How much do you give to charity?

Mine tends to vary but we have two work related charity campaigns - the spring/summer for health related charities and in the Fall we do United Way.  I give a set amount to both and participate in the various events giving a bit more here and there.  I will sponsor friends for different charity campaigns throughout the year.  It's not a huge amount but I feel like i am doing some good and don't feel guilty about not giving more.

This year I gave extra because my uncle passed away and instead of flowers my aunt directed us to donate to the War Amps. 

We give a set amount each year to "Our Little Haven"....a fantastic organization that deals with abused/neglected children.

We also give each of our kids $50.00 at X-mas that they MUST donate to a charity that they choose.

Varies year to year and most often it's to someone raising money for a race or what ever.  I try to do most of it through work since we have matching gift program.  I get hung up sometimes checking how much of each dollar donated actually gets used for whatever cause or disease it's for vs running the charity.

I read your log and that's weak.  It's really none of your buddies business IMO.

This is neat!

We're self-employed and income varies quite a bit year to year, so it would be tough to set a percentage or set amount. I usually just give money to charities I support when I have the money in the bank to do so - typically $500-$1000 here and there when I can afford it, and who knows what it adds up to until I do my taxes! 

I will say that I often hesitate to support friends who are doing marathons, etc for charity. It seems to me that in many cases, so much of the money raised is going to pay for entry fees and travel that I would much rather just support the charity directly myself. If you want to run a marathon in another state, awesome, but I don't want to pay for it under the guise of "charity". Now, if you are raising money for a local event and all of the money raised goes to the charity itself, I'm much more willing to help. So, I'm a little bit picky about those.

I'm an artist, and I get asked to donate a painting to everyone and their mother's charity auction. I say no a lot, and get a lot of flack from people for not being charitable enough, but the IRS will only let me deduct the value of my supplies (maybe $50 on a $2,000 painting) and if my painting sells for less than retail, it's bad for my prices. So, I just say no unless I truly support the organization enough to want to donate. The people who judge me for saying no have no idea how much cash I donate to organizations otherwise, so I say screw 'em! 

I answered "set dollar amount" because we have a set amount we give at church and have sponsored three children (through 3 separate agencies) for years.

Like the others we also do misc other stuff like sponsoring someone for a race or a mission trip or what have you.

Not my idea.  Just passing on a tradition from my parents when I was growing up.  It did instill in us the idea of sharing with people who were less fortunate than we were.  I hope it does the same for my own children.

Same here.  It varies based on what I can afford.  I also volunteer my time.

We kind of do the same thing except we make our kids go earn some money by doing work. We also give 10% of our paycheck to our local church. (that includes kids allowances that they give)

I'd say we vary year to year as well.  We don't really do a set "percentage" we just give as opportunities present themselves.  If I were to put a percentage on it over the past several years it's anywhere from 5% - 20%, but we probably average somewhere in the 10%-15%.  
Sometimes it's hard for me to quantify in dollars because I donate a lot of equipment and time with my business to local startup charities and various organizations.  With those, I could donate $30k worth of equipment and another $10k in labor but I'll often work with my suppliers to get heavy discounts knowing it's for charity.  So the entity is getting $40k in real value, but my cost might only be $10k or $15k.  Then you throw in volunteer labor by me or my employees.

Either way, I feel that giving is extremely important because it makes us better people.  When you're giving from the heart and not out of obligation or religious "duty" it changes who you are.

We pledge a set dollar amount to our church every year.  Nothing close to a Biblical tithe, but a number that fits our household budget.  Over the course of a year we also make what I would call "discretionary" gifts to other charities.  These are usually organizations we have some personal connection to, either through volunteering or a cause that we believe in.  The list varies from year to year, but has included Habitat for Humanity, The American Cancer Society, and  our local All-Faiths Food Bank, among others.  

Mark

Almost 15 years ago to the day we met with a catholic priest about baptizing our twins.  He told us that we hadn't contributed enough in the offerings each week and that he would look at it again in about 6 months. 

It went downhill from there.......he was locked in his back office when the Police showed up after he called them on me.

We give a set amount to the Rotary Foundation every year, provide in-kind donations to our local Rotary fundraiser and purchase tickets to galas, support the Strong Kids Campaign at the local YMCA which provides scholarships for kids in need, support a youth soccer initiative for kids in need, and provide food on Thanksgiving to a local group that feeds a couple thousand people every year.  Otherwise, we give a little here and there depending on whats going on in the community.