Give blood and there are some who'll say it's not enough
Give blood but don't expect to ever see reward
Give blood you can give it all but still you'll be asked for more
Pete Townshend 1985
When I hear about how much a person has given to a particular charity, my reaction is not “that is fantastic” or “that is sad how little that person gave”. My reaction is “how about them Red Sox”? It's not that I'm ambivalent, or don't recognize the need to give. It’s just that making a judgment about whether another person gave enough is impossible. This is because to make an accurate judgment you have to know two things, both of which are unknowable: 1) How many charities that individual gives to, and 2) What their financial situation is.
First, the easy one. Unless you're married to that person or are their accountant, you’re not going to know the number of charities. If someone gives $25,000 to one charity, they're either going to have something named after them or they will be listed as one of the larger donors and praised. If that same person gives $1,000 each to 25 different charities, no one is naming anything after them. In fact, if people they know are listed as giving more, it might even be embarrassing for them.
The next unknowable is a person's financial situation. We might think that we know how much money someone has, but believe me, we don’t. Based on my work as a lawyer, I’ve sometimes been privy to this information; trust me, we don't have a clue. The surprises, both to the upside and downside, are tremendous. You might think that based upon a person's profession that they are or are not doing well financially, but that is often misleading. There is a wide disparity of income within professions.
For example, some attorneys do extremely well while others get out of the profession. Some “consultants” are in between jobs, while others are millionaires. Also, you don't know how well or poorly that person has invested, whether they have other sources of income such as family money, or whether they have had massive unexpected expenditures such as healthcare costs. Looks can also be extremely deceiving, especially with real estate. A person that buys a $500,000 house does not become $500,000 richer. He immediately has $500,000 in debt, minus the down payment. We simply never know how many assets a person has, or their liabilities/debt.
So how can we accurately judge whether a person is giving enough to charity? You can’t. Who is to judge? God. This one is between man and God. No one else really has a clue.
It would logically follow from this that I would be against public listings of charitable giving, or naming things after people based on how much money they have given. In truth, however, I support them because they work. In some ways, I am an ends justify the means kind of guy. Almost universally the regular fees associated with charities are not enough to keep them going. The tuition won't pay enough for the school. The dues won't be enough for the synagogue. The entrance fee won't take care of the museum. You're always going to need some big hitters, or at least a lot of people who can hit singles on a regular basis.
So if it takes a little friendly guilt, not so gentle persuasion, or fierce competition, so be it. If this is what it takes for people to give, we can live with that, even if it makes no sense. But for me, though, the only donors I’m impressed with are those whose last names are “Anonymous”.
Have a good night everyone.
JR
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