Challenges from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right

There are other ways to be charitable without supporting large, multinational "non-profits" like the United Way and Red Cross, which only use about 15-20% of your donations to actually helping the needy. Many small local organization use 100% of your donation, and often match a certain percentage on their own, or by way way of sponsors. Every December we take part in an 'adopt a family' program where we buy the family Christmas presents that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford any. We usually adopt two or three families. There is no charitable overhead, no tax exemption, no slice going elsewhere...it goes 100% to the people we want it to go to and our only reward is in knowing we did something good for some people. We always throw in a turkey and some other food to ensure they have a few nice dinners as well. The best part is I'm helping people in my community. So, there are ways around fraudulent charitable organizations if you truly care enough to look.

 

Like i said, you don't like churches. So tell me something new.

 

Shut up Mittens!

 

Conservatives and Liberals Are Equally Generous, Study Finds

October 24, 2012, 9:16 am
By Maria Di Mento

Political views do not predict how much money a person will donate to charity, according to a new study. But conservatives and liberals do support different kinds of causes.
Conservatives and people in conservative-leaning states are more likely than others to donate to religious organizations, while people in liberal-leaning states are more likely to donate to secular nonprofits, the study found.
The study was conducted by MIT researchers Michele Margolis and Michael Sances and was based on data from NORC at the University of Chicago. It follows a study by three scholars released in May that suggested fundraisers should phrase pitches differently when appealing to Republicans versus Democrats.
Still, the findings about overall giving rates run counter to previous studies by scholars that have shown that religious conservatives give more than secular liberals.
Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute and formerly professor of public administration at Syracuse University, used public giving data to make that conclusion in the 2006 book Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.
More recently, a Chronicle analysis of 2008 IRS tax data found states that had voted for the Republican candidate John McCain in the most recent presidential election had given more of their discretionary income to charity than states that had supported the Democratic President Barack Obama.
Let us know what you see among your donors. Do you find differences by political affiliation?

http://philanthropy.com/blogs/prosp...berals-are-equally-generous-study-finds/35812


Now what? Oops! So given that different studies find different results, you choose to believe...???

 

This rules are getting heavily bent lately:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization

501 (c)s include religious organizations, some of whic may be bending the rules to the point that they could lose their status as a 501 (c).

The Pew Forum then gets into the details, point by point. The first four points are "background" info. The next thirteen address the restrictions on political lobbying and other endorsements. The next seven are about voter outreach and education. The next five deal with the use of facilities and publications, in relation to political activities. The last two points are about the repercussions of not following the law, what a religious organization can expect should it be found to be failing to comply with the law.

Source: http://www.pewforum.org/Church-State-Law/preaching-politics-from-the-pulpit-2012.aspx

 

IMO, I think religious organizations should be able to express their point of view on political issues. I wouldn't agree with any financial endorsements or lobbying, but they should be able to talk about why they support such and such and why this law or that one is right/wrong.

 

You might find this report a bit more interesting;
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/06/08/exp-gps-0609-witw.cnn.html