http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2009253657_charity23.html
Quote:
America's poor are its most generous donors
The poor share a greater percentage of their income with others than the rich do. Maybe that's because they tend to be more religious and empathetic, and are more likely to rub shoulders with others in need
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The generosity of poor people isn't so much rare as rarely noticed, however. In fact, the nation's poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What's more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does.
"The lowest-income fifth [of the population] always give at more than their capacity," said Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based association of nonprofit agencies. "The next two-fifths give at capacity, and those above that are capable of giving two or three times more than they give."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest survey of consumer expenditure found that the poorest fifth of U.S. households contributed an average of 4.3 percent of their incomes to charitable organizations in 2007. The richest fifth gave at less than half that rate, 2.1 percent.
The figures probably undercount remittances by legal and illegal immigrants to family and friends back home, a multibillion-dollar outlay to which the poor contribute disproportionally.
None of the middle fifths of U.S. households, in contrast, gave away as much as 3 percent of their incomes.
"As a rule, people who have money don't know people in need," said Tanya Davis, 40, a laid-off security guard and single mother.
Certainly, better-off people aren't hit up by friends and kin as often as Davis said she was, having earned a reputation for generosity while she was working.
Now getting by on $110 a week in unemployment insurance and $314 a month in welfare, Davis still fields two or three appeals a week, she said, and lays out $5 or $10 weekly.
To explain her giving, Davis offered the two reasons most commonly heard in three days of conversations with low-income donors:
"I believe that the more I give, the more I receive, and that God loves a cheerful giver," Davis said. "Plus, I've been in their position, and someday I might be again."
Herbert Smith, 31, a Seventh-day Adventist who said he tithed his $1,010 monthly disability check — giving away 10 percent of it — thought poor people give more because, in some ways, they worry less about money.
"We're not scared of poverty the way rich people are," he said. "We know how to get the lights back on when we can't pay the electric bill."
In terms of income, the poorest fifth seem unlikely benefactors. Their pretax household incomes averaged $10,531 in 2007, according to the BLS survey, compared with $158,388 for the top fifth.
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What makes poor people's generosity even more impressive is that their giving generally isn't tax deductible, because they don't earn enough to itemize their charitable tax deductions.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/ ... ml?camp=pmQuote:
The Ryans donated $12,991 to charity in 2011, and $2,600 to charity in 2010 — which are 4 percent and 1.2 percent of his income, respectively. Those contributions went to such groups as the Boy Scouts of America, Junior Achievement, and Women and Children’s Horizons, according to the campaign.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com ... arity.htmlQuote:
How much did the Obamas give in 2010? 14.2 percent - compared with Ryan's 1.2 percent - and Santorum's 1.7 percent. Romney was far more generous, largely through tithing - but he was still beaten in percentage terms by Obama in 2010. But it's Ryan who is the most prominent advocate of replacing state care with private charity. It's just that others will have to supply the charity. Judging by his past, he sure won't.
Reminds me of the story Jesus told of the poor widow who had given a coin she happened to find while sweeping to the collection plate, thereby giving more than all the rich bastards showing off their wealth, because she had given everything she had.
19 Oct 2012, 10:43 pm
