The Poor Philanthropist

Today'sWaPo had a good Fact Checker blog post about Obama's charitable giving.  Apparently, at the recent Conservative PAC conference (excuse me...hairball), one pol full of hot air chastised Obama for giving less than 1% of his income to charity.  Fact Checker noted that Obama's giving was indeed rather low as a proportion of his income in 2002 through 2004 before he became a Senator, and took on running for President.  Back then, when his income hovered around mid-200K, he was giving 0.5% to 2% of income to charity.  In more recent years, with income over the $1m mark, his total giving and giving as a proportion of income increased dramatically - well above 9%. Factchecker takeaway: conservative pol mischaracterized Obama's giving, and was not accurate to date

My takeaway: At any wealth point, we must all be philanthropists. And by the way, isn't the idea of being a philanthropist so much more appealing and empowering than charitable giving?  Perhaps it's because I work in a non-profit that I see how much those donations matter.  However, more importantly,  I am a philanthropist because I place great value on many things that don't create a profit margin  - art, my reproductive freedom, high-quality news reporting, my kid's school experience, my spiritual home.  While these things cost money to create, protect, and provide, they don't readily lend themselves to free market pricing.  So I make it a point to not take any of them for granted, place some monetary value on these priceless things, and then give generously to them.

In my annual personal financial audit for 2011, I made good financial progress.  Last year's goal was stability, and I am more or less there.   Last year, that meant my financial housekeeping included virtually eliminating all debt; establishing legal and financial safeguards for Dear Daughter; and creating and enacting some spending controls.  This year's goal is maintaining that stability, and achieving better financial security. That will mean more of the same (I haven't mastered it all), plus socking more money away to create greater margin for error (well, life's financial vicissitudes).

All the while, I'm far from frugal, and sometimes I'm downright lavish even when my money house isn't fully in order.  I like nice clothes, pedicures, a good haircut, a regular vacation, and going out for a good time.  Sometimes I like all this when I should really be liking a college savings account, a brown bag lunch or a practical pair of snow boots.  (Boring.)

But I digress.  Even amidst managing my personal spending and my personal financial goals, I make sure to exercise my personal philanthropy.  Last year, I gave 2.5% of my income to charity (the average American gives 1.4%, making me above average, of course :-).  In my audit, I calculated that about half went to Dear Daughter's school and All Souls Church.  I gave another 30% to causes near and dear to my heart - reproductive rights and health services (NARAL and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington), and donating to my line of work in global health and development.  The final 20% went to other organizations of personal importance or connection - like the finding a cure and remembering my late niece with the Brain Tumor Society; my morning listening pleasure with NPR; and supporting my younger cousin traveling to the national finals with the West Forsyth High School Equestrian Team.

In 2012, I hope to give just a little bit more.  My goal is 3% of income going to my philanthropy goals.  It will be a stretch; I believe it should be.  I could just as well spend this significant sum money on a nice vacation.  But then I wouldn't be putting my money behind all that matters to me.  Besides it would be horrible if we lost access to high-quality, comprehensive, women's healthcare or the community arts workshop closed its doors while I was sitting on the beach in Jamaica.