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.” Patrick’s 2 cents – Great stories in this article about the poor giving. Blows me away.
The Huffington Post - The White House released the filings for both the President and the First Lady on Wednesday. Combined, the family brought in an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902, mostly from the sale of the President’s books. The Obamas paid $855,323 in federal income tax. And they donated $172,050 – or about 6.5% of their adjusted gross income – to 37 different charities. Follow the link to see the list of charities the Obamas gave to during 2008.
Great 2 minute by Mark Driscoll on generous tipping by his church members. My wife taught me how to tip generously and I think it has been one of the greatest examples for my kids. I love to give $50 or $100 every so often on a $30 meal…..it feels so good!
New Creation Church in Singapore raised a whopping $19 million for the construction of its new church in less than 24 hours. In a show of support, a record number of 22,000 people turned up for services at the Rock Auditorium at Suntec City Mall three weeks ago. Patrick’s 2 cents – If this is true, sort of makes a 3 year capital campaign seem weak. The article makes it sound like almost all of the 22,000 people in attendance gave which would mean the average gift was around $850. I know of one church, Antioch Community Church, in Waco who follows the same model. They avoid debt and tell everybody to give as much as they can and use cash to buy and build new facilities. Thanks to my friend Ben Stroup at Do More Ministry for the heads up on this.
Donna Freedman will be living on just over $1,000 a month. That doesn’t sound like much — and it isn’t. Her “income,” the money she can actually count on, will be $12,084. Yet find out why Donna feels like the luckiest person in the world in this short story. A hint from Mark 12 – “She has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.” Thanks to Generosity Matters blog for this story.
KOAA.com – The couple and their five children bill themselves as “The Cheapest Family in America” and “The Frugals.” On Thursday they showed TODAY viewers how they, too, can have everything they need and live debt-free in an expansive home in one of America’s tonier neighborhoods — on less than $45,000 a year. Patrick’s 2 cents – when I read articles like this, it makes me envious. How come I can’t do this? Would I really want to do this?
Do you want to see the Foo Fighter’s charity profile? Or what about Clint Eastwood’s giving patterns? This site profiles the philanthropy of over 1500 celebrities, including causes and in some cases amounts. I looked for my name but alas no luck!
Forbes – Keith Taylor used to be a $350-a-month philanthropist. As an English teacher at Middle Tennessee State University, Taylor put up a little Web site offering to help people out with small portions of his $33,000 salary. He’d wade through his e-mail inbox and send small checks to people with one-time needs. In 2007, Taylor’s non-profit, Modest Needs, leveraged the web to provide over $884,000 of small grants to struggling families in the U.S. Patrick’s 2 cents – This is a great story and a great idea. I just logged onto www.modestneeds.com and helped a single mom in New Orleans pay her past due rent check and a family of 6 in MN keep their electricity on. Seems like a thorough due diligence process as well.
ABC News – Every child born in Maine will be eligible for a $500 college savings nest egg, thanks to the generosity of a shoe company founder who never attended college himself.
Preaching.com – Story from pastor Francis Chan - I came to an elder meeting one morning with this suggestion: If we “love our neighbor as ourselves,” then wouldn’t it make sense to spend on our neighbors what we spend on ourselves? What if we set up our budget so that half of our income leaves the church and goes to other ministries? To my surprise, the elders decided that morning to commit half of the budget to people and ministries outside of Cornerstone. It’s been almost a year now, and we’ve been able to give approximately 55 percent of our money away. Patrick’s 2 cents – Great story of a generous church and God’s provision.
