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How do you decide where to give maaser?



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amother


 

Post Wed, Sep 19 2012, 12:42 pm
I have a couple of favorite causes. B"H this year we 'owe' significantly more maaser than in the past. I have heard it's better to give to more different people than to give bigger sums, because you do more acts of giving. There are so many worthy causes, though, I don't know where to begin! Also there are some causes where I feel so much goes to overhead that I don't feel comfortable giving maaser to them, I trust everyone needs to make the best decisions of how to run their organizations and I might contribute voluntarily to those too but for maaser I want as much as possible going toward the actual need, but it's hard to tell!

So far, I gave as every year a large sum to a family member who is a talmid chacham and always struggling (we have an indirect way to give them) - family first. Then a smaller but still very respectable amount to the local tomchei shabbos, because it's for "the needy of your city." Same sum to Yad Eliezer for the needy of Israel. Then my usual yearly donation to two different bikur cholim type organizations that are close to my heart for personal reasons. Now I have nearly $2000 left to distribute. DH is not forthcoming with any helpful opinions.

Just curious what others do... not necessarily looking for specific organizations or anything because I know of plenty, more interested in hearing what thought process you go through to decide how much to distribute to which ones.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Sep 19 2012, 1:06 pm
$2,000 left over maaser? wow! bh there is parnasa, for me, this is about 3 months maaser.

I donate to Rofeh Cholim 360 a year for a zechus for fil who is bh already in remission. although my inlaws could affort their own insurance bh, they did consult with RCCS and it was a big help.

also, my sister is struggling w/fertility so we doned $700 a year.
we have first cousins yesomim in EY so a couple of hundred a year goes there.
then a sister who is BPD I give $3,000 to bil and another family member who is on top of the situation so my neices could go to therapy and other stuff needed. (alought BIL has a steady job, he has to be home when the kids come home from school which is not a lot of hours and unfortunatly there are much more expenses there than in a normal family setting.

then we donted for mosdos in EY.

we don't stay with too much left over.

my guess is for mosdos hachinuch and organizations that help w/health issues for a z'chus for nachas and health!

good luck and may you b blessed with even bigger dilemas of where to give thousands of dollars more in maaser!
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Blueberry Muffin




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 19 2012, 1:25 pm
we give the bulk of our maaser to community institutions - our kids school, the shul, the local chesed organizations. Our community comes first.

Last edited by Blueberry Muffin on Wed, Sep 19 2012, 2:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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amother


 

Post Wed, Sep 19 2012, 1:29 pm
I think family comes first. Then poor families in your community. Then I give to organizations who help ppl have children or pay for weddings etc...
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amother


 

Post Wed, Sep 19 2012, 10:04 pm
To my horror I've turned into my mother, who 40 years ago used to give $5 or $10 to every org that sent her an envelope. Literally hundreds of orgs every year. And this was a woman of very modest means, but her mother, who had even less, still had a row of about ten pushkes nailed to her kitchen cabinet door. I remember the reps coming to the house to empty out the pushkes and give my grandmother a receipt. Some job, shlepping door to door with a big briefcase to carry the piles and piles of pennies that they collected.

When my list of orgs got ridiculous, like forty or fifty, I decided it was time to cut back, and give meaningful sums to the locals and a few biggies in EY rather than piddling sums to everyone that barely pay the cost of their processing: maybe a dozen or dozen and a half in all. But you know what happens--you get a letter from some cause not on your list, and how can you turn away a plea for help for kids with cancer or women with infertility or the org that helps women at risk of aborting, or the one that rescues Jewish women married to Arabs or helps women get gets from their recalcitrant husbands etc. etc. How can I give to A TIME and not to Bonei Olam? So surely and not at all slowly the list ballooned again. At last count it was closing in on 90 orgs, and new ones show up in the mailbox every day. Literally every day this time of year, sometimes two or three new orgs in a single day, multiplying like rabbits. And every time I say enough, no new tzedakas, there's always just one--how can I say no to the letter from Rav Mattisyahu Solomon begging for help for a 27-y/o widowed mother of 8 suffering from advanced MS whose dh left no life insurance and she can't work because of her condition? How can I say no to a letter from someone I know personally asking for contributions to help two orphans marry? And so the list swells and swells, and I grow ever more resentful, as there seem to be more orgs than there are people! And why so much duplication? Why do we need TWO orgs in israel working to keep women from aborting babies? Why can't the two orgs get their acts together and operate under one roof? They have the same mission, and in a very small country, to boot. Why do I get a separate letter from rav solomon, shlita, for every single destitute family in lakewood when there is already a Vaad harabonim l'inyonei tzedaka?

I Guess that was a bit of a vent. On the one hand, rambam says it's better to give less more often to get in the habit of frequent giving, but somehow I can't help feeling that he meant when you give the money in the person's hand, not when you write checks that also cost the recipient money to process. Aside from courting carpal tunnel writing all those checks--and wasting all that postage that could have gone instead to actual tzedaka--my small checks are barely doing anything at all, considering that the org has to pay a clerical to open the mail, post the check, write out a receipt, address the envelope, mail the receipt (postage and stationery costs, too), endorse the check and deposit it. Wouldn't it be better use of my money to give $200 to one hatzoloh rather than $25 each to eight different Hatzolohs? Or for that matter one annual $200 check to an org instead of $25 every six weeks? That alone would save me almost $3.50 in postage, which I could put in a pushke instead of giving to the USPS.

Who's on my list? Mostly orgs that feed needy people; orgs that serve orphans or children from poor or dysfunctional families; orgs that serve the elderly poor; orgs that help tzahal forces, veterans or on active duty; orgs that work toward improving the physical quality of life in EY; emergency services; hachnossas kallah; Paamonim, which helps people learn how to manage their money and get out of debt rather than just throwing money at them and enabling them to continue in their financial ignorance and irresponsibility; orgs serving survivors of terrorism in israel or the families of victims; orgs for sick or disabled children; orgs serving the deaf and blind; orgs that fight for women mesuravot get; our local yeshiva; our local shuls, including to a lesser degree a few I don't attend; orgs that have benefitted us directly; the occasional org that sends me a "gift" I will actually use as opposed to the ones that send me things I throw out immediately (if I get ONE MORE illuminated Simanim Guide I'll scream!). Keren Hashviis to support farmers keeping shmittah--they solicit only during shmittah years, which I respect tremendously! There is the occasional obligatory one-time journal ad for an org that's honoring someone we know. The occasional shliach mitzvah check to an org in a town someone is traveling to. The occasional favor contribution when a friend is collecting for an org and we don't know how to say no nicely. And miscellaneous others here and there, like when the ds comes home and his rebbe is collecting for a family he knows personally.

One friend of mine gives only to orgs that serve sick children. Another gives to all types, but only to small local orgs and not to any national or international groups. There are enough of both kinds of orgs to keep both of them writing checks year-round.
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amother


 

Post Sat, Sep 22 2012, 5:50 pm
I also agree with the above poster, DH very skeptical about efficiency of $5 or $10 checks scattered all over. We basically do NOT give to institutions that have big whole page adverts and glitzy gala dinner like UJIA. Also organisations that send constant direct mails--again, money wasted on postages and printing color brochures. We also like organisations where you can trust money goes to serve actual causes not just to pay fundraisers and adverts. I also support Meir Panim and Yad Ezra veShlamit, Paamonim, an OTT chabad where we used to live, a few kollelim DH has personal connection. I would like to give more to non-jewish charities that do good work, like something for blinds or medical research (but I think cancer already has too many charities) or aiding women in the third world.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Sep 23 2012, 1:03 am
One organization we always give is Hatzolah. You haven't mentioned them and they save the lives of thousands of people each your. If you were never on the receiving end of their services good for you but in my family they have saved the lives of so many members when minutes counted. My husband for one. My mother, my nephew, my grandfather on numerous occasions.

I can't think of a more befitting organization than the hatzolah of wherever you live. You can also give to the Rav of your shul or the person you ask your sheilos if they are in need of money. My husband always gives the Rav of our shul around yom tov time as he has a large family.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Sep 23 2012, 9:09 pm
Of course I give to Hatzolah, both my local branch and Hatzolah in EY. I didn't want to list too many orgs by name. I actually had listed a few as illustrations in each category but deleted them b/c I didn't think I should be mentioning some and not others that are just as worthy.

One thing I no longer do is participate in raffles and chinese auctions. aside from the halachic complications if you win (how much do you have to give back to the tzedoko?), the whole thing has gotten way out of hand, pandering to the grossest materialism. it was one thing when you might win a few pizzas at the local pizza place, or a blender, or if you were really lucky, a pair of 14K gold earrings. It's quite another when you might win a mink coat, diamond necklace, or vacation for six in Las Vegas. If I'm giving tzedoko, let it be out of pure motives and not out of greed. Even if the chances of my actually winning that diamond necklace are slim to nonexistent, I'm giving with the idea that I MIGHT win--someone has to, why not me?--and that rather dims the mitzvah, don't you think?

I don't criticize the orgs that do these things. I weep that they feel they have no choice, that this is the only way they can raise the funds they need. What does this say about us, that we give generously when we think there's something in it for us, and otherwise not?
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sarahd




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 24 2012, 6:46 am
amother wrote:
Or for that matter one annual $200 check to an org instead of $25 every six weeks? That alone would save me almost $3.50 in postage, which I could put in a pushke instead of giving to the USPS.


That's what I used to do, when I gave tzedakah by check. I used to collect envelopes and every half a year I would sort through them, throw out all the duplicates - of which there could be three or four - and give one check to each organization. They never seem to have figured out, though, that I was only giving donations twice a year.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Sep 24 2012, 7:49 am
amother wrote:
One organization we always give is Hatzolah. You haven't mentioned them and they save the lives of thousands of people each your. If you were never on the receiving end of their services good for you but in my family they have saved the lives of so many members when minutes counted. My husband for one. My mother, my nephew, my grandfather on numerous occasions.

I can't think of a more befitting organization than the hatzolah of wherever you live. You can also give to the Rav of your shul or the person you ask your sheilos if they are in need of money. My husband always gives the Rav of our shul around yom tov time as he has a large family.


You do realize that Hatzolah receives money from the government and insurance for transporting people in addition to the donations? They give MASSIVE checks to Rabbis each month.
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groovy1224




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 24 2012, 8:33 am
My husband actually asked his rav how to divvy up our maaser money, and his rav gave him a breakdown. So my husband literally keeps an excel file open on his computer, and enters how much we have given to tzedakahs in diff categories (some goes to e'y, some to yeshivos, some to poor in the neighborhood, etc) and while at first I thought it was a little obsessive, it actually gives us peace of mind because I'm never really worried if we're giving too much one place and too little another. It's all very organized.
We try to give to anyone who asks, but we don't get as many envelopes as it seems some people here do. But if I had a choice I'd rather give significant money to fewer places and just try to vary them from month to month, then give 5 dollars here and there.
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