Each year, our household gives between 2.5% and 3% of our household income to charities. Our household income is very close to the national median household income, or slightly above the national median.
We give $1,572 per year through payroll deduction to the charities listed below, giving at least $5 per month ($60 per year) to each of them (and substantially more to some of them). In this list, I've included the State Employee Combined Appeal numbers for each charity, in case you are a state or university employee in Illinois who might want to give money to some of the same charities I support. Generally, those at the top of the list get more from us than those at the bottom of the list.
800-5748 Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontiéres USA
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
903-0660 NPR Illinois 91.9 UIS
909-0000 Earth Share of Illinois
https://www.earthshare.org/earthshare-illinois/
910-0020 American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
910-0100 Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation (I have a nephew with Type 1 Diabetes)
https://www.diabeteswellness.net
901-0415 Refugees International
https://www.refugeesinternational.org
911-0105 Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (Several family members have suffered from Alzheimer's Dementia, and a friend works at their office in Chicago)
901-0264 Human Rights Watch
909-0020 American Farmland Trust
911-0650 Farmers & Hunters Feeding the Hungry
911-0629 Farm Animal Rescue, Adoption, and Sanctuary
911-0140 American Humane Association
https://www.americanhumane.org
800-5552 Black Women’s Health Imperative
910-0394 International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region
910-0171 Humane Society International
800-5805 Partnership to end Addiction
800-5633 Muscular Dystrophy Association, Illinois, Central Division, Champaign (A friend has a son with Duchene's Disease, and I had a childhood friend with muscular Dystrophy as well, and as a child I enjoyed watching Jerry Lewis Telethons on Labor Day.)
800-5500 Creating Healthier Communities
901-0225 Humanity & Inclusion
901-0090 Alight
We give another $400-$500 (total, combined) per year to some of these entities and organizations, but not through the State of Illinois Combined Appeal:
Scouts BSA (also known as Boy Scouts of America, but it no longer discriminates against girls, women, or LGBTQ+ persons)
The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
PBS (the WILL station in Urbana)
The Guardian (newspaper and website)
Informed Comment (news blog about the Middle East)
Wikipedia
Hong Kong Free Press (newspaper and website)
Greater Springfield Interfaith Association
John Burroughs School in St. Louis (my old High School)
The Johnston Center at the University of Redlands (my old University)
Various funds and groups at my university, such as the Innocence Project, during our annual campus giving campaign.
And, if you count my annual union dues of approximately $1,000 per year, I’m also giving to the University Professionals of Illinois, the American Federation of Teachers, and the AFL-CIO (with great pleasure and pride).
I sometimes give money to Democrats running in elections where they might defeat a Republican, or might lose a seat to a Republican challenger. I also give money to Green Party candidates, especially if they are running for local office or seats in the state legislature (I do not even like the fact that Green candidates run for statewide offices or run in the Presidential elections; I have often voted for them, but I think Green Party candidates should build up power in school boards, county boards, park district boards, city councils, and eventually in state legislatures before they run for state offices or the White House). In election years I might make another $200-$300 in political contributions.
I do not give money to my religious faith. I do volunteer many hours of time on service projects sponsored or instigated by my faith community. I often consider whether I should give financially to my local faith community, but until certain things change at the national and international level, I have stopped contributions, at least at the national and international level. This dates back to some things that took place in 2005, but was also informed by concerns I had in the late 1980s and again in the late 1990s. I am not a good example in this respect. I should probably be giving an equal amount to my religious community as I give to the secular charities, and I hope someday I will do so again.
I don't think we give a lot to charity. In fact, I know we might be less generous than the average American in our income range ($50,000-$99,000) The IRS reports households in this range make an average contributions of $3,296. But, that average contribution of over $3,000 would be skewed by contributions of households earning in the top half of that distribution (more than us). It would also be very highly skewed by the fact that the IRS only reports charitable giving for households that claimed a charitable giving deduction by itemizing their return. We do not itemize our taxes and claim a deduction, and it would be hardly worthwhile for persons who give less than us to do so. Therefore, the figure of about $3,300 for average charitable contributions (from 2018) probably only counts households earning more than us and donating more than us, so it is not a fair comparison. I am just making the point that instead of posting this information to claim I am virtuous, I am publicly posting my giving as a social proof. That is, readers now know how much I give to charities. If you are earning close to the median income in the USA, as we are, you might have been giving less than 2.5%-3% of your income to charities, and seeing that I am doing so, you will possibly—hopefully) feel social comparison pressure to give more. If you are giving about the same as we are, you may continue to do so. If you are giving more, you might reach out to me and tell me how much you are giving, and then I would feel some social comparison pressure to give more.
I believe that persons with low incomes should not give as much to charities. If you earn less than half the median income, I do not think you have any obligation to give anything to charity, but you might be obliged to give to your religious congregation. If you earn between half and 80% of median income, you might be expected to give about 1% of your income to charities. If you earn 80% to 120% of median income, I think 2% to 5% donated to charities is about right. From 120% to 200% of median income, you should probably be giving 6% to 10% of your income to charity. Above 200% of median income, you ought to be giving over 10% of your income to charity, but at some point, perhaps around 15% of your income, you are probably giving enough. Peter Singer suggests that households of our income level are morally responsible if they give 1% of their income to organizations effectively helping people in extreme poverty, and I think we are not quite there, since the mix of charities we support probably needs to include more groups that are addressing poverty.
I also consider that persons with median incomes in America probably must contribute about 28-30% of their income to local, state, and federal taxes, including the Social Security and Medicare taxes. Workers and employers ought to be giving 14% to Social Security and 4% to Medicare (employees should see a 7% and 2% payroll deduction, with an equal amount contributed by employers). Unfortunately, Social Security and Medicare taxes remain unrealistically low, and have not yet been increased to those needed levels, putting the long-term sustainability of those programs as they exist now in jeopardy. Households at the median income (about $68,000 in 2020) should be paying about 8%-12% in federal income taxes, and then the local and state taxes (property, income, and sales taxes combined) generally add up to about 9%-12% of the household income if the household is earning near the median income. Wealthy Americans pay more in federal income taxes, but their total tax burden is often not much different from others, as they pay less as a percentage of their incomes into Social Security and Medicare payroll deductions. According to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, combined state and local taxes tend to take away nearly 9.9% of middle-income families’ earnings, but only 7.4% from the top 1%. Wealthy Americans pay about 19% to 24% in federal income taxes (according to IRS reports on tax returns). About 40% of your federal income taxes go to help people through means-tested programs (food assistance, housing assistance, Medicaid, etc.), and a higher percentage of your state taxes goes to help low-income families. A little over 50% of your federal income taxes go to the military or veterans. All your payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) should come back to you, especially if you have a long retirement or become disabled and unable to work, but if you die a few weeks after a late retirement without ever being disabled, those payroll deductions go to others (perhaps your surviving spouse). Most of your state/local taxes go to the salaries of teachers, social workers, nurses, doctors, certified nurse assistants, school and university employees, law enforcement personnel, and other persons who help the sick, the poor, the troubled, and children.
Anyway, if you are contributing 30% of your income in total to the public realm (local, state, federal, Medicare, and Social Security taxes), and also donating 2-6% to charities, you are doing your part to make the world a good place.
In giving to charity, we should give what we can. We should give sustainably: not giving so much that we eventually give up and stop giving. It's good to give regularly, and to plan how you will give. I keep a monthly and annual budget, and most of my contributions are through payroll deduction, so the charities get the money on a regular basis over a long time.
For interesting facts about charitable giving, I suggest you consult this article by Luke Freeman, who describes what ethical amounts of giving could be. Also, this critique of charity by Annika Neklason from a 2019 issue of The Atlantic in which she explores the ideas of Rob Reich (Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better) deserves attention. You can download (for free) philosopher Peter Singer’s book The Life You Can Save: How to do your part to end world poverty. Jim Davies has an interesting point about donating to animal welfare causes. Finally, I think Dan Pallotta made some interesting suggestions that deserve consideration in his TED Talk “The way we think about charity is dead wrong”. You can consult sources such as Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, the Better Business Bureau’s Give.org, and GuideStar to see how certain sets of metrics rank charities, but keep in mind that the things you prioritize in a charity may differ from the measurable indicators used by those sorts of sites.
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