Charitable Musings
I have always had a problem with charity being tax deductible. I understand that it encourages people to give, and all that, but it seems kind of fake to me. Are you giving to be able to write it off against your abundant earnings for that year’s tax return or are you giving solely to do good? To be generous? What is giving if you know you will be able to get it back? It’s not really giving, is it? For the first few years of our membership at church, I adamantly stuck to anonymous giving. We always gave cash and it went directly into the collection plate, not by mail or any other traceable form. I felt that was pure giving. But then we started getting statements from the church to show, for our charitable records, how much we were giving to sustain the ministry and to develop the land and construct a building.
The big zero.
I didn’t care. But Lance did. He felt that we were being viewed as freeloaders. We came and said were members but did we contribute anything tangible? We both volunteered a lot of our time, but volunteer hours don’t translate to the bottom line, and he felt badly. I didn’t care. That really speaks to Lance’s view on money as well as mine, but I wasn’t giving to the church, I was giving to God. It being God’s money and all. But Lance felt compelled to start writing out a check so that it could be traced and we could be seen as real contributing members.
And we started writing it off.
I don’t like that. It rubs me the wrong way. Practicality – yes it makes sense, and you are rewarded for generosity. But on the flip side, I see it as kind of a fake generosity. True giving is giving without ever conceiving of getting something in return, except the pure joy of the experience.
I have always had a problem with charity being tax deductible. I understand that it encourages people to give, and all that, but it seems kind of fake to me. Are you giving to be able to write it off against your abundant earnings for that year’s tax return or are you giving solely to do good? To be generous? What is giving if you know you will be able to get it back? It’s not really giving, is it? For the first few years of our membership at church, I adamantly stuck to anonymous giving. We always gave cash and it went directly into the collection plate, not by mail or any other traceable form. I felt that was pure giving. But then we started getting statements from the church to show, for our charitable records, how much we were giving to sustain the ministry and to develop the land and construct a building.
The big zero.
I didn’t care. But Lance did. He felt that we were being viewed as freeloaders. We came and said were members but did we contribute anything tangible? We both volunteered a lot of our time, but volunteer hours don’t translate to the bottom line, and he felt badly. I didn’t care. That really speaks to Lance’s view on money as well as mine, but I wasn’t giving to the church, I was giving to God. It being God’s money and all. But Lance felt compelled to start writing out a check so that it could be traced and we could be seen as real contributing members.
And we started writing it off.
I don’t like that. It rubs me the wrong way. Practicality – yes it makes sense, and you are rewarded for generosity. But on the flip side, I see it as kind of a fake generosity. True giving is giving without ever conceiving of getting something in return, except the pure joy of the experience.
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