Charity

I recently attended a webinar that was focused on taxes.  There were multiple subjects but the one that really caught my attention was the information about deductions.  A specific item in the deductions talk was about charitable donation deductions.  For several years I have disputed whether or not an act of charity really qualifies as an act of charity if it is not done as a selfless act from the heart.  In fact, the very definition of charity is, the voluntary giving of assistance to those in need that is not motivated by self-interest.  What the presenter was describing in her presentation felt word for word identical to my beliefs about what charity really is.

I have been critical of promotions where an individual or an organization promises to donate a percentage of money to a charity for every transaction of their product or service that is made.  I could not help but to be of the belief that they were using the facade of charity as a means for stimulating revenue generation, and also as a means of generating publicity.  When taking a brief moment to examine the promotion, it boiled down to the fact that if there were no transactions, there would be no charity.  These are clearly acts that are one-hundred percent dependent on selling a product or service, and therefore not an act of charity.

Managers will often recommend that an employee consider performing charity as a way to expand their perspective.  For an employee that has never performed any charitable tasks, this recommendation could be a good thing.  It could prompt the employee to stop and consider what charitable acts would be of interest to them, something that they may never have considered had their manager not suggested it to them.  Conversely, if the manager were to tell the employee that they had to donate to, or be part of a charity, that would be a different set of circumstances.  Employers should take into consideration that charities supported by their company, may not be supported by individual employees.  This should be respected and not have any form of repercussions attached to it.

Many resume writers will tell you that putting charitable efforts on your resume will help make your resume look better.  This is true but if the charitable act is done with the intention of using it to bolster a resume, self-interest is clearly the motivator and therefore the act is not a charitable one.  The same could be said about the posts that are seen on social media where an individual walks up to a homeless person, while being recorded, and does something generous.  This generous act is then posted on social media for all to see what the individual had done.  The generous act is wonderful, and we would hope that this person would have done the same thing on a whim or without being recorded.

Getting back to the tax deductions, charity is a deduction on our tax returns.  One specific foundation was discussed in the webinar and although it is a charitable foundation, it is the huge tax benefits that are the motivating factor behind the existence of this foundation.  It brings up the question, who is receiving the benefit of a charitable act?  The giver or the receiver?  The definition of charity is the voluntary giving of assistance to those in need that is not motivated by self-interest.

The receivers of charity are typically appreciative, some very much so, and in most cases, they are benefitted by what they receive.  That is completely good regardless of whether or not it is from the givers heart or their self-interest. In fact, the receiver doesn't care where it comes from or how they got it.  This article is not a criticism of charitable acts themselves.  It is a criticism of conscience.  The conscience of those who would use charity as a tool to benefit themselves in some form or another.  The conscience of those that would mandate that their employees donate to their specified causes, having disregard for the employee’s beliefs.  Charitable acts are good, necessary, and quite honestly can be a matter of life or death for some recipients.  Putting it simply, the acts have to come from the heart and be without self-interest if we intend to claim the act as an act of charity.