Benefits of Giving

For me, the major barriers to giving has been financial anxiety-- fear that if I gave money away, I would not have enough for myself.  Even though I have been a Christian for over 20 years, it's only been in the last couple years that I began to tithe.  Only last year, did I began to give beyond the tithe.  Last year was an exceptionally difficult financial year. Towards the end of the year, an unexpected expense of $5-600 per month rose but because I had already committed to giving to charity, I decided to continue what I was doing.  I decide to view it as an opportunity for God to demonstrate His provision.

I didn't get in debt.  I paid all my bills.  I didn't go hungry.  I experienced peace about my finances even though I was in a precarious position.  I began to learn what it meant to give joyfully.  I experienced greater intimacy with God.  I began to feel His Presence more strongly.  I could feel that His delight in me was stronger than it was before.

Continuing to give through financial stress allowed me to experience the reality that God is indeed faithful.  My financial situation still isn't that great but I no longer worry about money.  Why wouldn't God take care of me?  I'm making His Kingdom my first priority!

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.  I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.  In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusement, etc. is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.  If our giving does not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say it is too small.  There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our commitment to giving excludes them.

-- C. S. Lewis

My 2013 Giving Goals

Last year, I gave about 13%. My parachurch giving added up to around $85 per month.

This year, I'd like to hit 15%.  I've decided to add another day of fasting for an increase of $20 in my giving  Let's round it to $100 per month.  I'm giving $300 per month to church (a total of  $3600) plus any special offerings that arise.  I hope to give a nice, round $4000 to church this year.

Last year, my charitable giving totaled $4600.  So this year, I'd like to increase it to $5000-5500.  I hope to give a lot more than that since I'm job searching and I should receive a significant raise due to receiving my licensure.  I've already found another organization that I like and to which I'd like to give $250 per month. Assuming I find a job by August, that's $1250 extra, plus extra money in tithes.

Worst case scenario (if I can't find a new job)
church: $300/month = $3600/year + $400 special offering=$4000
charity: $100/month=$1200/year
total: $5200
estimated giving percentage:15.8%

Better case scenario (if I get a new job, a conservative estimate)
church: $4000 + $1000 extra tithe= $5000
charity: $1200 + $1250=$2450
total: $7450, rounded up to $7500
estimated giving percentage:18.75%

Oooh, I am liking those numbers.

My 2012 Giving Methodology

The short explanation:
1> I counted my blessings beyond my regular salary and gave 10% of that to charity.
2> I fasted one day per week and contributed $5 for each day fasted.

The long explanation:
Last year, I read two dozen books on poverty and philanthropy.  One was a pamphlet titled "40 Day Spiritual Journey to a more Generous Life" which I requested and received (for free!) from one of Brian Kluth's websites on giving. I think it was MaximumGenerosity.org.   It's a wonderful pamphlet filled with practical tips.  One suggestion was to give 10% of my regular income to my church and 10% of all other sources (gifts, services provided, money saved from sales and coupons, etc.) to a charity.  It suggested "counting my blessings," so that if I received a gift or a service (i.e. a sweater) then I could estimate the fair value or what I would have been willing to pay for the item (i.e. $20) and give 10% of that ($2) to charity.

I counted my blessings every weekend, making an online donation after I accumulated at least $50.  After a while, I felt the need to give more so I brainstormed. At the time, I was regularly fasting one day a week (breakfast and lunch only) so I decided that the money I saved on meals from fasting I would also give to charity.  Since I'm a vegan, shop at a farmer's market, cook most of my meals from scratch, avoid processed food, and rarely eat out,  I estimated that on average I spend $2-$3 per meal. I like a nice round number so I made it $5 a day, which meant I could give an extra $20 each month.

So that's how I calculated my giving last year. Since I gave $905 to parachurch organizations in 2012, that means (after accounting for fasting) God blessed me by an extra $8000 last year!

2012 Giving-in-Review

Salary: $32,523.50
Giving: $4, 361
Giving Percentage:13.4%

The breakdown--
my local church: $3500
World Vision: $416
Orphan's Tear: $250
local food pantry: $175
my alma mater: $20

So why is my giving all over the place?  Well, I started experimenting with giving to charity just last year.  At first, I gave money to a local food pantry.  My reasoning was that the most basic things in life are food and shelter.  I didn't want to give to a shelter because I've heard a lot of horror stories abut local shelters, so I chose a local food pantry instead.  But then after giving to the food pantry for a while, I felt the need to be more global in my giving.  I already work with the local poor Monday-Friday 9-5 through my job ; plus, not only is the need is greater in developing countries, my salary really isn't that great.  I needed to maximize my limited resources and thus, it made more sense to give to the poor in a country where dollars go much, much further.

And so I decided to work with an international humanitarian organization.  I decided it needed to be Christian so that my giving could be part of witnessing Christ's love and chose World Vision after reading The Hole in the Gospel, written by Richard Stearns, current President of World Vision.  The book gave me a good idea of how the organization was run and I thought it was one I'd be happy supporting.  Sponsoring a child had been on my bucket list for years, so I signed up as a sponsor and gave extra money on top of that.

But after several months of doing this, I became frustrated because I had no idea how my contributions were being used.  There wasn't any kind of feedback about that from WV.  Was I making an impact?  Were my charity dollars being used wisely?  I had no way of checking.  I wanted to be more involved then merely donating my financial resources.  So I thought deeply about the causes closest to my heart and decided that the cause of orphans resonated most with me.  So I googled organizations that served orphans, researched them as best as I could (I'll explain the importance of being a responsible giver in a future post), and finally chose Orphan's Tear.  They have a blog on which they post updates and  pictures of how contributions were used to better the lives of orphans.  I read through the blog, cried through the entire thing, and completely lost my heart to these orphans.  So both my heart and my brains were engaged in the choosing of this organization.

I had the option of sponsoring orphans but I chose not to do that because I didn't want all of my giving to be automated (My sponsorship money is automatically deducted from my account).  I wanted some of my giving to be more intentional.  So I donated money through their website every month.

I'm amazed by how much I was able to give.  Especially since due to special circumstances I had a job-related expense last year that came up to over $3000!  I had to stop investing but I was able to contribute a small amount to savings. I don't know how I did it.  I'm amazed by how God provided.

How I Became Interested in Philanthropy

I think the kernel of it began several years ago.  I'm from the Midwest.  I moved east for grad school in 2005 and immediately developed chronic bronchitis.  The last seven years have been the most miserable in my life. I was never sick like this.  I would literally be ill 6 months out of the year.  I'd just grit my teeth and force myself to get through school, get through work.  I think I hit bottom between 2008 and 2010.  I was still very ill, I was stressed financially, I was angry that God led me into a profession that didn't pay very much and in a location that wreaked havoc on my health.  At the same time, I sensed that I was right smack in the middle of God's will.  That made me even madder.  I asked God over and over again, "Why do You want me to suffer?  Why can't I leave?"  Then a close friend moved abroad for missions and two others basically abandoned me.  So I was sick, financially stressed, furious with my so-called friends, lonely, stressed about my responsibilities at church, resentful that church, rather than being a help, was actually adding to my stress, etc.  I had such a hard time that I came close to having a psychological breakdown.  I could feel the edges of my psyche unraveling.  It's a miracle I made it through and I'm ok now.

During this time, several people at church had babies and I received an email about who could volunteer to cook and deliver meals to these families. Now I believe that church should support new mothers.  I am not a mother but I have been arounf enough babies to know how much work they are and really, two parents are not enough.  But I became very upset when I received this email.  I was thinking that I had been so sick since I moved here, it was equivalent to have a new baby each year for 5 years!  Who gave me any sort of extra support?  Everytime people asked for prayer request, I talked about my health.  Yet in all that time, three people emailed me to ask how I was, one person brought me juice, one person brought me fruit, and one gave me soup.  Only one of them stopped by while I was sick.  The others gave to me when I felt well enough to go to Bible study again.

I think people are very responsive when it came to one-off situations but not ongoing situations.  A tsunami hits.  The entire world bands together to help victims.  10-30,000 children die everyday from hunger and malnutrition.  Nothing, no headlines in the newspaper.  They suffer alone.  They die alone.  A woman has a baby. People at church band together to cook meals for the family.  I'm sick every year for half the year.  I get three emails and one almost-meal.

Do you know what the worst feeling in the world is?  It's when you're having a hard time and you look around and there is nobody next to you, nobody there for you.  That's the worst feeling in the world.  This experience gave me a small taste of what it must be like for the world's poor.  They have no power.  They have no voice.  They suffer alone.  They die alone.  I'd be hacking, coughing, crying, miserable at home and these were the thoughts that went through my head.  "No one knows how sick I am.  Nobody cares.  Nobody's coming to visit me.  Nobody's calling to check up on me.  No one's showing up to help me with chores around the house even though I desperately need it.  I am all alone."

Then last year, I finally began to read about poverty and philanthropy; I was immediately convicted and started to give more.  I forgave my church and my so-called friends. After all, when was the last time I visited someone suffering from illness?  My health has improved to the point where I only feel utterly miserable 1-2 months out of the year.  I've had an awful time here, but I came out of it a better person-- more compassionate, more giving, more in tune with God's desires, and with a sense of greater purpose.  I see why God allowed this in my life.  I'm a happier person now.

Why I Am Starting This Blog

The title of this blog comes from Randy Alcorn's book, Money, Possessions, and Eternity, one of the two dozen books I read last year on poverty and philanthropy.  It is one of the two major Christian books which drastically changed my theology, my worldview, my sense of purpose in life. (The other book is Desiring God by John Piper.)  I became convicted that aiding and empowering the poor was part of the good works that God prepared in advance for me to do (Ephesians 2:8).  So I began to give to humanitarian organizations (beyond the tithe I give to my local church).

I am starting this blog as a way to keep track of my giving, to keep track of resources, and to stay motivated. It is also my hope that this blog could bring greater awareness about charitable giving.  Charity has largely fallen out of the consciousness of the modern western church.  There is a dearth of conversation about giving.  This is my way of starting that conversation.

From Randy Alcorn--

When it comes to giving, churches operate under a 'don't ask, don't tell'  policy.  We lack communication, accountability, and modelling.  It's as if we have an unspoken agreement--"I won't talk about it if you won't"-- so we can go right on living as we are.  Ask the young people at church if they can point out examples of prayer warriors in the congregation, people who have a lot to teach about prayer.  Most can come up with names.  Now ask them to point out the giving warriors, people who have a lot to teach about giving.  The fact that the term giving warrior sounds so foreign says it all, doesn't it? 

Think about it--how do young Christians in our churches learn how to give?  Where can they go to see what giving looks like in the life of a believer captivated by Christ?  Why are we surprised when seeing no other example, they take their cues from a materialistic society?  Statistics clearly indicate that young adults in the church give a much lower percentage of their income.  Part of the reason is that older Christians have failed to pass on a vision for giving. (Money, Possessions, and Eternity, p. 204)

I aspire to be a giving warrior.  I have no intention of forfeiting my reward in Heaven by bragging about what I'm doing while here on Earth.  So I've decided to keep this blog anonymous.  Besides, this blog may not even amount to a blip in the blogosphere.  For now, it's for me and I already know who I am.  =)