I give money directly to one person, and one person only. She's about 55 year old female. She's been homeless that i know of for at least 8 years. She won't go to a shelter, she lives off a path in the woods. She loves nature but has mental problems. She smokes pot but doesn't drink. I can't believe how she can survive the winter with no heat or electricity.
I've seen her walk to her tent in January when it's -15℃, the tent is about 10 feet off the path. She cleans the area around her tent. She will survive the nuclear holocaust.
If OP wants to be charitable, he/she should hand out a buck or two to panhandlers once in a while. Show some respect for human prerogative before it fades away.
Those of you who give: What am I missing? A good feeling? What else do you get out of it? I’m almost finished paying off my student loans (I’m paying down to $10,000 in case forgiveness happens), which will free up some money…but I’m not sure there’s will motivate me to donate any money to charity. There aren’t any causes I believe strongly in and I pay a lot on taxes. I feel like I’m already funding a lot of charity-like social programs.
I donate a little bit. My company started a charity to help our fellow employees and the local community when COVID started. If someone needed some minor financial assistance, it would pay out. I put in $500, as I make a lot more than our customer service people.
I hesitate to donate to the big charities, since I feel like most of it is going to admin costs. I’ve done it here and there but nothing big. I donate clothes and shoes to my wife’s extended family in the Philippines at least once per year.
I’ll give a homeless person cash here and there depending on my mood. I also pay a lot in taxes.
I wish I could do more but I’m the sole earner in a family of 4 and I have 2 college tuitions and probably 2 weddings to save up for on top of trying to save for my own retirement.
Those of you who give: What am I missing? A good feeling? What else do you get out of it? I’m almost finished paying off my student loans (I’m paying down to $10,000 in case forgiveness happens), which will free up some money…but I’m not sure there’s will motivate me to donate any money to charity. There aren’t any causes I believe strongly in and I pay a lot on taxes. I feel like I’m already funding a lot of charity-like social programs.
As I posted before, you can't explain empathy to someone who doesn't have it. Its like trying to explain color to a blind person.
Those of you who give: What am I missing? A good feeling? What else do you get out of it? I’m almost finished paying off my student loans (I’m paying down to $10,000 in case forgiveness happens), which will free up some money…but I’m not sure there’s will motivate me to donate any money to charity. There aren’t any causes I believe strongly in and I pay a lot on taxes. I feel like I’m already funding a lot of charity-like social programs.
So, if your loans are forgiven you feel justified that you have that donation coming to you from us?
When you donate to charity, you never really know where that money actually goes. Look at BLM for example, raised 100 million plus and the money disappeared. The woman in control of the money went on a mansion buying spree though. For every charitable donation, at least more than half on average goes to "administration" fees or lines peoples pockets somehow. If you donate to a church, you're also essentially just giving the pastors free money they can spend at their own discretion and leisure. Just depends on how greedy the people in control of the money are.
If OP wants to be charitable, he/she should hand out a buck or two to panhandlers once in a while. Show some respect for human prerogative before it fades away.
Or vote for socialist politicial parties.
There are no true socialists.
A socialist solution would give the panhandler ownership of a fair share of the means of production, and thus a guaranteed income by dividend. This has yet to work on the large scale, except maybe on paper. Centralized state power is the de facto owner.