To ask how much you give to charity?

[poshme]

Not TAAT but in response to the disposable income thread.

How much money (either amount or percentage of income) do you regularly give to charity?

There a quite a lot of people who seem to have lots of disposable income, and it made me realise that I give to charity, and hadn't thought of it as part of my 'disposable income' though it is. I was wondering if people give much away?

As a couple we give to charity about 8% of our after tax income.

Give Away: Probably 1.5% of net income.

Volunteering: I estimate that I do 6 hrs/week (300 hrs/yr) & DH does 2 hrs/week (100 hrs/yr). If you costed the volunteering up like our salaries, that's another £24k, but I think would be better represented as about £5k of labour, or >> 10% of our net take home.

Tenner or so a week, as part of the lottery.

I'd say about £20 a month. Automatically paid as direct debits so I don't think of it as part of my disposable income

I’ve never worked it out as a % because it’s not a lot (I’m on a low income). I gave more during lockdown because of several people I know having fundraisers for charities I wanted to support. But I give a small amount to one small charity every month normally. I also give a lot of time to that small charity plus volunteer with another charity.

We give ten percent of our post tax income to charity.

Some of it goes as regular subscriptions, some as one-off donations to respond to events. We sit down once a month and involve the children a bit in discussions about where the money is going.

My parents did the same.

@lljkk when I wasn't earning I did that- gave my time rather than money.
Still do quite a lot of voluntary stuff when I can.

I add to the foodbank collection. Some weeks its £1 others its £10. Just whatever I can afford. I volunteer when I can and give where I can, but I'm on a low income so I can't commit to set weekly or monthly amounts.

Zero 🤷🏻‍♀️

Isn’t it something that people shouldn’t talk about? It’s too hard to ascertain because some give valuable time, not money. Some use it to offset business costs, some give regular sums, some pop in a box or buy the Big Issue. Are we only talking registered charities? What about buying from charities through things like NT membership or by using a private school or hospital?
Far too complicated to say.

In terms of time spent, about 100 hours a year for our local community charity plus probably an hour a week to a charitable cause linked to my profession. In terms of cold hard cash probably around £2k a year (across a mix of standing orders, one off sponsorship for friends doing events and local charity donations). I offset some against my tax bill so it’s not entirely altruistic, I admit.

I also do one big sporting event every other year for which I seek sponsorship - I have done a couple of marathons, long distance triathlons, swims or rides. Any other events I do for me but never request sponsorship as it seems unfair.

@CherryPavlova why shouldn't we talk about it on MN?

I appreciate that people don't like to talk about money in real life, but on MN it's anonymous.

Like I said- it was prompted by the disposable income thread..

Money? None. Ever. The amount of shops you are now being asked if you want to donate at the till I have a particular problem with.

I donate to charity shops, buy food and pop in the food bank trolley at supermarket, carry out a volunteer role a few hours a month.

Too many charities waste far too much money/ turn out to be extremely unethical/ covers for sinister activity I just honestly wouldn't know which are trustworthy.

I’ve no idea. I send loads of clothes to the charity shop, support hearing dogs for The deaf, the lottery and Amazon smile gives a percentage of my purchases to a charity I choose.

About £480 a year directly to charities. I don’t count doing the lottery or National Trust etc. as giving to charity as you get direct benefit from it yourself.

Rarely in hard cash.

Regularly in time, food bank donations, books clothes and other material things to charity shops, and blood donation. Priceless giving!

Food banks- every shop I buy a 5/6 items and drop them in the trolley
Fundraisers for local charities- usually I donate 10 or so when asked.

I'm on minimum wage so I can only give a bit here and there. Probably about £50 a year, I wish I had more to give. I donate items to food banks regularly.

Too many charities waste far too much money

What do you consider wasted money? Genuine question.

Too many charities waste far too much money/ turn out to be extremely unethical/ covers for sinister activity I just honestly wouldn't know which are trustworthy. This is how I feel. I rarely give money, can't afford to. But I donate items pretty regularly to charity shops.

None. Like @Pamelaaaa I'm very sceptical about what these charities get up to with the money. I'm actually less cynical about government spending though, so I make sure I pay all my taxes.

Never really thought about it. Maybe about £10-£15 a month through direct debits, and then every Christmas we send a larger amount (couple of hundred) to a charity that has "touched" us during the year.
In previous years, off the top of my head, we've done the SMA Trust, Mind, The White Helmets and Children Are Butterflies (a local child bereavement charity that pay for funerals of under 18s).

Choosing our "Christmas charity" is actually one of the nicest things we do during our Christmas season, and we're looking forward to getting our children more involved as they grow up.

I give through my paycheck to Bat Conservation International, $10 per check, so $260/year. $20 a week to the food pantry at church, so about $1000/year. $25/month to the animal shelter. I donate clothes to the Vietnam Veterans periodically. I take Christmas assistance applications for the Salvation Army for a couple days every October, and then work the toy distribution in December.

Just worked it out - monthly DDs to charity is 3% of my income. But I'll generally give one off donations to other things as they pop up (like sponsoring friends/family, supporting school events). Also on the board of a couple of charities to which I give my time/expertise rather than money.

I don't. So much of our income is taken in tax and redistributed to charities via government grants. I volunteer and donate to food banks.

I work for a charity and I would honestly love to know what people think charities are "wasting money" on.