I read an interesting blog post that I thought was encouraging on one hand and an indictment on the other.
America’s poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What’s more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does. “The lowest-income fifth (of the population) always give at more than their capacity,” said Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of major nonprofit agencies. “The next two-fifths give at capacity, and those above that are capable of giving two or three times more than they give.”
Since giving is an issue of trust – I wonder how trustful and trustworthy you and I really are?
I always approach statistics like this with caution, looking for the other side of the story. Was there another spin the author could have used on this same data?
AMERICA’SRICH ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY HALF OF ALL CHARITABLE GIVING
Surveys have shown that America’s rich donated 45% of the total charitable giving reported in the last year. Using the raw numbers, the bottom fifth only accounted for an average of $452.83 while the top fifth accounted for $3,336.64. In fact, if you combine the bottom four income brackets the total giving was $3,943.80 or only $607.16 more than the the top fifth contributed alone. So what can we learn from these numbers? If you run a charitable organization you have to get over 7 of America’s poor to give to account for 1 of America’s rich.
I think that Robert Morris in his book “The Blessed Life” did a great job of trying to lower the expectations that we have on the rich when is comes to giving. In many church circles the rich are looked down upon because everyone thinks they could be doing more from a financial standpoint. This is not always that case. But, it is always easier to stand on the outside and judge without knowing all of the details.
The author could have went that route, but that didn’t seem to be his point.
His point wasn’t that the “rich” give significantly higher dollars – it was that they give a significantly lower percentage of those dollars.
It reminded me of the fact that the Bible consistently teaches equal sacrifice.
Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”