Has our society become less charitable?

1. 81

   ketageposted 11 years ago

   Has our society become less charitable?

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   LandmarkWealthposted 11 years ago

   Yes and No.  Americans in totality still give an enormous amount of money to charity.  Not to mention time volunteered.  But to some extent we as a society do less than that of past generations.  That is not entirely the result of a change of heart.  The size of Gov't is substantially larger in relation to social services than it was in past generations.  So when the gov't provides "X", there is less room for public and private charities to serve a role in providing "X".  The role of Gov't can crowd out the role of charities.  Whether or not the gov't is doing a better job at providing some of these services more efficiently and effectively than they were once provided for by charitable organizations is open for debate.  I would say not by a long shot. But that is a different discussion.

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      ketageposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree it is not a change of heart. The problem in my opinion is that most people do not know where to start contributing, be it time or money.
      As to the gov't doing a better, more efficient job then some charities. my rant would be pages long.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Pages...I think the evidence would be more like chapters.

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   Express10posted 11 years ago

   I don't believe so but it does depend on where you look for these efforts. Organized charities are a good start but the efforts don't always start or end there. There are still large numbers of people who give their time, money, and other things in the effort to be charitable. A fairly large number hate to advertise that they are charitable because they know they can be a target for those seeking donations with some asking being very persistent or even aggressive.
   
   There are people within your community that likely are charitable without ever going to a charity. Perhaps they give their time and efforts to mow a sick and shut in's lawn like my dad always did without ever asking (always made me proud seeing this in my dad). Others may consistently give food or clothing to those in their communities that they know need it. Sure, there will always be people that don't give and that's their business, they don't have to. But when I look thoroughly, I can see there are a lot of charitable people still giving in more ways than one.

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      ketageposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hearing about people that help others without being asked ( like your dad did ) cheers me up. Thanks

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   Born2care2001posted 11 years ago

   I look at this a little differently. We are not less charitable, we are slightly less aware of all of the many ways we can contribute goodness to the world. If you only consider money, perhaps you are correct since less and less of it is controlled by a greater number of our population.
   However, there are no less of us. If we use our imagination and the natural given gifts we all possess in some measure, we can accomplish anything. Example: What would happen if each human in our country were able to send a glass of water to a region desperate for it? 300 million glasses of water would nourish much, would it not? Or, if we sent one idea per person, wouldn't it be possible that one of those ideas could change the face of humanity? Of course!
   Peace be with you!

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      ketageposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree Born2care2001, if we all helped a little it would make a big change, The problem is a lot of people only think of money when it comes to charity, and not everyone is willing to or can afford to give money, in truth there are many ways to help

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   Silverspeederposted 11 years ago

   Here in the UK people are more and more fed up with hearing how little of their £ gets to those who need it, some registered charities take as much as 85% of contributions and share them with fat cat bosses and management level workers. It's not unusual to hear of CEO of charities earning high six figure incomes with huge pension contributions.
   I still believe charity begins at home and should radiate to neighbours and friends who then should pass it on.
   
   For years we have been throwing money at Africa, India and other third world countries, it has made little difference, there must be another way because if there isn't we are all done for.

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