Gallup's WorldView World Poll, using telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionannaires, has done a survey of 156 nations worldwide on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and/or money to charity, or to offer help to a stranger.  Australia and New Zealand were in first place, followed by Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and Switzerland.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39064021/ns/world_n...

What's interesting is that countries like China, Russia, and India ranked 'way down near the bottom.

Sep 9, 2010 -- 6:43PM, solfeggio wrote:

Gallup's WorldView World Poll, using telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionannaires, has done a survey of 156 nations worldwide on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and/or money to charity, or to offer help to a stranger.  Australia and New Zealand were in first place, followed by Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and Switzerland.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39064021/ns/world_n...

What's interesting is that countries like China, Russia, and India ranked 'way down near the bottom.

So if you're poor, it's best to live in a First-World nation like Australia than a Second- or Third-World nation like China or India.

The First World is superior to all the others.

Sep 10, 2010 -- 1:20PM, appy20 wrote:

I don't know that people always realize that they give as much as they do.  I once answered a survey and reported that I hadn't given anything that year.  A few hours after the survey, I opened my email and had 3 emails from organizations thanking me for my contribution. I had forgotten my Haiti contribution.  All three of them.  I had forgotten all the blood donations.  I had forgotten about the breast cancer contribution I made.  I forgot about the Depression research fund I contributed to.  That didn't count all of the other silly things.  Then there is the donations I make to the library.  All the spare change I give to McDonald's.  Those are just the regular stuff I do frequently.  There are other causes I cannot even remember.  

I had contributed but I didn't remember.  Every working person knows that every time you turn around someone is asking to for blood donation, buy cookies for a cause, buy chocolate for a cause, go horseback riding for a cause, go boating for a cause, go running, walking for a cause.  I don't know a single person who has not given something.  

I think we do it so routinely, that we don't realize we are doing it.  I am willing to bet the U.S. results are low because if I had been asked, I would have said I don't give anything.  I have been asked that before and said that.

I agree. I give all the time to little things like you do (change, $5, $10, $20, etc...) and don't really keep track of it. I give blood every two months and recently submitted my cheek swabs to officially register as a bone marrow donor. I would probably say that I don't give because I don't write big checks to organizations.

On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.

Sep 11, 2010 -- 11:48AM, costrel wrote:

Sep 10, 2010 -- 1:26PM, Girlchristian wrote:

On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.

Next thing you know he'll be keeping track of all the tips he gives to restaurant servers who make 2 and a half an hour and expect to have that deducted at tax time as well.

My charitable donations are very similar to appy.... I've made a few donations to Doctors Without Borders and participated in a couple 5K walkathons. Those are really the only receipts I can come up with. 

Next time I pass out a couple bucks to my local panhandler what am I supposed to do, get a receipt? Am I supposed to keep the receipts for all the bottled water and sandwich/snacky items I've bought to give away? How about the cans I put out next to the wastebin for my local street people? Should I be keeping track of those too? 

How do I get a receipt for the leftover change I leave for various causes in stores/restaurants/city plaza, carwash for a cause? Sorry, but this kind of penny pinching is a little over the top....maybe that's why my tax burden is relatively high for my income level --- because I don't stash every single receipt. 

I am not that ambitious with money either.  I don't love money enough to focus on it that seriously.  Plus, it feels kind of, well, shallow to count every penny.  I don't feel guilty for what I have but I do enjoy what I have more when others have something too.