The rich give to help the rich:
As an article published on Salon recently pointed out, the rich have a
tendency to give generously to institutions and endowments that serve
“their kind” and not the needy.
[A] large portion of the charitable deductions now claimed by
America’s wealthy are for donations to culture palaces – operas, art
museums, symphonies, and theaters – where they spend their leisure time
hobnobbing with other wealthy benefactors.
Another portion is for contributions to the elite prep schools and
universities they once attended or want their children to attend. (Such
institutions typically give preference in admissions, a kind of
affirmative action, to applicants and “legacies” whose parents have been
notably generous.)
Art museums and Ivy League schools need money too, of course, but so do
the nation’s hungry and homeless. A dollar donated to an art museum
gives you the same amount of tax deductions as one spent at a soup
kitchen. The numbers do not favor the poor, either. The Washington Post
found that around 70% of all charitable contributions went to charities
that do not specifically help the poor.
http://tinyurl.com/qhxbmlj
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Religion: together we can find the cure.