This year, according to charity executives and experts, donations from moderate-income people to charities like the United Way will drop dramatically.
They’re blaming the new Republican tax overhaul voted into law recently. The changes — particularly doubling the standard deduction we’re allowed — will make it less advantageous for many of us to continue making donations to charities.
Of course, it’s too early to tell, but I hope they’re wrong. I hope people who traditionally give to charities will continue to do so because they realize the need is still there. Not because they can take a tax write-off.
I know I will. And even though the experts think charity could become less of a middle-class enterprise and more exclusively the domain of the wealthy, I’m having a tough time believing that.
Here’s why. When it comes to charitable giving, poor and middle-class folks have almost always outperformed the rich.
Last year, according to Giving USA 2017: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2016 released in June, giving by individuals grew nearly 4 percent. It was the sixth increase in the past four decades.
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In all, American individuals, estates, foundations and corporations contributed an estimated $390.05 billion to U.S. charities in 2016, a 2.7 percent increase over 2015 alone while gifts from estates decreased sharply.
We gave to education, to human services, to health, to the arts, culture and humanities, to international affairs and animals and the environment.
“This report tells us that Americans remained generous in 2016, despite it being a year punctuated by economic and political uncertainty,” said Aggie Sweeney, chair of the Giving USA Foundation, in a press release. “We saw growth in every major sector, indicating the resilience of philanthropy and diverse motivations of donors.”
Here’s what I found particularly striking in this latest report:
• Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $281.86 billion, rising 3.9 percent (2.6 percent adjusted for inflation) in 2016.
• Giving by foundations increased 3.5 percent (2.2 percent adjusted for inflation) to an estimated $59.28 billion in 2016. Data on foundation giving are provided by Foundation Center.
• Giving by bequest totaled an estimated $30.36 billion in 2016.
Giving USA is published by the Giving USA Foundation, a public service initiative of the Giving Institute. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
The university’s and other philanthropy researchers suggest that aggregate giving trends are influenced by large-scale economic factors that ultimately affect the economic and financial circumstances of all types of donors and, therefore, their ability to give.
Both personal consumption and disposable personal income grew by nearly 4 percent over 2015, helping increase giving by individuals and households, so I get that.
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But if that’s the only reason we’re giving, we’ve got it all wrong.
Giving shouldn’t be motivated by budgets or peer pressure but in response to the Spirit’s leading from a grateful heart.
I’m reminded of the lesson in the widow’s mite recounted in the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
As the story goes, Jesus, seated near the temple treasury with his disciples one day, was watching people as they gave in the offering. The rich were contributing large sums of money, but then along comes a widow who drops in just two small coins.
Jesus called his disciples to him and pointed out her action: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.’’
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I realize there is some disagreement over the significance of this Scripture — whether Jesus was teaching about sacrificial giving or denouncing a corrupt system in which religious officials of that day who instead of helping the widows in need were perfectly content to rob them of their livelihood and inheritance.
This much, however, is clear: Even though the widow was in need of receiving charity, she had a heart to give.
There’s a similar story in 1 Kings 17: 7-16 in which the widow of Zarephath gives her last meal to Elijah.
Scripture doesn’t give the details of the widow Jesus tells us about, but just as God provided for the widow and her son in Elijah’s day, I’m certain he provided for the widow in Jesus’ day.
Too often, we spend our abundance on ourselves — I’ve certainly been guilty of this — upgrades on a home, nicer vacations, or a new car. The rest of us — those with shortages — resist giving altogether and instead cling to what little we have, fearing there won’t be enough if we give.
Whether you find yourself in the abundant group or the needy one after taxes, consider Proverbs 11:25: “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
Find Gracie on Facebook (www.facebook.com/graciestaplesajc/) and Twitter (@GStaples_AJC) or email her at gstaples@ajc.com.
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