Medford mail tribune., June 30, 1957, Image 41

I f you'ke an average American
with an annual income of about $5,000,
you gave $225 of it to charity last year.
That's more than it cost you to light
your house, and over half as much as
you spent on your own recreation!
All this makes you the most generous
person in the world, even among other
income groups in our own country. It
also points up what a big business
charity has become and why you
should know more about the causes to
which you contribute so generously.
In the last 10 years, Americans have
doubled their contributions to charity.
In 195f), giving was well in excess of SO
billion. The Internal Revenue Service
lists more than 40,000 organizations for
which contributions are income-tax
deductible!
Americans contributed much more
than money; they contributed time and
effort, too in huge quantities. In 1950,
more than 35 million volunteer workers
one out of every five persons gave
time and talent to charitable causes.
According to the American Associ
ation of Fund-Raising Counsel, your
charity dollar is split up this way: re
ligion, 53 cents; welfare, 20 cents;
health, 13 cents; education, 9 cents;
foundations, 3 cents; and others, 2 cents.
Such impersonal figures, however,
are nut too satisfying to the individual
contributor who is beset almost daily
with charity appeals and who con
tributes to just about all of them!
Perhaps you're rightly wondering about
such questions as:
How much of my charity dollar goes
into administration and promotion ex
penses of fund raisers? Am I better off
to contribute to the Community Chest
or the individual charities? Where is
the greatest need for help these days
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and how can I best contribute to it?
Much has been said about charity
rackets and the huge percentages taken
oil the top by promoters. Without ques
tion they exist, but they are the excep
tion rather than the rule. The wide
spread publicizing of a few racketeer- .
ing charities has caused some Ameri
cans to lose faith in a good many
perfectly legitimate and well-administered
philanthropic causes.
Any fund drive, for proper super
vision, must have some operating ex
penses. It may help your peace of mind
to know they are low in most instances.
If you're an average citizen,
you contribute generously
to many worthy causes;
here's how your money is spent
and where it's needed most.
BY JOSEPH N. BELL
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