Charity Begins at Home
I will be lagging some this week and some of next week when it comes to my writing and posting my “90 Ways in 90 Days” articles. Emma, who is 3-years old, is suffering from another ear infection. This would be her second major one in a month, and her 3rd for the year. They are not talking tubes just yet, but let’s just say it is not out of the range of possibilities. I am open to whatever will minimize her trauma and pain. Anyway, I have been focusing very much on keeping her comfortable. Also, we have been staying in a temporary house until the home we are going to settle into the for last leg of Bryan’s training was readied for us. I am happy to say that we were given the green light to start moving in on Wednesday of this week. On Saturday we will get the big moving van, and settle into the place we will call home for the next several months.
So, I am going to be giving more of myself to my kids and our situation until we settle in. It doesn’t mean that I am going to stop writing altogether. Writing in this blog is very helpful for me — writing has given me a sort of confidant again since my real confidant is away for now. I will certainly post as much as I can, but it may be hit and miss at times.
Here is a great article I did spy on Right Nation earlier today. Speaking of charity beginning at home, here is a great article that shows how generous and benevolent our Countrymen are!
Americans give record $295B to charity
USA TODAY/ AP
25 June 2007
(excerpt)
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the Asian tsunami.
Donors contributed an estimated $295.02 billion in 2006, a 1% increase when adjusted for inflation, up from $283.05 billion in 2005. Excluding donations for disaster relief, the total rose 3.2%, inflation-adjusted, according to an annual report released Monday by the Giving USA Foundation at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy.
Giving historically tracks the health of the overall economy, with the rise amounting to about one-third the rise in the stock market, according to Giving USA. Last year was right on target, with a 3.2% rise as stocks rose more than 10% on an inflation-adjusted basis.
“What people find especially interesting about this, and it’s true year after year, that such a high percentage comes from individual donors,” Giving USA Chairman Richard Jolly said.
Individuals gave a combined 75.6% of the total. With bequests, that rises to 83.4%.
The biggest chunk of the donations, $96.82 billion or 32.8%, went to religious organizations. The second largest slice, $40.98 billion or 13.9%, went to education, including gifts to colleges, universities and libraries.
About 65% of households with incomes less than $100,000 give to charity, the report showed.
“It tells you something about American culture that is unlike any other country,” said Claire Gaudiani, a professor at NYU’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and author of The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism. Gaudiani said the willingness of Americans to give cuts across income levels, and their investments go to developing ideas, inventions and people to the benefit of the overall economy.
Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7%. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73%, while France, with a 0.14% rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.
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