My husband and I have been long time contributers to The Boys and Girls Town and to Habitat for Humanity. We have no plans to stop contributing. What I have noticed is that the charities are asking for more if you can manage to give more. My plan is to just continue to pay what we have in all the years past. It is hard to turn down all the charities that could really use the money but if everybody that can would just incorporate one charity in their yearly budget it would make such a huge difference.

We have been doing about the same this year. I am very concerned next year if Obama wins and raises taxes, that will cause many people to consider cutting back.

My donation goes to the Salvation Army. No change. The cost of overhead for other charities precludes me from making donations to additional ones.

The Government taxes me and they are nothing more than a charitable institution. Government has the highest overhead of any charitable institution.

I think the economy makes it harder for people to give. But, on a personal level, we have supported several charities in the past, and we have no plan to stop.

JJK – way to try and politicize a nice topic, but for the record, if Obama wins, there is a high probability that his plan will lower your taxes more than McCain’s would. Why can I say that? Because I have looked at the plans: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411693_CandidateTaxPlans.pdf

To help you out, skip to page 29 to see the effect of Obama’s plan on your income level, and page 36 to see McCain’s plan in action. Look at the middle column, “average federal tax change ($)” - this will show you the average change in tax burden under each proposal.

Now, can we stick to the topic?

More. My mortgage is paid off so I have the privledge of putting what used to go to intrest into charities. Same ones I always gave to, nothing new.

I probably wouldn’t have cut back on charitable giving this year if it weren’t for the fact that retirement is right around the corner. I had already started weeding out some charities and some cultural institutions in contemplation of a lowered income. So it would be hard for me to really judge how much the economy has affected my giving and how much would have been cut out anyway.

I can well understand that times are hard and that some people who never thought they’d be needing outside assistance now find themselves among “the needy.” But, realistically, with so many families on the borderline right now, you can’t expect them to cough up the charitable donations they made in the past. They need every buck they have to keep themselves afloat. Sometimes, though, I think people who were used to giving maybe $50 and can no longer afford that much just say the hell with it. If you can still afford a $10 donation, don’t be embarassed to give “so little.” That ten bucks might be a lifesaver to someone.

My wife and I each operate private practices, and we have ties with youth groups for which we regularly offer pro bono couseling and dental services to qualifying members. Because our practices are young and growing, at this time it is financially easier to give our time than our cash.

I have continued to give to two charities. Like Pat Carpenter, retirement is getting very close. I’m retired now from my primary job and work about 30 hours a week as a consultant, but my wife is in her last year. Income won’t change much but the cost of living is up and we will have to pay our own medical insurance when she quits. I will continue to give but I just wish the excessive phone calls for donations would stop or at least slow down.

My husband and I normally give to the Salvation Army mostly, our church and we give used clothing/books/small appliances/furniture to various charity pickups during the year. I don’t see that changing this year.

TO ALL…ST.VINCENT DEPAUL IS A WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION TO GET INVOLVED WITH EVEN IF ONE MORNING A WEEK..GROUPS CAN BE FOUND THRU-OUT THE ST.LOUIS ARES..MOST CHURCHES