Year End Gifts Lay Foundation For America's Charities
- Written by J.J.
Did you or are you about to support a charity in 2013? Nearly 80% of all charitable giving comes from donors over the age of 49. America showers charities, on average, with 30% of all annual giving throughout the month and donates 10-20% of the year's total charitable revenue on December 30 and 31 as families and individuals implement tax strategies and engage planning for the year ahead. December giving is critical for the health of America's system of non-profit helping and advocacy organizations.
Each charity's stability rises and falls on our financial decisions which can be impacted by tax policy and economic trends. The economy is a strong indicator of overall philanthropy. Forbes magazine indicates that tax advantages, for incomes over $300,000, have improved since the late 80's yet annual giving remains lower than it was before the "Great Recession." Corporate giving ebbs and flows. Foundations and individuals increased their giving in 2013. Overall charitable donations have improved slightly, year over year, for the past four years. In 2013 Americans gave 335.17 billion dollars or 2% of America's GDP(Gross Domestic Product).
Individual donations from people like you and me support the foundation of charities by generating 70% of all charitable income annually. What prompts us to give? A new study on giving demographics and trends finds that older Americans (49 and up) are likely to respond to an appeal received in the mail. Boomers were just as motivated by fundraising drives at work or options to give online. 1/3 of older Americans gave in memory of someone or as a tribute. Most of us donate non cash goods to charity during the year. Those who give money split it between local/social organizations and religious contributions. If you're over 68 years of age you probably give your time (in a role as volunteer) as well as your money. On average older Americans give more than $1,000 to charity each year.
If you're new to charitable giving the National Philanthropic Trust has a you tube channel and a series of short videos overviewing charitable donations step by step as well as more specialized discussions. If you're interested in how well a charity uses your donations the Charity Navigator offers a broad range of articles about giving as well as graded analysis of every registered charity. This year they offer a Holiday Giving guide. With so many platforms for giving it's easy to support your charity of choice. If you decide to donate to charity for the first time this year you'll join approximately 88% of U.S. households who already incorporate giving into their annual budget. Globally, the United States ranks second in numbers of people giving money to charity and first in volunteerism.
Giving is a characteristic of our American spirit and charitable gifts come from all economic levels. If you give throughout the year but haven't yet planned for a recurring year end gift Jennifer Gilmore, executive director of Feeding America San Diego encourages you to do so , "Most of us are fascinated by newspaper reports of a wealthy individual donating millions of dollars to her favorite charitable organization...," she writes, "But sometimes that admiration for such large gifts can leave the rest of us feeling intimidated when we pull out our own checkbooks to write a donation to our favorite charity. Will our check for $10, or maybe even less, really help anything? Do such small gifts really help charitable organizations accomplish much?" The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) posted a similar discussion at their blog stating that charities couldn't thrive on sensational one time donations. Their vitality relies on the smaller charity of many donors. "The point is that giving— regardless of the amount or the schedule— is always impactful. Your donations always make a difference...Know that in your own way, by making a year-end contribution to your favorite charities, you’re helping just as much [with a modest gift], if not more."
As we move through Winter celebrations, America's charities are hard at work because the final days of December are the first days they can accurately evaluate stability in the year to come. The gifts we've exchanged with family and friends may already be integrated into our lives but charities are still anticipating America's generous financial surprises. Year end giving lays the foundation for America's charities and supports the vast network of services, advocacy, arts, and causes that make our nation strong.
Flash mobs, Paying it Forward and the Power of Simple Goodwill
- Written by J.J.
One November night I was stopping for a cup of coffee at a drive thru anticipating the nearly 100 miles between myself and home. When I got to the window the clerk told me my coffee had been paid for by the previous customer. Surprised, grateful, maybe even a little confused, I took my drink and drove into the dark. It was easy to imagine that a stranger or an angel had just wished me a safe trip home. Charitable giving is usually measured in dollars but that single cup of coffee caused me to consider the incredible power of simple good will.
Maybe you've been kind to a stranger or the recipient of someone's random kindness like I was at the coffee drive thru? "Paying it forward," as that custom is called, is a way to give and a charitable way to live. The concept, coined in the early 20th century, proposes we repay favors by gifting someone else. It's modern incarnation was inspired by a turn of the century book, a recent movie, and the global Pay it Forward Foundation. Both sides of that equation can be enjoyable because they give us a feeling of hope and connection. They strengthen the good will in our world. “It’s about giving, and letting people see not everybody is bad, and there are nice people out there and maybe we can turn it around,” says an optician, quoted in the New York Times, who pays it forward weekly.
Charley Johnson, Pay It Forward Foundation president, says that the only thing that people want universally is to make our world better. In his defining speech he explains that his movement answers a major need, "What we need," he tells a TED Talks audience, "is a simple way for the tens of millions of people on the face of this planet, that want to make the world better but don’t know what to do,.. to get started very easily, very simply." Every few days the Pay It Forward Foundation posts a suggestion such as "send someone a happy text" or "hug a stranger." Johnson believes that giving small gifts to strangers, from random smiles to cups of coffee, can foster a better world by creating interconnections that prompt a wave of good deeds.
Lewis Hyde, a MacArthur Genius writing about the historical practice of giving, writes, "Not surprisingly, people live differently who treat a portion of their wealth as a gift. To begin with, unlike the sale of a commodity, the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship between the parties involved. Furthermore, when gifts circulate within a group, their commerce leaves a series of interconnected relationships in its wake, and a kind of decentralized cohesiveness emerges." However, the spirit of the gift, Hyde says, can only exist if gifts continually move from one to another as, for example, they do when we "pay it forward" or gift a charity.
Though connectedness is a goal of paying it forward many people pay it forward in settings where they can remain anonymous like drive up lines. That's an interesting 21st century twist-the need to be anonymous in generosity. There's a similar anonymity involved in the flash mob phenomenon. Have you ever been involved in one? Flash mobs were originally gatherings that occurred suddenly-- in public---, performed something with no particular purpose, then, dispersed. As they've evolved, however, their aims are similar in spirit to paying it forward. They aim to break down public barriers, humanize impersonal spaces, and create positive shared public moments for a better world.
Check out this flash mob filmed on a Copenhagen metro and organized by the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. Anyone living in a metropolitan area sees and feels the emotional power of this moment on a morning train. In fact over 6 million people have been drawn to watch it on you tube. Something similar happened in an Australian Central Station in 2011 and in the Antwerp Central Station in 2009. In both examples, ordinarily dressed people emerge from the anonymous crowd and, through their shared performance, create a provocative and cohesive unit. At times it's hard to distinguish who is a planned participant and who is just pulled in by the delicious, joyful performance! Unlike individual acts of giving the collectivity of a flash mob can give warmth to sterile public spaces and open/close the curtain of public anonymity making the world seem more connected if only for the moments until participants disappear into the crowd.
Anonymity and the atmosphere of isolation it creates isn't solely a condition caused by growing populations or our modern society. Anonymity is caused by collectively choosing to be isolated as members of the public and, often, stigmatizing or mistrusting individuals who break that barrier. In some ways it may serve a purpose however our social connectedness, or, rather, the lack of it impacts our health. Higher levels of perceived social connection can moderate blood pressure, lower stress, and improve our immune responses. Most research has focused on our connections to groups and friends but our connection to the world around us, our public, has a definite impact on our generalized well being and viewpoint on life. How safe do we feel when we walk down the street? How trusting are we of strangers?
In this season of giving, as we prepare to pass presents to friends, neighbors, and family may we also cultivate hope and goodwill by acknowledging and/or giving to strangers. Our communities are strengthened by simple gestures like sharing more smiles with others or saying hello while standing in a line, riding an elevator, or waiting for the walk sign. If Paying it Forward president Charley Johnson is right that we all just want to make the world a better place then I know now that it won't take money to do that as much as it'll take many people offering their time and courage to spread simple goodwill. Whether anonymously or face to face I'm Paying it Forward from now on. Will you join me?
Multi-generational Families Making A Resurgence
- Written by J.J.
Holidays create family memories and, usually, prompt family gatherings. Will you be joining family this holiday season? Millions of people will travel to see children, parents and grandparents during this time but millions more will already be living with three or four generations of family! Trends show increasing numbers of people living multi-generationally in America. For many families this seems like a new phenomenon often necessitated by economics, but for some cultures and, in fact, for most families in America in the 19th century, multi-generational living was the norm.
You may have heard stories from your parents, perhaps, and certainly your grandparents, or great grandparents about life in a three generation household. You may have lived a life like that in your childhood. From 1850 (when good Census figures begin to be recorded) to 1920 that experience was common and it remained strong through 1940. At its height, in the mid 1800's, 80% of the population 65 years of age or older lived with a relative- 70% of which lived with their children or children by marriage, according to a fascinating 2003 research paper. At that time less than 10% of our aging parents lived in an institution or almshouse. Today more than 15% of the population over 85 lives in an assisted living facility or nursing home and nearly half of all women 75+ live alone!
You may be thinking about family structure and living situations these days. You and your parents, if they're still here, are aging. Quite possibly your adult children are asking you if they can come back home. You may long for the nuclear family where partners raise a child who leaves home and establishes independence so you can enjoy a wonderful retirement. But nuclear family, and the family contract it implies, is actually the aberration in a much larger American family cycle having been dominant only about 50 years in the 230+ years of American families.
The concept of nuclear family became the American family norm in the sixties. It rose parallel to industrialization and the advent of wage earning opportunities offered by large businesses proliferating after World War II. Sweeping commercial changes at that time overturned family economies which were dominant up to the mid 1900's. Small business enterprise and farm life, in those days, motivated multi-generational team work that kept the family economic foundation strong and held its members together. Children often lived with parents, caring for them as they aged, inheriting and continuing the family livelihood. Poorer families also stayed together sharing domestic labor and pooling resources. Multi-generational living was the normal family structure of that time.
Today, multi-generational families are gaining in practicality and popularity once again. Nearly 17% of America lives multi-generationally according to AARP. However, their members are motivated by influences quite different from those in our early history. Analysts at PEW research identify two large social influences driving the shift---ongoing cultural diversification and economic pressures. Immigrating cultures bring along their family dynamics and norms. Multi-generational living is more common in Latin American and Asian cultures. In 2012, at least 14% of all African American, Latin American and Asian households were multi-generational. Economic welfare is also motivating. In 2012, 19% of all multi-generational households lived in poverty--- a rate significantly higher than the poverty rate for all households. Multi-generational living was once a way to pool labor and resources and it may still serve as a strategy for the survival of family and family members in a time of growing poverty. Also battered by the economy are adult children who're going back to their childhood homes. Among 25-34 year olds, 61% have friends or family that moved in with their parents or relatives as a consequence of economic hardship.
Multi-generational living today, as it did historically, offers a structural way to provide care for aging parents and relatives. In 1980, when nuclear families dominated, 17% of adults over 65 still chose or needed to live in a multi-generational household but, in a 20th century twist, many opened their house to a grandchild for whom they provided primary care. By 2011, a shocking 7 million grandparents lived with a grandchild and nearly 40% had primary financial responsibility for at least one grandchild under the age of 18. Inversely, 10% of all grandchildren lived with their grandparent because of forces in modern life such as: high divorce rates, single parent needs, economic volatility, or the incarceration, early death or absence of a parent.
Nuclear families may still be in our conscious as the American family norm but multi-generational family structure has a much longer history in America and it's rebounding. The multi-generational family has survived transformation and technological change in America because of its structural flexibility that accommdates changing family needs and protects all family members. Multi-generational families show us that no matter how attractive personal desires can be- throughout history family members have put love before their need for privacy and caring above the drive for independence. As we gather for these holidays, in our troubled world, multi-generational families remind us that our families, in all their shapes and sizes, are formed of bonds that will not break and experiences that are ever changing. Happy Holidays, dear reader.
Update April 2014- Generations United is an exciting organization supporting Multi-generational collaboration. At this site are great resources and a blog that features topics related to Inter-generational communication, programs, and experiences.
Update May 2014 Fabulous article on multi-generational families aptly called "Better Together."
Update August 23 2016 Donna Butts, Exec Dir of Grandfamilies United tells blogger Clare Trapasso that “The majority of families say there can be some difficulties, but overall it[multi-generational living ed.] helps them economically, it helps them with caregiving, and it helps them develop stronger ties between family members.” Read more at realtor.com
Until the real thing comes along – there's Obamacare
- Written by Chuck Guilford
Of course you'd like to avoid it, and who can blame you? Whether you think the Affordable Care Act is a government healthcare takeover or that it needs a strong public option, you probably watched in fascinated disgust as it burst upon the country, a tangled mess of contradictions and incompetence. But here it is, and if you currently lack health insurance, or are considering early retirement, it may just have to do. And if you need another reason, there's the Individual Mandate.
Read more: Until the real thing comes along – there's Obamacare