Charitable Giving

Washington Post staff writer Jacqueline Salmon was online Monday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. ET to answer your questions on charities and charitable giving.

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Jacqueline Salmon: Hi, everyone. Let's get up and going. Tell me about your experiences in making charitable donations, and/or toss me your toughest questions, and we'll see if I can answer them.

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Vienna, Va.: Ms. Salmon, were you surprised at what you found when you did your article on minorities and philanthropy?

Jacqueline Salmon: Actually, I wasn't surprised by the findings that minorities are way up there on the generosity scale. Last year, I did a very interesting story about a study that found that African Americans are far more generous with their discretionary income than Caucasians, even though they had lower incomes on average.

In other words, the cliche that "those who have the least give the most" is true.

What did surprise me was how much effort nonprofits and charitable foundations are putting into getting some of that largesse. They're beginning to realize that African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans etc. are increasingly wealthy and increasingly able to write checks for the symphony or the university building fund. I talked to several international nonprofits, such as the International Planned Parenthood, that are trying to persuade Hispanics to shave off a slice of the "remittances" they send back to their home countries and donate it to the IPP.

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Bowie, Md.: How do you find a local charity that accepts household goods that DOESN'T cherry-pick what you drop off?

I took a load of goods to Goodwill in Annapolis in October. On the top of one of the shopping bags of goods was a brand new set of sheets, still in the shrink-wrap (great price on a clearance rack, so I bought them to donate). By the time I came back from my next trip to the car, one of the workers was putting the sheets into his backpack. I confronted him, and then went and found a manager, and the response I got was disheartening, to say the least. They acted surprised that I was bothered by this.

I want the goods to support the charity's work, not the charity's workers directly. Any suggestions?

Jacqueline Salmon: Oh, my! That's very disturbing. I'm sure Goodwill policies don't allow workers to cherry pick the donations. If you want to pursue a complaint against the worker and/or the manager, you can call Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake,410-269-1302.

If you've soured on Goodwill, you can also donate goods to the Salvation Army.

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Herndon, Va.: What is the current status of charity giving? Are people giving more or less than they have in the past?

Jacqueline Salmon: They've given pretty much the same the last few years. Believe it or not, despite that huge outpouring of cash to 9/11 victims in 2001 and 2003, it didn't bump up overall charitable giving. In fact, it was a small proportion. Americans give about $200 billion a year to charities and religious organizations.

Now, for some reason, giving is down from the mid '90s. Americans were more generous back then..probably because the economy was better

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washingtonpost.com: Economy, Election Strain Nonprofits

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Clifton, Va.: I will never give through the United Way. I give to individual charities. It is time for the combined Federal campaign to disappear. Why should the United Way get a cut anyhow.

Jacqueline Salmon: Maybe I'm reaching here, but I get the feeling you're not crazy about workplace campaigns...

Those types of fundraising drives have their plusses and minuses. On the plus side, it's easy for the charities. They fill out the forms, get included on the CFC and/or United Way pledge booklets and wait for the donations. No expensive hotel dinners to host, no mass mailings to coordinate. And it can be easy for donors because they just check off the organization they want to donate to, and the money automatically comes out of their paychecks.

BUT, the charities pay for the campaigns by giving the organization running the CFC and the United Way a piece of what they bring in--about 10 percent. And while, the CFC campaign has been clean, the United Way has had a series of well-publicized scandals over its financial management. Currently, the former executive director of the local United Way is sitting in jail serving 27 months for defrauding the organization of $500,000. The local United Way says it has righted itself, although it's still in a precarious financial condition.

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Fairfax, Va.: How do we know that these organizations are legitimate? Other than the short write-up on each organization and a weblink, has anyone actually contacted these organizations to verify their suitability to be in CFC?

Jacqueline Salmon: Good question. Charities are required to fill out forms and submit such documents as annual reports/audited financial statements that examined by the United Way and CFC. All must meet certain financial standards as well. For example, I believe their fundraising costs can't be more than 25 percent of their overall income.

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Vienna, Va.: I hear people are expected to spend more money at the stores this Christmas. Will they give more to their charities as well?

Jacqueline Salmon: Another good question! We don't know. I do know that it will be harder for people to find Salvation Army kettles into which to throw their change. Malls banned them several years ago, and Target stores is doing so this year. The Salvation Army says that the loss of the Target stores will cost it millions of dollars.

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Bowie, MD: Do you find that an individual's propensity to give to charity has its origins in religious orientation? That is, people who belong to organized religion give more--even if it's not to the religion itself?

What motivates people who don't participate in organized religion to give?

Jacqueline Salmon: Actually, to use a broad generalization here, African American giving is closely to tied to the church.

But, depressingly, church members' charitable giving overall is at a 35-year old, according to Empty Tomb, a group that tracks religious charitable giving. Per-member giving as a portion of income was 3.1 percent in 1968 and 2.6 percent in 2002.

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Reston, Va.: I've seen some changes in rules regarding vehicle donations. Would it be any impact/changes on other non cash items? What are the red flags of non cash items on the tax returns? What are the reasonable percentage of donation per income, if any per IRS perspectives?

Thanks

Jacqueline Salmon: Be careful, very careful! Those are the watchwords for this year. My colleague Al Crenshaw had a very good article this morning (and I'm sure my esteemed colleague from washingtonpost.com will link to it shortly) on vehicle donations. After this year, they are going to get much stricter about it. And be careful this year before taking a generous writeoff for that clunker. The IRS is going to be eying car donations closely, I'm told.

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washingtonpost.com: Giving a Car? Get It in Gear

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Washington, D.C.: What is the CFC?

Jacqueline Salmon: Oops. I've slipped into jargon. CFC is the Combined Federal Campaign, an annual fund drive among federal employees. There are several hundred annual CFC campaigns around the country. The CFC in the Washington area is the largest. It raises about $50 million a year.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Can you give websites that rate charities and give their % of admin costs/revenue? I think more people would donate if they knew how well the charity gets the donations to the recipients, and not those who pay exorbitant executive salaries or admin expenses.

Jacqueline Salmon: There are some very helpful Web sites out there.

Charity navigator: charitynavigator.org, which does just that...rates charities based on their costs/revenue.

Wise Giving Alliance: give.org, which examines a selected group of large national nonprofits more closely and evaluates them on several dozen criteria.

Guidestar: guidestar.org allows you to look over charities' tax filings. They're actually not as hard to read as you think, and you can learn a lot, such as the salaries of the top executives, how much they spend on printing or any other expenses.

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Olney, Md.: Sometimes at the end of a party, we have LOTS of food leftover (veggie platter, desserts), I've tried offering them to some homeless shelters in my county, but they only take "sealed, not used" items. Instead of having to throw away perfectly good food, (although it HAS been eaten out of), is there a shelter that I can donate it to?

Jacqueline Salmon: That's a tough one. Shelters are often wary of food from private homes in that kind of condition because of the issue of food safety. Your best bet is to call around in advance. Some smaller shelters do take such food. If you're interested in doing good at a dinner party, you can always have your guests bring a can of food with them and then take that to a shelter. You will be gratefully received!

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NW DC: Where do you think my charitable donation would make the best contribution to the nonprofit community in DC?

Jacqueline Salmon: I can't make specific recommendations, but here are some ways to narrow down your choices:

Catalogue for Philanthropy: A catalogue of 50 or so nonprofits (most of them D.C.) with revenue of under $2 million. available at catalogueforphilanthropy.org after Nov. 15

Spirit of Giving Guide: Same sort of thing. www.cfncr.org. CLick on the PDF file for it.

Those two catalogs have vetted the organizations before accepting them for the publications.

TouchDC.org: lists all 22,000 D.C. area nonprofits, but highlights some of the more interesting ones.

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Washington, D.C.: I am a retiree on a fixed income who is comfortable but not rich. One of my pet peeves is when I make a contribution of, say, $50, the recipient organization spends much more than that begging me for additional money. This happens even when I write to explain my circumstances and ask that they not do this. I have cut off several charities, including WETA and the Humane Society, because of their repeated solicitations. Nevertheless, they continue to hound me.

Many of my friends feel the same way. Is there anything else we can do? Thank you very much.

Jacqueline Salmon: That's frustrating, I know. One logic for the repeated mailings is that they want to move you up their "pyramid." They're hoping you'll give more each year until you've become a "major donor."

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Federal Worker, D.C.: I continue to give through the CFC because it makes it easy for me to do so--I don't have to remember each month to write checks to the several charities I support. While the United Way has been beset by scandals, I believe that the CFC has not, ever since it got away from politicizing the charities which could join it during the Reagan years. As a matter of fact, I believe that Federal workers are, overall, more generous than other workplaces.

Jacqueline Salmon: Thanks for your comments.

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Wheaton, Md.: Many Islamic charities are clearly fronts for terrorist organizations. Is there a way to find this out prior to making donations?

Jacqueline Salmon: The U.S. government would probably like to know, too.

But the fact is, the vast, vast majority of Islamic charities are doing legitimate work. If you're concerned, then stick to local Islamic nonprofits that are performing their work in your local communities, where you can actually see it.

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Arlington, Va.: I am interested in volunteering some of my time and/or expertise. What are the best charities in the DC area to volunteer with? Are there any kinds of organizations that offer different volunteer options?

Jacqueline Salmon: If you're in Arlington, get in touch with the Arlington County Volunteer Office. Also, Greater DC Cares (dc-cares.org) coordinates volunteer opportunities all over the Washington area. And each jurisdiction has its own Volunteer Center. Each offers many volunteer options, such as volunteering in the evenings, with your family, with other singles, etc. They're all quite easy to use.

But the charities would probably have one request: DON'T volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner! They're overwhelmed with well-meaning citizens who want to do this.

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Repeated solicitations:: WETA is the worst about this. I've sent them a couple of modest checks this year, and then the mailings I got from them got to be too much, so I stopped. I actually got a letter from them that started out:

Did you move?

It went on to say that they've sent me all of these letters that I haven't responded to, so they're left to think that I must not live at this address anymore.

It was frankly insulting and presumptuous--and while I support PBS, I'll never give to WETA again.

Jacqueline Salmon: Sounds to me like WETA went a little overboard. Thanks for your comments.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Given the increased competition for funds from foundations and corporations, what strategies do funders recommend struggling non-profits adopt? I know that medium-sized non-profits with what seem like secure budgets have a hard time competing locally with smaller agencies with budgets under, say, $200,000.

Jacqueline Salmon: The struggle for money is never-ending. A big complaint I hear from nonprofit, large and small, is that government funders and foundations always want to fund the next 'new' thing. They aren't as interested in funding excellent programs that happen to have been been around for years. Noo, they want the latest, most exciting program even if its success hasn't been proven.

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Hamilton, Va.: My mother lives on a modest fixed income and sends very modest contributions -- in the $2 - $5 range -- to a number of organizations. I have a feeling that, even if volunteers are used, it costs more than that for the recipients to process a donation. I give more -- typically $25 -- but wonder the same thing. I know organizations always say all donations, no matter how modest, are welcome, but I'm wondering if there is a cut-off point where a contribution is more bother than it is worth. I also dislike it when I give a group $10 and my mailbox is never empty of their continual appeals.

Jacqueline Salmon: I'm sensing a trend here...sounds like regular donors are annoyed by the constant stream of fundraising appeals that appear in your mailbox after you send off the smallest amount to an organization.

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Reston, Va.: Where do things stand with the local United Way?

Jacqueline Salmon: See my answer above.

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Frederick, Md.: I have seen reports where organizations who accepts donations of vehicles are sometimes getting vehicles beyond repair and are, at times, being stuck with unrecoverable fees. Will vehicle donations become stricter and has there already been certain restrictions implemented? Thank you.

Jacqueline Salmon: See my answer above and Albert Crenshaw's column yesterday in the Sunday Financial section, which focused on philanthropy.

In a nutshell, you need to be a lot more careful when giving your car away.

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washingtonpost.com: Giving a Car? Get It in Gear

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Arlington, Va.: Besides WETA, Childrens Hospital overdoes the solicitation letters. I get at least one a week from them. After a while, you begin to think that the places exist just to raise money for more fund raising. I think the charity is a worthy one (and I do donate annually) but I wonder about over-solicitation.

Jacqueline Salmon: I'm mystified why nonprofits would go overboard like this, but I guess--like the spam meisters--they do it because they get results.

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Oakland, Calif.: Has there been any talk in these tight times about agencies with similar missions and service populations merging to reduce administration costs?

Jacqueline Salmon: Good question. Yes, there's been talk about it. But not much has happened.

Nonprofits don't like to merge. A lot of that has to do with their leadership: They're often started by an entrepreneurial individual with a singular vision, and often he/she isn't interested in becoming part of a larger group.

It's a problem. Charitable foundations, which fund charities, have been pushing charities to merge for years but haven't gotten very far.

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Pittsburgh, PA: Have you heard anything about Tomato Nation.com? It's an awesome advice/column website in general, but as a contest, the author of the website is urging her readers to contribute to donorschoose.org, and in, I think, two weeks of the contest her readers have donated at least $10,000 towards her designated projects, and other projects. I think it's truly amazing what one website can do. I donated to two different projects I found personally moving, and feel really good about it. As someone who wants to contribute to charities, but is broke, I finally found myself in a position where I felt my small contribution was going to add up to something else. It wasn't even the promise of prizes that motivated me to contribute, it was the feeling of community. The contest ends tonight, at tomatonation.com.

NOTE: I'm not affiliated with tomato nation or donorschoose.com.

Jacqueline Salmon: Interesting. I have heard of donorschoose.org, which was started by a Bronx school teacher in 2000. Under the system, individual teachers post their requests, and then individual donors respond. It's been a wild success.

I think it really speaks to the suspicion with which some American regard nonprofits, and their desire to skip over the charitable infrastructure and get their dollars directly into the hands of the needy.

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Alexandria, Va.: Hi Jacqueline,

Actually, the CFC has been managed by an organization called Global Impact for the last two years. In addition to 49 years of participating in workplace giving campaigns across the nation, Global Impact also manages the two largest Federal workplace giving campaigns—the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA)and the Combined Federal Campaign-Overseas (CFC-O).

Global Impact represents about 50 of America's most distinguished U.S-based international development and relief charities, including Catholic Relief Services, CARE, Doctors Without Borders USA, Save the Children, and World Vision. Every year, Global Impact touches over 206 million lives in virtually every developing country through disaster relief, education, health training and economic programs that promote self-sufficiency. Global Impact member charities get results by providing the tools for people to help themselves.

FYI.

Jacqueline Salmon: OK. thanks for the details.

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Washington, D.C.: It seems like there are so many nonprofits in the DC area who all have very similar missions and functions. Do you think that it would be better for the similar organizations to get together and merge? Maybe it would make it easier for them to ask for money from individuals and foundations. Is there any forum for this?

Jacqueline Salmon: Again, easier said than done. The Washington area has the highest number of nonprofits per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Granted, that's partly because a lot of large national groups are here. But, still, we got a lot of 'em!

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Memphis, TN: Have you plotted charitable giving by county or state? I bet that the most generous giving corresponds to the "RED" states that went for Bush.

Jacqueline Salmon: Utah, a red state, is considered the most generous state in the nation, according to a study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy done last year.

A "generosity index" compiled annually by a group in Massachusetts ranked Mississippi as the most generous.

Both red states! (tennessee as sixth, by the way, in the generosity index).

But some researchers hate these surveys that rank states' generosity based on tax return data. They say it overstates church giving and understates secular giving.

So take them all with a grain of salt.

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Jacqueline Salmon: And that's all, folks. It was good communicating with y'all. Enjoy the rest of your day.

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