Blog Action Day: Poverty

This past winter, I attended a speech by Colin Powell at Miami University, where at one point he emphasized the importance of donating to worthy causes "when you get out of school and make your first million," he told students "make sure you donate." He then went on to make a joke about the midlife-crisis Corvette that he bought himself. The message that I fear many people might take away from statements like those is that "giving back" a bit here and there is all we need to do to forget about other people and go back to enjoying our cushy lives. Go ahead, buy that new car, after all you donated last week.

And if you can afford a nice new car, certainly you may have donated a large sum of money. The wealthiest people in the world probably donate more to charity than the rest of us combined, but are they giving in proportion to what they receive? My guess is no. Not long after the Colin Powell speech, I was preparing taxes for a low-income client, and elderly man living on a fixed income of no more than 12,000 a year. One of the standard questions that we have to ask everyone is "did you donate any money to charity in the last year?" This man replied "yes, but not much, no more than a couple thousand." Further probing revealed that he donated a set percentage of his income as tithing in church (as many churches request their parishioners to do). Several other people that I prepared taxes for (all living close to or below the poverty line) reported donating significant sums to their church as tithing.

I do not belong to any church, but this experience got me interested in the idea of tithing. The idea behind it, as I understand, is that members of a community (in this case,the congregation) all give according to their means for the good of the entire community. People often turn to their church when they need help on a electric bill or buying food for the week. The donations of parishioners who can afford to contribute help them to meet these needs.

The existence of so many micro communities that operate in this manner (many of which, but not all, are faith communities) puts a dent in our cultural belief as Americans that the free market will sort everything out and that all we need to do is look out for ourselves to get by. We need to be able to rely on other people when we cannot do everything ourselves. Some members of a congregation may benefit from charitable programs when their families experience financial crisis. Others may remain stable financially but will experience the support of that community through friendship in difficult emotional times. I think we need to expand this idea beyond the boundaries of a specific faith or a specific congregation and see ourselves as part of a community where we both give and receive.

Here is a simple practical step for those of you who, like me, are just out of college and getting into the working world. Pick a percentage of your take-home pay and set that amount aside every week to donate. Don't rush to spend it every week, but find organizations that you know will use it well. Go to your local food pantry or homeless shelter and find out what items they need, and then go out and spend your money on those supplies, that way you know your donation is directly helping their clients. If you volunteer, pay yourself the same hourly wage you make now and deduct that from what you donate. The idea is that we will hopefully become more financially comfortable as we get older so starting now will make giving away money less painful later. And, when you are making more money and own your own home, you can deduct the money you've donated from your taxable income. And what's better than giving less money to a government that doesn't always spend the way you'd like, and giving it instead to organizations that you feel make a difference?