Charity

[SuzySunshine]

Now that we are done we are making a concerted effort to donate to charity every month. I have one charity that I support regularly but would prefer to spread around our donations especially at the end of the year.

I support Inheritance of hope, which is for families where one of the parents is very ill. http://inheritanceofhope.org/

I also support Alzheimers, brain tumor and Lewy Body Dementia charities regularly. We also tend to donate to friends/family who are doing races/walks because we have found more of the donation actually does work rather then pay for administrative stuff.

I would love to hear what charities are near and dear to you and why.

[weeniegeniewife]

My family donates to the MS society every year (my Hx). We also donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, as well as the Brody Borlaug Foundation (my dear friend started this after her 3-year-old died of a rare immune system disorder 2 years ago).

[L.Jane]

My sister pretty much runs some kind of something every year (marathon, tri, half... you name it) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, so I donate to that every year. Its pretty important to me since I had a friend in elementary school pass away from Leukemia.

I donate my time every Sunday and Monday to my humane society group by returning the phone calls from their 1800 number.

[GrayMatterWife]

I support several charities that serve disabled veterans and one that serves the SEaLs and their families. I support several community-focused missions if our church this serve the hungry and the homeless. I also support a facility in Virginia that provides childcare relief to families with severally disabled children. We make charitable contributions to our children's schools and we tithe to our church.

Because our tax rate will be going up next year, we will be giving a smaller percentage to secular charities.

[SuzySunshine]

We also tithe to our church and next year for 3 years that will increase because they just launched a capital campaign for some major upgrades.

I'm curious GMW what does your tax rate have to do with decreasing to secular? Is it just a personal choice?

What is the maximum deduction for charitably contributions anyway? Is it a percentage or a set amount?

[BonBon]

Our biggest donations are local: SPCA, Meals on Wheels, the Food Bank, a nature preserve, Children's Miracle Network(they provide equipment for the NICU), the hospital foundation. They are important to us because we adore animals, we don't want locals to be without food, we hike the preserve all the time, the NICU because of our experience, and the hospital foundation because DH does extremely well there. It's to our benefit to contribute to upgrades.

[v-girl]

We donate to mostly Catholic charities and our parish. Oh, and the ballet company.

[spotty_dog]

Apparently you can deduct contributions of no more than 50% of your AGI (that is, after business expenses, HSA, retirement contributions). But if you exceed that in one year, you can carry over the excess to future years.

We give as we see need. Typically for gift-giving occasions (we have an arrangement with much of our family to give to charity in each other's names instead of exchanging gifts) we do Heifer International, Kiva microloans, and the San Juan Preservation Trust. We give to the kids' nonprofit preschool and to the hospital. This year we gave to a friend's kickstarter project (not deductible) and to a couple of runners doing fundraising runs. (My friend's sister is battling leukemia so the LnL society is close to her heart.) And of course we donate household goods that we no longer need, usually to the thrift store associated with the community senior services. It's always a nice bonus to realize at the end of the year that we contribute enough to tax-exempt organizations that it makes some significant difference to our taxable income, and may affect our AMT eligibility, etc.

[GrayMatterWife]

We also tithe to our church and next year for 3 years that will increase because they just launched a capital campaign for some major upgrades.

I'm curious GMW what does your tax rate have to do with decreasing to secular? Is it just a personal choice?

I give to secular charities from my disposable income. If the tax rate goes up, the government will take more of my money. This means that I will have less disposable income to spend in the ways I prefer (both as a consumer and a charitable contributor). It is not my choice; it is a result of the government choosing that I should have less discretion about the amount of disposable income I have.

I give to my church based on a percentage of my take-home income. My total dollar contributions to my church will go up next year because, regardless of the anticipated tax rate increase, we will be taking home so much more next year than we did this year. However, if we made this year what we will make next year, then we would be giving less to my church (in dollars) next year than we would have this year--because we will have less take-home pay.

It is unfortunate. Charities are always the first to suffer when there is less disposable income. It creates a cycle where people end up going to the only entity that is flush--the government--to meet the needs that should be met by charities, which generally function far better from an efficiency and fiscal point of view. Such is the result of unchecked growth of the government. It can put a stranglehold on its competition.

[GrayMatterWife]

What is the maximum deduction for charitably contributions anyway? Is it a percentage or a set amount?

Sorry--disregard--I deleted my response. I totally missed spotty dog's response, which answered the question. Oops!

[Auspicious]

We do Doctors Without Borders and Harvest Hope Food Bank, both by monthly subscription. One is local, one is international, both get four stars on Charity Navigator. Other little stuff comes up throughout the year--the preschool fundraiser, etc.

My favorite saying about charitable giving is "Don't let the fact that you can't do everything keep you from doing anything." It's all a little overwhelming, so I like that.

[houseelf]

We pledge a monthly amount to our church (not tithing levels TBH). My favorite relief organization is UMCOR because 100% of donations go to relief efforts. I usually donate to several Team-in-training and CF campaigns because I am connected to people in the running community and people affected by CF. My favorite charity, however, is the local YMCA Strong Kids campaign which helps lower socioeconomic kids benefit from summer camp opportunities. I truly believe that adventures in the great outdoors are a cornerstone of a successful childhood. Although all of our alma maters and former greek organizations hit us up regularly, we do not give to their campaigns. To the spouses in med school and residency, don't feel bad. We did gave very little to charity during training.

[ladymoreta]

We tithe 10% of our pretax income. I also try to do an angel tree type charity around Christmas. Other than that, it's just $20-30 here and there for schools, races, and various fundraisers.

ETA - I also do a few of the Groupon-type donations if they match it. For example, Living Social has a $5 for $10 donation to Toys For Tots and $25 for $60 to USO. I don't do them all, but if I have some extra money in the pay period, it's a great way to make my donations go farther.

[Chrisada]

Houself, I also donate to Strong Kids and am on our Y board to raise money for it. I'm so glad to hear that you donate to it! Alot of people don't know about Strong Kids.

[SoonerTexan]

Just our Church, Catholic Charities, and little things like the Angel Tree around the Holidays. I want to make it a priority to give more when training is over. I will be giving back to OU for sure, specifically the MIS program.