The Charities: the Art of Giving -- and Taking

It’s the season for giving.

Even though the weak economy has crimped the giving urge, a new confidence, albeit more cautious and practical, seems to be emerging from the economic doldrums following the near financial collapse of 2008. This is not to imply that the economy is percolating or that jobs are plentiful and the government’s debt has been trimmed.

Congress is bickering over funding of the Affordable Care Act and the budget for the government to operate for the next fiscal year, which begins tomorrow, Oct. 1. Yet, recall if you can, if there ever was a time since the turn of the century when Congress was a bastion of “bold” leadership. I think not.

It’s not the nest of times; but it’s not the worst of times.

Whether you donate to a charity for tax reasons, for the sake of just giving, or a combination of both to satisfy your urges, charitable giving is a hallmark of our society.

Each year, we delight in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The name “Scrooge” is synonymous with greed and stinginess. (Personally, I prefer the Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine as Scrooge.)

Charities give to educating children, provide healthcare for invalids, the disabled and the homeless, support the arts, and so forth.

But how many charities actually do what they say they are going to do? How many of them throw buckets of dollars at solicitors – third party groups that get a cut of donations – and how much is the overhead of many charities?

The Daily Newswanger will explore these issues and others over the next two months. This is the firstof several articles to be written every week. Should you have questions or topics to explore, please contact me at 757.717.8281 or newspsn@gmail.com.

To begin, here are some statistics on public charities. The source is the National Center for Charities.

	Norfolk	Virginia Beach
Registered public charities	783	1,059*
#filing IRS Form 990*	300	367
Total revenue 1995-August, 2013*	$5.3 billion	$1.02 billion
Total assets 1995-August, 2013*	$6.6 billion	$1.24 billion
# filing Form 990-N**	248	418
# filing 990 &990-N***	548	785