I commute into downtown Toronto every day. And every day, I pass people on my way to and from work asking for change.  I don’t think I’ve ever donated money to them. In fact, I feel annoyed by them being there. Since I’m either on my way to my job, or leaving it, I’m not overly inclined to give the money I earn to someone who apparently can’t be bothered to get a job.

Here’s some of my rationale for why I don’t donate.

You should earn it, not expect a handout

This is not a new sentiment on my part – I remember writing a journal entry in high school commenting about how I didn’t like being asked for money. I feel if I earned it, it’s mine. If you want something, you should earn it – not just ask me to provide it.

How do I know what it’s used for?

I am cynical by nature, and tend to see the darker side of things.  I’ve witnessed at least a few occasions where someone has been panhandling on the subway. People have offered them food, and they’ve turned it down. My theory is –if you’re looking for money, and it’s not for food, it’s probably for a habit I don’t want to support.  If I wouldn’t pay for a bad habit for myself, why should I pay for it for someone else?

We have social programs

We have soup pantries, shelters, “reach out” programs, and food banks. I know in a lot of countries there’s little or no safety net, but in Canada, we have a lot of resources people can turn to. I am happy to support (by choice – not by being put on the spot!) certain programs, and realize that at one time or another, almost everyone needs a helping a hand in life. I think that if I want to give out money though, I should know where it’s going.

Does this make me a bad person?

I don’t think so, but you may disagree. I donate to a few women’s shelters every month, as well as Unicef, and do chip in when we fundraise for the United Way at work.  I’m not against helping others out – I know I’m lucky I’ve never been in a position of real need.  I just think I should get to choose when, where, and how I get to give that money out.

What do you think? Do you give money to the homeless? Why or why not?

Author Bio: I’m My Canuck Buck.  I’m a hard working Canadian (Canuck) who’s decided she wants to get more from her hard earned dollars (bucks).  I’ve recently joined the world of financial bloggers, and my goal is to learn everything I can, and share what I know, so we can all save more bucks!

No related posts.

Should You Donate To The Homeless? originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on May 10, 2012.

Regardless of how I feel, I do think that those of us in better financial situations should give what we can to those that are less fortunate. There’s a couple of things you should keep in mind when you do decide to make charitable donations.

Give Discretely

The point of charity is not to make yourself look good in front of others, it is to give resources to those who can use it the most. Don’t make a big show out of donating, else the mental and emotional reward will only be short lived. Make donating discretely a habit, and you’ll have yourself a lifetime of small victories that you can lean on when you may be feeling down on yourself, or when your financial fortune grows dim. When I brought in my donations, for example, I waited until the office was mostly clear, and then I simply brought them in, dropped them off, and left. In terms of financial contributions, try to make them anonymously if you can. I don’t suggest dropping cash off in the mail, but don’t bust out the chequebook in the lunch room either.

Give Regularly

Giving a small amount regularly is a lot better than giving a large amount on an irregular basis. Not only is it easier to sustain on your side, it also helps the charity that you’re donating to as they can rely on a certain amount of money each month. So check with your office, HR department, or payroll department to see if they offer an automatic per paycheque donation to any charities. When I started employment at my current job, I was given the option of choosing from a number of charities that I could donate to off each paycheque. I could set it up for any dollar amount, so I could chose the amount and the direction of my donations. If you don’t have this option, you can try contacting the charity directly to see if they offer a regular direct withdrawal option. If those fail, see if your bank can set up a charity as a bill payee, and set up automatic deposits from their account into theirs.

Give Time

If you can’t financially afford to give up some money for a local charity, consider donating some of your time. I know that our local SPCA needs dog walkers, for example, and I’m sure that you have local non-profit organizations that can use your time and energy. Take one weekend every month and spend it cleaning some cat cages, serving soup, or doing a bottle drive. Whatever you can do to help does help, so don’t think that your small contribution isn’t worthwhile – it definitely is.

If you do end up donating some time or money, make sure that you get a receipt. It will help with your finances come tax time next year, so hold onto those someone you’ll remember for next April, and then store them for the next 7 years somewhere safe. Does your office require donations?

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Financially Supporting Charities originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on May 9, 2012.

Before you dismiss the idea of giving your money away, here are some good effects that generosity can have on your finances:

Feeling Good about Yourself

One of the advantages of generosity is that you often feel good. Being able to help someone else can boost your own feelings of self worth. Additionally, when you feel better about yourself, you also feel better about your financial situation. It’s easier to feel good about some of the sacrifices you are making to frugality when you have a warm feeling inside from helping someone else. Plus, it’s hard to think that your finances are in terrible shape when you have the means to help someone else.

Encouraging You to Use Your Resources More Wisely

Interestingly, being generous can help you manage your finances better. If you have made a commitment to give to charity, and this is an important spending priority for you, then it becomes necessary to carefully manage your resources in a way that allows you to continue to give. If you are seriously committed to giving, you will know that wasteful spending isn’t an option if you want to make sure can make your charitable contributions.

Will it Really Come Back to You?

In a lot of cases, people believe that their generosity will come back to them. Many religions include the belief that generous giving results in blessings from god. For believers, the effect of generosity is that it will result in having the blessings they need for their own financial lives. Although many point out that religious giving results in blessings of what is needed, and not necessarily untold — and unnecessary — wealth.

Others simply believe that helping the less fortunate is what any decent person should do, regardless of whether or not one feels a religious obligation. No matter your reasons for generosity, though, there is a good chance that your efforts will come back to you in some form, tangible or intangible.

Do You Have to Give Money?

Of course, you don’t have to be generous only with your money. In some cases, you might not have the financial resources to give as much as you would like. Instead, it might make sense to give in other ways. There are plenty of ways to help by tending children while a friend looks for a job, letting relatives live with you while they get back on their feet, or donating your time to a charity. There are a number of ways to help others, from serving at a soup kitchen to giving blood. Sometimes, being generous can be about giving in terms of time, talent, and expertise.

However you decide to go about it, though, giving can be a good part of well-rounded finances. Think about how you can give to others, and follow through, and you might be surprised at how your financial situation seems to smooth out.

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Will Being Generous Help Your Finances? originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 16, 2012.

I am so happy to support the Canadian Finance Blog’s, Bloggers for Charity project.  I think this is a great way to raise money for charity and I am glad I have the chance to write this blog posting. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a wonderful not-for-profit organization in Toronto and corporate volunteer days.

I work at a Toronto-based company and last summer the owners of my company decided to have a Charity Day. We were looking for a volunteer opportunity that would allow every employee to donate a full-day to an organization. After evaluating many different organizations, we decided to volunteer with Woodgreen Community Services. Woodgreen is a Toronto-based organization that serves 37,000 people a year by providing programs to address housing, employment, health and wellness and many other societal issues. For a more complete list of how Woodgreen helps the community visit their website.

We volunteered with Woodgreen’s Homeward Bound program which helps single mothers and their children move from homelessness and poverty to successful careers and self-sufficiency. Unique in Canada, Homeward Bound is a 4-year job-readiness program featuring: affordable housing; free, quality child care; training and post-secondary education in a marketable skill; personal development support; mental health and recreational services for children; and a guaranteed, family-sustaining career opportunity at the end of the program. The key component of the program is that the mother gets to concentrate on her education and career knowing she has child care for her children, a safe place to stay and once the program ends, she will hopefully be self-sufficient.

For one day, we helped prepare a new Homeward Bound residence for occupancy by single mothers and their children. We assembled furniture, cleaned floors and bathrooms, put slipcovers on sofas, and worked together so that people we had never met could have a new home and a fresh start. The people at Woodgreen were extremely well-prepared and organized. They told us all about the Homeward Bound program and we could not have found a better volunteer experience for our group and all the employees found this day a rewarding experience.

I think our corporate volunteer day was successful for Woodgreen, in that we were able to help them get their new building ready, but it was also a big win for our company. On volunteer day I got to work with people that I don’t work with on a day-to-day basis, and we got to work together on a project that had nothing in common with what any of us do at work. We were all a little out of our element and we all got to see one another working hard at tasks that weren’t part of our normal. I was touched by the enthusiasm my colleagues had for every job that needed to be done that day. I never thought I would see the owners of the company sweeping floors with such zeal, and I’m so glad I did. I know in corporate-speak we could simply call all this team building, and I think we did come out of the day with stronger sense of team, but I also came out of our volunteer day feeling proud of my colleagues and good about the work that we did and, almost 5 months later, I am still really thankful that the company gave us a day to donate our time so we could each enjoy the experience of being charitable.

If you would like to make a donation to Woodgreen, please visit this link http://www.woodgreen.org/GetInvolved/Donate.aspx

By: Lisa

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My Charity of Choice – Woodgreen’s Homeward Bound Program originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 17, 2012.

The next year I took a different approach after learning about my wife’s diagnosis.  Instead of contributing a token amount to the fundraiser, I went out to make a difference.  So I started my own team and recruited my friends, family, and co-workers to join me.  I spoke at a corporate breakfast club to help raise awareness for the event.  And when it was all said and done, our team ended up raising nearly $12,000.

Since then, I’ve always felt that donating to charity can make more of an impact when you get as many people as possible to unite for the cause.

So when Mark Goodfield, from The Blunt Bean Counter, approached me with a unique idea to help raise money for charities using our blogs as a platform, I jumped at the opportunity to participate.

Bloggers for Charity

Bensimon Byrne, a client at Mark’s accounting firm, and a very successful advertising agency, deserves recognition for raising almost $100,000 for the United Way over the last four years.  Every November they have a variety of events to raise money on behalf of the United Way, including an auction where friends, clients and suppliers of the firm donate services or goods that are then auctioned off.

This year, Mark is auctioning off a free guest post on his blog and has challenged other Canadian bloggers do the same thing in order to raise money for this great cause.  Mark kicked off the Bloggers for Charity contest yesterday on his blog, and then called upon 5 of the top personal finance blogs in Canada, including Canadian Finance Blog, to join the effort.

Any blogger should feel free to join the effort (this initiative is not limited to financial bloggers) whether nominated or not and encourage their blogger contacts to join the Bloggers for Charity initiative.

The Contest and Rules

I’m sure there are many Canadian Finance Blog readers who have writing aspirations without a proper outlet to express their opinion (other than their Facebook page).  If you are interested in guest posting right here on Canadian Finance Blog, please contact us here along with your bid.

Here are the contest rules:

1. Each blogger will auction off the opportunity to write a guest post on their blog.

2. All bids will be made in confidence to the blogger’s email account.  The blogger at their discretion can email back bidders the current top bid or note the amount of the leading bid on their blog to encourage bidding.

3. The auction will close on December 16, 2011.  The blogger will notify the winning bidder by email.

4. The winning bidder will be required to send the blogger a copy of a donation receipt, dated between December 17th and December 31st (personal information can be blacked-out) to confirm the donation has been made.  (This donation will be tax deductible to the winning bidder as long as the donation is made to a registered charity).

5. For unanimity amongst bloggers, it is suggested that January 17, 2012 be the date all the Blogger for a Day guest posts are published.

6. The winner can write a post on any topic (subject to approval by the particular blogger), although in the spirit of the contest, it would be great if the winning bidder wrote about a charity or charitable experience, but that is not a requirement.  The only rule is that the guest post cannot be a marketing piece.  However, at the bottom of their post, the guest blogger can provide their name, name of their company and a brief description of their company and its products.  Alternatively, the guest blogger can remain anonymous.

7. All bloggers who participate are asked to email Lynda at Lynda@cunninghamca.com to note their participation and then contact Lynda with their winning bid so that Mark can tally the donations received.  All individual donation totals will be kept confidential.

Bloggers, please take this opportunity to join the Bloggers for Charity project and extend this offer to your readers.

Readers, here’s your chance to guest post on Canadian Finance Blog and support your favourite charity while you’re at it.

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Bloggers For Charity originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on November 22, 2011.

For starters, lets break down the tax credit he would receive, each year or once at the end of 6 years. If you claimed your charitable donation each year you would get $262 back each year come tax time. If you saved up the receipts and filed 6 years together you would have $1,712.

If he was to receive his $262 credit each year and put it into an investment making 5% he would have $1,782, a slight increase over the $1,712 he would receive by saving up the receipts for 6 years. However, if the money went into a savings account or GIC, making 2.5%, he would only have $1,674. With either scenario, the interest earned would also be taxable unless held inside a TFSA or RRSP.

The numbers do work out better if you are fortunate enough to be able to donate $2,000 a year. At that amount, investing the $552 credit each year into a savings account or GIC at 2.5% would give you $3,526, a $74 increase over the $3,452 you would receive by claiming after 6 years. These savings are not huge, but at least you won’t have to hold onto your receipts!

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Investing Your Charitable Donations Credit originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on February 19, 2009.

The first $200 of charitable donations you claim are eligible for a 15% federal tax credit and any amount over that receives a 29% federal tax credit. Where you have some room to make this work to your advantage, without donating more than you would have, is that you do not need to claim your donations in the current year as you can claim up to 5 years later.

So let’s say your total donations in a year are $200. If you claim this amount each year, it would give you a $30 tax credit every year totaling $180 over 6 years. If you were to save all your receipts and file on the 6th year, you would be able to claim $1,200. This would provide a tax credit of $320, $30 on the first $200 and $290 on the remaining $1,000. In this example, by holding your receipts for 6 years, you get an extra $140 back on the total donations. You could max this out a bit more by making extra donations before December 31st of the final year, possibly with the donations you would have made in the following year.

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Charitable Donations originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on February 11, 2009.