Who Gives More to Charity? Liberals or Conservatives

[Gem]

Luissa27 Wrote:

Do you have solid proof of what you say!

LOL. We just saw an article about a study that demonstrates that Republicans give more to charity than Democrats, lol. You can easily find studies that indicate that Democrats tend to be more highly educated than Republicans and that Democrats on average make more money. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before...on this board, in fact, numerous times.

And this crap about liberals not going to church and not being christian is getting old!

It would be getting old if that was anywhere even close to what I said...but it wasn't...you just imagined it because you're mad that this study doesn't say what you want it to.

It isn't rude to point out that Christians in general tend to be more Republican than Democrat. It doesn't mean that many Democrats are not good, faithful practicing Christians, lol...unless you hyperventilate and don't clearly read someones thread.

 

[WillowTree]

This is good to know. So instead of paying taxes I will do a little community organizing for nothing except my time.. Yeah, that'll work.

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't give money I give my time, which is much more valuable.

Er..maybe to you, dear. I'm not sure kids in Uganda have much use for your time.

 

[AllieBaba]

Do you have solid proof of what you say! I am sure each side can do a study where it shows they give more and volunteer more!
And this crap about liberals not going to church and not being christian is getting old!

Actually, the studies support the claim that conservatives typically give more. And as was pointed out, this isn't "tithing" but charitable donations.

Tithing is something separate which conservative christians ALSO participate in, which if you are going to count puts even further over the top for charitable donations. It's missionaries and nuns who are digging the wells and bringing medical care to the most disease-riddled, poorest and most dangerous locations on the earth. NOT the two or three Peace Corps volunteers that still exist.

 

[Silence]

Er..maybe to you, dear. I'm not sure kids in Uganda have much use for your time.

sorry dear, I worry about the kids in THIS country before I start worrying about the kids elsewhere. Clean up your own backyard first I say.

I'm anxious to hear how much money do you give to them Ugandan children Allie?!

 

[AllieBaba]

I give money through the church to Uganda. This is in addition to tithing. We support missionaries in Uganda, and the daughter (and her family) of a member of our church lives there, works as a teacher and a nurse.

I also have given money to send another nurse to Indonesia, where she lived with a family and worked in appalling conditions, bringing health care to people who die of things here we don't even think of, because they just don't have supplies.

Giving time is a valid and good way to assist locally, and it in no way can be outshone by giving money for overseas assistance, though.

I'm making scarves and hats for all the kids in our Head Start class. I made my boy his, as I do every winter, and he just was gaga over it (much to my surprise) so I thought I'd make them all a set. Why not.... Then we can always identify the preschoolers on the street.

Thankfully, the class is small.

 

[Luissa]

“Generosity consists not the sum given, but the manner in which it is bestowed”

 

[xsited1]

Okay folks. Nothing to see here. Conservatives give more of their money and time to charity. This is well-known and well-documented. It's a fact. End of story.

(One thing that isn't well-known is that the Democratic Party is now the party of the rich. Funny how that happens, eh?)

 

[Luissa]

Okay folks. Nothing to see here. Conservatives give more of their money and time to charity. This is well-known and well-documented. It's a fact. End of story.

(One thing that isn't well-known is that the Democratic Party is now the party of the rich. Funny how that happens, eh?)

Yes they may give more and they will be the first ones to tell you about it! Aren't you suppose to give for the reward of giving not by the looking better.

 

[Turboswede]

Yes they may give more and they will be the first ones to tell you about it! Aren't you suppose to give for the reward of giving not by the looking better.

Hey, I for one am going to do a Greenspan here and say, bang, you got us. You can play around with the definitions and whether religious charities count and all that, but in the end I would be very surprised if liberals gave more to charity than conservatives as a percentage of income.


I am not exactly sure why that is, I doubt it’s just because us lefties are super selfish. I think that conservatives have a stronger sense of local community than liberals do because of church activities. I will admit that I am not a big fan of Christianity, but two of the organizations I volunteer for have religious origins and are still tangentially involved with the church. Ok, they are Catholic, but most conservatives still consider that Christian, right?

 

[Annie]

I don't give money I give my time, which is much more valuable.

I give both. What do you do?

 

[Annie]

This is an odd argument because it contains lots of weird assumptions. People give to churches because they want to be saved. Sorta like the purchase of indulgences. Or little works that kept you in purgatory a shorter time. So really it is not odd they give, death lasts a long time and we definitely want to hedge our bets. But if charity is the issue then why complain of taxes? Assume the taxes you give are used to do some good. You know, like bomb the heathens or build tanks or build bridges to nowhere.

Untrue. Many KNOW they don't need to DO anything to be saved. Yours is a false argument.

 

[Annie]

actually it is. How hard is it to write a check?

That's the problem with you Cons, you think you can throw money at any problem and it'll fix itself. It takes hard work, dedication and time. Something money can't buy.

Which do you think an abused child cherishes more, a hug or a dollar?

think about it.

You're the one! Lord almighty! You've spent how many months just salivating at taking from the 'haves' and redistributing to those you consider the 'have nots'?

 

[Luissa]

I give both. What do you do?

Why does this have to be a pissing contest! The point of giving is what you gain from that not by being able to brag about what you do! And what if Silence go only afford to volunteer! At least she is doing something which is the point!

 

[xsited1]

Yes they may give more and they will be the first ones to tell you about it! Aren't you suppose to give for the reward of giving not by the looking better.

Here's a great example:

Here is a chart of the Bidens’ giving for the years covered by the tax returns:
Adjusted
Gross Income Charity

1998 $215,432 $195

1999 $210,797 $120

2000 $219,953 $360

2001 $220,712 $360

2002 $227,811 $260

2003 $231,375 $260

2004 $234,271 $380

2005 $321,379 $380

2006 $248,459 $380

2007 $319,853 $995

Total $2,450,042 $3,690

Joe Biden and American Charity by Byron York on National Review Online

 

[Annie]

Why does this have to be a pissing contest! The point of giving is what you gain from that not by being able to brag about what you do! And what if Silence go only afford to volunteer! At least she is doing something which is the point!

And I said nothing differently or as a 'challenge.' However, as Gem several times pointed out, the 'giving' was to charities, not necessarily churches. I find the Salvation Army one of the best organizations out there, not only for their help to the poor, suddenly homeless in disasters, addicts, etc., but also their ability to help many of the disenfranchised, become useful, self-confident citizens.

Same with the PADS center I volunteer at. Same with the Food Pantry which is volunteer only from local churches and community organizations. While I am an educator, one doesn't need to be to volunteer to help others learn English via ESL.

Notice a trend here? I do care to help those with less, but I want them to have a better life, especially their children. While the local IL Unemployment office says you have to 'attend classes' for 'retraining', they don't teach jack. It's an exercise in getting the check that you paid into. Nonsense.

 

[editec]

Ironically, this liberal gets most of his funding from one of the most conservative foundations in America.

The so called liberals haven't done doodle-squat for Children's Books Online: the Rosetta Project

 

[Luissa]

Here's a great example:

Here is a chart of the Bidens’ giving for the years covered by the tax returns:
Adjusted
Gross Income Charity

1998 $215,432 $195

1999 $210,797 $120

2000 $219,953 $360

2001 $220,712 $360

2002 $227,811 $260

2003 $231,375 $260

2004 $234,271 $380

2005 $321,379 $380

2006 $248,459 $380

2007 $319,853 $995

Total $2,450,042 $3,690

Joe Biden and American Charity by Byron York on National Review Online

Your point is? Do you the whole story behind why he gives that much? No

Why don't you look at the ratio the Walton's who are republican give to charity compared to their income!

 

[Annie]

Your point is? Do you the whole story behind why he gives that much? No

Why don't you look at the ratio the Walton's who are republican give to charity compared to their income!

Not too shabby:

Wal-Mart Charity Evaluated

... The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a watchdog group, released a report in September, The Waltons and Wal-Mart: Self-Interested Philanthropy, detailing the recent increase in Wal-Mart and Walton philanthropy and noting its likely relationship to the company's image problems. Indeed, the increase has been staggering. The Walton Family Foundation (WFF) gave away $106.9 million in 2003--the most recent year for which data are available--twice as much as in 2000. Wal-Mart's company PAC, now the third-largest corporate PAC and the second-largest corporate donor to the GOP, gave away $2.1 million in 2004, compared with just $100,000 in 1994. The Walton family, too, has greatly increased its political giving; in 2004, for example, Alice donated $2.6 million to the influential Republican PAC Progress for America, which supported the sleazy Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and gave Bush a critical push in the election's final months. Since 1999 the Wal-Mart Foundation (WMF)--a company-controlled entity with no direct connection to the WFF--has tripled its giving and by the end of this year will have doled out more than $200 million in cash and merchandise, according to spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien.

The company also donated $20 million in cash and merchandise to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, garnering extensive--and partially justified--praise. To antigovernment zealots like New York Times columnist John Tierney and the wing nuts running the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Wal-Mart's impressive response to the hurricane showed that the private sector is simply more effective than the government. It is true that when you starve government by draining its resources and electing officials who don't believe in it, nothing seems to work. But Wal-Mart played a major role in that eviscerating process. Much of Wal-Mart's philanthropy (as well as that of the Walton family) has been directed toward promoting anti-government politics, whether by lobbying against high taxes for the rich or contributing to Republican candidates, conservative think tanks and efforts to privatize education. ...

Walton Family Ranks 37th In Charitable Giving

Walton Family Ranks 37th In Charitable Giving

From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

The Walton Family poured $415 million into their charitable foundation last year, climbing to 37 th among America’s wealthiest private foundations.

The Walton Family Foundation moved up from 44 th even though it gave away more money than ever before — $157 million. Among the 2005 gifts: $19 million for the planned Crystal Bridges art museum in Bentonville and $2.1 million to jump-start a new cause: restoring depleted fisheries.

The foundation held $1.3 billion in assets at year-end 2005, up from $1.1 billion in 2004, according to the income-tax return it filed Wednesday.

Helen Walton, matriarch of Wal-Mart’s founding family, contributed $356.5 million last year, according to the tax return. The rest of the new money came from family trusts.

The Bentonville-based foundation is still far behind America’s richest, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of Seattle. With $29 billion at yearend 2005, the Gates foundation dwarfed the second-ranking Ford Foundation even before Gates forged his charitable alliance with powerhouse investor Warren Buffett.

The Gates foundation also gives away the most money, $1.4 billion. The Walton Family Foundation ranks 17th in giving, according to the Foundation Center, a nonprofit foundation tracker in New York.

Until recently, the Walton foundation has channeled its money into three causes: overhauling education, lifting the impoverished Delta region of Arkansas and Mississippi, and helping already prosperous Northwest Arkansas.

Family spokesman Jay Allen said the Waltons have decided to help rebuild marine and freshwater fisheries, especially the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. The family’s interest in sustaining watery ecosystems extends to Delta wetlands.

Walton fortune headed for charity? - May 14, 2007

The fate of the $16B Walton estate
Helen Walton's will could finally turn the Wal-Mart founder's family into a philanthropy powerhouse, says Fortune's Carol Loomis.
FORTUNE Magazine
By Carol J. Loomis, Fortune editor-at-large
May 1 2007: 6:13 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- The death of Helen Robson Walton at 87 last month - and a will that provides for philanthropy - may finally turn America's richest family into one of its most charitable.

Helen and her late husband, Wal-Mart founder Sam, always appeared to be heading toward large-scale donations. But when Sam died in 1992, most of his money passed to Helen. And though she increased her giving to an extent, the Waltons remained - as critics have noted - a relatively small force in philanthropy.

That is going to change, and the money will come from Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) shares. On March 30, according to Wal-Mart's just-published proxy statement, Helen owned only about $37 million of Wal-Mart shares directly. But the family's true vault of wealth is a company called Walton Enterprises LLC, which holds about 1.68 billion Wal-Mart shares, worth $82 billion. ...

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

I would be curious to know what the stats would look like if contributions to the worship industry that didn't go toward helping the less fortunate were removed from the calculations.

-Joe

Yeah that would be fascinatin'... Of course to be FAIR and we know how the left is ALL ABOUT THE FAIRNESS... we'd also have to look at the same for secular 'charities,' such as entitlement spending; which is to say we'd need to see how much money is absorbed into the 'overhead' of federal agencies which are tasked with 'he'pin' the po''

Of course the thing about private charities, particularly religious charities is that they possess a level of accountability, which the left rejects... which is also the basis for the stunning distinction in the efficacy of private charities over the secular waste of resources.