Charitable Contributions - to whom now?

[_Polygamy Porter]

People tend to fix up their own enviorments if you fix them first.

How do you fix a ghetto in the inner cities of America? Build them welfare homes? Or educate them?

Scrape it clean and build a cathedral of consumption(a.k.a. mall), that will bring money into the inner city.

[_msnobody]

International Cultic Studies Assn. http://www.icsahome.com

[_Inconceivable]

Charity said without thinking:
For myself, I trust in the layers of accountability. It isn't one person with his fingers in the pocketbook.

We(ll), I certainly, expect that the money will be used in much better ways than the Red Cross or Salvation Army or any other charity you can name would use it. I know of the ways in which money and goods are misused by the Red Cross. I won't give anything to them but blood.

Ok Charity, that's enough. You don't know what you're blubbering about. The Mormon church donates a great deal of funds and supplies to the Red Cross. They work conjointly on many humanitarian fronts. What's the difference? OPEN BOOKS.

[_moksha]

Charity said without thinking:
For myself, I trust in the layers of accountability. It isn't one person with his fingers in the pocketbook.

We(ll), I certainly, expect that the money will be used in much better ways than the Red Cross or Salvation Army or any other charity you can name would use it. I know of the ways in which money and goods are misused by the Red Cross. I won't give anything to them but blood.

Ok Charity, that's enough. You don't know what you're blubbering about. The Mormon church donates a great deal of funds and supplies to the Red Cross. They work conjointly on many humanitarian fronts. What's the difference? OPEN BOOKS.

The St. Vincent DePaul Mission and the Salvation Army in Salt Lake have also been the recipients of LDS Church funds. That works out fine, since these groups are accustomed to serving the raggedy people on a direct basis, but they need money to do so. The LDS Church is supplying the money as part of their Faith, Hope and Charity directive.

[_Polygamy Porter]

We, I certainly, expect that the money will be used in much better ways than the Red Cross or Salvation Army or any other charity you can name would use it. I know of the ways in which money and goods are misused by the Red Cross. I won't give anything to them but blood.

And you tell them to go to the left arm as your right arm is being sucked dry by LDS Inc...

And I made a mistake in giving to the Salvaiton Army one time. After years of dropping dollars in their bell ringer's pots, I sent them a check before Christmas one year. Then, armed with my address, in the subsequent years they have spent more money on trying to get me to give them more than I gave them originally. Not very smart.

Wow, that sounds just like the tactics missionaries use to get contact information for themselves and future missionaries to heckle unwitting non members for years to come...

[_charity]

Charity said without thinking:
For myself, I trust in the layers of accountability. It isn't one person with his fingers in the pocketbook.

We(ll), I certainly, expect that the money will be used in much better ways than the Red Cross or Salvation Army or any other charity you can name would use it. I know of the ways in which money and goods are misused by the Red Cross. I won't give anything to them but blood.

Ok Charity, that's enough. You don't know what you're blubbering about. The Mormon church donates a great deal of funds and supplies to the Red Cross. They work conjointly on many humanitarian fronts. What's the difference? OPEN BOOKS.

Come now, Inconceivable, don't start the keyboard before your mind is in gear. The Church has quite a bit of control over what happens with their donations to Red Cross, Catholic charities, etc. that we don't have as individuals writing out checks. Which is why I donate to the Humanitarian effort.

Maybe you don't live on the West Coast and the news didn't get to you. But out here there was a big scandal with the Red Cross where people thought they were giving money to help Katrina victims and it was being diverted to local Red Cross projects. That is just one example.

Of course, you can donate to any cause you want. I prefer to know that when I donate, the money will go to the purpose designated.

[_Runtu]

Of course, you can donate to any cause you want. I prefer to know that when I donate, the money will go to the purpose designated.

Which is why you donate 10% of your income to an organization that does not think you need to know where the money is going and for what purpose. ;)

[_Who Knows]

Come now, Inconceivable, don't start the keyboard before your mind is in gear. The Church has quite a bit of control over what happens with their donations to Red Cross, Catholic charities, etc. that we don't have as individuals writing out checks. Which is why I donate to the Humanitarian effort.

How do you know this?

Maybe you don't live on the West Coast and the news didn't get to you. But out here there was a big scandal with the Red Cross where people thought they were giving money to help Katrina victims and it was being diverted to local Red Cross projects. That is just one example.

How do you know this? (hint - full disclosure)

Of course, you can donate to any cause you want. I prefer to know that when I donate, the money will go to the purpose designated.

How do you know your money is going to the purpose designated?

There is accountabliity. The auditor report is read every 6 months to the general membership.

So what? It's an internal audit by employees paid by the church. Would you be ok with public companies simply reporting their financials that were audited internally by their own employees? Or do you feel more comfortable knowing that an independent 3rd party looked at the financials?

[_Inconceivable]

Charity, your silly comments are hijacking a thoughtful thread.

Would you mind sharing the restricted documents that no-one outside the hierarchy of power are privy too?

Otherwise, please stop.

[_JAK]

My responses in bold.

charity stated:
I can see what you are saying about the lack of publication of financial records. But it doesn't matter. Those who are giving donattions (donations) and tithing don't care, and anyone who might care doesn't have to donate. Perfect plan.

Yes it matters. Institutions have a responsibility to be accountable. Otherwise, they can take money, keep it for their own selfish reasons or misuse it for selfish reasons. If they claim to be using the money for helping the poor for example, they should be able to show that they are helping the poor.

I see the demonstration of that all the time. The Church gave a couple of million dollars to Catholic Charities. I was watching TV in my own hometown in the Pacific Northwest one evening. One of our local reporters had gone to Kosovo when there was a big refuge problem due to the fighting there. His report to the folks back home was about the very first planeload of supplies to get to the refuges. "From the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City," he reported. If you aren't seeing where the Humanitarian effort is being given, you aren't looking very hard.

It may be that those giving “don’t care.” However, they ought to care. Such lack of accountability is an invitation to misuse of money and no one will know what that misuse is. It means no one is accountable for the money.

There is accountabliity. The auditor report is read every 6 months to the general membership. You want to see nickles and dimes. That is what does not matter.

Suppose they use it to build a gambling casino? Is that O.K.? I suspect most who give money to a church organization would not like the idea that they were supporting gambling, or prostitution, or liquor sales. Yet, with no accountability, money might easily be use for just such purposes. It might build excessive and extravagant homes (plural) for deceptive gatherers of the money under the pretense that money would be used for a different purpose.

For myself, I trust in the layers of accountability. It isn't one person with his fingers in the pocketbook. It is committees, and oversight committees, and it would take a whole lot of people being dishonest, and then bribing the auditors. It just is not a likely scenario. Could it happen? Maybe. Is it likely? Hardly. So I trust what we get in the way of reports.

If, as you say, people “don’t care” how the money is used, perhaps they deserve to have it taken from them and used for purposes which they would oppose -- if they knew how it was being used.That is, they deserve to be duped.

I don't think it isn't that we "don't care" how the money is used. We don't care if we are given nickles and dimes reporting of how it was used. I think we expect that the donations will be used well. We, I certainly, expect that the money will be used in much better ways than the Red Cross or Salvation Army or any other charity you can name would use it. I know of the ways in which money and goods are misused by the Red Cross. I won't give anything to them but blood. And I made a mistake in giving to the Salvaiton Army one time. After years of dropping dollars in their bell ringer's pots, I sent them a check before Christmas one year. Then, armed with my address, in the subsequent years they have spent more money on trying to get me to give them more than I gave them originally. Not very smart.JAK

charity stated:
And I made a mistake in giving to the Salvaiton Army one time. After years of dropping dollars in their bell ringer's pots, I sent them a check before Christmas one year. Then, armed with my address, in the subsequent years they have spent more money on trying to get me to give them more than I gave them originally. Not very smart.

Well, I don’t know that it was a mistake. It’s clearly in the interest of a charitable organization (including the Salvation Army) to keep track of where money comes from. You are right that they have your address and can make continuous appeals for more money.

If you give enough for tax deduction, it may be worth it. You can ignore the continued appeals for money.

Suppose you were trying to raise money. Would you not pursue sources from which you had previously received money? You should.

I understand your perception that it was “not very smart.” From the perspective of the Salvation Army, it is smart to pursue previous sources of money.

Dropping a dollar in the bucket keeps you anonymous. If you plan to give very little, that’s probably a good way to do it. You feel good, the Salvation Army gets some money.

However, doing that gives you no assurance that the money is not “skimmed.” That is, out of every $100 given, perhaps only $50 actually is turned in. You don’t know. BUT, if you write a check, YOU know, you can claim it as a tax deduction, and the Salvation Army knows wherever you sent that check.

There is risk either way. If you take deduction, you are guaranteed credit for a charitable contribution. If the Salvation Army mis-handles the money, it’s not your problem nor your risk.

JAK