<p>How do you allocate your cash charitable contributions (let's skip the used clothes which have a more limited market) - I mean what percentage do you give to the various types - religious, local (eg through united way), national organizations, your alma(s), public radio/TV, etc. What measure do you use to determine the allocation? Do you donate to your HS? Do you give money to your kids' colleges or other institutions they had an association with - eg. Johns Hopkins CTY even though they never went to JHU?</p>
<p>We set a budget every year for what we can afford to give. I wish it were more. National and international organizations doing important work in areas like famine relief, human rights and health care always come first, and we always run through our budget before we could even imagine giving money to something like our alma maters. Mine has never gotten a dime from me, not because I don’t love them but because there are such obviously more important things to be doing with my dimes. For those who have more dimes to give (or needier alma maters), the picture may look different.</p>
<p>If you are applying for FA for your child, it is a good idea not to have a lot of $$$ listed on your Schedule A for Charitable Donations. That is generally frowned upon, along with gambling losses! This I have learned from “Paying for College Without Going Broke”, Princeton Review, by Kalman Chany. </p>
<p>We generally do not donate to our kids’ colleges or to our colleges, that would add up to six different colleges. It is difficult enough to pay the tuition these days.</p>
<p>We do give every year to all the schools we attended; that includes high schools, colleges and professional schools.
We haven’t given any money to our kids’ schools but we let them know that is their responsibility.</p>
<p>Last year I think it looked more or less like this:
x - to each of the colleges and CTY, maybe the two high schools we attended
5x - religious institution
5x - local food pantry
5x - various medical charities (American Cancer Society etc.)</p>
<p>Every year we mean to be a little more logical about it.</p>
<p>H and I both graduated from Towson U in the mid '80s. We stopped donating to the school a few years ago in protest to one of its bonehead decisions. :mad: It still makes my blood boil.</p>
<p>We don’t do a set percentage to any charity. We do not donate to our high schools as they are public. We donate to the kids’ university and one of H’s universities (not to mine or the other 2 of H’s for various reasons). We give groceries to the local food pantries. We also donate to several animal rescue/welfare groups, organizations that benefit kids (4H, boy and girl scouts,etc) and a local non-profit that helps low income, single parent families gain job skills and life skills.</p>
<p>A 10% tithe to church.
Extra for mission trips and youth group activities, etc.
Always empty my change purse for the Salvation Army ringers during the Christmas season.<br>
I love to give secretly. A random act of kindness thing. It’s the best. Find out who needs help - mail a grocery card or Wal-Mart card, etc.
A couple of times when fires have occurred in our community, helped out the families with money or gift cards.<br>
Whether I give anonymously or directly, I ask the recipient to remember the act and to someday pass a kindness on to another. And I make sure to tell them that it doesn’t need to be monetary at all. Just help another.</p>
<p>We give to our synagogue, various local charities, and a couple national ones (as well as our local public radio stations) but when solicitations come from the colleges our kids are in, I chuckle and throw it away. They are getting our tuition money; our kids can give to them when they are gainfully employed alums.</p>
<p>We do give to our alma mater (H and I went to the same school) and we do give to the Hillels at schools our kids attend/attended. More in the line of charitable institutions, and so far, that is where our kids met their spouses. :)</p>
<p>Most of our cash giving is to our church. </p>
<p>I give to ALS Association (I lost my brother to ALS)</p>
<p>Like eddie I always give to the Salvation Army bell ringers.</p>
<p>I clean out “stuff” on a regular basis and give it to my church’s rummage sale or to other charities with pick up.</p>
<p>I support boy/girl scouts when possible.</p>
<p>I give to my alma mater, a private college which is not wealthy and not terribly expensive.</p>
<p>We give a token amount (they aren’t going to be building any buildings named after us) to our undergrad schools and grad/professional schools. I leave the donations to our kids’ colleges to them. We also donate to their private high schools and, in D’s case, her private grade school because we have emotional attachments to the places. We do NOT donate to the elite private day school that changed the course of our family’s life by booting our kid at the end of 8th grade even though they are now sniffing around again.<br>
We donate more to our church and to several other organizations.</p>
<p>In equal proportions: Synagogue and various <em>local</em> organizations that feed the hungry/provide medical care to those in our community (I like the local angle more than the big institutional charities). We tend to look hard at how much of the $$ goes directly to services vs. overhead/admin costs. Having worked at a non-profit, I know how those numbers can be tweaked.</p>
<p>In smaller amounts:
DH’s high school foundation and debate team
Each of our kids’ specialized public programs (budgets are being cut mercilessly)
School teams and related organizations in which our kids participated and that typically run on a shoestring
Dog rescue where we got our furry family member</p>
<p>At the bottom of the list:
DH’s college and grad school (and definitely not enough to get our name on a brick, much less a building!)</p>
<p>I don’t contribute to my college, and we don’t contribute anywhere we are currently paying tuition. If the kids want to contribute to their alma mater, fine with me.</p>
<p>As for non-cash donations: we cook for homeless shelters, take clothes and kitchen goods to interfaith clothing drives, SAT and test prep books to the school college center, other books to the library.</p>
<p>
I just want to point out that it’s quite possible (and very much appreciated) to donate to a public school. At least where we live it is. Both of the public schools our son has attended raise funds to pay for things that aren’t covered in the budget allocation (i.e., nearly everything, or so it sometimes seems). We do manage to give a little to both of them each year, and also to our son’s community music school. That seems a little different, in the karmic urgency department, from giving to my heavily endowed alma mater.</p>
<p>nightchef – agree. Our kids have benefited tremendously from the special public programs in our schools and I want to see them continue to offer the same opportunities for the next round of kids.</p>
<p>95% of mine go to colleges. The rest to co-workers various fundraisers.</p>
<p>We give to to organizations who support those in need of “a hand up” … and those organizations that have done good works for our family members. By the latter criteria, a third of our giving goes to schools and colleges.</p>
<p>Secular places get our money- we avoid those that preach since we wholeheartedly disagree with their missions. Public TV, radio and library, medical research of many kinds, have given to schools in the past- often onetime big (relatively) donations.</p>
<p>We tithe at our church; additional small donations to the local public radio station, WorldVision, and the Sacramento SPCA (where we acquire most of our four-legged friends), and we buy more than our fair share of Girl Scout cookies. </p>
<p>We got our first campaign letter from D’s college recently, and it got me to thinking. D’s attendance there is only possible because of the donations of past generations of students and their families, and we have decided that we want to pay it forward. While D is in school, our college money is going to have to go to her expenses, but once we are finished with that, we’ll be adding her college to our regular giving. We’ll never be brick-worthy either, CountingDown.</p>
<p>I always donate to:</p>
<ul>
<li>an organization that does AIDS work locally or nationally; usually, this is Whitman-Walker Clinic in DC</li>
<li>an organization that works in Africa to bring basic services (water, health care, education, food) to people; which charity this is varies from year to year</li>
<li>Planned Parenthood</li>
<li>my son’s private, special ed elementary school</li>
</ul>
<p>I usually donate to:</p>
<ul>
<li>an organization for ALS</li>
<li>local firehouse</li>
<li>one or more cancer organizations (American Cancer Society and Livestrong this year)</li>
</ul>
<p>Other places my money goes include animal welfare organizations, famine and/or disaster relief, individual families affected by tragedy, and sometimes CTY, though what my family has spent on CTY over the years would easily pay for a year or more of college!</p>
<p>I do not give to any colleges, not because I feel they don’t deserve it, but because the need elsewhere is so much greater.</p>
<p>We’ve always given some to the kid’s schools if you include PTA donations, and our allotment to the education foundation.</p>
<p>We always give a more or less token amount to our alma mater (same), but have increased that as we paid off house and have had more $$. </p>
<p>We give to some organized things, but usually a token-ish, like american heart, red cross.</p>
<p>I give to breast cancer and / or Team in Training drives when I know someone participating.</p>
<p>We don’t give to D’s college, beyond the hefty tuition!</p>
<p>I have a small rotating loan out to Kiva that I may add to this year.</p>
<p>And the other “little” donations that add up to a surprising amount go to outdoor activities, Yosemite Fund, Sempervians Fund, GoldenGate Rec, Bay Area Ridge trail … and Boy and Girl Scouts. I am always surprised come tax time how much we actually spent. I think we should develpe a budget! and stick to it.</p>