives, how much, and where. It's got some statistics you might not have guessed, that the wealthiest 10% of Americans contribute 25% of all the charitable giving, but on a percentage basis, poor people give much more than the rich.

What do you think about the below graphic?

Comments

[winspire]

10:37 AM on 12/22/2009

This is very interesting information. I'm sure some don't like it, but no matter what nationality or political persuasion one belongs to- the choice you make is personal, and in my view should have nothing to do with what other people do or don't do. Givers make the world work, when the giving is wise and helpful.

I also recently found a business model that is designed to help people become compensated full-time humanitarians from home while making a big difference with world childhood hunger. Pretty impressive.

http://businessintobenevolence.com

[Renee27]

06:01 PM on 12/14/2009

Understand your frustration with charlatan evangelists. If they would do their job and actually help the poor things would be a lot of better. Instead they decided to buy house such as this one:

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/112/creflo1787219mj4.jpg

[Renee27]

05:26 PM on 12/14/2009

Here is an idea why don't we give Charitable Gift Cards for Christmas and teach children and other adults to give.

Kiva Gift Certificates:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=gift&action=giftPromotion

FAQ Page - http://www.kiva.org/about/help

[mojo1372]

07:19 AM on 12/13/2009

you will find people who make less money are the most giving they know what itis to struggle and if they can get up that ladder a little they usually remember the people right behind them . if the wealthy gave away as much of a percentage of their incomes as do those on the lower end boy things would be a whole lot brighter. instead of going out and buying the lamborginie or the louie vitton bag why don't you give the money to a school , a food bank, a clinic. remember even those who live on tight budgets rent movies , buy songs so remember that artists. most of you did struggle when you started maybe you worked in a resturant or a bar when you started or lived in public housing remember how tough it was to pay the rent sometimes. maybe you did eat so well ,your electric got shut off or you could not get to the doctor because you had no money. maybe you had to go to a soup kitchen , a pantry for a meal or a free clinic .don't forget where you came from . seeing someone smile because of what you did makes you feel whole lot more satisfied than owning an object .

[Fabini]

05:57 PM on 12/12/2009

I work for a non-profit. 67% of our budget goes to administration and fund raising. Our board of directors does not care. They are dilettantes.

[Renee27]

05:51 PM on 12/14/2009

You can always go the Charity Navigator website, a charity watchdog nonprofit, and select a charity there.

[Fabini]

05:50 PM on 12/12/2009

We Americans MUST donate more because there are fewer collective benefits. Always saying it would take this many French, German, or Italians is disingenuous.

[klbrz]

02:36 PM on 12/11/2009

I'm curious about what might define religious or secular. Is a homeless shelter run by a church religious or secular? Which is Operation Rescue considered to be - religious because it exists due to some people's religious convictions or secular because it's not associated with any particular religious group? Additionally, those involved with a church will have a personal connection to the church's cause and more likely to give because of that than those who don't have a personal connection (usually secular).

I have also noticed that my religious friends tend to remember and talk about every tiny little charitable thing they do (pair of pants to goodwill, dollar to the guy at the corner...). For me, once it's done, I forget about it and I don't save receipts for taxes, and I don't think to tell others what I did. The contrast made in this article between conservative/liberal and religious/secular giving makes me wonder if my experience with my friends is more widespread. Conservative ideology seems to value trimming every bit off their taxes (they save charity receipts) and letting others know what they have done to contribute to others. If this information comes from the IRS, I know I look like a scrooge when I'm not. I wonder how many others there are?

I would think the religious and secular giving numbers are not as simple as they seem. I'd like to see more info about how all that breaks down, if possible.

[RedandGreen]

01:28 PM on 12/11/2009

Only a bit of that trickles down to the actual needy. Most goes to religious charities -- to the life styles of those charlatan evangelists and their actual expenses to enable them to get richer. Much goes to institutions like universities and colleges that mostly serves the well-off who can afford to send their children to college in the first place. Imagine all the possible other expenses, handling and personnel that eats up quantities of cash, fraudulent operators and everything else and one could imagine the little that actually goes to practical use. Why is it that poverty never lessens to any practical degree, even in the best of times? The best idea is for all people and countries to stop the endless, mindless conflicts and wars and military support systems and equipment that consume more money than every civilizational expense combined, then all countries should contribute on an ongoing basis to an international monetary agency that would be required to openly allot and distribute funds around the world to the most needy first. That support would then not be as charity, per se, but rather for earnest efforts in establishing self-support systems and economies by the establishment of national businesses (not foreign owned ones that extract most of the profits) owned and operated by trained nationals so that each nation benefits from its own production thus ultimately relying less on foreign support. Certainly this can only be achieved with equitable international trade binding contracts.