Tithing/regular donations to charity/church?

[ChinBristles]

I'm 39yrs old, earn 38k. Single, no kids. Have a mortgage.

I was in a lot of credit card debt for years but I'm now aiming to give 10% of my income (after tax) to charity so about £220/month. I also "gift aid" it.

At the mo, half of that goes to my local church (after all, I would pay membership to any club!) and I think they make certain charity donations out of that eg recently to Ukraine as well as their own running costs.

Then I give about £10 a month direct debit to various charities (DebRA, Salvation Army, local animal rescue, Royal British Legion). And give on a sort of ad-hoc basis to friends doing sponsored things or just something which catches me in the heart if I see it on social media (eg Lissie Harper, the widow of policeman Andrew Harper, Bowel Babe)

I'd be interested to hear what others do.

We donate to our synagogue's annual charity appeal, and give a direct debit of £6 a month to the local homeless shelter.

We tithe to church and donate to charity on top of that. However, my oh isn't a Christian so we tithe 5% of our joint earnings rather than 10%. Don't forget that you can claim tax back on your tithe/donations if any of your earnings ever fall into the higher rate bracket.

We give a tithe to our church which supports various community events the church does as well as charities the church supports and the pastor's salary and upkeep of the building etc

Obviously your choice OP but I think that’s bonkers when you have debt. In your position I’d give £20 to charity and the other £200 would go into overpaying the mortgage.

I tithe to the church and give regularly to a couple of charities on top of that, as well as occasional giving. My will leaves 10% to the church and the rest to my DS.

I read it as the OP is no longer in debt so now wants to give ?

She has a mortgage, that is debt.

Thank you everyone for sharing.

Yes a mortgage is debt I suppose but I've only 6 years left as I took it out when I was 24 and it's manageable. And I have no desire to move from my perfectly adequate 2 bed flat. If anything, I'd be saving more to my pension.

And tbh I'd really rather eat beans on toast and still be able to donate. I have a pretty comfortable life on my salary.

Nothing at the moment due to precarious work situation. I do volunteer at a food bank three days a week but only with time and don't make financial doantions.

However, as an open water swimmer I used to donate to RNLI. And, as someone with a long-standing mental health condition I regularly used to support MIND.

Similar position, older and comfortably situated. I am pleased to be in a position to support causes close to my heart, using payroll giving so from gross income and employer adds 50%

https://www.asn.org.uk, local food bank and local support services.

I'd much prefer to live in a society where 'charity' was not required for everyone to enjoy a decent standard of living, where those in full time work did not need to access food banks but ... here we are.

Sorry to say but I've heard of some very unchristian behaviour from churches and charities being left percentages of wills. Things like quibbling over the value of family jewellery to take more ££ as a percentage of the estate. You're much better working out what you think the % is worth and leaving a fixed amount.

As to the OP, yes I give 5% of earnings to women's charities through DDs and then a further pot of 5% that I give adhoc.

I no longer have a faith, but I do commit 10% of my net income to a number of different charities over the course of a year through direct debits etc.

I don't have any debt, though.

If your church is CofE, they don't really need your money. CofE is one of the biggest landowners in the country.
Back in 2015 its land and property were worth about £2billion. Probably a lot more than that now the way property prices are going up.

@MrsOwainGlyndŵr I agree that the church may not need it but surely the more they have, the more things they can afford to do to support the local community. Also tithing is a biblical thing. Obviously not mandatory but I like the idea of reminding myself that everything I have comes from God. It makes me much more grateful for what I have.

We give around 10% of our post-tax income away and it is split variously. We were giving a big chunk to church but have changed that now and are giving it to a friend (from church although that’s not really relevant!) who is struggling. We now give a much smaller amount to church but give quite a lot in time. We give the rest to small charities overseas - one in East Africa, one in India, one health charity in the UK, three conservation charities and our local homeless shelter.

Also tithing is a biblical thing. Obviously not mandatory but I like the idea of reminding myself that everything I have comes from God. It makes me much more grateful for what I have.

A "tithe" is a tenth isn't it? Which I think is what you said you were donating, although strictly speaking, a "tithe" is a tax and not a donation.

But honestly, I think God might say that, for now, you should pay off what you owe to other people/businesses (mortgage excepted), to allow them to lead their lives. However, if you're now debt free (mortgage excepted), and as long as you have enough put aside for a rainy day and for your old age, then I think donating a tenth of your income to charity is an admirable thing to do.

I'm not religious, but even if I were, I would hesitate to donate to an already very rich organisation. The church would be sure to take a cut, and I'd like a say in which charities my money gets forwarded on to.
I'd prefer to donate straight to the charity/ies of my choice.

The money to the Church will be very gratefully received.

What people often don't realise is that the Parish Churches have to pay an annual amount to their diocese for the incumbent and they rely on donations/legacies for the money for this and for everything else (flowers/community events/maintenance/bills etc).

If there is a Churchyard to maintain then the Parish usually has to pay for this too, our local Parish Church costs around £10,000 a year to maintain.

I disagree with the idea that anyone with a mortgage is unwise or stupid to donate to charity, obviously people should only give what they can afford and not everyone is privileged enough to have any spare income once essential costs are paid but personally I feel very well able to continue to pay my mortgage, make some savings and give 10% of my income to charity, paying that into the mortgage instead would obviously save me money but that's not really the point is it? Seems very selfish to me considering to have a mortgage/owning a house in the first place is usually an indication of being reasonably financially secure and privileged but apparently that means you shouldn't give even a small portion of your income to the less fortunate?

OP I'll give you some gentle challenge since you asked for opinions, I would think a bit more deeply about what the true motivations are for your giving. Its interesting you say you give money to causes that attract you personally e.g. your own church like a club membership! or causes that strike a chord in the media like Lissy Harper. I'm not religious but used to do much the same myself, but when I came to really think about why I wanted to give money in the first place I found where I was sending the money didn't really match up. Essentially I give money because I want to do some good, to benefit others - I think most people give for that reason. Yet the causes I was choosing were really to make myself feel better and as though I was doing something about causes that touched me personally, people I felt a connection to, which often were not objectively speaking very effective or evidence based charities, rather than where the money would actually do most good. I was also quite susceptible to good marketing and 'sales pitches' from charities who quite naturally want to maximize donations and so put a lot of effort into tapping into our natural instincts to favour people or things that appeal to us, seem sweet or vulnerable or are 'people like us', rather than causes which may be far more cheaply and effectively challenged such as malaria prevention or water quality in the third world but which aren't so media friendly as cancer or dogs homes or whatever.

This thought led me on to the Effective Altruism movement and resources like 'The life you can save', 'Giving what we can' and 'GiveWell'. These are secular sites but I think fit well with a Christian ideology too. I can post some links if you are interested? Whatever you decide I would really recommend being thoughtful and deliberate in your donations and clear in your own mind why, rather than scatter gunning around and hoping you hit the right cause!

But they don't have to rely on the parish or diocese. As I said, the CofE is extremely rich.

This is all very thought-provoking, thank you so much! Yes, I do try to give to more local, grass-roots things. My church is just a small independent Baptist church. I'd be very interested in your links @maxelly, thank you.