How do charitable donations fit into your finances?

[Retired To Win]

I pose the question a little bit unfairly, because I am already earlier retired and have a large income cushion over and above my basic living expenses -- factors which should make charitable giving a bit less of a conflict with a main financial goal of amassing a financial independence stash.  But I'd still like to ask.  :O

It hasn't been that easy for me to flip a mental switch and become very generous after reaching FI.  I've only gone from donating about 2% of my net income before reaching FI to now giving about 4% of my net income.  I could do more but I think I have to wait until it feels right (which it doesn't yet).

What about you?  Particularly if you are still ON the journey to FI, how do you reconcile in your mind donating and accumulating?

[localforeigner]

I'm definitely still on the journey... charitable donations don't fit in right now. Hopefully in the future I will be able to relax my grip on the the thought that I need to use every dollar for a purpose that suits my needs, and start giving. But at this point I don't see that happening until I have enough saved to where giving some away doesn't affect the time to reach my goals negatively.

[swick]

Not being bound by religious convention, we don't have a set aside arbitrary amount for donations, but we are very generous people. In the past we have given a lot of time - since suffering a bit of burn out we still do, but are much much more selective about what we will give our time to.

We are still on the road to FI, no debt but not exactly still have a ways to go. As far as donating cash, we don't donate out of obligation or habit, we look at every donation as how it fits in line with our budget and priorities. It depends a lot on "gut feeling" if we feel called to support something and it is within our budget, we do it. Sometimes this means taking money from one of our budgeted areas to do so (we have a small "fun money" account each)

If it is a larger expense (helping friends or family, or something unexpected and major comes up) we can help out with the freedom of knowing that we easily can and it will not cripple us.

So, we go counter to some belief that during the accumulation phase, every dollar has to be invested and maximized. One positive side in the way we do it is we build up a lot of social capital and know that there will always be people willing to help us out if we ever need to. We have had new job, business and partnership opportunities handed to us because of our way of doing things, so it it works for us, the universe/karma/law of reciprocity has a way of working itself out.

[pablo suarve]

I don't donate money and never will.

[iknowiyam]

We plan to donate 10% of salary this year. That being said, we select our charities carefully and will try to balance local and national/international funds. We are still working, not FI.

I haven't used this site before, but it is a good example to help guide evidence-based giving.
https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/

There are many charities that spend little on overhead and work to maximize the amount of their funds that directly benefit the cause. IMO charities that directly give food or money are not optimal because they do not encourage sustainability (except in the case of natural disaster or other very acute circumstance). Medical interventions that structurally are currently not possible for a country or locale (due to political unrest, lack of docs, etc) are one example of something I would support. Also, education - lack of literacy puts people at a huge disadvantage in this world even if they have a lot of other skills.

[Cassie]

We have always helped friends if they really needed it as well as give to certain charities both time & money.  I only pick charities that have low overhead/salaries, etc.

[Syonyk]

We tithe somewhere around 10%, though I probably need to bump up what we donate to match current salary.

I try to be generous with my time and skills to help people, which sometimes is paid, sometimes not.  I don't really care - I'm happy to help out with areas I'm good at (mostly involving car repairs and deep level laptop/phone repair work).  Often, I can expand my skills by helping someone with an interesting project anyway.

Particularly if you are still ON the journey to FI, how do you reconcile in your mind donating and accumulating?

It's not my money to begin with, and tithing reminds me of that.  I'm not on a hard and fast path to "FI by XX/YY/ZZZZ" and more of a journey to working less and having more time to raise my daughter (and any future kids), so just reduced income with more flexibility in how I create it, and radically reduced expenses.  Since I don't have a hard and fast date, giving of time and money doesn't affect it any, so it doesn't really bother me.

[choppingwood]

I am FI, though I have based this on a modest spending.

I do donate and have for a long time. It is as important to me to help other people out as it is to make ends meet for myself.

My donations are regular and strategic:

(1) A monthly donation to Doctors Without Borders, because in every international crisis that comes along, they are already there. Ebola is a case in point, where they did the bulk of the support to countries during the ebola outbreaks. Donating regularly means the money is there when they need it.

My income varies a lot -- sometimes very high, sometimes low. The monthly donation is the same. I figure I have always found a way to pay other fixed expenses, so I find a way to pay this. This is a fixed expense in my projections for retirement.

(2) A monthly loan on Kiva.com. (The minimum loan is $25.) I have made enough loans now that this is basically self-sustaining. I loan to women. I am usually loan to women in rural settings, involved in agriculture or who have a serious personal housing issue they need help with. I alternate loaning to groups, who seem to be able to pay the loans off more easily and to individual women. I usually loan to older women, or to women supporting their parents. At any one time, I have loans out that go to or are shared by 17 to 70 women at a time.

(3) I used to do a monthly donation to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which supports grassroots organizations helping families suffering from the AIDS pandemic in Africa. The organization has done huge amounts of important work, but over the last couple of years I found I was getting very little information from them, so I've cut that donation off.

(4) This would send a good number of MMM Forum members into a stroke, but I donate most of my frequent flier points to the organizations I donate money to.

I also have a strategy for volunteer work. I started to volunteer as a teenager and then when I had no money to donate. Since my thirties (I am 60 now), I have focused mostly on international aid and tutoring people in English as a Second language. The plan for retirement (coming very soon) is to focus a lot of my time on community development work in my small town.

I am FI, but being FI hasn't made any difference one way or the other to how I act in this regard.

[badger1988]

My wife and I are about 4 years into our marriage and also 4 years into our post-collegiate careers, and definitely still closer to the start than the finish of our FI journey. Even so, for us charitable donations are an important part of our budgeting/planning. The approach that we've taken to date has been:

1. Spending: We "budget" $3,000/mo ($36,000/yr) for all living expenses/discretionary spending. Our first two years were a bit higher with "start-up" costs like car purchases and down payment for our house, as well as student loan repayment.

2. Retirement savings: Max out both 401ks and IRAs. So for this year (done already) that was $47,000.

3. Charity: Remainder of our net income. Last year that was about $24,000.

I'm in the process of reworking this plan though. We are expecting twins in July, and at least for the short term my wife plans to become a SAHM. Spending will probably increase, while retirement savings will decrease (one fewer 401k) and charity will also likely have to decrease slightly. I am also considering putting more towards paying off the mortgage early ($59,000 remaining @ 2.5%), which would cut into charitable giving.

Long term, once I hit FI my goal is to continue working as long as I enjoy it, and just donate 100%.

[southern granny]

I do not consider the tithe that we give to the church to be charitable contributions, so I am speaking of money other than that.  We do give charitable contributions to several groups.  We have united way contributions deducted from our pay check and we give donations to several other groups.  We give because we feel so fortunate that all of our needs are more than met, and it only feels right to help others who are not so fortunate.  We give to red cross because of the help that they give to others.  I can't imagine having a fire and getting out of the house only with the clothes you are wearing.  But people face this every day.  In our city, it happened yesterday.  A family of four lost everything they owned as well as one of their dogs because of a space heater.  It actually makes me feel good to give, and it helps others, so I hope I am always able to do it.

[forummm]

We donate some now. But I see my job as being some donation at this point (I do public interest work and I could make a lot more elsewhere--easily doubling my salary). And I work much harder than I need to. My plan is to get to FI and keep accumulating money for larger charitable use in the future. I'll probably end up with a huge stash (after decades of compounding) and don't think too much of it should go to children.

[socalteacher]

We give:
-5% to church
-2.5% to Gogo Grandmothers
-2.5% to Mission Generation
-When need arrises with friends and family we will give (annonymously if possible)
-I wish I could be better at donating my time but I already feel like my career fits that role.

[Retired To Win]

... we don't have a set aside arbitrary amount for donations, but we are very generous people. In the past we have given a lot of time - since suffering a bit of burn out we still do, but are much much more selective about what we will give our time to. ...

Yes, it's true that there is more that one can donate besides money.  I just realized (duh!) that I donate ad space on my blog's home page to 3 charitable organizations I personally support.  The blog's not monetized, but I guess I could say it is "donationized".

[BBub]

We donate more than I'm comfortable with, but since it's so important to DW I've managed to make some concessions and optimize in this area quite well.  We essentially gave 3% of gross earnings away last yr but only took a hit for 1.5%. 

My employer matches charitable contributions by 25%  and our highest tax rate is approx 35%.   So after everything shakes out we're able to basically give double what we would've taken home.

[obstinate]

For the most part, we do not make donations. Maybe this makes me an asshole, but I don't feel I need to, on two levels:

• I do not believe that the concept most people call "duty" actually exists.
• To the extent that I did have any duty to society, it is discharged in the high tax rates I pay.

If society wants more from me, it can take it, and I won't complain. The world would probably be better for it. But I'm not volunteering, except by voting for politicians who support a wider social safety net.

Occasionally, if I hear about a charity that seems especially effective, I'll send in $100. But it's not systematic.

[NICE!]

It hasn't been that easy for me to flip a mental switch and become very generous after reaching FI.  I've only gone from donating about 2% of my net income before reaching FI to now giving about 4% of my net income.  I could do more but I think I have to wait until it feels right (which it doesn't yet).

Thanks for posting this. I tried to make this point in the other thread and some people just refused to believe it - they knew they were better than that, despite the pretty conclusive data in this realm. Habits die hard.

This will probably be my only post in this thread. My own philosophy is this - I have so much, both from a historical perspective and from a world perspective. It would be ridiculous for me to bask in this abundance and not give my time and money to make the world a better place. I won the birth lottery, most others didn't. Being a good steward of the winnings of that lottery is an obligation.

[GetItRight]

I have given charitably in the past, but no longer do. The day government stops stealing money from me at gunpoint is the day I become a generous philanthropist.

[wtjbatman]

We donate time, not money. In selfish terms we get a lot more out of it than writing a check, and I'd like to think that they get more out of our time than that check would buy them.

[msilenus]

I set up a Donor Directed Fund (DDF) for ourselves after reading about them on J. L. Colins' site.

They let you donate appreciated securities to a special kind of charity that works sort of like a brokerage.  The money isn't yours anymore, but so long as you stay on their good side they'll invest it in lines with your requests, and issue grants at your behest out of "your" account.

If you're in a high tax bracket and planning on giving for the rest of your life, this is a really huge deal.  It means you can take all your charitable contributions for life while you're still in a high tax bracket.  That's on top of wiping out capital gains on appreciated securities, which is the traditional reason for getting one.  Anyway, you can figure out how much you want to give forever and then try to grow your DDF big enough while you're working to sustain that level of giving forever.  Use the 4% rule or whatever.

The DDF also removes the urgency on making grants.  You can donate today, take the deduction today, but make the decisions about where it's going in the future.  Which is nice, because I don't have a ton of time to research how best to give right now.

It also makes it possible to make grants anonymously (to the end recipient) while still claiming the deduction (because you're not anonymous to the administrator.)  Even reduces paperwork, because you only have to deal with the IRS form for one recipient.

Finally, they're a great way to get rid of securities that are heavily appreciated but have a high expense ratio.  You make your year's donation with that stock instead of cash, and then use your cash to buy something cheaper.

Anyway, DDFs are one of my favorite things now.  There are some of caveats, though.  You have to be careful to be sure you're following IRS rules, or the administrator might revoke your advisor privileges.  Also, they might have to sometimes force "you" to donate assets out of "your" account to meet IRS' quotas.  (Currently rare, per my understanding.)

[mak1277]

I find it interesting that many people here currently donate time and plan to donate money only after FIRE (this from other threads on the subject, not just this one).

I am in the opposite boat.  I currently donate in excess of 10% of my net (tithes, plus other charitable donations), but since I work, I limit the amount of time  I donate.  For certain when I retire the dollar value of my donations will be cut drastically, but my free time will increase greatly, leading me to volunteer much more than I do now.

[Blonde Lawyer]

I donate a small amount, usually about $50 - $100, to the campaigns of the charities that I am personally involved in.  I'm a member of a charitable board and donate there and I volunteer at an animal shelter and was a former board member there and donate there several times/year.  I also donate to a charity that assists patients with a disease that I also suffer from and I donate to one or two other charities I personally care about.  I will also donate if someone I know is raising funds for a charity that I am not opposed to or if someone seeks charitable donations in lieu of flowers at a funeral or in lieu of birthday presents or wedding presents etc.  If I was going to buy them something anyway in other words.

In total, I donate less than $500/year but it keeps me involved and vested in the organizations I care most about.  From working directly with these organizations I know that $50 from each of their supporters adds up quickly to a good portion of their operating budget.

[seattlecyclone]

My employer matches charitable donations up to a certain cap. We donate that much every year. I think of this gift matching opportunity as "free money" that's almost as important to take advantage of as the 401(k) match is. I also donate some time (averaging roughly three hours per week). Early in FIRE, I intend to donate a bit less money and a bit more time. Later on, we'll probably be able to ramp up the financial gifts. Remember, for every scenario in the FIRE simulators where you end up almost broke at the end of your retirement, there are several where you end up a multimillionaire. Once we're far enough into the journey to see which path we ended up on, we'll donate accordingly. I don't believe in leaving obscene amounts of money to children, so the wealth has to go somewhere else.

[brooklynguy]

Anyway, DDFs are one of my favorite things now.

I second this.  I fell in love with the idea after initially reading about it from Jim Collins' site and then being inspired to give it a harder think after reading one of Sol's threads on this topic (which has some great discussion on the subject of pre-FIRE vs. post-FIRE charitable giving).  One additional benefit of DDFs is that the investments can continue to grow on a tax-free basis pending deployment to the specific charitable purpose.

[msilenus]

Def. and interesting thread.  Thanks for sharing.

[Retired To Win]

I don't donate money and never will.

Okay...

Does that mean that you have found no causes or organizational purposes that you personally think are worthwhile and merit some kind of support?  Or do you donate in other ways than money?  Or is it that you find the concept of donating money fundamentally objectionable (why?)?

I think it would be interesting to get some perspective from someone who is so definitively not donating any money, ever.

[wtjbatman]

I find it interesting that many people here currently donate time and plan to donate money only after FIRE (this from other threads on the subject, not just this one).

It must be from other threads, because I believe I am the only person who posted in this thread who says he donates time and not money. Everyone else said they either donate money, time & money, or nothing at all.

[Retired To Win]

We donate time, not money. In selfish terms we get a lot more out of it than writing a check, and I'd like to think that they get more out of our time than that check would buy them.

I think that's perfectly legit.  After all, I'm always going on about how time is, in the final analysis, more valuable than money.

[Turkey Leg]

What about you?  Particularly if you are still ON the journey to FI, how do you reconcile in your mind donating and accumulating?

We resolve it by being high earners. :) It's much easier to give 15-40% of gross AND save for FIRE when you make a great wage.

But giving is breathing for us...a necessary part of the day.

On the other hand, accumulating is okay (and we do that, too), because we will be donating even more of our time than we do now, once we FIRE. (And we will continue to be generous with giving after FIRE.)

[Syonyk]

For certain when I retire the dollar value of my donations will be cut drastically, but my free time will increase greatly, leading me to volunteer much more than I do now.

I'm definitely looking forward to more free time to donate more time.  Habitat for Humanity is likely to get a good bit of labor out of me, since, being in the tech field and spending my day fiddling bits, I really enjoy doing some construction. :)

[BBub]

Giving, I think, can provide greater fulfillment than just about anything.  Whether it's financial or just using some of your time and talent to help others..  many of us give to each other on this forum - i know I've benefited immensely from others who took the time to provide feedback on a question or situation.  I think it's easy to get defensive about the notion of charity because many of the same tactics used to successfully promote consumerism are used to dubiously promote "charity".  If you fall in the category of folks who are a bit repulsed or whatever, I'd challenge you to just change your mindset a little and even challenge your own definition of "giving".  It may lead to greater happiness.

[Taswegian]

Flipping the switch to higher spending for other's benefit is analogous to moustachianising your spending on yourself. So a) the earlier you change your spending habits the easier it is to maintain (or optimise) and b) it comes back to what your spending priorities REALLY are.
As a family, we donate over 20% of take-home salary, and saving 30%. Personally that works well for us

[Retired To Win]

... I see my job as being some donation at this point (I do public interest work and I could make a lot more elsewhere -- easily doubling my salary). And I work much harder than I need to...

I worked for non-profit organizations for 20 years and I never considered that I was somehow donating to the group by working for them on salary.  Could I have made more elsewhere? Yes.  But at a price in terms of non-monetary satisfaction and self-fulfillment.  So, no, I can't go along with the mindset stated above.

[Retired To Win]

How about in-kind donations?

My wife last year undertook the raising of chickens.  Her hens are cranking out an average 12 eggs a day.  I eat one egg a day and she seldom eats any.  Regulations in my state and county prevent us from roadside marketing the eggs.  So she is ending up donating the eggs in batches to the local food pantry for the needy in exchange for receipts that I hope will turn into itemized deductions on our tax return.

Anyone doing something similar?

[asauer]

We are still on the journey, however, we have three organizations that we feel VERY passionate about:
1. My undergraduate alma mater
2. A tiger rescue/ education center
3. A charity to help rural Guatemalan families (we adopted both of our children from Guatemala)

I think a strong passion for the organization helps a great deal.  We do not give to ANY other organizations other than these so that we can give the most $ possible to make the most impact.  We give about 7% of our annual budget across these three organizations.  I think if you find an organization that looks good, go and volunteer for a while, really get to know the people and learn about specific projects.  For us, it's easier to be generous when we know the people who will manage the donation and how it will be used.  We can go to the tiger rescue and say "hey, we helped build that food storage barn!"

[Apples]

We have a budget line item for "giving" that is about 1% of net pay.  Which seems really small, but all "wants" put together are no more than 20% of net pay, so really it's 5% of our discretionary funds.  Which we hope to increase in the future.   This covers DH and I each giving small amounts of money to the causes that are important to us and to support  podcasts we like.  It also is there for all of the friend and family member reasons to give that come up.  We generally don't support people who aren't immediate family in "I'm doing this big event, please donate so I can raise funds" because hello, raise your own funds, don't come begging to me your cousin/niece/h.s. friend.  But I've recently had several extended family members get hit with large medical bills.  And my SIL wants to job search around the country, but doesn't have the savings to move.  We will give a bit of money to all of those people for those situations.  But we're also in our 20's, so I think expectations for us are low.  We can donate $20 towards medical bills and that works; if we were in our 40's or 50's I think that would look cheap.

ETA:  We are still paying off student loans, and then plan to save up a down payment for a house/farm (partially pay for my grandparents' retirement).  And then buy the family business someday (which is most of my parents' retirement).  After each one of these is completed, we plan to step up our giving levels.  But I can't justify giving away too much money away with these familial obligations ahead of me.  We also keep our other discretionary expenses low.

[Sibley]

I'll donate maybe $100-200 a year, mostly to my undergrad college, but also others periodically.

I volunteer at an animal shelter a few hours a week. I don't currently donate goods or money, but may in the future. My volunteering is a net benefit to me, though non-financial.

[Philociraptor]

They don't.

[jsternitzky]

It is easy to say you will give later, or when you have more money, or when you retire. life is short and you never know when you will depart. I like to give. It makes me feel good, I like helping others and there are people in need and I like helping.

I am already in the top 1% of the world. Why not have fun and give it away.

[Kris]

We have a bunch of different savings accounts with our credit union, into which we put money every month, for various purposes.  Charity is one of those accounts.  We have a monthly withdrawal for an organization we care about, and then the savings account we generally give at the end of the year to an organization we volunteer for.

[spokey doke]

We set up a charitable trust and particularly given the recent good years in the market, we donate shares of our funds with the biggest gains (and expenses) beyond what our annual donations amount to.  We plan to grow that fund with larger donations while we have the larger earnings and can gain a bigger tax advantage.  In tight years we can still give to our selected charities.

[PencilThinStash]

Generally try not to talk about it, but since this IS a semi-anonymous PF forum...

10% of gross, flat out. Coming from a religious background, most of it goes to my church. In the last year or so, I've started giving more of it to the places where I see need and can help more directly, though. An occasional lunch for a homeless guy, donations to a local animal shelter, etc. Nothing fancy, usually. Best friend died unexpectedly a few months back, and his family has always struggled financially, so put a decent chunk toward his hospital bills/funeral expenses. I found it really kept me stable to be able to help them, instead of being so completely focused on my own grief.

Is it money that could speed up my own FI? Sure, by about 7 years, based on the Shockingly Simple table and current savings rate (~25% of gross). Would it be worth it? Doubtful. My natural inclination is to be a selfish jackass, so forcing myself to be slightly unselfish in one area is probably better for my mental health/personal growth in the long run.

[Retired To Win]

They don't.

Is the reason for that pragmatic or philosophical?

Earlier in the thread, PabloSuave said he would never donate, so I assume his reason is philosophical.  He is against donating on principle.

What about you?  Are you not doing donations because they would delay your journey to FIRE? Or would you not do them even if you were already past FIRE and enjoying a substantial income surplus?

[Philociraptor]

They don't.

Is the reason for that pragmatic or philosophical?

Earlier in the thread, PabloSuave said he would never donate, so I assume his reason is philosophical.  He is against donating on principle.

What about you?  Are you not doing donations because they would delay your journey to FIRE? Or would you not do them even if you were already past FIRE and enjoying a substantial income surplus?

Both? You ask why not, I ask why. I've heard a lot of why's, not convinced yet.

[GuitarStv]

I don't donate money.

I'll donate time, skill, and help to people in need though.  I hope to expand what I'm able to give upon retirement.

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

I only donate a small amount to a few local organizations. I dabbled with making donations to national and global organizations, but I felt my money was wasted with the amount of junk mail and phone calls it generated, even after asking them to stop wasting my donated money on that.  The $ amount I donate will remain the same after FIRE.

I also donate time via volunteer work, and will be increasing that when I FIRE. I've missed out on various volunteer opportunities I was interested in due to being too busy working.

[mak1277]

They don't.

Is the reason for that pragmatic or philosophical?

Earlier in the thread, PabloSuave said he would never donate, so I assume his reason is philosophical.  He is against donating on principle.

What about you?  Are you not doing donations because they would delay your journey to FIRE? Or would you not do them even if you were already past FIRE and enjoying a substantial income surplus?

Both? You ask why not, I ask why. I've heard a lot of why's, not convinced yet.

It doesn't seem like RtW is trying to convince you to donate or shame you in any way...I think he is genuinely curious about your reasons for not giving.

[NYCWife]

My DH and are not yet FI, but we still choose to donate about 10% of our income to various charities that we strongly believe in. We have been raised to believe that part of being a good steward of our finances is by helping others who need support. We vary the charities based on what seems urgent or important to us at the moment. It is a part of our Mint budget, to help keep us accountable for sharing with others.

We have donated to charity every year starting from our 2nd year of marriage, even when we were hopelessly in debt (not MMM yet) and making very paltry salaries.

As other posters have mentioned, we don't feel that donating to charity will cause us to push back our FI date significantly. And, it feels right to give to others who need support. Our charities this month were the animal shelter where we adopted a cat, an inner city school that desperately needed more books for their students to read, NPR, etc.

If anyone is looking for ways to support a school, I recommend www.donorschoose. You can find schools/classes in your area with specific needs, and then you know exactly how your money will be spent.

[Retired To Win]

They don't.

Is the reason for that pragmatic or philosophical?

Earlier in the thread, PabloSuave said he would never donate, so I assume his reason is philosophical.  He is against donating on principle.

What about you?  Are you not doing donations because they would delay your journey to FIRE? Or would you not do them even if you were already past FIRE and enjoying a substantial income surplus?

Both? You ask why not, I ask why. I've heard a lot of why's, not convinced yet.

Hell, just think of something that matters to you.  Pet rescue, land preservation, property rights protection, whatever.  Then ask yourself just how much you can do by yourself to make a difference.  Then think of how much more effective and efficient it is if you and a whole bunch of other people with your same values pool their resources (i.e. money) and hire some knowledgeable people to tackle your issue.  That's what donations are all about, bro.  That's why lots of us donate.  To make things happen we could otherwise not have a chance in hell of moving forward on our own.

Capisch?!

[RetiredAt63]

Well, when you depart (I have heard of the dearly departed, but never saw the verb form before, interesting), you should have a will.  And in that will you can have charitable giving, right?  Lots and lots and lots. After all, you don't need that money any more.

Right now most of my charitable activity is time, not money - but then by watching my money I don't need to go out and get another job and not have the time.  Plus, as discussed in other threads, the push to major charitable giving seems to be a U.S. thing, since countries with higher tax rates and better safety nets means less need (or at least less perception of need) for charitable giving, plus less net income available for giving.  Not that it doesn't happen, just that the numbers are lower.  Whereas we still have big needs for volunteers, I see roadside signs that say "Soyez benevole", "Become a foster parent", etc.  So time > money here.

It is easy to say you will give later, or when you have more money, or when you retire. life is short and you never know when you will depart. I like to give. It makes me feel good, I like helping others and there are people in need and I like helping.

[mak1277]

Plus, as discussed in other threads, the push to major charitable giving seems to be a U.S. thing, since countries with higher tax rates and better safety nets means less need (or at least less perception of need) for charitable giving, plus less net income available for giving. 

I find this an interesting comment.  From reading the myriad threads about charitable giving, I don't get the sense that most people (here at least) are giving to people in need in the US.  I feel like people are donating to other things that are important to them (see RtW's abbreviated list a couple posts up for an example).