The essence of giving

Every day, we receive letters of request from various organizations and individuals for different causes. Some grieve my heart with the sad stories and acts of desperation. A request for medication, laboratory work-up, wheelchairs, prosthetics and the like. Extension to life or the quality of life.

Other missives have with them simple sponsorship needs for products to spice up events with various exchange deals that go with their proposals. While some audaciously send me a shopping list, which exasperates me at times because of that gnawing sense of entitlement in the stance of those who ask.

“I have a party tomorrow. Can I pick up my request this afternoon?”  My instinct says: “helloooow!”  But I have to bite my tongue and use compassion to understand. They really do not comprehend the essence of giving. 

When do corporations give?  Why do they give?  What does it cost them to give?

A friend once told me, “ it’s okay to give, anyway, you can get it back in tax rebates.”  But that is not always the case. There are processes that have to be undertaken to get tax credits.  And not all giving is tax free. There are even donor’s taxes that have been instituted to avoid the abuse of using a donation program as a tax shield.

Donations or philanthropic giving is not just a result of a generous heart. With the altruistic act is discernment on how to judiciously allocate what one has more of, for someone or others who need what one can give.

The operative word is WHAT ONE CAN GIVE. It makes the sharing easier. A company or a family may have material abundance in different ways. Some may have an excess of cash.  That would be most easy and flexible. But those who have an excess of mullah prefer to also put their pennies where they would not be wasted. Some do charity and give to charitable institutions and leave the headache of choosing beneficiaries to the leaders of the offices of charity. Others choose a foundation and prefer to fund a project or program that would reap sustainable results so that the beneficiary would truly benefit and pass on the wealth to others (possibly just feed, clothe and educate their family), anything that does not breed dependence.

With the growing number of non-government organizations and cause-oriented groups or advocacy outlets, building new organizations may come to be redundant or additional clutter.  I suggest that before one embarks on creating yet another organization, one consults the existing list of legitimate organizations in their locality that may have a similar cause or advocacy. 

Money to set-up another organization put up staffing and an office may be better used for a project or program, which may still carry the donor’s name, that is, if one wants to propagate a legacy.

Again, what one can give can come in form of items one produces, services one is capable of giving for a period of time. Take the case of airline companies and transport outlets who give mercy flights and trips when there is a need to evacuate communities. Or food from companies that produce food to be part of a campaign against malnutrition; or excess clothes, books, and appliances that may be used in orphanages, remote schools, and homes for the aged.  In fact one does not need to be a manufacturer or a businessman to share. One just needs to have that generous spirit and a discerning heart. 

For the essence of giving is to give fully, to help, and not to lower the recipients’ dignity with dependence. That should be the goal of giving.

When a company institutionalizes their giving, they allocate a sum just for that. Whether the amount is translated into items or cash itself, the point is, it costs the company. It is a product of hard work, from the employees, and capital from the company owners. It will take effort to produce a profit that is supposed to be translated into additional capital, better wages, and benefits. But some corporations choose to give, knowing that aside from the rule of the land, it also is a rule of God.

Perhaps in our own way, we can too, choose our manner of giving.