Charitable Giving--how to choose to allocate funds?

[Lisa_N]

I hope someone here can give me some guidance. Maybe because I have given to a number of causes, every day I receive solicitations for donations. There are so many worthy causes and I don’t know whether it’s better to give a smaller amount to more organizations or to ‘save up’ to give a larger amount to one organization. How to decide?

My parish comes first of course, then other Catholic charities (CRS, local CRS, Priests for Life etc). But there are so many organizations out there that need funds and I like most of us, have limited amounts to give. Then I feel guilty if I don’t donate to the latest cause—whether it’s starving children in Sudan or elderly folks who need Meals on Wheels or Mercy Corps. Yikes!

How do other CAF decide? Do you think it’s better to say give ten dollars to ten organizations or $100 to one? I do research and none of the organizations I donate to support abortion or other prodeath activities. But there are so many…help???

Lisa N

 

[puzzleannie]

we have followed this pattern since we were married. DH gives 10% after tax to the parish, including special collections which are included in our packet of envelopes. When I am working, I give 10% after tax to charity. I have refined this to a select list. Any solicitations that come in the mail I toss, but if they include a premium like greeting cards, rosary etc. I keep it for use in CCD. I didn’t ask for this stuff, and according to USPS regulations they are mine to keep without payment.

Since I have worked for many non-profits, I am aware that most fund-raising done in this manner is done by third parties who contract with the actual charity, and very little of the money collected ever makes it to its destination. If you order something by mail and the order blank asks you to check a box to donate a dollar to a charity, that money does not go to the charity, but your address does, the charity (or its third party fundraisers) are buying your name and address for more solicitations. for my money, if it comes unsolicited in the mail, I will not give anything.
I choose charities where I am personally acquainted with the leadership, work, and results of their activities. usually this means locally based. For national or international organizations, including missionaries, where I or people I trust have been involved or visited or otherwise aware of their program. For instance, there are several missionaries I will not support based on reports in their own publications, and from those I trust, of activities, teaching and services offered, such as contraception and abortion, contrary to Catholic teaching. This has to be a proportional judgement, and as informed as it can be, but I do my best. For instance, I just dropped my husband’s alma mater from our giving, a Jesuit school that has abandoned its Catholic identity entire from what I read recently in its alumni magazine.

I also make it my business with charities, as with companies we invest in, to check annual reports, administrative costs including overhead and salaries, and how much of my donation goes to programs and benefits the recipients of the charitable work.

I feel no obligation to donate to the cause of the month or moment. For disasters like the tsunami or hurricanes, I already donated to CRS so I am covered. for local collections for local needs, I donate to Catholic Charities and St Vincent de Paul and let them to the investigating and outreach. Just because I see an ad in the paper asking for aid for this or that worthy cause does not mean I should send money, not without absolute assurance the money will actually be used to help the victims targeted.

I currently have a short list of 4 local and one international group that receive regular donations. One is a religious order, 2 are pro-life agencies serving mothers directly, and one is a social service agency in our town.

 

[JOHNYJ]

This has become a much more cmplicated question than ever befor. Catholic bishops and many priests have always lived a bit better than their flocks,sometimes much better.Yes,at times its been the opposite ,but.In the USA priests and bishops live pretty well. From the Donations of the faithful.
Now we have the Scandal and Catholics learned that their donations were being used. Not just to care for the medical needs of victims of priestly abuse ,but. As hush money to stop people from going to the police, to pay to transfer the accused priest to a new parish or even diocese.Over and over again in some instances.When the Scandal was uncovered many prominent Catholic families stopped giving to their local doicese at all.
The answer is for Catholics to be discerning in their givig,ask questions !
Know what is going on in your doicese. Try to give to Catholic charities you know.

 

[Lisa_N]

Thanks so much for the concrete advice. I didn’t realize the mail solicitations were third party. I know that often when I get a phone call about the XYZ charity that it’s a paid solicitor and that the percentage that goes to the charity is minimal. I am sorry to hear that the third party solicitors are also on the take for the mail solicitations. Believe me I have enough address labels for the next ten years. I’m hoping that if I stop giving to those organizations they will quit sending the stuff.

It does help to have CRS to donate to when there is something like the tsunami. I have in the past donated to other ‘disaster’ efforts but I am limiting them now to either CRS or some of the local teams where I actually know the people involved and how effective they are. But I imagine my name must have been sold repeatedly as I receive solicitations daily for “cause of the month” I appreciate the advice to just toss them because they tend to sit on the counter and call me to donate when I am concerned about the effectiveness and the efficiency of the organization.

Again, thanks for the advice and I hope others will weigh in.

Lisa N

 

[iserve]

Catholics need to wake-up, indeed. I have worked for several different Catholic charities for years, and I have seen incredible abuses of the money that comes in, and to the faith of those who give that money. People need to stop throwing money about and take an honest interest in the mission, itself, and the people being served. Don’t expect some charity director to decide who what when and where. Be on guard that the heirarchy of the Church varies a great deal from diocese to diocese, and some Catholic charities are that in name only, much like Catholic colleges, I have worked in one place where I never, ever saw the bishop in all the time I was there. I probably don’t need to go into the details of the abuses I saw there.
I would advise anyone giving to check out the particular program they are interested in and then write a check designating on the memo line that the money be spent *only *in that program and only for the purposes you desire it for. If people don’t care, as they have not for many years, then they will get what they pay for.
Take my word for it, it is just as easy for charity directors to hide money as it is for corporations, and this has been a sad and difficult reality for those of us who work in the field to cope with. Honestly, I could write a book.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

My recommendation is to seriously pray on it as a family. God will lead you where he feels your family should give.