Donating Money

[countrygirl12]

If you were asked to donate money for a "very serious need" but you didn't know what the "need" was would you do it?  Would you give say $1 to help someone if you didn't know who the money was going to or what it was for.  But you do know the person asking you to give money. 

[Skyenkit]

I need to know first where my money went before I give any dime.

[countrygirl12]

Okay, let me take it a step farther.  First, do you go to church?  What if it was the church taking up money?  Say it was a person in the church.  But you still don't know who or what the money is for.  Would you give anything or would you want to know first who and what the "need" was.  (there is a reason for the question - lol)

[patycake56]

I would really like to know the reason behind my donation

[teenangel]

I need to know the need if someone comes to the door or asks via the internet. If it was church that is different. A church has so many donation needs that it is greater then what they could give.

[kapeh12]

I guess I was wrong but I don't consider a person wanting to buy a new lawn mower a real need when I am struggling to pay my bills.

I don't know the full situation, however, let me offer a possible scenario to consider.  Most likely when you heard the church was buying someone a lawnmower, you got the picture of the average home owner whose lawn mower broke down and they wanted a new one.  Maybe that was the situation.

However, maybe the situation is the member earned a living by mowing people's lawns, and his only mower unexpectedly broke down - and that job was their only means of income.  Perhaps they also did charity work by mowing church grounds and lawns of elderly people for free on top of their business to pay the mortgage and put food on their family's table.  Perhaps there was an unexpected family issue or home repair that strained their finances so when the lawn mower broke, the bank denied them a loan to buy a new one.  Thus with no lawn mower, there would be no income, their business may collapse.  Also if they did charity lawn mowings, those receiving that benefit would lose out increasing the impact of the loss of the mower.

If the latter was the situation, would this make the donation seem more beneficial?

It's always wise to know what you are donating toward to decide whether your money will go to benefit the cause requesting it.  In this situation, the question is whether or not you trust the church's leadership, when they make special donation requests like the above, that they've assessed the situation and have determined it to be a legitimate need based on the individual's situation.  If you do, then regardless of what the item the donation is for, trust the money you donated is benefiting the individual in a way you may not understand.  If you don't trust their judgement, then revise how/when you donate in future situations like these.

[minioncookies]

In any given situation I would more than likely give the dollar if i had a dollar to spare or an extra dollar. Even if i didn't know where they money was going i would still give the dollar. You don't really know what people are going to do with the change/money you give them these days but what would could it hurt to give a dollar? The way that i look at it is.. What if i was in this person's shoes? Would i want someone to give me that dollar?  This day and age it is hard to help people that won't help themselves i will agree to that... but if you don't know their situation you can't realy judge them.. I will agree to an extend there are some people who hussle them stores and you see going to store after store.. now i would not give a dollar or even a penny to them because that is just hoarding other peoples money and they deffinetly do not deserve what they get..I feel that sometimes people play the poor me game to get what they want and instead of helping theirself which there are places they can go to get help they go out and beg for other peoples money...There are shelter's and food banks.. I know.. I have went to them before because i have to much pride to go out begging for something i did not earn.. Would i give an extra dollar yes. I guess you can say it would depend on the situation.. but usually i do give a dollar if i have it...

[sharonpatri55]

I donate money when I know the cause and where it is going AND I do it anonymously. The reason for this is, in the past, I made donations through the mail (some of those charity organizations can be very convincing with their sad stories) and before I knew it, I was getting requests from organizations from all over the world. I was completely overwhelmed with all this mail so I stopped donating in this fashion completely.

[batmobile]

Tidings... It's even biblical to share and pay your taxes and donate people... Yes you should give what you can

[iimouto]

I never, ever donate money when I don't know where it's going or what it's for. I always ask to see identifcation for those who go around door to door collecting donations. This might sound bad of me, but I'm not one to give out free money to random people. I will make donations only if it's for a major needed cause. I'm not rich and I have my own needs too. I work hard for the very little money that I have. If the reason is not urgent or life-threatening or going to a good cause, then I don't contribute. Simple as that.

[countrygirl12]

In any given situation I would more than likely give the dollar if i had a dollar to spare or an extra dollar. Even if i didn't know where they money was going i would still give the dollar. You don't really know what people are going to do with the change/money you give them these days but what would could it hurt to give a dollar? The way that i look at it is.. What if i was in this person's shoes? Would i want someone to give me that dollar?  This day and age it is hard to help people that won't help themselves i will agree to that... but if you don't know their situation you can't realy judge them.. I will agree to an extend there are some people who hussle them stores and you see going to store after store.. now i would not give a dollar or even a penny to them because that is just hoarding other peoples money and they deffinetly do not deserve what they get..I feel that sometimes people play the poor me game to get what they want and instead of helping theirself which there are places they can go to get help they go out and beg for other peoples money...There are shelter's and food banks.. I know.. I have went to them before because i have to much pride to go out begging for something i did not earn.. Would i give an extra dollar yes. I guess you can say it would depend on the situation.. but usually i do give a dollar if i have it...

Thanks.  That's something else I was thinking.  If its just a dollar would people just say sure okay and not think about where it went because its just a dollar.  Where as $10 you would be more like okay what's this for?

[pkrahmer]

If somebody I knew asked for a dollar and didn't give me a reason most likely I would give then the dollar if I had it. If it was more then a 1 time occurrence or they wanted more than a dollar then I would defiately need to know the reason befor giving it to them.

[reiddb]

No, I wouldn't.

[countrygirl12]

Tidings... It's even biblical to share and pay your taxes and donate people... Yes you should give what you can

The Bible says to give 10% to God. It doesn't say you have to give money to every person who asks for it.  I know people who bum money all the time and make way more than the people they are begging from.  So if a person doesn't have the money to give I don't think they are bad for not giving to any random person that asks or even the church or whatever.

[kapeh12]

I knew the guy.  He also went to church there.  He had a job and he did not and does not do charity work.
He just needed a lawn mower.  So did I. lol.  I don't know.  I just don't consider a lawn mower to be a REAL NEED when there are people who can't pay their mortgage or their electric bill and they are trying.

Based on this additional information, I too would not have considered this request a "need".  The situation hypothesized I would have considered a "need", but your additional information on the situation seems to show he's using his church connections to get something extra.  Guess this is just one of those "live and learn" situations.

The churches I've attended in the past would fully disclose what a special offering was going toward, so I never had to deal with the above issue.  Based on your second post, about not trusting the church's leadership, seems like you might want to start thinking about finding a new church.  If you can't trust them to be open about matters like these, how can you trust them with whatever they are preaching regarding your soul?  Just a thought...

I know people who bum money all the time and make way more than the people they are begging from.

No kidding here.  I don't know anyone personally, but I recalled several local news stories about how our city is cracking down on panhandlers begging at off ramps (there's a city law preventing begging at off ramps).  The reporters interviewed some people who did this and it turned out several are people with good paying office jobs, that after work would dress down and beg for a few hours a day.  One reported he raked in $150,000 in one year from begging alone.  Unreal!