What "charities" do you NOT give to, and why

[Vanguards and Lentils]

Churches typically claim that tithing should be 10% of pre-tax income from one's job.  I consider it to be 10% of one's yearly budget.  If you want 10% of my "earned" income, you'll be very sad when I'm retired, whereas 10% of my budget is sustainable for the future of the church.

This may sound like motivated reasoning from me, but I am very skeptical when churches claim a rule like that. The 10% references are mostly from the Old Testament when there was a temple, a huge chunk of the population had spiritual careers (Levites), and most of the rest were agrarian - life was very different. Jesus mentioned giving a tenth of one's spices but again, that was to Pharisees living under Judaism. New Testament Christians seemed to have a version of communism which can't really be applied today.

And I find it funny when churches try to explain that tithe is "supposed" to be pre-tax. Which version of the Bible was that detail in? Are Western Europeans supposed to get a huge tithe bill compared to everyone else? All this to say, I am aiming to give away 10% of my income, but only part of that will be to my church. If American churches weren't so into fancy buildings and renovations, it might have been more.

[GuitarStv]

Churches typically claim that tithing should be 10% of pre-tax income from one's job.  I consider it to be 10% of one's yearly budget.  If you want 10% of my "earned" income, you'll be very sad when I'm retired, whereas 10% of my budget is sustainable for the future of the church.

This may sound like motivated reasoning from me, but I am very skeptical when churches claim a rule like that. The 10% references are mostly from the Old Testament when there was a temple, a huge chunk of the population had spiritual careers (Levites), and most of the rest were agrarian - life was very different. Jesus mentioned giving a tenth of one's spices but again, that was to Pharisees living under Judaism. New Testament Christians seemed to have a version of communism which can't really be applied today.

And I find it funny when churches try to explain that tithe is "supposed" to be pre-tax. Which version of the Bible was that detail in? Are Western Europeans supposed to get a huge tithe bill compared to everyone else? All this to say, I am aiming to give away 10% of my income, but only part of that will be to my church. If American churches weren't so into fancy buildings and renovations, it might have been more.

The word decimate has Roman roots.  It was a punishment doled out to a group of soldiers who had committed a serious offence, where one in ten were randomly chosen and then executed.

Tithing is exactly the same.  I've never been able to get behind decimating your income, pre-tax or post-tax.

[Poundwise]

we do find it a positive to have a beautiful, calm place to go to every week as a family, where ethics are discussed, cared about, and acted on.

Awesome.  This is the part of religion that I love. Building a community of caring individuals is absolutely integral to a happy life, IMO.  I even support the idea of paying for it.

I just wish more people could do that without being asked to publicly declare that they believe in magical fairy tales.  Every church I've ever attended has told me that they are saved and I am not, because I won't say I believe in magic, and most of them then add that I will suffer an eternity of torment for being different from them.  That sort of takes the wind out of their sails in the whole "caring community" pitch.

Well... this is off-topic for the post, but it seems like our church, ELCA, has been criticized for not casting nonbelievers, sinners, and LGBTQ folks into hell. As far as I can tell, their stance is "you decide, and you can decide to go to hell if you really want to, but we think everyone should be nice to everyone else."  As a Roman Catholic refugee, I have to laugh because it's so touchy-feely and reminds me of the  message from the Unitarian Jihad.  Yet we still get the cool stained glass windows, the singing, the felt wall hangings, and Easter egg hunts!

Yes, there is still the magic fairy tale aspect, but if you don't have or want faith, I hear that the Society for Ethical Culture has a lot of the social benefits of church without the religion.

[sisto]

Why do so many people dislike United Way? I donate through work.  The local United Way has a four star rating on Charity Advisor.  I don't necessarily agree with all of the agencies they support but by and large they seem to do good work.  I can also designate what agencies receive my donation.  Just curious if there is something about United Way that I haven't considered?

I don't like being strong armed by my employer to make payroll deductions for things that are none of their damned business. If I want to donate to Planned Parenthood, I want PP to get 100% of my contribution, not to have the United Way skim off a percentage for administration.

When I was in the military they forced us to support United Way. My current employer also does a huge campaign every year and tries hard to get everyone to sign up as they do matching too, but I loathe the UW so much I won't donate. Like others said I'd rather donate directly to the charity I choose and not pay (over pay) a bunch of people at UW. Also the general fund supports many things I'm strongly against. Like others have said, I'd like to know how much of my money is really going to the cause and I like to keep it in my community. I mostly volunteer time/services instead.
Yup.  This.  And the whole "no, don't give to them.  Give to us and we'll give to them." feels really sleazy.

[Joggernot]

The ones I don't appreciate are the "buy a car from us and we'll make a $200 donation for you" or the grocery store "do you want to donate $1 to charity"? 

[Gal2016]

I won't donate money to Planned Parenthood for the reasons folks might suspect. I will donate to Goodwill simply because I want to give my old stuff away and they will take it. I will also donate to Salvation Army, because I see the good that they do in my community.

Not a big fan of United Way due to the corporate structure -- but as I'm in "management" with my company, I really do have to give my $5 a pay-period to get the corporate higher-ups off my back.

I give regularly (monthly) to my church in support of its general operations. I don't give extra to any of the "mission trips" as they seem like glorified "feel good" vacations -- except when my kids go on one -- then I just write a check and fund their trip.  Because I honestly think that sending my kids over to develop compassion and the ideal of helping others is worth spending a little money on. I'm just not all about funding grown-ups to do this. Kids, ok. Grown-ups - get a job.

I give to my hospital's hospice foundation. And I give money to the American Cancer Society.

I don't care too much about animal rights and would never give my money for anything animal related.