Am I being too generous ? Or am I too tight ?

JF50, I think the following is very valid: 

"There are some critics who argue that all foreign aid — whether from individuals or nonprofits or governments — is keeping Africa back. A vast body of research shows that foreign aid has done little to spur economic growth in Africa — and may have actually slowed it down. "The long-term solution is not aid. It may seem cruel that aid should stop, but really it should," says Rasna Warah, a Kenyan newspaper columnist and editor of the anthology Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits, a call to arms against aid. "Africa is the greatest dumping ground on the planet. Everything is dumped here. The sad part is that African governments don't say no — in fact, they say, 'Please send us more.' They're abdicating responsibility for their own citizens."

Mugabe has taken Zimbabwe from wealth to poverty in less than a generation. To me it's asking too much to send aid to a country where the president doesn't give a sh*t about his own citizens. 

Screamapillar wrote (see)

I've mentioned it before but does no-one else here work for a company that does payroll giving?

 

Mine doesn't, I guess the payroll department doesn't need the extra work.

very little extra work for the payroll staff wilkie

I think it depends on the charities and what they mean..........If you  believe in Karma etc then you could look at that for all the time you have been given you have not needed for the basics in life or the need of charity help....

most would prefer the option to give to a charity than to need the help or support of a charity...

review the charities......do they still mean something to you.if so then i would continue.........

charities need donations and its only when you need the help of a charity do you really appreciate all those who support it

How do you know that the people with flashier lifestyles aren't paying £££s in credit card and personal loan interest?

xine267 wrote (see)

How do you know that the people with flashier lifestyles aren't paying £££s in credit card and personal loan interest?

They may also be giving to charity and just not mentioning it.

payroll giving via GAYE is very simple to do and is taken pre-tax, pennies from heaven a bit more complicated (where the pence in your net pay is paid over to charity)

There are some statistics on charitable giving here.

"The typical amounts given per donor per month in 2009/10 were £12, measured by the median, and £31 measured by the mean."

So you're more generous than most by either measure. Personally, I think giving away 1% of your income is about the right amount. Although I think it does depend on your individual circumstances - if you're well off you could give 1% (or more) and not really notice it, but if you're poor then you probably need every penny you can lay your hands on.

I pay my taxes, which involves a lot of charity on my part. Why pay more?

Once I've paid what the State requires me to pay, charity begins at home and ends there.

So for those few who think charity begins at home and so won't give any.out of interest would you refuse to ask or take any help from a charity if you ever needed it....eg support from a cancer charity or a childrens charity of your loved ones ever became seriously ill or would you insist on just having whatever the state provides in your area........

not giving to charity at all out of principle  but taking reminds me of those people who are suitable to give blood but won't because it might affect a training run.....but are happy to accept it for themselves or their families in an emergency

Colin has a point - our Government gives a lot of (our) money in overseas aid.  

According to the Guardian in September 2012: "Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) put total UK foreign aid at £8.6bn in 2011. With a population of about 62.6 million, the figure works out to roughly £137 per head."

seren - karma doesn't reward people who do good deeds.  It only rewards people who do them for no return.

I'll have to look into GAYE and Pennies From Heaven, sounds like a good way of giving a small amount that I won't miss regularly and maximising Gift Aid.

Seren - I'd love to give blood but always fail the test when they do that test with the drop of blood into glass of water. Even when I've been loading up on spinach and iron supplements! And yet when I have blood tests for iron deficiency it always comes back normal.

Wilkie wrote (see)

Colin has a point - our Government gives a lot of (our) money in overseas aid.  

According to the Guardian in September 2012: "Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) put total UK foreign aid at £8.6bn in 2011. With a population of about 62.6 million, the figure works out to roughly £137 per head."

 

Maybe they can take that as part payment for the theft and rape of resources inflicted on many of these nations by the British Empire, which went a long way to creating British wealth in the first place.

Although in truth many of these "aid" donations are nothing but government sponsored business bribes of sorts, so we're still exploiting poor nations for our own benefit.

Mind you the first to complain about overseas aid tend to be UKIP type immigrant ranters. People go where the wealth is, always have and always will. Deal with it.

Interesting feedback thanks ! Especially the figures. 

I don't think paying tax is enough charity. You cant get away without paying any tax - sp where is the charity ?

I'm not religious but I think its only decent to at least try and help out others ?

Nick - you don't sound like a nice person at all. How do you know I'm a condescending capitalist creep ? I might be a Guardian reader. 

I'm not sure karma cares about money or donations. Giving to charities just seems to be the right thing to do. I do think I might scale it back a bit though. 

Hmm - totting it all up - I could have sponsored me for a Gold Bond place a few times over now. Why didn't I think of that !

Thanks again. 

seren nos wrote (see)

So for those few who think charity begins at home and so won't give any.out of interest would you refuse to ask or take any help from a charity if you ever needed it....eg support from a cancer charity or a childrens charity of your loved ones ever became seriously ill or would you insist on just having whatever the state provides in your area........

not giving to charity at all out of principle  but taking reminds me of those people who are suitable to give blood but won't because it might affect a training run.....but are happy to accept it for themselves or their families in an emergency

The Government takes it on itself to decide what we must do, Seren Nos. We pay our taxes. An awful lot of tax, in many cases.

My charities include unmarried mothers who get free flats, people who could easily go out to work but aren't forced to, my local council's employees' old age pensions (incredibly 30% of my council tax goes to that), a war in Afghanistan,  the courts service, the probation service, jails, the police, schools and the provision of education, provision of roads, provision of an Olympics (still being paid for, please note), and many many more. I am actually very charitable. Loads of things I shouldn't have to pay towards, and would choose not to pay towards were I given an option, I pay towards, extremely charitably. Good of me.

Once I've paid that lot, my obligations are at an end. I can heave a sigh of relief and not let anyone else get their hooks in me. I have paid my dues. Go away, collection box people.

My main objections to giving to charity are: (a) that they tend to duplicate what the state already provides/does; and (b) they don't have any definite obligation beyond spending the money they receive, a lot of which goes to pay for themselves, their premises and their wages rather than their charitable objects anyway.

Would I let a charity help me? Of course, if they are minded to, but I don't expect they'll be obliged to.

I gave a lot to charity in my younger days, but then I came to my senses and realised I was being a mug.

I gave about 12 doses of blood in my younger days but then stopped giving because I felt I should be paid for it. (Yes, I know it would attract the wrong sort of people, but nonetheless the NHS pays for everything else. Why should they get blood free?)

Jason Wintin wrote (see)

ive always been wary of many charities as they spend alot on 'other costs' instead of giving to the real cause.

its like live aid every year they raise (dont quote me here) millions for the starving. 

and yet every year millions is raised and they still starve. 

the costs in getting the aid over there is HUGE, boats, planes, wages (bribes to the gorvernment)

if you want to donate the £70 a month why not donate to a local charity so you can see where it really goes.

or just  sponsor a donkey/lion/elephant/panda and get free pictures of a generic animal, when really its already died

I agree totally with the bit about donating to local charities. They're likely to spend less on administration costs, so more of the money goes to a good cause.

Choose your own charities on the basis of your own conscience. How much is again a question of conscience.
In Biblical readings, the concept of tithes is mentioned. The Bible being the base text for Jews, Christians and Muslims. It means giving 10% of your income to charity. The concept is developed from one community to another, that may suggest more or less (10% of disposable income). Some people manage their conscience by adjusting their will to leave a significant donation at that point. It enables an easier balance between liquid assets and property investments.
Personally, I have been prompted to review my donations. I balance them on the basis of what I might be spending on my "fun time" or boys toys.

International aid can make a massive difference if done well. In recent years it has led to:

• raised food production

• Improvement in health including smallpox eradication and reduction in polio and TB
• Reductions in illiteracy and increase in primary school enrolment by 8% since 1991.
• The pace of childhood death has declined sharply in recent decades – with an estimated 6.9 million children dying before their fifth birthday in 2011, compared to around 12 million in 1990, UN report in Sept 2012
• Lifesaving responses to disasters such as the 2004 tsunami.
• Increased access to water and sanitation, reducing child deaths from diarrhoea from 4.6 million in 1980 to 1.5 million in 2000.
• In Rwanda for example, average life expectancy increased from 26 years in 1994 to 50 years in 2008. 

UK aid is helping to make a critical difference to the lives of millions of people 

• Saving lives – in the financial year 2009/10, UK aid ensured that 15 million people had enough food to eat and provided over 1.5 million people with clean water.

• Over the next years, the UK’s contribution to the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) will ensure that 80 million children can be immunised worldwide saving an estimated 1.4 million lives.

• Peace and good governance – the UK’s extensive security and development assistance to Sierra Leone over the last decade has helped to end its civil war, stabilise and rebuild the country and helped the country’s economy to grow by 5% in each of the last two years. Over the next three years, UK aid will help 44.9 million people participate in elections.
•  “British aid pays for five million children in developing countries to go to primary school everyday. That’s roughly the same number as go toprimary school in Britain, yet it costs only 2.5% of what we spend here.”

Colin McLaughlin wrote (see)

seren nos wrote (see)

So for those few who think charity begins at home and so won't give any.out of interest would you refuse to ask or take any help from a charity if you ever needed it....eg support from a cancer charity or a childrens charity of your loved ones ever became seriously ill or would you insist on just having whatever the state provides in your area........

not giving to charity at all out of principle  but taking reminds me of those people who are suitable to give blood but won't because it might affect a training run.....but are happy to accept it for themselves or their families in an emergency

The Government takes it on itself to decide what we must do, Seren Nos. We pay our taxes. An awful lot of tax, in many cases.

My charities include unmarried mothers who get free flats, people who could easily go out to work but aren't forced to, my local council's employees' old age pensions (incredibly 30% of my council tax goes to that), a war in Afghanistan,  the courts service, the probation service, jails, the police, schools and the provision of education, provision of roads, provision of an Olympics (still being paid for, please note), and many many more. I am actually very charitable. Loads of things I shouldn't have to pay towards, and would choose not to pay towards were I given an option, I pay towards, extremely charitably. Good of me.

Once I've paid that lot, my obligations are at an end. I can heave a sigh of relief and not let anyone else get their hooks in me. I have paid my dues. Go away, collection box people.

My main objections to giving to charity are: (a) that they tend to duplicate what the state already provides/does; and (b) they don't have any definite obligation beyond spending the money they receive, a lot of which goes to pay for themselves, their premises and their wages rather than their charitable objects anyway.

Would I let a charity help me? Of course, if they are minded to, but I don't expect they'll be obliged to.

I gave a lot to charity in my younger days, but then I came to my senses and realised I was being a mug.

I gave about 12 doses of blood in my younger days but then stopped giving because I felt I should be paid for it. (Yes, I know it would attract the wrong sort of people, but nonetheless the NHS pays for everything else. Why should they get blood free?)

 

 

 

 

 

Just as well we don't all think like you Colin.

To actually suggest you be paid for giving blood which might save a person's life, potentially even one of your loved-ones, is astounding. I guess you'll be too mean to donate your organs won't you? God forbid someone should get them for free, even if you're too dead to use them. 

"Altruism" is clearly not a concept you are familiar with.

Based on his hatred of paying tax for things he may not use I'm thinking he's a Libertarian. Anyone with that mindset is going to hate things like that, even though their own system is unworkable and logically flawed.