(ABP) — News reports and televised images of suffering by South Asia tsunami victims or hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast residents prompted Americans to reach deep into their pocketbooks to give last year.
Americans gave more than $2.7 billion to aid Gulf Coast hurricane victims in 2005 — an amount near the total charitable gifts that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. About two-thirds of those donations went to the American Red Cross.
International giving to Baptist World Aid — the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance — topped $2.49 million for tsunami aid and $364,000 for the Gulf Coast hurricanes, as well as $135,000 for an earthquake in Pakistan.
The Southern Baptist International Mission Board reported $16.8 million in contributions for tsunami relief, plus more than 182,600 for the Pakistan earthquake, and the North American Mission Board reported more than $21.9 million in disaster relief giving related to the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
But some observers continue to question whether giving to meet urgent, high-profile needs hurts or helps ongoing charitable causes — including churches and faith-based ministries that help poor people.
Early indicators for charitable giving in 2005 don't show clear signs of the “donor fatigue” that some analysts feared would occur. But other signs seem to show contributors may have shifted some discretionary charitable dollars to disaster relief and away from other causes.
For instance, Texas Baptists gave a record $5.8 million to disaster relief and posted an increase in regular budget giving, but annual offerings for missions and world hunger both dropped 9 percent from the previous year.
Likewise, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship received $2.6 million for tsunami relief and $1.1 million for Gulf Coast hurricane relief in 2005. But CBF undesignated gifts and the Global Missions Offering both were down 3 percent in fiscal 2004-2005.
In contrast, Buckner Baptist Benevolence saw no downturn in giving because of the disasters, officials with the agency reported.
“In looking back over the year, it appears that many people responded generously to tsunami and hurricane relief but also continued to support our ongoing ministries,” said David Slover, executive vice president of Buckner Foundation.
A national survey conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University showed most fundraisers for nonprofit organizations didn't believe disaster relief giving hurt their causes, but a majority believed charities in general suffered.
Only one-third of the fundraisers who responded agreed or strongly agreed that giving to hurricane relief came at the expense of their own organizations. But 58 percent agreed disaster-related giving hurt other charities in the short-term, while only one-fourth of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this idea.
Some Americans apparently think their obligation to poor people is met through taxes. Scott Burns, business and finance columnist for the Dallas Morning News, wrote a Christmas column about IRS statistics that indicate charitable giving declines as income rises. In a follow-up column, he quoted from readers who took issue with him for “stoking the fires of class warfare” and failing to consider the tax burden borne by wealthy people.
“Many people see taxes as charitable giving, since much of it goes to support the poor,” one respondent wrote.
People who rationalize their failure to contribute to human-needs charities by pointing to the taxes they pay miss a fundamental difference between tax dollars and charitable gifts, said Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy with the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
“Charitable giving is voluntary. Taxes are not,” she said. “Charitable giving is a reflection of character. Taxes are a reflection of legal obligation.
“The kind of charity found in the Bible is an unselfish, contagious love for others that results in joyous sacrifice on their behalf. The charitable giver wishes she could do more. The taxpayer doesn't.”
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— With additional reporting by Greg Warner of Associated Baptist Press